Personal development

Business Executives can learn from Toriola’s Leadership Style

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Business Executives have heard stories about taking the lead in Organizations from across the world. As a leadership and career mentor myself, it breaks my heart very often when the majority of the anecdotes we share during training sessions with clients in corporate Nigeria are from foreign business experiences. Foreign to our culture and personalities. … Read more

How to Transfer your Retirement savings plan to Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers

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Your retirement plan is your future, do not whisk it away, Retirement Planning as an exercise the world over is fraught with many challenges. With insecurities over a lot of payment plans, and the volatile economic situation in Nigeria you need a partner you can trust. Your retirement from work should not mean retirement from … Read more

How CEOs Can Lead a Data-Driven Culture

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While businesses across the world are trying to make more effective use of data, analytics, and AI, a key impediment is holding many of them back: The lack of a culture that truly values data/analytics capability and the superior decision making that can flow from it. Yet as we’ll describe, it’s possible to create a … Read more

Training pitfalls: why so much leadership development doesn’t work

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Frequently when it comes to leadership and management development, the skills that are described as ‘hard’ are the ones that are the easiest to teach. So many leadership development programmes focus on these ‘hard’ skills, in their content – for example, the models and theories that offer explanations and insights into how people and organisations work. This … Read more

5 Ways Millionaires Approach Their Careers

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imagesHey, it’s 3:43am in Nigeria and I am excited because I just stumbled on this great piece written by Ken Sundheim on the entrepreneur webpage and I just know you will love it! Enjoy this read:

In the majority of cases, it’s not luck that makes people money, nor is it who they know. Rather, the people who make the most money in their careers are the ones who display discipline, and who have a definitive sense of purpose and heavy duty resiliency.

The positive news is that even if you don’t possess these skills now, it is very possible to obtain them. The first step in doing so is to analyze how millionaires approach their careers and begin to alter your thought processes, practices and overall professional approach.

To get you started, here are five ways the highly successful approach their careers:

Related: 5 Ways to Get More Respect at Work

1. Maintain an Open Mind and Active Imagination – Effective job seekers and entrepreneurs understand that tolerance and maintaining an open mind are necessities for anyone seeking wealth and prosperity from their job. They are not afraid of new ideas and understand that closed minds do not inspire faith, courage or belief.

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MOST ENTREPRENEURS DON’T PLAN TO FAIL, THEY FAIL TO PLAN

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I periodically read research reports about business failures. I always find them interesting, although often they are depressing.

Such as what I recently read. Which was research from Bradley University in Peoria, IL. This research found that 70% to 80% of new businesses fail within their first year.

And while this was frustrating enough to read, the research further stated that half of those companies which do survive the first year will fail within the next four years.

Now, let’s turn to the cause of this failure. According to Dun & Bradstreet, the number one cause of this failure is lack of business planning.

What this essentially means is this: entrepreneurs and business owners don’t plan to fail; rather, they fail to plan (which causes them to fail).

In my view, there are two types of business plans. The first is the business plan you must create when you start your company. The purpose of this plan is to ensure you have fully thought through your venture.

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Crafting your Elevator Pitch.

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imagesWe had just gone to say hi to a neighbor who just moved into our area in Lekki Lagos. My wife and I went to say hi and welcome them to the Area with a cute basked of home made cheese cakes. After the Initial pleasantries and settling down to some of the snacks and a couple of drinks. The man of the house an avid investment Banker in his Mid 40’s threw the question

“…So what do you do?”

I was sure I muffled some words about being a Strategic Plan Consultant cum Management Trainer and whatever else came out…before handling over my Business card as if to say “figure it out yourself”. So the first question my wife asked when we got back home was;

“What was that about?” Before giving me a low-down of how unsure and unconvincing my statements were. I know it could be confusing when you are multi talented and can do a lot of things. How do you communicate such without sounding like a jerk or a confused person?

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