Wednesday 28 November 2012

How Habits Shape You by Martin Udogie



I am reading, THE POWER OF HABIT: Why We Do What We Do And How To Change, by Charles Duhigg.



As a power forward for the Boston Celtics, Basket ball legend Larry Bird, was a 12-time NBA All-Star, voted Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times among several accolades. He was once asked to film a TV commercial in which he was supposed to mimic the act of missing a basket narrowly.



But the TV crew kept filming and filming and filming. Why? Because Larry Bird just couldn’t miss. His movement, consciousness, approach to the basket, etc had become accustomed to successfully shooting a basket. He couldn’t get himself to miss. Not missing had become a habit.



According to Aristotle, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”



Everyone is shaped by habits. There are good habits and bad habits. At the core of people of excellence are certain habits that define them. That they have cultivated over time.



According to the author, “Most of the choices we make each day may feel like they are the products of well-considered decision-making, but they are not. They are habits.



And habits have an enormous impact on our performance, and happiness. He says “There is nothing you can’t do if you get the habits right.”



But here is an example you may relate with better.



Serena Williams and her sister Venus visited Lagos recently. We received them at Ikoyi Club for a tennis coaching clinic for junior tennis players and learners.



The format was simple. Each young player would hit some balls with either sister until he or she misses and then make way for another learner.



This continued rather leisurely and with a lot of fun. Until a certain young player (he couldn’t have been more than 10 years of age) got into some kind of rally with Serena. Then the crowd started applauding the youngster’s return strokes.



Before you knew it, Serena had gotten serious. She took a few steps backward to create some court space for herself and started hitting some serious return strokes, until the young player inevitably, hit a wrong return (what is called an Unforced Error in tennis). But Serena forced the error!



My God. This was supposed to be fun, yet, Serena got serious.



Then I remembered her saying once that she hates to lose…in any game, whether in a Grand Slam final or at some coaching clinic in Ikoyi Club.



Not losing has become a habit for her!

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Martin Udogie is the Founder & Publisher "BottomLINE Newsletter".


What Leading With Vision Really Means by Erika Andersen



The essence of farsightedness in business is not simply envisioning a possible successful future--it's being able to articulate it in a way that’s both compelling and inclusive.



We are drawn to leaders who articulate a possible future in a way that speaks to us and includes us. Farsighted leaders use their clarity of vision and their articulation of a successful future to pull people out of fear or shortsightedness and into hopefulness and a sense of purpose.



People want leaders who look beyond today. They want to have the sense there is a master plan to carry them through whatever short-term trials and tribulations arise. (The recession! The crazy media landscape! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!) They look to the leader to articulate, in a compelling way, a clear and positive future state toward which they can direct their efforts. When leaders focus only on the current crisis or this quarter’s numbers, it seems to us that they’re more interested in maintain the status quo or protecting themselves than in creating a successful future. They are not seen as leaders.



People also want to see that the leader’s farsightedness is based on a deep sense of what’s necessary, right, and good for the business and the team rather than what’s simply expeditious, popular, or self-serving. We want to feel that our leaders’ “far-sight” is focused on the greater good, that their vision promotes the group and not just their own selfish interests. A truly farsighted leader envisions a possible future that responds to and resonates with people’s aspirations for their individual and collective success. When employees or potential employees hear about the good leader’s vision, their visceral response is, “Yes, I want to go there too.”



This is not to imply that the visionary leader simply goes for the easy win, then thing to which people will most easily commit. True visionaries often see possibilities where other see difficulty and dead-ends. Most people in the first decade of the twentieth century saw motorcars as a fad for the rich, a frivolous and uncertain fancy that would never replace the dependability of the horse. Henry Ford’s vision of a nation where every family would have an automobile seemed laughable, impossible, and even dangerous. Only the clarity of his vision and his consistency in moving toward it brought the support from others that he needed to make his vision a reality.



This brings up a critical point about farsightedness: the leader must not only articulate her vision; she must live it. It can’t be something she dusts off for quarterly staff meetings. People must witness the vision serving as the leader’s compass. She must use it as a screen for strategy and action. True farsightedness in a leader is both practical and aspirational.



A clear and compelling vision can drive extraordinary business results. It provides a focus for people’s decisions and actions, and it creates that feeling of “tribe” that most people find necessary and motivating.



This quality of leadership is especially important when the enterprise is a new one and the future is uncharted. One stunning example of this kind of farsightedness is how Steve Jobs operated at the start of Apple. When Jobs and Wozniak founded Apple Computers in 1976, the personal computer was still new and untested. Moreover, the idea that almost everyone would one day have a computer and that computers would be as accessible and easy-to-use as televisions or telephones seemed like craziness.



