OPPRESSION OF THE NIGERIAN PEOPLES: THE COMPLICITY OF THE CHURCH
No nation can long endure or be prosperous without morality in the people. The loss of principles and morals is the greatest threat to a people and will cause its fall faster than any enemy force can.
Therefore I say, the church is responsible for the condition of the Nigerian state. I say this not just from a theological view point for the scripture says we are the salt of the earth, but also from a practical understanding of oppression and the liberating of nations.
The church is the most powerful institution for the building of virtue and character in peoples of the world. Virtue and character is the key to free, prosperous and progressive nations. Where there are virtuous people oppression cannot thrive. A virtuous nation of 150 million people cannot be taken hostage by 4 wicked and corrupt individuals. We are where we are because of the coldness in our pulpits, because the church has failed to deliver its mandate. I
History has shown that virtue and character in a people is the basis of happiness in a society and is absolutely necessary for a state to long remain free. As human nature is corrupted, the foundations for freedom are easily destroyed; rebuilding these foundations is the primary purpose of the church in a nation and for this God will hold every Christian leader accountable.
In a nation where there is virtue and morals; the people will have concern for the common good above their own self interest; they will vigorously participate in local, regional and national government, and will seek to correct wrong conduct in public officials and if necessary, they will risk their life, fortune and honor for their country.
In a virtuous nation, the people will not live in fear of civil government. They will be vigilant and diligent to work to establish a free nation and then also to maintain it and bequeath same to their children. A people of character cannot be enslaved by a few individuals, they will rather die fighting to defend their honor, their consciences cannot be bought, and their rights cannot be alienated. While decades of oppression has de-energized and demoralized the Nigerian people, the church has God’s mandate to restore their dignity and build virtue by God’s power and grace.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The health of Nigerian banks and your financial security
There has been stories in the press lately and rumors in the grape vine about the insolvency of most of the nigerian banks. Surely, a strong banking system that engenders trust and confidence in market players is critical to economic growth and development . However, without transparency there can be no trust. Several questions beg for answers: how much toxic assets are on the books of nigerian banks; can we rely on their reports to determine theis health? Does the CBN have the infrastructure and political will to ensure transparency? Is there collusion between CBN and the banks?
I will be discussing these issues and more on my blog- oluomojuyigbe@blogspot.com next week. Check in and leave a comment. For now we can only guess which bank is solvent. I have made my own conjecture, I advise you do the same or better still consider using the piggy bank!
I will be discussing these issues and more on my blog- oluomojuyigbe@blogspot.com next week. Check in and leave a comment. For now we can only guess which bank is solvent. I have made my own conjecture, I advise you do the same or better still consider using the piggy bank!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Everything does not rise and fall on leadership!
Everything does not rise and fall on leadership! In a team it does not. Does that mean John Maxwell was wrong; you can decide for yourself after reading this piece. In a football team, the team wins or loses together, regardless of the individual contribution of the players including the captain. The attack cannot blame the defense for letting in goals as the defense can counter by accusing the attack of not scoring enough goals. Individual accountability is critical in teams but one of the essential characteristics of teams which separate it from other work groups which are erroneously called teams (for example a task force) is the principle of mutual responsibility and accountability.
My definitions for two terms, which are important to understand in people management is the key to grasping this concept. First, I define a team as a small group of people (usually fewer than 20) working together on a shared purpose with both individual and mutual responsibility: using the synergy of their individual resources which produces a better performance than the sum of their individual efforts. Second, I define leadership as a set of behaviors (not position or charisma) which facilitate the achievement of a shared purpose within the group.
Right away you can understand that it is possible to practice leadership behaviors without being a leader for the purpose of achieving the group’s shared purpose. That is, it is possible to lead from the top, bottom or middle. A lot of times I have observed someone apart from the leader lead a team effectively by practicing such behaviors as: taking responsibility; thinking outside the box; modeling performance and facilitating the group’s social dynamics while the ‘leader’ looks on feeling good to be in a position. A lot of teams do not achieve their set performance goals simply because of the very notion that everything rises and falls on leadership which causes team members to think certain behaviors such as initiating or creating new ideas, facilitating team work values and making decisions are the exclusive responsibility of the man at the top.
Today in the workplace and in other organizations where people have to work together, many feel not responsible, confused and a lot of times without the capacity to engage for the benefit of the group not knowing exactly when they will be seen as being presumptuous and infringing on the top dog’s turf. The concept of everything rising and falling on leadership further makes it comfortable for team members to do just enough to keep them on the team but never taking ownership, accountability and hence leadership for the team’s performance.
