Posts in category: Leaders Connect

It isn’t enough for leaders to define the vision of an organization. Today’s leaders need to actively participate in the effort to make their vision a reality. Before implementation can begin, it’s important for a leader, to understand his or her role very well.

As a leader, if you deeply desire to turn that long-held dream or vision into a reality, these very simple three steps will help you transform your vision into action:

See it clearly: It starts with two simple words: goal clarity. When your vision is very clear and well spelt out, the actualization of that vision is not going to be complicated.

Believe it passionately: You must also fervently believe in your endeavor. You need to be focus-driven and you need to believe in yourself and your dreams more than everyone else.

Pursue it aggressively: Vision paints the picture. Pursue your dreams like your life and everything depends on it. Do not entertain fears or doubt. Let nobody discourage you.

Leadership is not about title, it is the capacity to translate vision into reality. The goal is attained by reciprocated cooperation and cohesive behaviour and not by bullying or other unethical actions or practices. A leader infuses a sense of positivity and directs others to reach the specified goal.

Don’t be afraid to transform your dreams|vision into a reality. It is not impossible, but you have to believe in yourself and start doing something to make it to reality.

#PROFMGBEKE

A good leader makes it possible for his people to dream and achieve greatness. When you adjust the sails and give talented people opportunities to do their best work, the impossible becomes possible.

It’s a very good thing to give the right people who have the ability, skills, competence, the zeal and the determination to make great impact in your business, your institution or your organization the opportunity to contribute to the success of your establishment, the opportunity to serve diligently, and professionally, instead of making the mistakes of compensating people who are incompetent, lazy, inexperienced and careless with sensitive job positions or offices in your business or establishment.

Adjusting the sails simply means ensuring that your team members, employees, aides, workers, appointees, subordinates, colleagues etc have the wind at their backs as they work towards shared responsibilities, goals and their own successes.

Adjusting the sails; It’s about helping your team members collaborate, each drawing on his or her own strengths, to solve problems or to proffer solutions. And it’s about creating a conducive, peaceful, non toxic environment where everyone, the leader included, can feel safe taking risks and continually growing and achieving positive results.

One of the best ways to grow as a good leader is by learning from people you admire and not always complaining about situations, but giving your best in difficult times to adjust smartly for excellent results.

No doubt that in every home, institution, firm, organization, there’s always someone or group of people assigned or delegated to take up the leadership position, responsibilities, roles and to ensure that things go well.

Life is about discovering who we are, leading is about striving to become better than we are, and helping everything and everyone around us to become better too. Leadership is not a position but it’s an opportunity to inspire you, motivate you, encourage you, and empower you to be the best you can be and also to influence others to be the best they can be.

There are no office hours for leaders and leaders who want the best results are servants and great teachers as well as great motivators. Leaders who see their position or title as an opportunity to show off power end up badly.

Many think that leadership is about position, title or rank; No, leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, for excellent results, great performance and you have to inspire your team-mates and others involved in your business or assigned duties, including your followers and subordinates who work with you and look up to you as a leader.

It’s very important that we understand that leadership is the ability to establish a course of direction and recognize actions that need to be taken to move forward on the established path or on the assignment or on the tasks that you have to accomplish and achieve success.

Great leaders are infinite solution providers and they are result oriented. They don’t believe in titles or positions, they believe in RESULTS.

To be successful in your business, you must be a good manager of your time. To be successful, there’re many different, important aspects of being a well-rounded, successful person or a successful leader, and there’re certain skills that you must possess, but in all, effective time management skills are the most important.

Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity.

In other words, effective time management simply means getting more of the important work done in a day or at a specific time. In fact, effective time management is even more important than efficient use of our time. Of course, the best time managers are both effective and efficient. They are also organised, intentional, persistent and consistent in pursuit of their set goals and in the delivery of their assignments or in delivery of their jobs.

To succeed in business today, you need to be flexible and also have good planning and organizational skills. Many people start a business thinking that they’ll turn on their computers or open their doors and start making money, only to find out that making money in a business is much more difficult than they thought. In business, there’re skills and knowledge needed to be acquired.

You need all these skills to be very successful in life and in your business;

Organizational Skills

Negotiation Skills

Strong Communication & Interpersonal Communication Skills

Emotional Intelligence Skills

Critical Thinking Skills

Focus Skills

Teamwork Skills

Balance Skills

Confidence Skills

Research And Analysis Skills ; but Effective Time Management Skills are not to be taken for granted.

To be a master of your time, its important that you stop looking for the Silver Bullet;

Start By Making Your Vision Clear And Have A Direction.

Start Creating Better Goals.

Stop Looking for Validation.

