How to rise after every 'failure'

Thomas Edison's teachers said he was ‘too stupid to learn anything’. He was fired from his first two jobs for being ‘non-productive’. As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps". wow!

The first thing you must understand about failure is that there is no such thing as failure. Surprised? You do not have to be. Yes, I said it! There is no such thing as failure except that which you call failure. ‘Failure’ as we have come to understand it is a term used to refer to a loss or inability to achieve a goal, however, take a break now and let’s think about it this way.

Everything that exists today was given its name and expression by somebody or a group in the past, based on their perception or feeling about that thing. What I am saying is that, ‘failure’ as we have come to accept was somebody’s definition and therefore, you and I are under no obligation to accept their interpretation. We must resist the trap of defining and measuring ourselves by other people’s standards because they chose to see themselves as failures. You were created uniquely. Yes, no two people in this world are the same, not even identical twins. Unconventional? Yes, unconventional!

Coming, many of our forebears decided to see ‘failure’ as negative because they felt like losers when they experienced a ‘predicament’; meanwhile, history has countless records of men and women who rose from supposed defeat to supernormal success.  Let me emphasize here that we are not failures because we face temporary defeat. Rather, we fail when we refuse to leave the mess behind and move forward to achieve the goals we set for ourselves.

It is important that you realize that you are solely responsible for controlling your daily circumstances and not be controlled by them. For instance, failing to pass a job Interview is not enough reason to declare yourself a failure. Your inability to secure the Contract does not mean you are a failure. Get back to the drawing board, believe that you can succeed, do not waiver in your belief, and take action again.

My friend, I want you to say to yourself right now that you are not a failure. Believe what you just said and know in your heart that you will be able to achieve your vision. Never say ‘never’. Accept the challenges that come your way, continue to look out for opportunities, never call yourself a failure, never see other people as failures. We may experience temporary defeats but it does not in any way certify us as failures.

It is interesting to know that many times people ‘fail’ even before they begin. They question their own dreams and ability to execute a task, thus, a negative message is immediately sent to the subconscious part of the brain to ‘go and sleep as no good will come out of their efforts’.  This mindset keeps him at point zero and despite abounding opportunities and the acres of diamond in his backyard; he would not be able to exert himself fully to a cause.

So, the next time someone tells you ‘This is not possible, it cannot be done’ Look at him or her confidently, eyeball to eyeball and tell him/her to ‘fuck off’. The next time you are tempted to tell yourself it’s not possible, tell that voice to shut up and ‘fuck off'. Get on your feet and get to work.

Remember, Victory may be like a hesitant woman but with persistence, you will woo her to your side. Make it happen! Refuse to die!!!

Read More

Refuse to Die

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”

Calvin Coolidge

Helen Keller, at the age of 19 months, became deaf and blind. But that didn’t stop her from pursuing her vision. She was the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree going on to become an author, political activist and lecturer. 

Think about this for a moment. If someone you loved were trapped in a building, would you stop trying to rescue them if the front door were locked? Wouldn’t you try other ways and means, the windows, the roof, and every opening, right?

The reason why many people fail in their endeavours is because they know more about failure than about success. Bad news sells faster, they say, and people subscribe to it without giving much thought. The media bombards us with stories of wars, deaths, collapsed businesses, high commodity prices, and ailing economies.

We are told of how worse the economy has become, yet there are inspiring stories of individuals and organisations influencing change in significant ways in their communities.

We are made to believe that all is falling apart, and therefore, many people discount the need to invest their best efforts in their endeavours. Afterall, ‘everybody go die’, ‘dollar dey die’, ‘government dey chop chop’, ‘everything is falling apart’ they say. This negativity is poisonous and it travels faster than the venom from a snake’s bite. ‘The losers’ mantra’ is how i call it and how they sink into our deepest thoughts is pathetic, burying our very flickers of hope.

Little, however, is shown and told of the many success stories littered across the landscape of Africa, of the people improving their lives through gainful employment, of young people volunteering in their communities. My grandmother built her houses from the sale of ‘Kenkey’ and fried fish in the sixties. Her diligence and determination accounted chiefly for her success.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are a thousand reasons to fail but a thousand and one reasons to succeed, and you are the constant in that equation. Give yourself no reason to fail because conditions seem to be against you. That is the more reason why you ought to be resilient.

You need not have everything to begin a project but you need to gather much confidence and resoluteness. These virtues are drawn from within. The biggest excuses I hear are “I don’t have enough money”, “I don’t have enough time,” “I’m too busy”, “I don’t want to travel,” Shut the fuck up! Nobody has ever had everything and nobody will ever have everything. All those whose lives you admire did not have everything either yet they took the first step nevertheless.

