Me, McKinsey & Africa Exciting Jobs Outlook by Martin Udogie

“On a typical day, how many vehicles are on the streets in Lagos?”

The year was 1998, and I was in the Sandton, Johannesburg, South African office of world’s No 1 strategy consulting firm, McKinsey Inc. After a series of phone interviews, I was invited, on an all expenses paid trip to South Africa, for the final rounds of a job interview.

I was a senior consultant in the strategy unit of Andersen Consulting (today Accenture), and this was the height of my consulting career.

And I had prepared long and hard for this final interview. I read case interviews, revised some marketing and business books, and studied materials about McKinsey.

Yet, this question, from one of my interviewers, completely blind-sided me.

To cut long story short, I didn’t get the job.

But that question set me on a journey, a wild-goose chase. On a quest for an answer to a question that I would come to understand many years later, did not have a right or wrong answer.

But the journey (yes, still on it), more than the answer, or any answer, has been amazing.

There are many such questions that test your comfort with ambiguity and complexity. Test you ability to structure an unstructured issue and come up with a convincing logic to some ballpark figure.

Examples: How many text messages are sent in Lagos on a typical day? How many TV sets are in Lagos (forget mobile phones)? How many billboards are in Lagos? How many chickens are consumed in Lagos every week? Etc.

ENOUGH of me and McKinsey.

McKinsey Inc has released a report about the jobs outlook for Africa by 2020. They project that over 70 million new jobs well be created in Africa in the next seven years. And that by the mid 2030s, Africa will have the world’s largest workforce.

What is the implication of this for Nigeria? For your organisation, profession, etc? And for you and other African professionals.

My Guest on Business Hour this Saturday, June 22, is McKinsey co-Head for Africa Organisational Practice, Dr. Boris Ewenstein.

Date: Saturday, June 22, 2013.

Time: 12 Noon (11am GMT).

To listen Online, log on to www.radionigeriaonline.com

Warm regards.

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Business Hour with Martin Udogie is broadcast on the network service of Radio Nigeria, every Saturday, at 12 Noon.

AN INVITATION TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET - (PART FOUR) by LUCIRA JANE NEBELUNG

All it takes is relaxed openness, a "yes" without a "no." I am so grateful. Life is our teacher (informs); we educate (call forth) ourselves. We are midwives. The love inside is our guru. Every moment, every day. Every person, place and thing is there for us to choose to experience love. Love is not a feeling. Love is the alignment, the conscious participation with life and our growth and evolution.

Love is the spaciousness that is full of possibility; unconditional love is what is present when we drop the mind's conditioning.

Here is something to contemplate. It is we who give "God" conscious expression and the experience of life in physical form. It is we who give "God" purpose and meaning. It is we who give "God" an opportunity for relationship and contribution. It is we who give "God" the experience of growth and evolution. It is we who give "God" the opportunity to experience love or not by our choices.

The lynchpin is our primary belief about our relationship to life, to love, to "God." It carries with it a primary fear. My fear is shame and humiliation of being a "phony", a hypocrite. It also shows us our greatest expression of self-love. Mine is humility which means living, speaking only truth.

Self-love is the commitment to life, not to a particular practice or an experience. There is nothing to "fix" or "heal." The commitment is a willingness to take responsibility for the life we have created. What ways are you contributing to what you are complaining about? Relax into your perceptions, the insights will come. The answers are always within as to what we are projecting. Truth, understanding, wisdom, deep knowing are of the heart that "sees" all, beyond the "facts" of the five senses or cognitive analysis. In this way, we are responsive; active receptivity as a conduit of love.

The choice in each moment is "yes" or "no" to love, self-love. Self-love is being wide open to life - all of it. Life obliges us to die to the old and rebirth ourselves over and over again. This is why I treasure seeing the turkey vultures around our house; they are a constant reminder of rebirth when we soar with the unseen currents of life.

Alexander's mother died peacefully the week before Easter. It came to me that at a very deep level we don't grieve death; we grieve that they didn't consciously live their totality of being.