Understanding that in teams everything rises and falls on the team causes a definite paradigm shift in the way team members approach the group’s tasks. It destroys the need to play politics and definitely nips sabotage in the bud in the heart of those who do not agree with the leaders. It sounds absurd as to think of a defender scoring an own goal so as to spite his captain or a goal keeper not jumping high enough and letting a goal in because he had an argument with the team’s captain. As absurd as this sound this is what sometimes ensues in work teams that believe everything rises and falls on leadership. It also make the leaders prone to not sharing praise around the team as well as believing they must be responsible absolutely for the team’s success which further alienates other team members to the detriment of the teams performance.
Does this mean a leader is not needed on a team and what is the role of individual accountability you may be asking? One of the most important roles of the team leader is team selection and making sure every member of the team is pulling their weight in performing the tasks. Since performance depends on the individual contributions and the synergistic sum of it, the strength of the team depends on the strength of the weakest link in the chain and usually, since the team leader is the first link in the chain it becomes her role to get the right people on the team. One of the very important criterions among many in selecting team members is the individual’s unreserved belief in the teams’ purpose as it determines their commitment. A lot of teams don’t deliver, with the blame coming on the leader because people on the team do not share in the group’s purpose.
If ten of us are in a locked room where a fire incident happens and I get up to try and break down the door to get out, how much leadership do I need to exhibit to get the other people in the room to join me and put in their best efforts to break the door? You see, the principle of shared purpose is the most critical in a team’s performance. Most leaders use imperative communication to bring the best out of their teams using words like “we must” “we have to” “you should”. They see their team members as people who need to be coerced and shoved into positions. Of course they will get the blame and glory for the outcome of the group’s effort hence their need to strongly communicate and emphasize the need to focus on the team’s goals.
However if there is shared purpose, the leader understands that all members of the team are committed to the cause, the leader’s role becomes that of facilitation. Once the leader realizes that the people have performance potential in them it becomes a matter of just drawing it out. Now this is a very critical thought because usually there are two kinds of leaders. The one who does not believe in the potential or commitment of the team and the one who does and just needs to ensure the team has the resources to perform. Everything a leader does including communication style and reward systems will depend on how he sees the team.
As much as I do not believe in using a team’s time for interpersonal therapy, getting every member of the team to do their best must actually take a detour for it to be effective. Empowerment is the path to organizational teamwork. Though structures, accountability and common goals are necessary to a successful organization yet organizations must make room for choice. The problem with imperative thinking is the erroneous believe that people can and will be controlled hence the emphasis on ‘strong’ leadership. Imperative thinking and communication overlooks a powerful attribute of the human personality: the yearning to be free. For people to feel a sense of ownership and hence have their creativity unlocked, they need to believe their own principles and values are an integral part of their efforts. Once every member of the team feels this, leadership becomes a shared responsibility. This is why in every real team every member of the team leads at one time or the other though their still exist ‘the leader’. In teams like this there is such a feeling of shred responsibility that leadership actions emanate from every part of the team.
To go back to our football team analogy, once the ball is in the opponent’s goal area, the top striker takes over the team’s leadership and the reverse happens when the ball is in the team’s goal area- the goal keeper takes over the leadership. Everybody on the team plays to the advice of the person leading at that particular moment including the team’s captain because each team member owns their part of the field. In highly effective teams therefore, everything does not rise and fall on leadership, rather, everything rises and falls on ‘the practice of leadership’
Everything does not rise and fall on leadership! In a team it does not. Does that mean John Maxwell was wrong; you can decide for yourself after reading this piece. In a football team, the team wins or loses together, regardless of the individual contribution of the players including the captain. The attack cannot blame the defense for letting in goals as the defense can counter by accusing the attack of not scoring enough goals. Individual accountability is critical in teams but one of the essential characteristics of teams which separate it from other work groups which are erroneously called teams (for example a task force) is the principle of mutual responsibility and accountability.
My definitions for two terms, which are important to understand in people management is the key to grasping this concept. First, I define a team as a small group of people (usually fewer than 20) working together on a shared purpose with both individual and mutual responsibility: using the synergy of their individual resources which produces a better performance than the sum of their individual efforts. Second, I define leadership as a set of behaviors (not position or charisma) which facilitate the achievement of a shared purpose within the group.
Right away you can understand that it is possible to practice leadership behaviors without being a leader for the purpose of achieving the group’s shared purpose. That is, it is possible to lead from the top, bottom or middle. A lot of times I have observed someone apart from the leader lead a team effectively by practicing such behaviors as: taking responsibility; thinking outside the box; modeling performance and facilitating the group’s social dynamics while the ‘leader’ looks on feeling good to be in a position. A lot of teams do not achieve their set performance goals simply because of the very notion that everything rises and falls on leadership which causes team members to think certain behaviors such as initiating or creating new ideas, facilitating team work values and making decisions are the exclusive responsibility of the man at the top.