Start Living Your Dreams.

Stop Looking for a Mentor.

Start Building Your Expertise.

Stop Blocking Yourself.

Start Doing The Right Things To Achieve Your Set Goals.

By the time the above listed are in place, you will be able to master your time and start seeing good results.

Life is about discovering and accepting who we are, leading is about striving to become much better than we are, and helping everything and everyone around us to become better too.

When the people around us become better, our lives and businesses will be less stressful, more productive, successful and very peaceful. Though, we have to be able to discern the truth, lies, the good, the bad, the toxic people, naccist and be able to separate them from the very beginning to avoid getting into very serious problems, complications or unnecessary delays in getting to our expected destination in life.

Let the voice of nature inspire you, motivate you, encourage you, and empower you to be the best you can be.

Many people grew up believing that their financial security lies in their job or choice of career. Our financial independence doesn’t lie in our profession, business or in our job.

“Your economic security does not lie in your job; it lies in your own power to produce – to think, to learn, to create, to adapt. That’s true financial independence. It’s not having wealth; it’s having the power to produce wealth.” – Stephen Covey

Yes, when you have the knowledge, the power, the determination and the understanding to create wealth, you will definitely become successful and financially independent. Your wealth if well established and managed, will become stable, and you can pass it to the next generation; thereby creating a generational wealth.

This will help to cement the economic security of your generation and your next generation will be well secured. It’s very necessary to leave a good financial legacy for the people coming behind you, and that’s one of the best ways to eradicate poverty or to reduce poverty levels to the bearest minimum. Your attitude towards wealth building or wealth creation will determine how well you can handle economic security and sustainability.

This is the best kind of financial legacy to leave. Money is wonderful, but attitude is everything.

Robert J. Shiller, an economist, further made us to understand that; “finance is not merely about making money. It’s about achieving our deep goals and protecting the fruits of our labor. It’s about stewardship and, therefore, about achieving a good society.”

I totally agree with him, because If your labor or ideas matter to others, you’ve found the right way to make money for future generations. And you will remain very successful in life. Success is primary, but making money can be secondary and a “consequence” of hard work.

Hard work is the fuel you need to pump into your goals, visions, ideas and the result if you are good at identifying opportunities and keying into them intentionally and smartly, you’ll become successful, financially stable and independent.

I hope you have seen reasons to know what you can do with your talents, time, your GOD’S given potentials, gifts and how you can enhance them to produce sustainable wealth.

“If you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a nation.” This well-known African Proverb has long been motivating people around the world to strive for education for all.

It is true that when you educate a boy, it gives benefit to one family but when you educate a girl, its benefit goes to more families. Another important fact is that the children of an educated woman do not remain uneducated.

The most critical area for the empowerment of a woman is her education. This is also an area where discrimination amongst women suffer in some parts of the world. Amongst children not attending school, there is twice as many girls as boys and amongst the illiterate, there is also twice as many girls as boys.

Educating the female gender is a much more way of giving them power which would enable them to make genuine choices in their family, career and life as a whole. The fact that women should have a shot of a happier and healthier life should be the major reason to promote the female education.

There are however important benefits that a woman’s education can contribute to the society. A women when educated has skills, information and the needed self confidence that is required of her to be a better worker, citizen, parent and wife.

When women are educated, they become more productive and contribute positively to the society at large. The mother in the family is the most important individual for the child’s upbringing and education.

We all know that the mother is a teacher and she is the nanny who creates generations to serve their country. Hence, the mother has reconciled the welfare of the society and created a strong generation of ethics and principles.

Education is the backbone of society. Well-informed citizens that are intellectual and together work for the benefit of their country as well as their individual identities are considered constructive. In a situation like this, it is necessary for citizens to be well educated.
Education is not a privilege but a necessity. It is equally as important as the air we breathe, the food we eat, and our right to livelihood. In fact, education can be considered as food for the mind too.

This is the primary reason why education should not be accessible to only a certain section of society. If our ultimate goal is equality, we must start at the roots and nourish young minds with the sunshine of education.

Women have an equal right to education as men. Many times, women’s education is treated as secondary and given very little to no importance at all. However, it is high time we change this reality. Women are rising up in society and claiming their rights. One way to ensure that they get them is to educate women. Women Empowerment is secondary, but women Education should always be prioritized.

Educating a girl is a priceless gift, one that can continue to bless her throughout her life. If you don’t believe me, here are a few of the best quotes on women education by some of the brightest minds.