If you know how to write songs, start serious writing, keep writing and then do everything possible to get your songs out there. Take advantage of Youtube. Youtube? Yes, Youtube, you need not have a professional camera. You can begin with the 4 megapizel camera of your mobile phone. Go to one radio station. If they turn you down, go to the next and the next and tell them about your songs. Rejection is why you should push further. Do it! Do it!! Do it until you succeed. Never give up! Never!!

Young people of today give themselves beautiful reasons to be idle. Many of them are interested in short-cuts without mastering a skill. A lot more are frustrated because they are not realising what they were thought formal education would bestow them; to secure a white collar, green collar, gold collar kind of job after graduation. This conventional mentality has left many in a hole as unemployment figures continue to soar.

Most people prefer the safe haven of blaming all else but themselves for their circumstance. They are yet to realise that their success depended mostly on themselves and their actions or inactions. They do not understand that where there is a will, there is a way. The earlier they realised this, the better.

Meet Esi Owusu, intelligent and charming, a Fine Arts graduate, who intends to run an Arts gallery. The funds in her bank account is only enough to buy porridge for a few days. She sends her works to potential buyers but each gave her sermons on why they couldn’t buy. Those who thought she had a brilliant idea gave her one option; that she agreed to a sexual barter.

Esi is discouraged, doubts her own innate abilities. She contemplates taking up any available job offer just to make ends meet. She is also frustrated, continually judging herself in the light of the temporary setbacks, and measuring her real worth by a piece of certificate. She finds a job as a teller in a rural bank. Should Esi, in the hustle and bustle of work in a bank forget her real passion; she will very likely end up living out a life of regret.  

Esi must come to the realisation of her life’s task. She must give herself no reason to fail in this task. She must not look at others except to draw inspiration from those who are making it happen in their own lives. She must give herself no excuse to fail but to continually ask herself what she can do to better her lot and her society. She must begin to build a career around her ability to paint creative emotional scenes. She must begin today, not tomorrow. Yes, today!

Victory may be like a hesitant woman but with persistence, you will woo her to your side. Make it happen! Refuse to die!!

Read More

Stop playing the blame game

“It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself” Epictetus, The Enchiridion.

I have this uncle who blames everything on everybody and every living creature. He takes every opportunity to blame his wife, children, siblings and everything in sight for his woes. He has been imprisoned thrice in his lifetime and still less than fifty years old. He has been placed in police counter-backs not less than a one hundred times. If the Guinness World Book of Records recognized such feats, this uncle I’m referring to would be considered a superstar.

He has been embarrassed times without number in the presence of his wife and kids by all kinds of people, young and old, for duping them of huge sums of money under the pretense of providing them accommodation. This man is only fourty-five years of age, with one wife and four children, the oldest being seventeen years of age and the youngest only two.

He is a lover of alcohol, an addict actually. He gives his relatives sleepless nights from raining curses, insults and everything in-between. If you lived six houses away, you could hear his voice, swearing by heaven and earth; by his dead parents and by every single thing in sight. This daily act of his continues till past midnight. He blames everybody and everything including mosquitoes for only God knows why. This is the posture and attitude of many of us.

We are not ready to confront our fears for fear of failure, but are quick to blame everything and everybody. We try very hard to hide our inefficiencies by being loud and blame our shortfalls on others, including unseen spirits. Many ladies today blame their failed relationships on men and vice versa, without spending time to identify the cracks in their virtues leading to the often avoidable separations. You spend to the last dowry the resources of all the men you have dated, yet do not understand why your relationships do not last. An inflated ego clouds one’s perception of his true state.

We are quick to blame others for our woes, an action which is often an attempt to hide our insecurities and silent hidden fears. Fear eats up its victims from the inside and prevents him from pursuing those things that matter most. The good news however is that we can be liberated if we begin to believe that change is first and foremost internal before it reflects externally.

For instance, you can never overcome your fear of meeting people if you think that everybody you meet thinks ill of you. You will never be able to able to succeed in business if you continue to blame the woes of the economy on the rich while holding on to the perception that all successful people attained it through spiritual and or dishonest means (a notion widely held among many people in many parts of Africa). Success is the result of a combination of factors including hard work, identifying and grabbing opportunities, persistence and consistence among others.

Even in the game of sports, some people blame their team’s loss on the referee, the weather, even unseen forces et cetera. How pathetic!

A Chinese proverb says ‘the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time is now’. My friend, forget the bullshit and crap excuses lazy people preach all over the place, rather, push your ambitions forward by taking a step today. Leave the naysayers behind, those who complain never amount to nothing. Those who blame everything on everybody are not ready to take on the world, as all they are doing actually is to scamper around nothing.

Stay focused, take the bull by the horn, be honest with yourself and let go all the distractions in your mind, pursue the things that matter most to you with all innermost desire.