Today in the workplace and in other organizations where people have to work together, many feel not responsible, confused and a lot of times without the capacity to engage for the benefit of the group not knowing exactly when they will be seen as being presumptuous and infringing on the top dog’s turf. The concept of everything rising and falling on leadership further makes it comfortable for team members to do just enough to keep them on the team but never taking ownership, accountability and hence leadership for the team’s performance.
Understanding that in teams everything rises and falls on the team causes a definite paradigm shift in the way team members approach the group’s tasks. It destroys the need to play politics and definitely nips sabotage in the bud in the heart of those who do not agree with the leaders. It sounds absurd as to think of a defender scoring an own goal so as to spite his captain or a goal keeper not jumping high enough and letting a goal in because he had an argument with the team’s captain. As absurd as this sound this is what sometimes ensues in work teams that believe everything rises and falls on leadership. It also make the leaders prone to not sharing praise around the team as well as believing they must be responsible absolutely for the team’s success which further alienates other team members to the detriment of the teams performance.
Does this mean a leader is not needed on a team and what is the role of individual accountability you may be asking? One of the most important roles of the team leader is team selection and making sure every member of the team is pulling their weight in performing the tasks. Since performance depends on the individual contributions and the synergistic sum of it, the strength of the team depends on the strength of the weakest link in the chain and usually, since the team leader is the first link in the chain it becomes her role to get the right people on the team. One of the very important criterions among many in selecting team members is the individual’s unreserved belief in the teams’ purpose as it determines their commitment. A lot of teams don’t deliver, with the blame coming on the leader because people on the team do not share in the group’s purpose.
If ten of us are in a locked room where a fire incident happens and I get up to try and break down the door to get out, how much leadership do I need to exhibit to get the other people in the room to join me and put in their best efforts to break the door? You see, the principle of shared purpose is the most critical in a team’s performance. Most leaders use imperative communication to bring the best out of their teams using words like “we must” “we have to” “you should”. They see their team members as people who need to be coerced and shoved into positions. Of course they will get the blame and glory for the outcome of the group’s effort hence their need to strongly communicate and emphasize the need to focus on the team’s goals.
However if there is shared purpose, the leader understands that all members of the team are committed to the cause, the leader’s role becomes that of facilitation. Once the leader realizes that the people have performance potential in them it becomes a matter of just drawing it out. Now this is a very critical thought because usually there are two kinds of leaders. The one who does not believe in the potential or commitment of the team and the one who does and just needs to ensure the team has the resources to perform. Everything a leader does including communication style and reward systems will depend on how he sees the team.
As much as I do not believe in using a team’s time for interpersonal therapy, getting every member of the team to do their best must actually take a detour for it to be effective. Empowerment is the path to organizational teamwork. Though structures, accountability and common goals are necessary to a successful organization yet organizations must make room for choice. The problem with imperative thinking is the erroneous believe that people can and will be controlled hence the emphasis on ‘strong’ leadership. Imperative thinking and communication overlooks a powerful attribute of the human personality: the yearning to be free. For people to feel a sense of ownership and hence have their creativity unlocked, they need to believe their own principles and values are an integral part of their efforts. Once every member of the team feels this, leadership becomes a shared responsibility. This is why in every real team every member of the team leads at one time or the other though their still exist ‘the leader’. In teams like this there is such a feeling of shred responsibility that leadership actions emanate from every part of the team.
To go back to our football team analogy, once the ball is in the opponent’s goal area, the top striker takes over the team’s leadership and the reverse happens when the ball is in the team’s goal area- the goal keeper takes over the leadership. Everybody on the team plays to the advice of the person leading at that particular moment including the team’s captain because each team member owns their part of the field. In highly effective teams therefore, everything does not rise and fall on leadership, rather, everything rises and falls on ‘the practice of leadership’
GET YOUR PEOPLE PLAYING
What happens to a sports team that stays in the dressing room after the officials have signalled the beginning of the game? They get walked over of course! It is interesting how many corporate organisations are trying to win in the market place or market space that have their players sitting in the locker rooms. You may say they are on the field of play, afterall they come to the office daily and do their jobs. Well its possible to be on the field physically and remain in the locker room psychologically, going through the motions without any real commitment.
