Leadership: Why you should NEVER be `Satisfied' if you want to go the full lenght of the journey

by Benson Agoha | Management | @bensonagoha

Should Leadership and Subordinates be satisfied? The question of Satisfaction as an important attribute of leadership, remain debatable. Whereas employee satisfaction has  been deeply explored in order to keep them motivated, leadership satisfaction isn't.

In the majority of cases, leaders who aren't easily satisfied aren't very well loved and appreciated by their subordinates, yet it is that attribute that helps sustain the organisation and keep the employees on their jobs. The main question should be, whether leadership should even be satisfied at all?

Looking at large corporations, such as Apple and Google that have achieved huge success, the answer should be `no’ - their leaders are never satisfied. The reason is that the moment you are satisfied, you begin to stagnate your organisation. This is why some companies growth reverses very quickly, leading to sudden death.

Satisfaction is an end state – a level of realization that is `terminal`. For example, if you feel satisfied with a letter, you don't border reviewing it. However, if you conclude that you could only give it 90%, you would probably want to find out what else there is to add, to make it a hundred percent.

There is no organisation without people. Therefore, in examining the impact of satisfaction on organisations, one must look at its impact on the `individual leader'. It is the insatiable drive in the leader that enables him to keep setting goals that keep the organisational members aspiring. Without that `insatiability’ on the leader, the organisation begins to stagnate, dwindle and  become terminally ill – it will be a matter of time before it eventually dies.

When news emerged in January, 2015  that Apple had achieved $700bn valuation for the first time in history, some would have thought the next word expected from Tim Cooke, would have been about sustaining the achievements of the iPhone 6 range. Rather than do that, the CEO commissioned a research group in a secret location to work on their iCar vision - the new automobile industry in which one can consider Apple a late comer.

Only last December, Apple rolled out its own wireless money transfer services - effectively harnessing the technologies it packed into its newest iPhone 6 range.

Google's leadership is not much different either. If there is one thing Google's leaders don’t have in their dictionary, it is `satisfaction’. For a Company who’s mission statement on inception simply read “to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful,”  Google has gone from fulfilling that mission to diversifying into various complex areas previously unimagined. These include data organisation, archive and recovery; automobile, robotics, health, publishing, social media, telecommunications.  In fact there are so many areas that are hitherto unheard of. Some of these were achieved through new company formations, as well Mergers and Acquisitions. And Google is most certainly not satisfied yet.

Satisfaction is therefore, the bane of leadership - and no right thinking leader embraces it. The moment you are `satisfied’, it’s fair to say you have lost the plot. It is this attribute in leadership that gives the organisation that `going concern’ status that accountants use to different a specific project from one that is expected to run continuously.

If you are running a company and you are not aiming to expand, you aren't really a good leader. And expansion maybe through new product introductions, introduction of existing products into new markets, introduction of new marketing strategies to increase existing market share, or expansion - by means of mergers and acquisitions, to increase both the size and or product portfolio of the company.

If `controlled dissatisfaction’ is good for the continual survival of a company, it can syllogistically represent the secret to longevity. One can argue that individuals who continually set targets, towards which they aspire, actually live longer. The reason is that they are the ones who have reason to look forward to living. In this case, an individual is encouraged to embrace controlled-dissatisfaction because it represents an innate trigger that alerts his soul and senses to the reason to wake up. It tells you that you still have unfinished business on earth and that its time to start making further efforts towards their realization.

The more humane ones objective, the better it will be for him/her. This is because positive thought forms cluster around the individual and support, as well as justify his continual existence on earth.

Perhaps, it is important, at this stage, to point out that there is a difference between `greed’ and `controlled dis-satisfaction’. 

Whereas `greed’ is an uncontrollable and insatiable voracity that drags with it a long string of issues, including offences, deprivation and theft, `controlled-dissatisfaction’ is an ambitious attitude that recognizes the right of others to co-exist and co-share from a mutual pool, in an acceptable, self-respectable display.

Kevin Spacey, recently said that `content’ is the worst kind of word and that satisfied and happy people are `boring’. I think he is right.

Don’t ever be satisfied; It is the bane of leadership!

Driverless Car Trials: Are Drivers Ready for the implications? - Part One

by Benson Agoha | Woolwich | @bensonagoha

As driverless car trials got under way in the UK, the Royal Borough of Greenwich being one of the test locations approved by the government, questions to which answers are being saught include whether drivers are ready for the implications of what might be a new technological revolution.  In what other ways will this impact on local business?

Prototype of a Self-driving car as trials begin in Royal Greenwich on Wednesday, February 11, 2015.
(Photo Credit: Guardian)

Think of the arrival of Uber app.  It met with stiff resistance from the local Black Cab drivers who promptly blocked access city routes in protest, fearing that Uber represented a verital threat to their business.  Thankfully, the smartphone for taxi sharing survived the resistance to remain in operation in Britain.

In a recent conversation, with a trio of city workers, we ruminated whether Uber should survive or be stopped.  As usual after considering the arguments of both sides, no decisive stance was taken and we said good night with a smile.