Universal Leadership, Leading as Love, is self-love, integrated wholeness of personal leadership and authority that enables collective leadership to actively co-create a thriving life for all. Universal Leadership serves that part of you that is a radiant, eternal expression of source, the love of spirit that is the core of your being. To co-create we must be fully present in the now as loving awareness, relaxed openness. No planning. No goals. No expectations. No needs or wants. Life unfolds moment by moment. Universal Leadership allows us to go beyond what we believe is possible. Only two things to remember: self-love and it's all a mirror.

There are no frameworks, structures, concepts, steps, striving for self-love; it is an open-minded and open-hearted process of exploration and discovery of what life is reflecting back to us. A "marker" - not goal - is a place of neutrality, equanimity in the experience of life as it unfolds, where the only desire and choice is to be present as love. Without spirit - the infinite loving awareness that we are - we cease to exist.

I stand for compassionate truth. I am here to call forth and witness the conscious re-emergence of spirit in matter, merging the sacred with the secular. I am here to reflect your radiance and to approach everything from the perspective of self-love for you personally and organizationally as leaders. I am here to walk with you in a process of mutual self-discovery as you midwife your remembrance that you are infinite loving awareness, the full expression of your totality of being.

We are the heroes of our story. Discover, embrace and be the greatest expression of yourself. Put your attention, your love, on the truth of who you are and the rest will take care of itself. Self-love is all we ever really seek.

Here in the United States this weekend we are celebrating Memorial Day. No matter where we are, let us all celebrate by committing to fully remember and live who we are - the relaxed stillness of loving awareness expressing freedom, peace, joy, and wisdom.

The divine in me honors the divine in you!

Namasté!

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Lucira Jane Nebelung is a Faculty member of the Center for Leadership Studies, The Graduate Institute, and Founder & Principal of "Leading as Love". She wrote in from Norwich, Connecticut Area.

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Articles for publication must have full contact details, including name, address and telephone number of sender and sent by email to: onlinewoolwich@yahoo.co.uk.

AN INVITATION TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET – (PART THREE) by LUCIRA JANE NEBELUNG

* Continued from last week.

Self-love is all about our relationship with our spirit, our soul, our true nature, our essence. Self-love is the giving of our soul, essence, spirit to life. Self-love is the acknowledgement and acceptance of our innate divinity and its purpose to create, grow and evolve. Self-love is true empowerment and engagement that allows our soul's full and complete expression. Self-love is an open heart and mind that allows love to move us and move through us. Self-love is integrated wholeness, the unity, the totality of being as body, mind, heart, and soul; actions, thoughts,feelings, and spirit. Each aspect of being, is meant to be lived to the fullest.

Self-love is the remembrance of who we are. Self-love is being in alignment and harmony with our true nature. Self-love is the love of love.

"Loving" only our body and mind, definitions of ourselves and what we have accumulated is not self-love. Our masks, roles, beliefs are incomplete leading to self-serving self-interest, arrogance, narcissism, pride, and vanity. All of our labels, definitions and names limit and cut us off to the full experience and expression of life as love.

Self-love and mastery is a never-ending evolutionary process. Striving for mastery as a goal is fruitless, for love is ever renewing and rebirthing itself and expanding into more.

Instead of allowing love to be our life, we try to "control" our spirit's expression within the context of what we think life should be. Open your heart and mind and gift your presence in life to spirit as a conduit of love. There are no rituals, rules or requirements other than to relax into the totality of being.

Don't want to give up "control" of your life? Look again. How much "control" do we really have when our actions are driven by conditioned beliefs or personal stories outside of awareness? What is the source of your discontent? What subconscious stories do you tell yourself day-in and day-out? The pain we all feel (and avoid) is that of separation, the belief that we are somehow "unlovable." Our stories are not truth; they are an illusion, we made them up. We can change them at any time. When all the "stuff" that we have taken on as our identity dissolves, what's left is love - spirit - to shine through our human form.