Employee engagement and commitment is crucial to becoming champions in the market place. In general, employee commitment is defined as the psychological attachment of workers to their workplaces. Many managers are yet to realize that the game of business is people and people involvement is the key to winning. Many more are grappling with a lack of commitment and passion in their workers. I dread going into a lot of business places in Nigeria today where the customer is treated like a pest and employees approach their jobs like it is a big burden. Even when you point out to them that their attitude will cost the business they make it clear that they care less. I lay the responsibility firmly at the foot of management.
We have all heard about companies that seem to have everything--great products, enormous capital resources, reputation, skilled employees, "advanced" planning--and they still fail. Why? Most times the people are not committed. Is the ability to inspire passion and commitment a soft skill? Not anymore. Managers MUST have the know-how to elicit commitment or perish! A committed, passionate workforce can: make shifts and leaps that strategic planning alone cannot envision ; fight to achieve the organization's mission ; bring continuous improvement, creativity, and innovation to their work ; enjoy a more fulfilling life, personally and professionally which reflects on the bottom line of their organizations.
Employee commitment is the key to productivity. Even if there are a number of reinvention efforts and top management support, unless employees at all levels are willing to improve productivity, all efforts toward productivity enhancement will come to nothing. Having the right strategy and a good organization isn’t enough. Without commitment, strategy does not fly. It stays rooted to the boardroom tarmac.
Another area where employee commitment is crucial for an organization is in the area of delivering value to the customer. Regardless of how much technology you may employ to improve the consistency and efficiency of the customer experience, what makes it memorable, is an employee that creates a positive, emotional outcome for a customer. Sometimes it will require the employee to do his best and then some. Only a committed employee goes this extra mile. Any company interested in achieving breakthrough value must understand that employee loyalty drives the service profit chain. How then can you ensure employee commitment? There are no easy answers to achieving employee commitment; it requires major investments of time, resources and emotions. Several issues stand out however.
First, managers’ will have to change the way they see their employees. For the past fifty years, management approach has seen capital as the scarce resource in business. So top management define strategy, build a structure to run the strategy then tie the strategy and the structure together with a well articulated system. Competition was therefore based on capital instead of added values and the business with the most capital wins.
Things have changed however as the world of business is awash with capital and internationally there are trillions of dollars available for investment purposes. Nations like the Gulf States and China have become not only exporters of goods and services but are also exporting capital. The scarce resource in business today is ideas, innovation and committed, motivated and entrepreneurial knowledge workers. Top managers must therefore view employees as investors in the company who expect dividend and capital appreciation. Companies that realize this know that such workers must be properly rewarded and recognized. The key for today’s companies is to manage around purpose, people and processes.
Another key issue in employee commitment is the prevailing culture. How much does culture matter in eliciting commitment- quite a lot. Different types of organizational culture will differentially affect different dimensions of employee commitment. Any behavior modeled by influential figures in an organization will soon become the norm. Managers must ask some serious questions like: are people empowered to act; are suggestions taken seriously, are they rewarded? Can we build heroes as these often help build enthusiasm, motivation and momentum behind strategies and change initiatives However the most important way of eliciting commitment in workers is to infuse them with passion.
Passion - not technical expertise, huge organizations or brandname recognition - is what separates truly successful companies from marginal ones. Ultimately we're not driven by what we know, but what we feel. Reason is seriously limited. The heart has reasons which reason might not know of. Most people make decisions based on so-called facts instead of realizing that their decisions may be based on beliefs, myths, assumptions and prejudices.
For example, a so-called learning organization where employees share their knowledge and expertise is useless if employees are not excited about learning. Passion should however be handled with care. It can be both positive and negative. The passion that organizations should strive for is one that includes zest for life, drive to accomplish, competitive fire and desire for truth. However, you should avoid "negative" passion, which includes acting without thinking, spontaneity without purpose and fervor without clarity.
Ensuring a passionate work force begins at the point of hiring. Seek out people with posistive emotional energy. Managers need to hire people who care about what they do otherwise they will waste time, money and resources. During the interview, managers might want to examine body language and ask questions to gauge the candidate's passions and level of commitment.
Its never too late to begin. People really do want to do a good job. They are looking for a reason to. Start today to infuse passion, light the fire, inspire commitment. Get your people playing!
What happens to a sports team that stays in the dressing room after the officials have signalled the beginning of the game? They get walked over of course! It is interesting how many corporate organisations are trying to win in the market place or market space that have their players sitting in the locker rooms. You may say they are on the field of play, afterall they come to the office daily and do their jobs. Well its possible to be on the field physically and remain in the locker room psychologically, going through the motions without any real commitment.