Remember, victory may be like a hesitant woman but with persistence, you will woo her to your side. Make it happen! Refuse to die!!!

Read More

Capability the engine

If you are not new to my ramblings about performance, then you probably already know what role occupation plays in the quest for maximization of existence or peak performance for that matter. In uptimetrics, we describe it as the vehicle that must transport the agent to the set destination. From a practical viewpoint, destination is the goal a person sets for their existence (it is the ultimate determinant of a maximized existence). It answers the question; what one thing must you achieve for you to say you have given your best in life.

The description of occupation as a vehicle automatically proposes the need for an engine; a vehicle cannot move without a source of energy. That engine is capability. Capability for our purposes can be said to have four main cylinders—Talent, Skill, Interest and Traits. It is when these cylinders are well aligned and are all firing at their full capacities that the vehicle moves at full power. The importance of firing at full power is based on the premise that time is the only known unit for measuring existence and maximization of existence relies heavily on its optimum use.  

What you do + Quality(quality+quantity) of what you do / the length of Time in which you do it =Performance

Ok don’t let the math frighten you. I am not good at it ether. This simply means you have given it your best possible shot. The extension of this formula is the comparison to the best in the field but I shall desist from exploring that since that discussion is beyond the scope of this article. I am actually avoiding the Ecclesiastes 9:11 fanatics…for now. ;)

As a general rule however, the faster the vehicle the more likely it is for the goal to be reached and the less the time this is likely to be done in. Since one does not have the luxury of eternity, at least in this existence as we know it, it counts that you take the time factor into consideration and this depends directly on the power of your engine—capability. What can you do in a day? Not many of us have answered that question but a careful analysis will reveal that it is that simple answer, too often very hard to produce that will shape your whole existence.

Anyway, as you may already know, a well-oiled, well-functioning engine is critical for overall performance. Yet it is not the only determinant. It must be steered in the right direction and stopped when necessary. These two elements ensure that the capability engine remains an asset. A high performance vehicle is a death-trap without a good breaking and control system. There is an axiom for this; Great power must come with great responsibility. But that’s not the end of the story; there are also matters regarding weights or baggage (how much you are carrying along) which must be shed so the power of the engine is allowed to be what it really is. 

For a deeper understanding you need to read my theoretical foundation of peak performance which unfortunately is being rewritten at the moment—sorry. Stick around long enough and I might just give you a copy. In the meantime, spend some time thinking about your engine and how it is influencing your vehicle towards the possibility of maximizing your existence. #spidup

Read More

Dimensions of GOOD

Many are the thinkers who have treated good as an idea. The conclusions have not always been the same (You know how philosophers are). This is strange given the fact that good is an idea we deal with in every day activity—it is also what we all claim we represent. The consensus appears to be that; it is relative and only determined by the context of particular circumstances. What may be good for the goose may not be good for the gander after all. And what may be good today may not be good tomorrow. But don’t let me rock the boat too hard.

Think about this for a second; a person seeking justice will be very quick to point out that what is good for the goose is good for the gander and he may be right. But he will say so only because it helps his cause—it preserves his existence in one way or another. A person who is actually in the wrong, will refer to a judgement in his favour as good—it helps his cause. So in a typical scenario of opposing forces, there might be different definitions of what is good as it will be dependent on the cause it helps (in Plus-Thinking, we explore this notion in more detail). This may perhaps be the reason utilitarians turned to the idea of the general good i.e. that which promotes the larger cause of society though at the expense of one of its sub-components. This means a sacrifice of the individual for the larger good (perhaps that rings a bell).

While I personally like the idea of the general good, many of the scenarios that result from it are nothing short of petrifying. But I am digressing again aren’t I; the point of this article is to find a more humanly digestible understanding that can be applied in your daily activities as you map your way to high performance in your occupation and larger existence.

There are two levels to good which must be complied with if your output is to qualify as good. First is your very person; a good person is likely to produce a good product. This is based on the presumption that, a good person has good intentions and therefore creates good products. A beneficiary will describe your output as good because it helps their cause. But the question that arises is; is their cause good? The answer to that will be a resounding yes if we presume that the beneficiary is a good person who has good intentions. So that the goodness of the product is not simply because it serves a purpose well but more because the purpose it serves is good. We have seen that the larger good—the good that benefits the larger society is the ultimate good that must be aspired to. So that if the product meets the needs of the larger society is some way, it will be because it was put in place by a good person who by our understanding is good only because he has the needs of the larger society at heart even at the expense of his comfort.