Coming out of the closet is coming out of the dark, illuminating that which hides the truth. Coming out of the closet into the fullness of who we are requires no announce-ment or pronouncement, just open the door. Do you love yourself enough to choose unity of being, integrated wholeness for your life? Are you willing to break through without breaking down?

We keep focusing with good intentions, to "fix" what we see as "wrong" with the world around us. We fail to appreciate that it is a projection and reflection of that which is within, our lack of self-love. When we focus on the relationship within, all else will fall into place. World change is the ultimate result of self-love.

The Answer to `How’?, Is `Yes'.

If you are asking "how", the answer is "yes." "How" is looking for a structure or framework and there is none. Asking "how" is frequently an expression of ambivalence, not being clear of what we really want and are willing to let go of. Each of us is unique, our lives are unique. Life unfolds as life unfolds, reflecting how much "stuff" that is piled on our spirit, our inner core of love.

Life reflects a confluence of all our thoughts and emotions and actions that have gone before. The commitment is to attune and align our body and mind, actions and thoughts, with our soul and heart and allow love to lead the way. The commitment is to be present as loving awareness. It is loving awareness that brings the capacity to transform, allows us to see what we most need to see about ourselves. Life is the mirror that is our guide. Everything in life is a metaphor or symbol of our unity and our perceived separation.

Life is about loving who we truly are. Life gives us what we need to grow and evolve, not what we think we want. Nothing else matters. Get this down and we are home free. Truth or consequences. Love or fear. That's all there ever is. We get to choose.

The divine in me honors the divine in you!

Namasté!

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Lucira Jane Nebelung is a Faculty member of the Center for Leadership Studies, The Graduate Institute, and Founder & Principal of "Leading as Love". She wrote in from Norwich, Connecticut Area.

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Articles for publication must have full contact details, including name, address and telephone number of sender and sent by email to: onlinewoolwich@yahoo.co.uk.

KEY LEADERSHIP TRAIT - BECOMING LION-LIKE by Martin Udogie

Buried somewhere in every book is a treasure. Those who believe this, read with such a purpose in mind.

THOU SHALL PROSPER by Jewish Rabbi Daniel Lapin doesn’t disappoint in this regard. It gives a powerful leadership trait that goes as follows:

“Appearance is so important to great leadership. Have you ever wondered why popular Western culture depicts the lion as the king of the animals? The lion is neither the strongest nor the largest animal. Among animals, the lion neither lives the longest nor possess the largest brain.

But the lions are more economical in movement than any other large animal. Even when exploding into action to pursue and kill a prey, the lion’s body seems to flow smoothly with no unnecessary movement. You would have to be fortunate even to see a lion in motion.

Most of the time, he will lie alert but almost motionless.

In contrast, the elephant seems always to be eating, and he constantly flaps his ears or waves his trunk. So do most other animals. The lion’s demeanour is regal because of his appearing to have total control over his body. That is impressive.

Greatness in others is shown in part, by their careful deliberate movements that reveal an underlying control of themselves.

So, stop fidgeting. Are you in a meeting? Stop playing with the pencil. Don’t cross and then uncross your legs every five minutes. Place your feet on the floor. Find a comfortable place for your hands and keep them there. Talk when you must, sit as stationary as possible, and listen.

Above all, avoid constant movement, and when you do move, make it for a good reason.

Be lion-like.

Warm regards.

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Martin Udogie: Publisher, Radio Host, Resource Person and Trainer is on LinkedIn.

AN INVITATION TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET (PART TWO) by LUCIRA JANE NEBELUNG

* Continued from last week.

.......

Fear and judgment lock belief into place to replay over and over until we look deeply and choose love. I tried to make Leading as Love "fit" with the prevailing paradigm; it just never would or could. The majority of our organizational and societal practices perpetuate the deception that we are separate from our spiritual nature of love. It could be said that deception is the foundation of our social interactions. The truth is we are connected to source and all that is; love is the inherent core of our being. Disowning this wreaks the chaos, melodrama and overwhelm that we experience.