Employee engagement and commitment is crucial to becoming champions in the market place. In general, employee commitment is defined as the psychological attachment of workers to their workplaces. Many managers are yet to realize that the game of business is people and people involvement is the key to winning. Many more are grappling with a lack of commitment and passion in their workers. I dread going into a lot of business places in Nigeria today where the customer is treated like a pest and employees approach their jobs like it is a big burden. Even when you point out to them that their attitude will cost the business they make it clear that they care less. I lay the responsibility firmly at the foot of management.
We have all heard about companies that seem to have everything--great products, enormous capital resources, reputation, skilled employees, "advanced" planning--and they still fail. Why? Most times the people are not committed. Is the ability to inspire passion and commitment a soft skill? Not anymore. Managers MUST have the know-how to elicit commitment or perish! A committed, passionate workforce can: make shifts and leaps that strategic planning alone cannot envision ; fight to achieve the organization's mission ; bring continuous improvement, creativity, and innovation to their work ; enjoy a more fulfilling life, personally and professionally which reflects on the bottom line of their organizations.
Employee commitment is the key to productivity. Even if there are a number of reinvention efforts and top management support, unless employees at all levels are willing to improve productivity, all efforts toward productivity enhancement will come to nothing. Having the right strategy and a good organization isn’t enough. Without commitment, strategy does not fly. It stays rooted to the boardroom tarmac.
Another area where employee commitment is crucial for an organization is in the area of delivering value to the customer. Regardless of how much technology you may employ to improve the consistency and efficiency of the customer experience, what makes it memorable, is an employee that creates a positive, emotional outcome for a customer. Sometimes it will require the employee to do his best and then some. Only a committed employee goes this extra mile. Any company interested in achieving breakthrough value must understand that employee loyalty drives the service profit chain. How then can you ensure employee commitment? There are no easy answers to achieving employee commitment; it requires major investments of time, resources and emotions. Several issues stand out however.
First, managers’ will have to change the way they see their employees. For the past fifty years, management approach has seen capital as the scarce resource in business. So top management define strategy, build a structure to run the strategy then tie the strategy and the structure together with a well articulated system. Competition was therefore based on capital instead of added values and the business with the most capital wins.
Things have changed however as the world of business is awash with capital and internationally there are trillions of dollars available for investment purposes. Nations like the Gulf States and China have become not only exporters of goods and services but are also exporting capital. The scarce resource in business today is ideas, innovation and committed, motivated and entrepreneurial knowledge workers. Top managers must therefore view employees as investors in the company who expect dividend and capital appreciation. Companies that realize this know that such workers must be properly rewarded and recognized. The key for today’s companies is to manage around purpose, people and processes.
Another key issue in employee commitment is the prevailing culture. How much does culture matter in eliciting commitment- quite a lot. Different types of organizational culture will differentially affect different dimensions of employee commitment. Any behavior modeled by influential figures in an organization will soon become the norm. Managers must ask some serious questions like: are people empowered to act; are suggestions taken seriously, are they rewarded? Can we build heroes as these often help build enthusiasm, motivation and momentum behind strategies and change initiatives However the most important way of eliciting commitment in workers is to infuse them with passion.
Passion - not technical expertise, huge organizations or brandname recognition - is what separates truly successful companies from marginal ones. Ultimately we're not driven by what we know, but what we feel. Reason is seriously limited. The heart has reasons which reason might not know of. Most people make decisions based on so-called facts instead of realizing that their decisions may be based on beliefs, myths, assumptions and prejudices.
For example, a so-called learning organization where employees share their knowledge and expertise is useless if employees are not excited about learning. Passion should however be handled with care. It can be both positive and negative. The passion that organizations should strive for is one that includes zest for life, drive to accomplish, competitive fire and desire for truth. However, you should avoid "negative" passion, which includes acting without thinking, spontaneity without purpose and fervor without clarity.
Ensuring a passionate work force begins at the point of hiring. Seek out people with posistive emotional energy. Managers need to hire people who care about what they do otherwise they will waste time, money and resources. During the interview, managers might want to examine body language and ask questions to gauge the candidate's passions and level of commitment.
Its never too late to begin. People really do want to do a good job. They are looking for a reason to. Start today to infuse passion, light the fire, inspire commitment. Get your people playing!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
AFRICA TO LEAD A NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER
The world has tried several economic systems. Until now none has been able to fulfill the need and aspirations of people around the world for a system that respects the right of ownership of property; fosters, engenders and rewards personal responsibility, creativity and enterprise; promotes socio-economic justice through principle based and not legislated equitable re-distribution of wealth as well as improving the welfare of communities and peoples.