Now, let’s not get carried away with the utilitarian thinking of which I am not exactly an aficionado by any stretch of the imagination. I am more the God kind of guy who, instead of saying larger good, will be happier placing God (the repository of all good) in the center of things much to the displeasure of one Richard Dawkins. If God is the repository of all goodness, then we must see how complying with his interest is what makes a good person who of necessity will put out a product that must meet the God standard. In effect, the single goodness of God when accepted makes a good person who puts out a good product that meets the need of the larger society.

We have seen from our research at the CSD that the high performing individual is a certain kind of personality with specific character traits (I shall treat this thought in more detail in a coming paper) which is akin to those proposed by scripture. Indeed we are yet to encounter any religion or spiritual path for that matter; that does not advocate goodness as the best way to exist. They all seek to develop devotees into such a personality. This substantiates the fact that any maximization of existence must begin with goodness and that the degree of goodness in that order determines the extent of the maximization of existence.

The high performing individual is a good guy. The better you are as a person the better your output and the better your life will be—all things being equal. It will be difficult to describe something as best without first passing it through the good stage. Be good at what you do but also do it for a good reason because you are a good person. After good comes better and best #spidup

If you Know anyone who is good at what they do, nominate them for the SPiD-UP high performance recognition program and we will reward them on your behalf.

Read More

A clandestine mission

I am a regular guest on interview panels. Not because I am an HR expert of any kind or am I? My mission on these panels is more of the clandestine kind. Recently I was guest on one of such panels when a young lady walked in. She and the job on offer were more like plug and socket if you like— the perfect fit. I have not seen that in a long time and I began to wonder if the hand of God was at work in this young lady’s life. Well I could not think of a better explanation for such a mystery.

First of all, only seven out of the twenty applicants showed up on time… (Well you have to make room for the African mean time AMT) so no surprises there. Three were badly dressed rendering useless the host’s effort to impress them by choosing a three star hotel’s conference room complete with all the goodies—I did enjoy the earl grey tea.  Somehow the “you never get another chance to make a first impression” message has not reached some. More work to do motivational speakers.

With a guy like me on the panel, the gate just gets much narrower. Not that I ask the most questions, sometimes I never say anything at all as I feed off the question of the well… experts. My mission is to identify the performance conscious and the most purposeful people among the lot. And when I do ask a question, it will be trying to find the connection between the job being applied for, the applicants own life aspiration and their understanding of how the job in question can help them achieve their life goals.

Making performance consciousness and purposefulness the key, everything else kind of falls in place. You see, a person will place great importance on the task or event at hand only if they see how their larger existence depends on it. Such persons will treat the job with great importance and give their best, not because they like the job but because they see it as an opportunity to get what they really want and everyone wants something. One applicant was honest when she said;

“I need this job because it will help me pay my way through school and feed my self until I can get the job I really want”.

No! That’s not a slap in the face, it smells of purposefulness and integrity—the two are often allies and find a resting place among the many traits of the performance conscious individual. So what’s my point? Too many people have misaligned the life aspiration and the current objectives. Most are not even sure where they are on their timeline and this for me indicates purposelessness which disqualifies the individual as performance conscious. Since there are no businesses out there that do not want high performance, this is increasingly becoming a matter of concern. 

As we know, high performing individuals make high performing organization and the latter in turn make high performing nation and this is how we can make a high performing continent. Only two persons qualified for the job from my performance consciousness and purposefulness point of view. To learn more about performance consciousness and purposefulness, you are already in the right place. Attend a SPiD-UP® workshop, read a book or keep snooping around this website and your life will never be the same. Have a high performance day.

Read More

Motivation VS Inspiration

Do you find some things really effortless and other things needing you to push yourself, and really focus on staying on task to complete?... You do. Everyone does from time to time, in one sense or another, but why? What's the difference?

Simply defined, motivation is driven from external forces- like expectations, deadlines, goals etc. Something that you don't intrinsically have, or are driven for example you need to be 'motivated' to do it, whether you motivate yourself, or you have someone else motivate you, like a coach or mentor or friend or lover etc.  Inspiration comes from within, and is much more powerful as a driver for behavior and ultimately results, yet inspiration &/or motivation alone don't equal results without action.

How many times have you had a fleeting moment of inspiration? An idea that at the time you had it, stirred up a deep positive feeling inside you, and in the next instant it was gone! Vanished into the depths of your biological filing system, no matter how hard you tried to recall it, you just couldn't, and the harder you triedthe harder it was to recall, until you just moved on.

One of the biggest keys to a fulfilled life is to act on your inspirations, like the great artists, engineers, architects, authors, thinkers, doers, leaders & changers of our time did and do. All of these people were driven not by motivation, but by inspiration, or in other words their ultimate purpose, the thing that no one told them to do, and everyone said they would never be able to do.

