Ideas don't change the world!

Contrary to what we have always been told, ideas don't change the world; it is products and services that change the world.

Maybe you have even acquired the discipline of writing down your ideas in that dog eared ideas book like I have; sorry that I have to bust your bubble - What is important is not how many breakthrough ideas we get, not even how many we write down. What is important is how many of those ideas move us to positive and consistent action which create products and services.

Everyone can hit bull's eye in their minds but only the guy who shoots a gun gets the bounty. It is a pretty frustrating existence to live for just ideas. The most important index for an ideas enterprise is their conversion rate; how many ideas become products or services? without conversion, ideas are DOA - Dead on Arrival

What is your conversion rate?

Is Your Enterprise Growing Old?

Enterprises are a lot like human beings in their aging process. The longer an enterprise/organization has been around, the more likely it is to show many of the signs of aging that humans display; a bureaucracy that bogs down like rheumatic limbs, slow take up on new tools and techniques, a tendency to quickly pooh pooh every innovation as gung-ho lack of experience.

You cannot take it for granted that the ideas that you espoused when you launched your enterprise are still valid today. Old enterprises like old people insist on the good old days. Guess what! It's a brand new day. However good you might have been with a typewriter, you are no use to anyone today except perhaps in a museum.

As your enterprise grows older as it inevitably will, don't let your mind set into certain patterns. Stay open to new ideas.

Which future is your staff seeing?

Do two People walk hand in hand if they aren't going to the same place? (Amos 3:3)

Many enterprises are not seeing much movement because they are like a cab travelling at right angles to its trailer: leadership is headed one direction, staff in another. Truth is, you may be doing your best to convey the vision but many times, your staff is also doing its best to pursue theirs; real movement starts only when the the two coincide.

The dilemma very often for an enterprise developer is that his staff do not believe in the dream as much as he does: while he is trying to build a life, they are typically just trying to make a living.

Arguably, the most important job of the enterprise developer is to sell the vision to his team. If you want to unleash the potential of a bricklayer, you must help him to realize that his job is much more than laying some miserable bricks, he must believe that he is building a house that will become a home for some family.

It is unreasonable to expect your staff to have your level of passion for the enterprise's objectives if they do not see the same vision as you see.

Sell the vision.

Is your leadership Scalable?

I am convinced that everyone is a leader - unfortunately, most of us wait for the crowd to prove it.

If you woke up tomorrow and you were announced as the leader of the world's most influencial country, do you think that would be an opportunity or a disaster? To put it another way, is your leadership scalable?

The quality of a leader is not necessarily seen in the size of his following but in the values that shape his motives and actions. Jesus taught that if a man proves himself unfaithful in a small task, he declares himself unworthy of bigger ones.

Maybe you run a small enterprise, you can't even afford a cash register but if you handle your money with the correct values, you won't get into a big mess when you become as big as Cadbury.

The Biblical record of Joseph's life reads like a classic on scaling leadership: he was as fantastic a leader in Potiphar's house as he was in the prison and as Prime Minister of Egypt. More importantly, he didn't need 'time' to settle into the new position - the same principles, driven by the same values is what leadership requires at every level.

Similarly, Mordecai who transmuted from being merely someone that sat at the kings gate to the king's (for a territory that covered significant portions of present day Asia and Africa) second in command in a matter of days demonstrates his readiness to assume leadership at any level because a short while earlier, the only person he was leading was his relative - a young Jewish girl called Esther.

The size of your following is irrelevant, lead like you are leading the world. No matter the size of your enterprise, run it like you own the oxygen franchise.

Let us call a spade a brand

Brand is the new new name for spades; never mind the old maxim.

like all other fads (I know. Some will have my scalp for calling branding a fad) that dominate our enterprise lexicon for a time, Branding will someday go the way of the rest; it will no longer be a unique selling proposition, but merely a common feature of enterprises.

More effort seems to go into creating better brands these days than creating better products or services yet when Omo became the generic name for detergents, it wasn't as much about creating a brand as it was creating a product. Here is a test; if I say 'detergent', you'd probably think Omo. How about if I say 'happiness', I doubt that Coca Cola sprang into your mind just as quickly. Why then is Coca Cola branding as open happiness?