Uber is an app that impacts on people in different ways and only experience enables you appreciate or criticise.  But look at the experience of this author.

Stranded in Dartford (anyone who knows Dartford will know what I mean, although rumour has it that plans are  afoot to change things in the Kent town) where there is no known hotel or bnb or even a 24hr public restaurant or club, that can keep you going till the trains start in the morning, we had no choice and no hope.  We had no money, the purse having been lost.

But we had our smart phones and one of us had used Uber before. Getting service in Dartford was the next challenge, but in the end, there was a flicker and the app was used to hail a taxi.  It responded shortly that one was on its way and wold be with us in 13 minutes. We waited.

In between our wait, numerous station (Black Cab) taxis approached.  They would take us to London if we have MONEY. We had no money. Ok, they would take us IF we had MONEY at HOME.  There was no such assurance.  So, they did not take us.

Uber steps in at times like this, when the Black Cab or any other taxi would not be available. And one did arrive as the app said, took us as expected, and explained he was on his way to somewhere else when, fiddling with his Uber phone, he saw our request.

When he dropped us off, he did not wait for money.  He simply drove off. Job done, it would be taken from the account and the bill is settled.

Those who criticize Uber, would need to experience it to continue. And although some drivers are trying to attract public discredit, it seems that Uber's success is testament to it's ability to serve it's nitch market.

Uber has announced plans to invest in its own drivers car trials, almost setting it on collision cause with Google, whose trials have reached advanced stage.  But one thing that is even more important to the local economy is driverless cars potential to create a whole new industry.

Analysts believe that one of the positive effects of the arrival of Driverless cars on our shores, is that Smartphone car app sales will speed up through 2020.

The question is, are fears about self-driving cars subsiding as more emerge? Well according to e-Marketer, based on November 2014 GfK polling, the answer is yes, because two-thirds of consumers, with drivers licenses polled worldwide said self-driving cars were appealing.

Unfortunately, Britain was not among the countries polled.  But as you would see from the following graph, 71% of people in the age range of 16-24 thought it was appealing. The highest or most optimistic (74%) were people in the age bracket of 25-34.

Just look at it closely: older millennials, 25- to 34-year-olds, were most interested in self-driving cars, with nearly three-quarters finding the concept appealing. Still impressive, over seven in 10 from the 16-to-24 and 35-to-44 age groups viewed self-driving cars appealing, as did almost two-thirds of 44-to-54-year-old licensed drivers and even half of 55- to 64-year-olds. The 65-and-older group was the only bracket where the majority weren't interested.

Simply put the active population love self-driving or driverless cars.  But it does not end there, because love and practicality are two different things.  One thing is certain though.  Driverless cars on our roads may hold implications, similar to light overhead flying crafts, as our part two of this will show.

To be continued...

The Sniper and the celebrated scores of his Rifle

Opinion | by Benson Agoha | London

The activities of elite forces during their various missions around the world are usually not among dishes served for mass consumption.  Indeed they are often meals `cooked’ for an exclusive club of High Net-Worth Individuals (HNWI).

Paradoxically, in recent days, thanks to Holy Wood and the exception of one divergent elite soldier’s book, titled `The American Sniper', written by a former Navy SEAL named Chris Kyle, the American Sniper, now a movie celebrating his exploits as a sniper, is still surging at the box office across the pond.

It prompted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, to declare Feb. 2 `Chris Kyle Day' in the author’s home state of Texas.

Chris Kyle reportedly scored 160 direct hits (or kills) in his various missions – making him the most lethal sniper in American history.  Kyle’s recognition and the performance of the movie featuring Bradley Cooper (below) in cinemas has forced out another revelations – that the worlds most lethal sniper is actually a Brit. How awesome! Never mind `kill' isn't a word we like to hear under normal circumstances.

Chris Kyle's book may be surging at the box - good for the cinema and movie bosses - but the world's most lethal Sniper record is still resident on this side of the pond. And, according to an Evening Standard report, the Royal Marine elite soldier scored a huge 173, watch it,  "confirmed" hits (or kills) and we are not talking of chickens or foxes.

Put it into perspective, this is a shocking revelation of an otherwise priveleged information, from only two friendly sources. And we have not yet heard of the record held by the Russians, or the Germans, the French, the Nigerians, Chinese and more, nor are we ever likely to.

Neither do we care about the scores (kills) from countries and groups known for their irreverent targetting and wastage of prescious and priceless human lives.

Still if our minds are allowed to wander or venture to estimate a global score, one may begin to worry that the world's estimated population of 7billion people may actually not be correct.

Isn't it amazing how, words, hitherto regarded with revulsion, gradually acquires, in the first instance an element of respect, and then general acceptance - often made possible by advances in technology.

Consider the word `hacker' - a disdainful word that no one dared resonate or identify with, but which have now acquired a high degree of respect and general acceptability. So much so that global enterprises now consider is necessary to put a "hacker" on their payroll.  Many hackers now proudly describe how "it was necessary to hack a software, in other get an disturbing problem solved.