If you get a bucket and put one crab in the bucket, the crab will crawl out of the bucket. The crab is instinctually inspired to get out of the bucket and back to the ocean floor, where it knows it belongs and loves to be. BUT, you put two crabs in the same bucket and neither crab will get out....true story. You see, every time one of the crabs gets inspired enough to escape the limitations of the bucket, the other crab will reach up and pull it back down... 

So what is your purpose? What inspires you? Which is normally the point where a person will say either "I don't know" or they'll say what inspires them, followed by all the reasons they can't do it, based on the size of their bucket and all the crabs out there that keep them in the bucket. 

Inspiration doesn't have to mean changing the world, or going into business, or anything for that matter, it means what ever it means to you, whatever it is that provides you with real fulfillment. I have friends that are inspired to live very simple lives, completely off grid, and I can tell you they are happier than most other people that need to be continually motivated to do something that doesn't inspire them, but "pays the bills", but you can find inspirations in your everyday movements... if you look for them!

The bucket is your comfort zone. Your limiting beliefs about the world and what is possible, and the crabs are the external things that limit you (money, relationships, government, opportunity, privilege etc.) 

When things seem impossible think about this. The Earth is 4.6 billion years old.
If you scale this to 1B:1, or in other words down to 46 years, then the human race has been here for just 4 hours & The Industrial Revolution began just 1 minute ago!

Forget about what you think is possible, and start to think about what inspires you. Steve Jobs once said "I want a phone with one button..." and everyone said he was crazy - to which he replied "the people that are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do"

Step out of the bucket and into life, and if you have crabs, ask a coach for some inspirational crab removal cream...

_______________________
This article was contributed by John Fell. For more about the author click the link below; Click here

Read More

Different or Attention Seeking Disorder (ASD)

A few years ago, I wrote a rather long article that got me into a bit of trouble. It was titled; the demons that haunt originality. I have since been trying to develop it into a book, I have titled “down Demon Avenue”. But this hasn’t been as easy as I thought with the myriad of other books waiting to be completed. God is in control. The purpose of that article was to treat the idea of originality that in my opinion many people only make an attempt at; but never really attain. This is a tragedy of the serious kind. It got me into trouble because I mentioned the names of specific individuals as examples to bring my point home. I shall now attempt to make a similar point under a cloud of all the ambiguity I can muster at the inimical expense of my innate need to say things exactly as I see it.

Because the idea of originality is too broad for the purpose of this article, I shall focus on the idea of difference (being different and making a difference) which as far as I can see, is an aspect of the originality discussion. Nature itself thrives on diversity. We see the manifestation of this in the many different varieties it has of each entity. There are many different species of apples as there are of oranges. A larger variety is the citrus family and the much larger fruit family—yet they form a unit that integrates with other units to make a larger unit. No aspect of nature is without this diversity and no where do they not unite in one way or another. Yet it is the unity of this diversity that makes nature what it is in a plug and socket manner. What kind of life will this be if all the fruits were the same and had the same properties? So that nature needs this heterogeneity that it will unite into one working unit with many different players. Any attempt to deprive it of this difference is error. Let’s put that in the bag for now.

With the forgone as a premise therefore, we must see why it is required by nature that every one of its constituents be different, unique and original no matter how apparently similar and nature indeed makes the so by default. To be different therefore, one only has to simply allow the different and original that one already is—we have seen this in performance theory as a necessary ingredient.  The challenge most people have starts with the attempt at being different. Often when a person decides of their own accord to be different, they are forced to think up ways in which they can appear different from everybody else. This is not very difficult to achieve as a simple thing as walking around without shoes in a society where wearing shoes is the norm can make one significantly different in the immediate environment. Yet when we look far enough, we will quickly learn that there are others who already walk around without shoes. At that point what seemed different begins to lose its authenticity and starts straying towards normal in a certain sense. Walking around without shoes can easily be replicated by literally everyone. It is a falsity then to think that is how one is different from others. It is a learnt and created difference. It is attention seeking that became necessary because one somehow learnt that you can gain attention by being different. When it wears out, one will have to think up other ways in which they can be different.

For this group that tries to be different, they are often not very conscious of the effect of their actions and its consequences. What is most important to them is to gain the attention that being different or being seen to have challenged the status quo brings. It is a need being met by any means necessary and this is not different from a person who decides to rob others so he might feed his children. A musician who decides to perform stark naked in front of an audience will gain some attention no doubt. Possibly even world-wide fame and some have done that. However, we will have been attracted by a naked body or eccentric behavior and not great music. So perhaps this individual is not a real musician—his authenticity as a musician is then challenged by his own need to be different. His attempt at being different is actually a retrograde of civilization as we know it. Man left the walk-around-naked zone thousands of years ago because we decided that wearing clothes and shoes was the better option as far as our need for continuous improvement goes. As a matter of fact, all those who have made a difference did it with their clothes on. There is nothing special then about the act itself as it can be replicated by anyone and therefore not that different in essence. That which is different in essence cannot be replicated by another. Put that too in the bag.