The first thing that used to come to mind when you say branding was hot iron, pungent air, mooing cattle - and a mark that distinguishes mine from yours. Branding used to be putting a mark on cattle so that we can tell which belongs to who. Now if you put your sign on a sick looking cow - all bones on wobbly legs, that wasn't going to make me buy it, just because I recognize your sign.

Much of today's branding effort is not about identifying/differentiating the product but creating an impression. It works for a while but people are not iredeemably stupid, they catch on after a while. This was what Jesus referred to as Whited Sepulchres (Manicured grave plots, grass clipped and flowers bright, but six feet down, it is all rotten bones and worm eaten flesh.)

Worse than being a fraud, it is possible to brand yourself out of existence; when your branding effort leans towards creating an image that consumers can not relate to your product easily, you are branding yourself out of reckoning. As much as you may want to believe that people are buying image, the reality is that majority of people are buying products and services. If I am thirsty, what I want is water not open happiness ( what is that by the way).

RECOVERING FROM A 'KAITASTROPHE'

Sani Kaita, a hitherto level headed utility player in one moment of unexplainable agitation stamps the studs of his boots on the thigh of another player in an off the ball situation and instantly earns a red card and at last count over a thousand death threats.

The event spurred creativity and launched a slew of new words; one in particular stands out - kaitastrophe!

What do you do when an enterprise suddenly tumbles from its respectable height to the lowest ebb; when your brand becomes a metaphor for failure overnight?

1. Tender an unreserved apology and mean it.
2. Ignore the chatter - people will criticise you even if you are doing the right thing.
3. Rest assured that human beings are fickle and that you can regain your position by consistent brilliant performance. Read a striking account of how you can instantly shore up your brand equity.
4. Work harder than ever before to surpass every positive record you have ever set.
5. Accept that some people will never forgive or forget - learn to live with such people.

Who's in? Who's out?

One of the most difficult choices an enterprise leader makes is who is in, who is out? It is always a tough decision and rightly so to determine Who is in as a partner? who is in as an employee? etc.

Jerry Porras and Jim Collins in their book 'Good to Great' talked about getting the right people on the bus and the wrong people off it before even deciding where the bus is headed. While they are right about choosing the right people to travel with, it is necessary to point out that where you are headed quite often determines who the right people are.

While established corporations typically have exhaustive criteria for choosing who is allowed on the bus, new enterprises are typically not equiped enough to make this critical choice which dramatically raises the risk of their becoming a part of the 'failed startup' statistic.

Knowing that it is a lot easier to make the hire decision than it is to make the fire decision, enterprise leaders should from the initial develop detailed criteria for evaluating the suitability of prospective partners and employees.

Even Jesus wouldn't let the rich young ruler join his team without meeting His criteria.

The Diabolus Code

The instincts that drive life are the same ones that drive enterprise; it is very important to ensure that your enterprise is not run by the diabolus code.

The Diabolus Code is a spiritual gene (some would like to call it a social gene) that drives three basic (base if you like) instincts:

1. wanting your own way


2. wanting everything for yourself


3. wanting to appear important

If you have the diabolus code, you tend to think that your enterprise is the centre of the universe - everything revolves around you and your objectives. You want to be number one or nothing else; you want 100% of market share.

In reality, you don't need to strive to be number one, you are the only one (see Red Ocean Strategy); you dont need market share, you've got your own market all to yourself.

The Diabolus Code casts other enterprises as competitors to be conquered - in reality, they are co-travellers to be helped.

Define your rules of engagement.

One of the toughest parts of consulting in an unstructured market is pricing and payment; clients hardly ever believe that the service you are going to render them is worth as much as you are proposing to charge them. In a market where supply far outstrips demand, the consultant tends to get the short end of the stick.

One way to improve your chances of striking a fair deal with clients is to set up clear 'rules of engagement'. As difficult as it might seem to require that clients sign a service agreement with you even before you render them service, I have come to believe that it is the best direction in which to head. On your part though, you must exhaustively detail what exactly you are going to deliver and where available, provide clients samples of your past work.