But then along came these two young men with exactly these ideas. And Jobs, especially, continued to articulate this possible future in a way that brought together capital, a workforce, and a marketing plan that ultimately led to the achievement of the future he envisioned thirty-five years ago.



The essence of farsightedness is not only envisioning a possible successful future but also articulate it in a way that’s both compelling and inclusive. Compelling means that it’s meaningful to those who hear it, that it’s attractive to them. Inclusive means they want to help make it happen and feel they can have an important part to play in moving toward it.



Clearly Steve Jobs was able (I encourage you to watch any of his company presentations on YouTube or at the apple.com Web site) to express his vision for the future in this way. In January 1984, when Jobs introduced the first Macintosh computer at Apple’s annual shareholders’ meeting, an attendee described the level of enthusiasm as “pandemonium.” As the first commercially successful small computer with a graphical user interface, the Macintosh represented, and still represents, the realization of a vision that was both compelling and inclusive.



How to be farsighted



You may be thinking, Okay, but how do I become more farsighted if that’s not one of my strengths? Fortunately, my colleagues and I have gotten clearer over the years on the specific behaviors that make up each of these leadership attributes.



We start with farsighted. When you deconstruct this element, these are the key behaviors of which it consists:



Leaders who are farsighted: 1. See possible futures that are good for the enterprise 2. Articulate their vision in a compelling and inclusive way 3. Model their vision 4. See past obstacles 5. Invite others to participate in the vision

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Excerpted from Leading So People Will Follow (Jossey-Bass; October 2012) by Erika Andersen. All rights reserved.



Erika Andersen is a nationally known leadership coach and the founder of Proteus International, a consulting, coaching and training firm focused uniquely on leader readiness. She is the author of Leading So People Will Follow (Jossey-Bass; October 2012).


Monday 26 November 2012

NO REGRETS: Lessons in Reform by Martin Udogie



I would have titled the book, NO REGRETS: Lessons in Reform. You’ll see why later.



I have just finished reading REFORMING THE UNREFORMABLE by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. A simple and straightforward book, it took me three days to read.



But for her timely “elevator pitch” to President Bush in the White House, Nigeria’s successful debt forgiveness campaign could have taken a different twist and turn, and not necessarily for the better.



What is an elevator pitch? Business Plan experts and private equity gurus always advise potential venture capital fund seekers to have an elevator pitch for their business start-ups. This is the very brief but persuasive story you will have to make should you per chance, run into a Bill Gates (or an Aliko Dangote) in an elevator ride to get him interested in your business idea, knowing that all you have will be seconds….



How did this play out in the White House visit? Now, we all know that President Bush is famous for clowning about. So one has to be sharp and alert, else, you might find yourself playing along with him.



It was May 5, 2005, and Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, as Finance Minister, accompanied President Obasanjo on an official visit to the White House. A key mission was to solicit President’s Bush’s support for Nigeria’s debt relief. Let’s quote from the book:



“President Obasanjo explained our desire for debt relief and presented the tremendous change Nigeria was undergoing in implementing difficult economic reforms. President Bush responded that Nigeria was an oil-rich country and that oil prices were high. Nigeria should be lending money to the United States, not asking for debt relief, he joked. It seemed that our request was about to be brushed aside. I was terrified that we were about to miss a unique opportunity. I broke protocol by jumping in and asking my president’s permission to explain this issue further for President Bush. He gave his permission, and I knew I had only a few seconds to make our case.”



And she did. What she said in those few seconds swayed President Bush. Again in her words: “These two points seemed to catch President Bush’s attention and interest, and he said we should send him a letter outlining the points I had just made.”



What were these two brief but profound points? Well, you have to read the book, or at the very least, buy the book. The “pitch” is on page 111.



The book has a lot of interesting and anecdotal facts and figures. But it is also spiced with enough drama to keep it engaging. Here are a few:



She once almost received a dirty slap from another female minister at a Cabinet meeting. And she did infact resign as Minister of Finance, after having just been sworn into office in July 2003. Why? Well, buy the book. It’s on pages 9 –11.



And yes, she loved the nick name, “Okonjo wahala”



I would have titled the book, “NO REGRETS: Lessons in Reform.”



There’s nothing wrong with Reforming the Unreformable as a title. But reminiscing in the concluding pages of the book, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala says:



“I won and lost friends along the way, and created trust, but also suffered betrayal. In the final analysis, I learned a lot about my country, and I have absolutely no regrets.”

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Martin Udogie is the founder & publisher BottomLINE Newsletter. He can be contacted through his primary email is udogie@yahoo.com


Saturday 10 November 2012

Leadership Branding For Small And Medium Enterprises By Benson Agoha



Come to think of it, we all survive by `selling something’, at least this is the case in every market economy, and I can’t think of many exchange environments where this does not take place. Pricing standards and convertibility issues aside, the marketability of most products, and the value you derive from their sale depends, to a large extent, on branding.