Difference; when allowed to be what it is; brings humanity to a new level of progress its seeds rests within everyone. It is running the same one hundred meter sprint that many have ran for a millennia and bringing something new to it. Win it ahead of the elite, break the record and stand out. Be known as the only man who ran a sprint and actually slowed down in order to make room for a future breaking of your own record. A feat like this one can barely be achieved by simply showing up naked on the tracks. It is only with a certain capability (a unique combination of talent, skill, traits and interests) possessed by one person only. Of course the one who shows up naked will be remembered as the only one who showed up naked but that is as far as he will go. Should he break away from the pack and win the race by a significant margin, he would have made a real difference. However a person who has the capability to break records barely thinks about ways in which he can be different—he is already different.

My second concern is those who say that their life mission is to make a difference in the world. Fantastic! But they must by their occupation improve some aspect of our existence and be of benefit to many and not so much themselves. Benefit for the self is what most people do and hence we cannot claim difference when we do the same. It means going out there to do something phenomenal that inspires someone to do something too. Most importantly the conditions of others must change for the better because of something you did. So that beneficiaries can look at their situation at some point and say to themselves, I am different now because of something Mr. X did. Or perhaps an aspect of the world changed for the better because of something we have done. When we can make this happen, we can say that we have made a difference. It is for this reason that the expression change-maker can be equated to one who made a difference.

In conclusion, we should see that merely choosing to be different will not necessarily help us make a difference. To make a difference therefore, one has to just remain different. Simple as this is, it has eluded many. They therefore look outside of themselves for the solution to being different. This can only be described as a tragedy. The need to be different is ASD (Attention seeking disorder); it can be treated. Go make a difference with your already different self. #spidup
_________________________________________________________________________________
We are glad you stopped by. You may download your free copy of the Peak Performance Scrapbook here http://www.spid-up.com/p/books_19.html, its our gift to you

Read More

Africa calls through Black I

The review section of project SPiD-UP® helps to expose and promote great accomplishments by individuals and organizations who consciously and unconsciously pay attention to quality thereby bringing us all to a new level of development. We are especially interested in those that promise to push the set limits and take their vocations to the next level. This is based on the premise that; the world is the way it is because of what we have all done and not done. A better world therefore, is only possible with better performing individuals and organizations. To us at SPiD-UP®, quality equals high performance. It is when expectations are exceeded in a positive direction. In that spirit, we deem it fit to recognize a great piece of work delivered to us by Black I (AKA Nii Quarcoo) a Ghanaian reggae musician based in Atlanta, USA.

I personally chanced upon Black I’s work a few years ago when I heard a song titled “Tiniini kwano” on radio gold. I was quickly taken by the melody, arrangement and delivery. It was by all standards an outstanding piece of work. At the time I couldn’t figure out who the artist was as the presenter made no attempt at enlightening his listeners whatsoever. It will take a few years before I will meet the gentleman who will claim ownership of that outstanding piece of work. His proof ; a well packaged CD titled “African skies”  which represents his depute album. “Tiniini kwano” (“The right way” in Akan) which speaks from the very soul of Rastafarianism; reverberating the need to travel the right road by the guidance of God himself was the number 12 of the 13 track album. Anyone who has lived in Ghana long enough will understand the timeliness of this call. The focus of this article however, is another offering which is not even on the African Skies Album.

Our many conversations (primarily driven by my ever probing curiosity) will land me in the musical goldmine of works that are to constitute the many albums he plans to release in the next few years both on the local and international scenes. Among the many great songs I heard, one stood out: Africa Calling. The song featured a fellow reggae artiste Jah Hem a Bahamas born asset who’s vocal excellence is easy to confuse with that of reggae titan; Jah Cure. Those familiar with the work of Jah Cure will have an idea of what Jah Hem adds to the song as he opens with the unforgettable hook that is bound to leave even non-reggae fans asking for more. The song was recorded in Atlanta where Black I has worked extensively with ace producer Kaddafi to create masterful works of art in the reggae/dancehall genre.

The unusual thing about Africa Calling is the distinctly world famous Ghanaian Yaa Amponsah highlife guitar work that forms the base of the clearly unmistakable Jamaican dancehall rhythm. It is an enigmatic blend of Africa and the Caribbean. The song promises to redefine what Ghanaian dancehall is and provides answers that are certain to put critics in their place with its sheer authenticity.