Of course your first few attempts to get clients to sign agreements will be met with stiff resistance but after a while of saying the cryptic "it's company policy", you will find your own pool of clients... of course you can choose the alternative of sticking with the headache of argueing over terms after you have rendered the service.

It is critical to your well being to always agree before proceeding.

Lose Weight

Enterprises are like star athletes; they need to stay in shape to stand any chance of staying in the lead, which brings us to the question, is your enterprise overweight?

Your enterprise is overweight if:

1. You cannot write your 'about us' in one sentence (if you wanted/needed to).
2. You've struck out 'no' from your dictionary; every client is welcome.

3. Urgent work always interrupts important work.

4. You only remember your mission, vision at the quaterly/annual retreat.

Hebrews teaches that the wise thing to do when running a race is to strip yourself of every weight; makes absolute sense if you ask me. I mean just look at sprinters, they wear next to nothing. You simply don't carry excess weight if your intention is to move swiftly.

Start cutting out the excess baggage today!

Sell Convinience

No matter what you sell, sell convinience; this is the one enduring strategy that gives you the edge over your competition. I know business schools probably have this strategy done up in some fancy language but I learnt it in the simplest form.

I used to buy call cards from a particular vendor just outside my office for a long time but didn't quite notice when I made the transition to buying from a cleaner in my office who delivers to my desk; I made the 'convinience' decision.

Selling convinience gives your enterprise that edge. This concept is evident in the practice of real estate developers to offer mortgages to prospective buyers of their products. People are simply more likely to make the 'buy' decision not because it's a cheaper or better product/service, but because the seller makes it easier for them to do the transaction. Even Jesus sold his 'yoke' as 'ease'.

The question which answer must be every enterprise developer's quest is, how can I make this easier for them?

Enterprise Productivity Model

Your Enterprise Productivity Model (EPM) is a critical factor which profoundly impacts on how much results you see from your efforts. Your EPM is simply the production model that drives your output.

There are essentially two major EPMs namely; Production EPM and Reproduction EPM. There are off course several sub-models but overall you can only run either the Production or Reproduction model.

In simple terms, the production model requires the same level of input everytime you require a certain output, while the reproduction model allows you to generate the same output using a far reduced or removed level of input.

The critical difference between the Production and Reproduction Models is that one bear fruit and the other bears fruit/seed respectively . To put it in more quantitative terms, the first is Arithmetic Progress and the second Geometric Progression.

God's EPM is the Reproduction Model; when he made the trees as recorded in Genesis, they bore fruit that bore seed that grew trees that bore fruit that bore seed that.... essentially creating an everwidening cycle.

What EPM does your enterprise run on?

Red Ocean Strategy

Every once in a while someone writes a book that attempts to change the way we think of business or some aspect of it. I imagine W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne fit this position. Their book "Blue Ocean Strategy" aims to change the way we think about competition.

Without taking anything away from their submissions (it's true for the generality of the population) I think the more accurate position about the competition that threatens your market share the most is the one taken by theory of the "Red Ocean Strategy".

Red Ocean Strategy: To gain greater market share, kill self! You are your own most powerful competition. If anyone can stop you from getting ahead and arriving at your destination, that person has to be you. Paul of Tarsus said "...part of me covertly rebels..." .

Our own internal contradictions are the most powerful competition we have got. It's extremely hard to get ahead without internal concensus; whether you are a person or an enterprise, a house divided against itself will fall.

Thinking inside the Book

When you really think about it, there's nothing like thinking outside the box. When you get out of the box, you are simply getting into another box; getting out of the box of tediuos conservatism puts you in the box of tedious irreverence (read Branson). Whatever it is you decide to do, the population sample is so huge that the possibility for absolute originality is nil. Soon enough even being unpredictable means people simply don't know what to expect from you. isn't that being predictable?

We can continue to chase an unreachable ideal or we can simply decide which box suits us fine and just think inside that one. I have found one box that gives me all the originality that I can use in 200 lifetimes; it's the Book (read bible).

Making a kill VS Squandering goodwill

when you sell a bottle of coke for thrice the standard retail price just because you can - that sounds a lot like impunity to me.