“When women are educated, their countries become stronger and more prosperous.” – Michelle Obama

“There is no greater pillar of stability than a strong, free, and educated woman.” – Angelina Jolie

“If we are going to see real development in the world then our best investment is WOMEN!” – Desmond Tutu

“To educate girls is to reduce poverty.” – Kofi Annan

“To sustain generational investment and wealth building, educate a woman and pass the secret to her.” – Sandra C. Duru

Source: Dr. Sandra C. Duru’s Rural Women Empowerment Concept Paper 2019 & The Women’s Podium, November 28th, 2020 Women Empowerment

“Be quick but don’t hurry” was a frequent phrase Coach John Wooden used at basketball practice, and it has great application to all phases of everyday life.

Andy Hill, author of Be Quick- But Don’t Hurry, put it this way when he spoke at the first John R. Wooden Course:
“This phrase applies not just to sports, but to every phase of your life. It applies to our expectations of anything we hope to accomplish and how quickly we can expect to get there.

“Impatience and unrealistic goals will sabotage a talented group of individuals in any workplace.
“Set your sights too high and expect immediate attainment of your goals, and invariably, you will never reach your destination.

“It is vital to focus on things that you can actually control, like your own effort, as opposed to external controls over which you have no control.

“Leaders should strive for quickness in their work. Most people are naturally hesitant, and the Wooden approach was to remove all hesitation from the game.

“If you can remove hesitation from your game, you will be well on your way to being a better leader and your organization will run more efficiently.”

Andy further identified four key pointers to remove hesitation:

Avoid delays.

Avoid maybe.

Move on from mistakes.

Follow your instincts.

Coach commented on the importance of quickness as follows:
You have to know what to do, but you have to be quick to do it or you might not get to do it at all.
I think that’s important in most everything.

Don’t hurry. You make mistakes when you hurry.
Be under control. I want quickness under control.
Otherwise, you’ll have activity without achievement. I don’t care for activity without achievement. Coach believed that quickness in proper execution was necessary.

He believed that quickness was a result of preparation and often cautioned that failure to prepare is preparing to fail. If you hurry and make mistakes, it is simply activity. As Coach often said, don’t mistake activity for achievement.

Be quick but don’t hurry, and as you prepare to take action, consider the question Coach Wooden asked his team players:
If you do not have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?

You know the traits of a crocodile, don’t you? It never hunts outside water. It always goes into the water to catch its prey. It never goes in the villages or in the bush looking for food. It strikes at the appropriate time. So a guerrilla leader strikes at the appropriate time.

There is actually a challenging moment that brings out the best in us; similarly also, the worst. It is how we attend to these challenges that defines our leadership potential.

Leaders have an important role during a crisis and that is to provide perspective. Crisis are unending and it is supposed to be characteristic of a great leader to know the exact tactic and method to alleviate the crisis at a given time.

First of all, in the face of a crisis, a leader should take a moment and figure out the problem. This is the first and most important step. A leader just does not face crisis immediately it happens. He goes back, thinks of the best strategy and acts.

Emmerson Mnangagwa described a great leader as one that strikes at an appropriate and well calculated time. A leader must never act promptly and hurriedly. He must provide direction and respond to situation in a timely fashion.

Acting hurriedly only makes people nervous. You can be quick; but don’t hurry. A great leader must also be ready to demonstrate control and manage expectations. When trouble sets in, you need to reassure your subordinates that it will be over soon and give them no reasons to doubt.

It falls under the jurisdiction of the leader to address and manage the size of the crisis at that given point in time. When things happen quickly, there is little or no control over it. A true leader would put himself into action and bring his people and resources to bear.

The extent of a leader is often established during a crisis. Leaders who can engage unswervingly, but still preserve their sense of perception, are the ones that will help the society survive.

“Ladies, the struggle for women in business is real, but in order to overcome and rise above, we need to change our understanding of what “proving ourselves” looks like. ” – Danielle Morgan

As a woman in business, it’s hard not to feel like I’m constantly having to prove myself to get ahead and go after what I want.

I used to think that meant hussle, bending over backwards for the people who signed my paycheck, and sacrificing time-off and balance.

But the only thing that got me was an unhealthy and unfulfilled life.

It also cost me the joy that was right in front of me because I was just too busy to notice.

Ladies, the struggle for women in business is real, but in order to overcome and rise above, we need to change our understanding of what “proving ourselves” looks like.

It starts with character, honesty, and integrity.
It starts with honoring our time, health, and values.

It starts with learning how to communicate our needs clearly, rather than apologizing for them.

It’s time to start living unapologetically so you can show up as your full self and step forward in confidence.

These are the women that will turn heads.

Leadership has no gender. What is important is who is competent.

Thanks to Danielle Morgan for educating women around the world to embrace excellent leadership qualities and positions with confidence.