Each of the economic system practiced before now had some of the features described above but however were not perfect as there were endemic flaws. Communism essentially denied the right of individuals to own property while destroying the motive for personal responsibility and creativity. On the other hand unbridled capitalism because of its emphasis on reward for innovation and creativity neglects the need for principled based wealth redistribution and is concerned more with taking advantage of opportunities for personal gain rather solving problems to improve community welfare. Excessive taxing to correct this moves us towards socialism that smothers the initiatives within the people.
The status of anyone within the capitalist system depends majorly on three things: the amount of personal responsibility the individual is willing to take; the value (skills, services, products, solutions) each individual brings to the market place and of course the environment in which the individual lives, such as infrastructural and macro economic environment. The problem with this system is that capitalism produces a few big winners, a number of average winners christened the middle class but a myriad of losers. It’s simplistic to say that everyone is responsible for his status but we must realize that all men are not equal in ability and socio political factors such as access to health care and education and good governance or a lack of it contribute significantly to the status of people in the system, especially in Africa.
Social entrepreneurship brings together the best elements of all the systems. It is a hybrid of the sound market based strategies such as creativity, innovation, efficiency, management and sustainability culture of the free market, blended with the focus on social engineering for the common good of socialism and communism. However, a major distinction is that focus on social engineering for the common good is not legislated as it is in communism and socialism, rather it is a value that is adopted and practiced by social entrepreneurs out of a desire to place the common good over and above the desire to amass wealth. Certainly wealth is created but it is not amassed, rather it is allowed to fulfill the purpose of realizing development and welfare for the communities and its people. my fear is that a lot of Africans are adopting the practice of social enterpreneurship without understanding the values and principles that undergird it and when values and principles are not understood, the practice will be corrupted.
What makes an initiative a social enterprise is therefore not the nomenclature but the mission, values, processes and inputs that go into the enterprise. However it may be expedient to correctly brand the initiative so as to be properly positioned. Communism could not survive because of its serious flaws, the same for socialism. The earlier the world comes to the realization that unbridled capitalism is doomed, the sooner we will begin to focus on what we need to do to survive. I don’t know if the present global economic crisis is the last straw but I’m very sure that capitalism is doomed.
Africa and the rest of the third world are in a unique position to imbevent (imagine, believe, invent) a new world economic order called social capitalism or what Bill Gates has called Creative Capitalism. Note however that whenever there is a major economic shift, a major political change follows. The economic events leading to barrack Obama’s recent victory are the proof of this theory. Today Africans have the resources to imbevent this new world. Our continent is inundated with a plethora of major social problems. Up until now we have relied on foreign aid to combat some of these ills. Of course it won’t work. If socialism does not work in the west then transnational socialism in the name of aids will not develop Africa. What Africans do not realize is that the European union spends America spends more on one American cow ( in the form of subsidy to American cattle farmers than they spend on one African as aid.) apart from this more than 50% of the aid Africa receives returns to the west as payment for technologies and expatriate skills.
So how can we solve our problems? We have to engage our minds in creative enterprise using sound market based strategies but focusing on societal and community transformation for the common good. Can we do this? Of course yes, we can. The question is “will you be the change’?
Each of the economic system practiced before now had some of the features described above but however were not perfect as there were endemic flaws. Communism essentially denied the right of individuals to own property while destroying the motive for personal responsibility and creativity. On the other hand unbridled capitalism because of its emphasis on reward for innovation and creativity neglects the need for principled based wealth redistribution and is concerned more with taking advantage of opportunities for personal gain rather solving problems to improve community welfare. Excessive taxing to correct this moves us towards socialism that smothers the initiatives within the people.
The status of anyone within the capitalist system depends majorly on three things: the amount of personal responsibility the individual is willing to take; the value (skills, services, products, solutions) each individual brings to the market place and of course the environment in which the individual lives, such as infrastructural and macro economic environment. The problem with this system is that capitalism produces a few big winners, a number of average winners christened the middle class but a myriad of losers. It’s simplistic to say that everyone is responsible for his status but we must realize that all men are not equal in ability and socio political factors such as access to health care and education and good governance or a lack of it contribute significantly to the status of people in the system, especially in Africa.
Social entrepreneurship brings together the best elements of all the systems. It is a hybrid of the sound market based strategies such as creativity, innovation, efficiency, management and sustainability culture of the free market, blended with the focus on social engineering for the common good of socialism and communism. However, a major distinction is that focus on social engineering for the common good is not legislated as it is in communism and socialism, rather it is a value that is adopted and practiced by social entrepreneurs out of a desire to place the common good over and above the desire to amass wealth. Certainly wealth is created but it is not amassed, rather it is allowed to fulfill the purpose of realizing development and welfare for the communities and its people. my fear is that a lot of Africans are adopting the practice of social enterpreneurship without understanding the values and principles that undergird it and when values and principles are not understood, the practice will be corrupted.