I went to the galleria last night to see a movie (it was a wonderful movie by the way titled 'the blind side') and had to buy a bottle of coke for N300. The only reason I or most other people just pay and get their drink is because there is simply no where else to buy it cheaper in the galleria. Essentially, it is a monopoly and it simply fixes whatever price that suits it for a basic retail commodity - not some designer item. This pricing model is also very popular at the airports but am not sure even they carry their extortion this far.

Shall we charge an amount for a product simply because we can (make a kill) or shall we take care of our costs and then charge a decent profit? Perhaps this is not one of those dilemas that one can find a trite verse for but where that is the case how about the golden rule? Would you like to buy that product at the price that you are offering it for sale? Just switch places with the customer or client and see how you feel about things.

when you have a pricing model that says 'get as much as you possibly can' you progressively squander goodwill. All it will take to topple you is just another shop opening down the block.

If you wanna be great

It's great to know all the business buzz words; strategy, TQM, B2C, ROI, Innovation, ROE, etc. (no that's not a business buzz word it's good old et cetera), but building a great enterprise boils down to one simple word - SERVICE.

Enterprise is not built on a series of transactions but on a collection of relationships and relationships can only be sustained by continuous satisfactory service.

Jesus puts it unequivocally: "if you want to be great... you have to be the servant of all". Typically, we are averse to the thought of being servants. No doubt it connotes several realities that most people would rather not have and I guess that's why we don't have that many great people or enterprises. In reality, to offer service is not equal to being servile, the first is an attitude the other is a personality.

The human soul is embedded with a programme that expects service; everyone wants to be treated with respect and given honour. If your enterprise continuously meets this intrinsic human need, you are on the path to greatness.

PPP 101

I was in Lagos sometime ago and attended a basic course in structuring Public Private Partnership projects.

Getting from Ayobo to Igando (don't worry, these are at the unglamorous backsides of eko) can be a 2 hour nerve racking bus ride through mud filled craters and bumper bumper crawling traffic or it can be a short few minutes bike ride across a wooden bridge over a swampy canal.

The sign board at the toll gate reads "Road Link Ventures" we paid a toll (not too sure how much now, perhaps 5o buck or so) and pronto, we were within strolling distance of Igando. I don't know if these guys had an MBA but they sure thought me the basics in structuring a PPP project. Here's what I learnt;

1. A viable opportunity has to provide consumers a preferable (better, faster or cheaper) alternative.
2. Every failing of government is an opportunity; if they can't provide power, health, security, you can.

Make room - here comes the gift.

I am mid-level management; I conduct dozens of interviews. I meet all kinds of people: those who think their affected diction and the country of origin of their educcational certificates equates competence, and the ones who think the scribbled note on the powerful complimentary card is enough qualification. I also meet the ones who clearly have a gift and it is to them that I am not only willing to engage but to bend backwards and if possible a few rules to secure their services.

Many things can open doors for you, but it is only your own demonstrated gifting and competence that will keep the door open.

When a gifted man begins to make his way everyone shouts 'make room - here comes the gift'.

Carbon Heartprint

Carbon Footprint is "the total set of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event or product.

Although I am concerned about your enterprises' carbon footprint, my real worry is the moral equivalent of your carbon footprint. It's typically human to worry about the ozone layer depletion and the threat that it presents to our physical existence while we indifferently go on ignoring the damage to our non-physical existence by all the pollutants around.

Does you enterprise produce content for media? What self censorship procedures have you got in place. My observation is that society has degenerated to the extent that 'if it's not lewd, it's not viewed'.

Here's a fail proof test for self censorship... just click here

Reason is overrated!

It doesn't make sense to move your family and business to guess where... a town you are yet to decide; give your wife, staff no prior notice, just load up your stuff, ask them to hop in and off you go to no where in particular.

It doesn't make sense even if you are a retired fisherman to step out into a lake for a walk. Off course you can swim, but take a walk? That don't make sense.

If you want everything to make sense before you do them, perhaps you aren't looking to rock the boat - you don't want to achieve any remarkable thing. Bible MBAs aren't afraid to step into the dark sometimes, what's important is who is asking them to step out.

How about you do that thing that doesn't exactly make sense today that's been nagging at your heart lately?