The physical (external) is not the foundation for life, the spiritual is. It is the core of our being. Spirit is our "higher" intelligence, the loving awareness within, the witness to our experience. Next comes the emotional (heart), then the mental which all show up in the physical. We get caught up in the physical (material)and mental (thought) and ignore or suppress the emotional and spiritual and literally have lives half-lived. We have nothing to "give up" other than the stories we tell ourselves; it's about bringing balance and integration to all aspects of our being: spirit, emotions, thoughts, and actions.

A couple of summers ago I experienced chronic foot pain, along with knee and back pain (remember the song, "the foot bone is connected to the ankle bone"...?). I was anxious that I would have to give up my power walks in the Oswegatchie Hills with my beloved golden-doodle, Moriah. This is my regular exercise that I use to maintain my weight loss. I went to an orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine. He essentially dismissed me saying it was arthritis and to live with it...and keep walking. Didn't matter that my feet hurt. A lot.

A friend's mother recommended her podiatrist. He diagnosed collapsed arches (exacerbating the arthritis that I do have). Six hours after I started wearing my custom orthotics, I was in the ER with appendicitis. Coincidence? Our feet represent our grounding and foundation in this world and they enable us to move forward. The appendix is viewed as an evolutionary vestige and no longer needed. Wake-up message from my body: Shed the old and establish my spiritual foundation for being in this world.

My podiatrist thought I was kidding and then "blamed" my appendectomy on the arch supports. For a new foundation, it was out with the old. This was 18 months ago. I continued to fail to see the message about deception reflected in my work/financial situation. It took a "world stage" event for me to see what was inside all along. Looking directly at the blind spot, the illusion dissolved its hold on my life. The game, the illusion was over. And life offered a miracle to meet my financial obligations - taking a lump-sum pension pay-out.

Over the past several years, not contributing in a meaningful way with others and the ending of several friendships has been painful for me. I have come to appreciate that my real "work" throughout this time was witnessing my process, midwifing my own rebirth, and embracing who I Am in order to truly and fully engage with the world. It's been a priceless experience. I am deeply, deeply blessed and grateful that Alexander has stood by me (with considerable, justifiable frustration) during this time.

Outside of our personal experiences, the world is mirroring for all of us that our choice to cut off from spirit and love - fear-based living - is no longer viable or sustainable. It's breaking down, corrupt, bankrupt, blowing itself up, collapsing.

The winds of change are roaring to make way for the new. How many of us feel we are in "pressure cookers" ready to explode? I find this world stage fascinating, not frightening, to watch: We are witnessing our own internal relationships with our true nature play out in life as a mirror.

Every experience is a metaphor of our relationship with our divine nature. Every experience is love calling us home, like a treasure hunt. Our challenge is to avoid nothing. Our challenge is to meet life on life's terms in the raw experience of it all.

One last story. A number of years ago, I was on the train to NYC using the time to prepare to meet with a potential client. I was thinking what, in my past experience, would bolster my "credentials" to take on the engagement. I "heard" just be present as love. So, I put my notes away and relaxed for the rest of the trip. The meeting was an effortless success and this practice has become how I consistently prepare for any client engagement.

Several years ago, I used this practice and received feedback that a highly positioned client called me a "lightweight." At the time I was embarrassed and devastated by the perceived "insult." This is when I started to withdraw. In hindsight, it was great that the client reflected the real me that showed up. On death, the ancient Egyptians believed that one's heart is weighed. If the heart had nothing weighing it down, it was as light as a feather and the deceased was allowed to pass into the afterlife. I now appreciate that by being present as love I mirror clients' heart and soul to them; this is my gift. Our lack of self-love blinds us to our own light being reflected.

The divine in me honors the divine in you!

Namasté!

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Lucira Jane Nebelung is a Faculty member of the Center for Leadership Studies, The Graduate Institute, and Founder & Principal of "Leading as Love". She wrote in from Norwich, Connecticut Area.

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Articles for publication must have full contact details, including name, address and telephone number of sender and sent by email to: onlinewoolwich@yahoo.co.uk.