Of course, such problems have to have a huge impact on the public. As for the MNC's, like Google, that appoint hackers, one begin to undestand why.  It takes a thief to catch a thief.  So invariably, instead of allowing a thief to wreak harvock to your expensive establishment, you put another thief on your payroll to monitor and thwart theif efforts - hopefully, even before they strike.

What a paradox but let's ride the progressive wave of human existence.

I Have A Dream - May I Serve You?

Asks Lucira Jane Nebelung | Connecticut

"We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization":

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have a dream that the Light that We Are shines brightly in Life illuminating and dissolving all darkness. Imagine a world where decisions and actions throughout our own lives and in business, government, education, and religion are made for the dignity, mutual benefit and well-being of all.

There is only one law to enact - The Universal Law Of Love: We are awakening and remembering our future: Our origin is our destiny. It doesn't matter what role you have, how you got there, or the symbols of status and power you possess, if you aren't Leading as Love, you are simply not a Leader, moving us forward into our greatest potential and possibilities of the future. You are managing within the prevailing patriarchal mindset and holding us back by perpetuating the past. One must Lead ones' own Life as the Love of the Sovereign Self before one can Lead others.

Our greatest Influence, Power and Impact is when we move with and as the Sovereign Self within, in active co-creation with Life, rather than posturing, manipulating or dominating with the mind's fixated images, perspectives or agendas of the patriarchal mindset. With Leading as Love, these roles and labels lose meaning and emphasis. With Leading as Love, we see and embrace ourselves and all others as human beings, engaging with one another without the limitations and expectations of roles and labels. With Leading as Love, rules and beliefs of the patriarchal mindset are superseded by the wisdom and passion of the Sovereign Self.

Leading as Love is a way of Being for both individuals and organizations, showing us where we are congruent and attuned to Life and where we are out of step. It is not "self-help" for something that needs "fixing" or "healing" or to feel good about ones' self. It is not a "how to", a prescription for doing or achieving something. Leading as Love is a foundation for exploring, discovering and expanding who You Are as Love, in your unique relationships with others and Purpose and Contribution to Life.

BEing Love: Love Serves Life Life Serves Love: Through one's Centerpoint for Being, Leading as Love reveals our integrity, the integrated wholeness that You Are that emerges as Light in Life. The Centerpoint for Being reveals our Purpose, illuminates our Path and ignites and fuels our Passion. The Centerpoint for Being quiets the mind, invites and allows us to open and yield, to connect with our essence, the Sovereign Self; our true Power emerges and we Lead as Love.

Leading as Love allows us to move beyond the patriarchal mindset and its appearances, judgments and needs for power and control, security and support, status and approval into a deeper experience of Life: One of Truth and Freedom, of Meaning, Purpose and Fulfillment. Leading as Love is the embodiment of the higher order of Love of the Sovereign Self in social consciousness.

One cannot feed the ego's fixations and fears and nurture the Love of the Sovereign Self at the same time. Leading as Love does not support the ego's images, "doing" and busyness within the structures and rules of the patriarchal mindset. Leading as Love is a Call to Being, to Serve the uniqueness and expansion of the Sovereign Self in its contribution to Life in a way that acknowledges, balances and integrates with the personality, one's unique experience and story.

Leading as Love is the Freedom to create in the moment unencumbered by the patterns of the past; to make decisions and take action that generates a future that Serves the highest good and well-being of the Sovereign Self of all. As we become more collectively centered, personal definition and acquisition take on lesser meaning.

The Significance of Service:  Leading as Love is for individuals and organizations that value the growth and evolution of human consciousness as Love. There are no rules; each Path is unique and sacred. There are two commitments as active priorities in each moment:

• Willing to cultivate self-awareness, to look at oneself deeply in the mirror of Life with the Truth and Freedom of the Sovereign Self.
• Willing to drop judgments of oneself or of anyone or anything else.

Leading as Love is a virtual community that generates the Power of Light, the movement of Love, in Life. As you illuminate your own Light by Leading as Love, like a candle you illuminate the Light of many others. As you commit, I can promise that all aspects of your Life will take on broader and deeper meaning, purpose and fulfilment.

The most important and challenging relationship we will ever have is with our Sovereign Self. We are here in Life to enact the Love of our Sovereign Self. Service and Servant Leadership mean Serving the Sovereign Self, our own and all others. It is "simple", not "easy."

Perhaps This Is Your Dream As Well: If this feels "right", piques your interest, draws you in, or excites you, perhaps it is your Sovereign Self Calling you forward as a step in your own Path of growth and evolution. Or you may feel the impulse to share with another. Just say, "Yes!"

I don't know the hows or whys for you, you do. They are within you. Leading as Love initiates and opens the connection to and process of discovery of your Sovereign Self. The Fulfilment of the Love, Truth and Freedom of your Sovereign Self awaits your reply.

I am here solely to Serve the Sovereign Self to Lead as Love. May I Serve You? 

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* Lucira Jane Nebelung, Founder & Principal of "Leading as Love", is a faculty member at The Graduate Institute. USA. She writes from Connecticut.