Branding helps positioning and emotional connection with your prospects. It enables the delivery of messages to your stakeholders, confirms your credibility and even motivates purchases in the mind of the onlooker. Branding assists easy decision making and enhances consumer loyalty. It is not just about your prospects but rather, it is about all stakeholders, being able to identify with, and be assured that, this `mark’ is able to solve their problems. An organisation needs its prospects as much as it needs its loyal customers.



`Name’ sells! is a common saying, but `name’ can only sell, when it has become a brand. Oftentimes, I find myself annoyed each time I log onto my twitter account only to discover that I have lost followers, even as I gain a few more. This is in spite of the fact that I sign in and tweet nearly every day. No organisation is happy to regularly lose clients even if they are gaining a few more.



When leadership is properly branded, it sales, not just the organisation, but its products. But to properly brand leadership, it has to be weighed against the competition. That is, against externalities, Like organisations that provide alternative solution programmes.



Leadership branding is the articulate and masterful presentation of the exceptional skills of management as an iconic unit. It is an assurance quality profile and mark, needed for any organisation that desires trust and to be taken seriously at the market place. Leadership branding is ensuring that the management acquires a reputation, known out there for its excellence and ability to solve customer – and investor - problems and deliver consistent qualitative and satisfying results.



Leadership branding for the small and medium enterprise takes the same procedure as the big organisation. The difference is in the amount of investment that will be required to pull it off. Every customer wants value for the money they are paying for the product or service and getting satisfied means they can learn to trust the organisation and the leadership.



To successfully brand your leadership as iconic, ensure that you define your aim and set your targets accordingly. Design and communicate understandable strategies for achieving that target, while acquiring qualified skills and talents, as well as dedicated human resources that can provide broad-based solution to clients’ requirements and needs. Institute a culture of excellence by which every member of the organisation must operate and build in contingency loops that can enable the introduction and attachment of new techniques and technologies without necessarily disrupting activities.



Management must also introduce continuing and broad-based assessment programme to ensure that staff are continually brought up to date with their skills. And as I always encourage my medium sized clients, develop and introduce an easy-to-recognise `mark’, an `icon’ that can be easily associated with,and seen, as the representative of the organisation. Ensure that this `Mark’, also sometimes called `Logo’, is not yet in use and that you are not infringing on a patented intellectual property. If desirable, make sure that the Mark is registered with the Intellectual Property Office and, continually evaluate the programme with a view to correcting slack points.



Iconic leadership brands presents the stakeholder with a mark that is recognisable and instantly trusted. Organisations that have successfully branded leadership insist that if their `Mark is not on it, the quality is not in it’, a claim that can only be made possible by the trust accruable from the consistent delivery of high quality services to their clients and investors.


Tuesday 6 November 2012

Why People Are Poor - They "Borrow" to "Save" by Martin Udogie





I’m reading Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, both of MIT, and perhaps the word’s leading academic authorities on poverty issues. They say only poor people will “borrow in order to save.”



Does this remind you of anything? It should. Some have said that using a low benchmark of $75 dollars for the 2013 Budget, creates a budget deficit which forces us to “borrow” while “saving” the excess from our crude oil sales.



Given the stature and pedigree of the authors, Poor Economics is likely to be an interesting book.



I am often asked how I choose the books I read. Well, here’s the secret….and not in any order:



1. Recommendations. Just like most people, I read books that come HIGHLY recommended. But I appreciate if the recommendation comes with a few reasons why I should read it. And of course, who is doing the recommendation. Poor Economics was recommended by Tayo. Same as my last book, Interventions by Kofi Annan (Fareed Zakaria). There are more in this category.



2. Authors. There are some authors that I read ANY book from them. Two of them are Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers, Blink, Tipping Point, What the Dog Saw), Jim Collins (Good to Great, Built to Last, How The Mighty Fall, etc). These are two authors that know how to use stories to grab and hold your attention. If you want to cultivate the habit of reading, then read ANY book by these two. Anytime you use stories to make your point (whether writing or speaking), you get AND hold people’s attention. And these two authors are experts in the use of this technique. John Maxwell belongs here as well.



Let me digress quickly by sharing a story….a true life story. A lady that runs an orphanage recently received a call to come for an 8-year-old child who had been previously adopted as a baby, but was now being returned by the “parent”.



I used the opportunity to relay a story told by my Priest. Two teenage girls went to register at a high school. The teacher was confused that two girls born three months apart (March and June) will say they are twins born of the same parents. They told the teacher that actually, one of them was adopted in the same hospital and around the same period that their mother had one of them. So, the teacher asked who among them was adopted. They didn’t know. They said their parents have never told them, and quite honestly, they don’t care.