It is nature’s way; that every now and then something comes along that redefines the thoughts of the day and takes the world forward one step. For dancehall fans and all concerned, this could be the one song that sets the trend that Ghanaian and indeed African reggae dancehall must follow. Fusing highlife with reggae is not exactly a new idea as many prominent reggae musicians such as Peter Tosh, Buju Banton and Ziggy Marley have experimented in that area; yet this one brings the whole idea home to where it really belongs. We rate Africa calling a five star high performance product and encourage you too, to put more effort into whatever you are doing. So this world can improve because of you. Like I said, the world is the way it is because of what we have all done. #spidup

Read More

Citi; a fantastic ten years

Last year Citi FM turned 10. Naturally this called for celebration but I do not believe they got the attention they deserved. I expected recognition from government and other institutions for the contribution of this small organization towards our democracy and the general welfare of this nation’s citizenry. The impact of Citi’s contribution is enormous and for us at CSD Africa and SPiD-UP® they epitomize high performance in every sense of the idea.

A high performance organization is intelligent; it understands itself, it understands its environment and knows the manner in which it can maximize its existence by affecting its environment. The folks at Citi have done this in the deftest manner. They appear to also understand performance theory and how the world works. They clearly ensured that every individual in the organization meets a certain standard. This comes about with the understanding that the performance of an organization directly depends on its individuals as the most active sub-components. High performing individuals makes high performing organizations and it is a simple as that.

A high performing organization understands how to leverage strength in order to make impact in an already saturated market. When Citi came into the business of radio broadcasting, there was a clear leader of the Bolt Caliber. To outclass them must have seemed an impossible task unless you understood strategy and had an unfathomable amount of confidence. This says a lot about the leadership of the organization as they clearly set out to lead the market with what will be referred to in business parlance as product leadership. Every single product they put out was above average and they seemed to have mastered the art and science of brand building quite well. In every area they appear to lead with a brand or two. This includes news and current affairs spearheaded by the nation’s number one breakfast show, entertainment, events and sports. 

The intelligence of the organization is clearly demonstrated in the brands as they appear to be aware of the idea of the influence of the sub-component. To have a high performing organization you need high performing units-- high performing products that are created by high performing individuals. I dare without sounding too esoteric; postulate the as above so below concept as the driving force behind such thinking. For a breakfast show for example, they pack in five people who on their own could have given any other breakfast show a run for their money. This is a clear demonstration of the intention to lead the market with a high performing product.

Intriguingly, they did not do all these at the expense of operational excellence. From where I sit, they match every best practice in running a modern business. They appear to have not have thrown ethics out of the window either and have consistently contributed to the welfare of the underprivileged. To understand our findings on the Citi performance analysis, it is necessary to discuss some thoughts from business theory and a bit of our own performance theory without over-digressing. 

According to business theorist, very rare businesses are able to master two of the three driving forces of business strategy i.e. Product leadership, operational excellence and customer intimacy. Most successful companies focus on one of the three and this enables them to lead the market in a way. This of course makes sense given that there is the need to prudently apply effectively the limited resources available to organizations. At CSD Africa we proposed structure and content both being of high quality as the means by which high performance can be attained. This is a question of what is being delivered and how it is being delivered both being of high quality. In practice this will mean that an organization must be high on both product leadership and operational excellence. This is not a deviation from the business theory of course as it proposes that whiles one may focus on one of the three, the other two must also be at appreciable levels. (I recognize that this needs further discussion)

Citi appears to understand both theories and have broken the barrier building the much needed bridge. Perhaps a new theory can now be formulated based on how they run their business. Although, I suspect the new theory will validate the idea of quality in both what is being delivered (content) and how it is being delivered (structure). We do not always have to look outside for our success formulas. We can formulate our own based on our own narratives.

So if there are any hints there, they will point to

Understanding your market and developing the right products
Understanding your strengths and weakness (I know it sounds a bit cliché-ish but it’s useful)
Being clear about your target
Having a reliable and modifiable business model and a clear strategy (extremely important as it shapes how the business creates and delivers value)

If you have any fear of a Goliath in the field the above will kill it in your head and you will walk confidently into your victory. Just like Citi has done. With that; it is appropriate to recognize key individuals, who by their performance as micro-components have ensured that the larger organization performed at a very high level.

Samuel Attah Mensah -        
 High performance in leadership

A great personality by all standards, it took one meeting which lasted not more than ten minutes for me to conclude that he is a masterful judge of character. By our second meeting which did not even involve a direct conversation, I begun to understand the depth of his social intelligence and integrity. Frankly we don’t have that many of his type in Ghanaian leadership.

Indeed one cannot discuss leadership in our time without mentioning John C. Maxwell. In his book 21 irrefutable laws of leadership, Sammens as he is affectionately called was clearly captured in the first law. A true leader is the one who raises other leaders. If there is any leader within visibility who has achieved this, it will be Samuel Attah Mensah. Another lesson from the Maxwell leadership class is: leaders are trail blazers, they lead by example and this man iconizes this in more ways than one. He has a great connection with his team and his leadership can only be described as exemplary. Bernard Avle appears to have learnt from this as he demonstrates this through his leadership of the market leading Citi breakfast show. 