What makes an initiative a social enterprise is therefore not the nomenclature but the mission, values, processes and inputs that go into the enterprise. However it may be expedient to correctly brand the initiative so as to be properly positioned. Communism could not survive because of its serious flaws, the same for socialism. The earlier the world comes to the realization that unbridled capitalism is doomed, the sooner we will begin to focus on what we need to do to survive. I don’t know if the present global economic crisis is the last straw but I’m very sure that capitalism is doomed.
Africa and the rest of the third world are in a unique position to imbevent (imagine, believe, invent) a new world economic order called social capitalism or what Bill Gates has called Creative Capitalism. Note however that whenever there is a major economic shift, a major political change follows. The economic events leading to barrack Obama’s recent victory are the proof of this theory. Today Africans have the resources to imbevent this new world. Our continent is inundated with a plethora of major social problems. Up until now we have relied on foreign aid to combat some of these ills. Of course it won’t work. If socialism does not work in the west then transnational socialism in the name of aids will not develop Africa. What Africans do not realize is that the European union spends America spends more on one American cow ( in the form of subsidy to American cattle farmers than they spend on one African as aid.) apart from this more than 50% of the aid Africa receives returns to the west as payment for technologies and expatriate skills.
So how can we solve our problems? We have to engage our minds in creative enterprise using sound market based strategies but focusing on societal and community transformation for the common good. Can we do this? Of course yes, we can. The question is “will you be the change’?
IMBEVENT A NEW WORLD
‘IMBEVENT’ A NEW WORLD
There are two new world economic orders coming to earth in very quick succession. The first one which will be ushered in as a result of the present global economic crisis is already upon us and the other will follow shortly. A new set of business values, information and skills are therefore required to not only thrive but survive in today’s economic world because in spite of the turmoil it is still very possible to be profitable and grow your business and economic fortunes. There is nothing in history to go to for solutions. The world has never been here before, to survive and thrive especially in the third world, we must ‘imbevent’.
You have to realize that wealth like matter is never destroyed; its ownership is only transferred in times of crisis. When Lehman brothers collapsed in the United States, Barclays bank of the UK was able to acquire its North American assets for a fraction of their value which still was a strange move as conserving capital is supposed to be the key strategy for banks in times of a credit squeeze and not acquisitions. However, the asset was so cheap it became irresistible to the English. Also, the 700 billion dollar bail out arranged for American banks by the government will also create opportunities for Asian banks (who have the greatest liquidity of all global banks having learnt to have massive cash reserves as a result of the melt down that occurred in Asia in 1997) to acquire American bank assets at massive discounts.
Understanding the present economic realities is important if you and your business must be correctly positioned. In subsequent editions of this column I will be writing a lot on what you can do to position yourself and your business correctly. Basically, there are three things you have to take seriously: heart- vision, mission and values; mind- information and hands- skills.
First is the positioning of your heart as an individual and the heart of your business if you are a business owner. By heart I mean your vision, mission and values. In the last two decades, there has been a lot of hoopla in management and business circles on these three components of business success. Most companies however did not pay attention to them and those who did relegated vision, mission and values to well craft words they hung on reception walls. They never became the driving force of the enterprise. Some companies however took it more seriously and actually adopted well reasoned out business hearts which to a large extent was installed in the organization. However, for a lot of these businesses they took a wrong heart. In the new world economic order, businesses with the wrong heart will not survive, how much less those without one.
Second is the positioning of your mind which really is your having the right information.
Every competent business person knows information is a key to business success, not just having the right information but getting it on time. Never before has the world experienced such economic interconnectedness like we do today. How could you have guessed that a sub prime mortgage crisis that began in Miami, Florida will cause the value of the shares you have in the Nigerian stock market to go down by more than 30 % in less than six months? Of course you would have been able to predict that, if you understand that debt makes the world go round and everything that goes round comes around. You would have gotten out of paper based investment the moment Northern Rock was privatized in the UK as the first major casualty of the credit squeeze, you would, if you knew that credit is the life blood of capitalism and foreign investors will dump their Nigerian shares which had been artificially pumped up by leverage buying to have enough cash to protect their more valuable assets in the west. If you knew! But you didn’t know that’s why you suffered looses.