Amazing parents, don’t you think? The Priest was giving a homily about being our brother’s keeper, seeing the image and likeness of God in fellow human beings, etc.



But remember what I said about story telling… in writing or speaking. Now back to how I choose the books I read.



3. Books written by famous people at the highest level of leadership in business or governance. Obama, Clinton, Bush, Blair, Mandela, Lee Kuan Yew, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice (great writer), John McCain, Kofi Annan, Steve Jobs, Jack Welch, Alan Greenspan, The Pope (Yes, I’m Catholic….but have also read books by Joel Osteen), Omon N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolo Kpolo, Oba Erediauwa, Oba of Benin. I have read books by all above. You’ll notice that these books tend to be either biographies or memoirs.



4. Titles. I’m sometimes also drawn to titles. I love Known and Unknown by Donald Rumsfeld, Smartest Guys in the Room, (about the collapse of Enron), Street Fighters (about the collapse of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers), Too Big To Fail (about US Government-administered bail out of the financial sector), etc.



However, I will not read ANY book that is printed in black ink and white paper. I’m allergic to them. But have you observed anyway, that all bestsellers are written in black ink and light brownish paper? That’s the standard these days.



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Martin Udogie is Founder & Publisher of BottomLINE Newsletter based in Nigeria.



Readers can contact him directly by email through: udogie@yahoo.com


Friday 2 November 2012

The Dilemma of Leading Stubborn Managers by Benson Agoha



Leading in a `stubborn environment’ can be debilitating and, leading stubborn managers can present a plate-full of dilemma to the leader. But if a task has to be done, it must be done. Leading is not just about inspiring others and guiding them through plain and rough terrain, to reach a desired end. It is about handling the challenges that arise as a result of the team working together to reach their goal. We have had situations of mutiny, revolt and disobedience confronting leaders but managing situations that threaten the smooth completion of a task can push a leader to the edge.



I have seen a quote that suggests that “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Unless this rhetoric was invented for the 20th century, I must insist that this no longer holds exactly true. But while a leader must not know, go or show the way, in “The Human Zoo”, Desmond Morris, insists that, on instruction, his subordinates or surrogates should be able to do so. The same goes for when a mutiny erupts among the ranks and file of the group. Here, a leader’s effectiveness, or that of his close loyal subordinates, is tested. The extent of obedience and execution of his directives highlights his leadership proficiency.



The difference between a leader in the military and his corporate counterpart, is in the method of handling mutiny and insubordination. In peace and normal times, it would appear that anyone can lead. Indeed, in enlightened environments with self-respecting colleagues anyone can play the role of a leader. It is during crisis and when faced with challenges, that this role is re-evaluated, and performance of the title holder, qualified. So that the question will no longer be `what makes a leader?’ But what makes a `good, charismatic, or great leader’?



Crises and adversity are potent tests, and determinants of a leader’s character and self-will. A leader faces a test of his might when challenged by a colleague, but when leading a group of enlightened managers with stubborn streaks, he faces a dilemma. This dilemma can even be worse, if the stubborn manager is a high achiever. It’s like having a fly perch on the most sensitive part of your skin. Some managers are stubborn and iconoclastic, testing the limits, challenging normalcy and walking tight ropes. Some are active Order getters, who work hard, laugh less and deliver astounding results but, just won’t play by the rule.







As I wrote this article, I deferred posting by one day to sample opinions of a small brain storming group in an interactive session. I asked, what will you do with such manager? One asked if the organisation has any policy and that he believed that the policy should sort such situations out. Another said the culture within the firm should be given a review. A third said an outright dismissal would be in order.



As can be inferred, the length of service of a leader is contingent upon his performance. Performance determines the level of satisfaction. So then why do stubborn managers win awards? And how will a leader handle a stubborn manager to perform to Award deserving levels? And, as a leader, how well do you know your subordinates?



The truth is that even high achieving, target breaking stubborn managers, need inspiration and no leader can inspire an individual he does not understand, nor can he motivate nor capably take measures that can reinforce positive behaviours from him. Understanding his subordinates enables the leader to lead them with satisfaction. Communicating with them either directly or through close subordinates is also very important. Effective communication enhances mutual understanding and helps the leader to discuss deviation from expectations – deviation from set norms, decline in productivity such as short-fall in set targets or even changes in behaviours. Communication helps followers understand expectations and how to relate acceptably with other members.



While leading stubborn managers sometimes presents a leader with a dilemma, understanding him well right from his early days in the organisation goes a long way to reducing its gravity and impact on the leaders personality.