Bernard Avle                   -         
High performance in radio broadcasting (Current Affairs)

As far as I know, breakfast show meant Kumla Dumor. Prior to that, it was good old TAF and Charlie Sam. In fact one might even argue that Komla brought the whole breakfast show hosting thing to a new level standing albeit, on the shoulders of the giants before him. I did not see how I was going to listen to anything or anyone else. What were they going to say and how were they going to say it?

All that changed of course when I stumbled upon the Citi breakfast show. I honestly didn’t know what it was that captured my attention. It appears the structure and the content were both right (pardon my need to use performance lingo). This means that both what was being delivered and how it was being delivered was of a high quality. The voice was distinctively Ghanaian without blemish and so was the language with traces of useful verbosity. Soon I was imagining a great personality behind the voice.  My dial started shuffling between Komla Dumor and Benard who? This was happening subconsciously until I woke up one day and realized I was listening to Bernard Avle all the time. When Komla left the local scene-- that was it. We gained in Bernard Avle an indisputable king of breakfast show hosting who did not drop the standard as we have seen happen in other areas. The lanky Ewe boy has taken the place of his mentor after giving him the only real competition in his breakfast show hosting career. To say it is possible Bernard was the reason why Komla moved on will be a fair speculation probably not too far off the mark. 

Bernard’s achievement can fairly be described as phenomenal and his portrait rightfully belongs on the same wall as the greats. He is clearly a market-leading individual who runs a market-leading product in a market-leading organization run by a market-leading leader. This is no coincidence at all if you understand performance theory (the behavior of the micro-components determines the behavior of the larger entity). He learnt from the best and is clearly applying his knowledge through the engagement of his gift. My only problem with him is that, he has done it all and doesn’t appear to know where to go next; this worries me of course because I happen to believe that it is continuous progress that sustains an entity’s existence and ensures its maximization. If you like something, you want it to be the best it can be. And that is what I will continue to insist on as far as Bernard Koku Avle is concerned

Jessica Opare Saforo - 
High performance in radio broadcasting (Entertainment)

I was being driven from the airport on the day I had returned from my sojourn in another country for a considerable number of years and naturally I had lost track of what was going on in the country. I asked to listen to the radio and when it was turned on the voice hit me. Who is that I asked almost instantly? Jessica-- came the answer. Wow! came my only response. That’s what happens when you encounter a great product. It was almost like my first encounter with the iPod.

I really didn’t care much for what she was saying and that is being plain honest. She was in argument with another presenter whose name I don’t remember (funny) about the man and woman difference thing. The question is; how do you like someone who is arguing against your very nature. High Performance. If it’s Jessica then you really don’t mind. You just want to listen.

There was another shift in power base when Jessica started hosting the Citi mid-morning show as she clearly took some shine away from good old Doreen Andoh who a priori had been the undisputable queen of mid-morning radio. It will be surprising if Jessica didn’t look up to her at some point given the age gap and depth of experience.

The thing with Jessica is this; she is just entertaining to listen to. She is incredibly smart, adoptive and a super-talkative. Most importantly, she has high social intelligence which makes her a great conversationista. Have you ever met someone who knows what to say and when to say it in the most entertaining way-- all the time? Erm…that will be Jessica. I guess you can call it versatility. Such persons are very aware of their environment and how it works. This makes it easy for them to fit in and affect it in their own way. Put her on another planet and all she will need is a microphone and some music.

Whiles there are other great personalities at Citi who by their effortless hard work have made it the outstanding radio station it is, these three personalities have been the key driving forces behind its leadership. However, it is important to mention names like Shamima Muslim; who put the evening news on top of the list, Gary Al Smith and Godfred Akoto; who put the sports in its own class, and Richard Sky who made short documentaries fashionable again. There are several formulas for performance as we have discovered at CSD Africa in our research. The one I would like to share in concluding this article is

What you choose to do + how much of it you do + the nature of your output / the period of time in which you do it – the comparison to others.

 

That may not sound functional now but take some time to think about it. Over the last ten years Citi have decided to do radio and they have done a lot of it consistently. I truly cannot recollect any down times since I have been listening to them and comparing them to the best, they have done better bringing broadcasting to a new threshold. All of this has been made possible by great leadership and performance consciousness. 

This article was written for the sole purpose of recognition based on our evaluation of the organization in question over the period of its existence compared to others.  It is possible that the writer may be Citi's number one critique. I do it for the good of mother Ghana and Grandma Africa. May you also be the best you can be in your field and get recognized for it. To ensure high performance this year get configure 1.0 now

Read More