Positioning your hands which is having the right skills is the third key to surviving. If you have the right information and can correctly synthesize them maybe you would have been able to predict the future which is important to your making the right investment and business decision. However, every time there has been a contest between predicting the future (speculating on paper based investments like stocks, mutual funds, bonds e.t.c) and creating the future ( creating real wealth by adding labor to resources through the process of enterprise) enterprise always come out on top. The number one skill in enterprise is what we have called ‘imbevention’. ‘Imbevention’ is the ability to look at the world of humanity and imagine solutions to human problems and through conscientious faith and intelligent work create solutions to improve human welfare in a spirit of service. Our goal is to ‘imbevent’ and serve humanity resources upon which today’s business and economic fortunes can be built for the common good.
The company –IMBEVENT- represents the philosophy that anything we can IMagine if we BElieve, we can inVENT. Reaching your potential as an individual, business or institution will require that you can imbevent. Our mission is to provide people, businesses and governments with the intellectual capital and empowerment required to survive and thrive in the coming new world economic orders through training and consulting.
There are two new world economic orders coming to earth in very quick succession. The first one which will be ushered in as a result of the present global economic crisis is already upon us and the other will follow shortly. A new set of business values, information and skills are therefore required to not only thrive but survive in today’s economic world because in spite of the turmoil it is still very possible to be profitable and grow your business and economic fortunes. There is nothing in history to go to for solutions. The world has never been here before, to survive and thrive especially in the third world, we must ‘imbevent’.
You have to realize that wealth like matter is never destroyed; its ownership is only transferred in times of crisis. When Lehman brothers collapsed in the United States, Barclays bank of the UK was able to acquire its North American assets for a fraction of their value which still was a strange move as conserving capital is supposed to be the key strategy for banks in times of a credit squeeze and not acquisitions. However, the asset was so cheap it became irresistible to the English. Also, the 700 billion dollar bail out arranged for American banks by the government will also create opportunities for Asian banks (who have the greatest liquidity of all global banks having learnt to have massive cash reserves as a result of the melt down that occurred in Asia in 1997) to acquire American bank assets at massive discounts.
Understanding the present economic realities is important if you and your business must be correctly positioned. In subsequent editions of this column I will be writing a lot on what you can do to position yourself and your business correctly. Basically, there are three things you have to take seriously: heart- vision, mission and values; mind- information and hands- skills.
First is the positioning of your heart as an individual and the heart of your business if you are a business owner. By heart I mean your vision, mission and values. In the last two decades, there has been a lot of hoopla in management and business circles on these three components of business success. Most companies however did not pay attention to them and those who did relegated vision, mission and values to well craft words they hung on reception walls. They never became the driving force of the enterprise. Some companies however took it more seriously and actually adopted well reasoned out business hearts which to a large extent was installed in the organization. However, for a lot of these businesses they took a wrong heart. In the new world economic order, businesses with the wrong heart will not survive, how much less those without one.
Second is the positioning of your mind which really is your having the right information.
Every competent business person knows information is a key to business success, not just having the right information but getting it on time. Never before has the world experienced such economic interconnectedness like we do today. How could you have guessed that a sub prime mortgage crisis that began in Miami, Florida will cause the value of the shares you have in the Nigerian stock market to go down by more than 30 % in less than six months? Of course you would have been able to predict that, if you understand that debt makes the world go round and everything that goes round comes around. You would have gotten out of paper based investment the moment Northern Rock was privatized in the UK as the first major casualty of the credit squeeze, you would, if you knew that credit is the life blood of capitalism and foreign investors will dump their Nigerian shares which had been artificially pumped up by leverage buying to have enough cash to protect their more valuable assets in the west. If you knew! But you didn’t know that’s why you suffered looses.
Positioning your hands which is having the right skills is the third key to surviving. If you have the right information and can correctly synthesize them maybe you would have been able to predict the future which is important to your making the right investment and business decision. However, every time there has been a contest between predicting the future (speculating on paper based investments like stocks, mutual funds, bonds e.t.c) and creating the future ( creating real wealth by adding labor to resources through the process of enterprise) enterprise always come out on top. The number one skill in enterprise is what we have called ‘imbevention’. ‘Imbevention’ is the ability to look at the world of humanity and imagine solutions to human problems and through conscientious faith and intelligent work create solutions to improve human welfare in a spirit of service. Our goal is to ‘imbevent’ and serve humanity resources upon which today’s business and economic fortunes can be built for the common good.
The company –IMBEVENT- represents the philosophy that anything we can IMagine if we BElieve, we can inVENT. Reaching your potential as an individual, business or institution will require that you can imbevent. Our mission is to provide people, businesses and governments with the intellectual capital and empowerment required to survive and thrive in the coming new world economic orders through training and consulting.
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