Becoming A Value Creator

As the year draws to a close we all have been taking stock. The progress made or lack of it. It’s so easy to get discouraged. You feel the clock is ticking too fast and there is so much to be done in so little time. You probably feel you have not made as much progress as you would have wanted. The goals you set at the beginning of year now look like a mirage.  The hands are drooping, the knees are feeble, the shoulders are sagging and your spirit might have grown weary. Yet there is so much to thank God for. Think about the recession you survived, the sickness you overcame, the promotion you got, the business opportunity, gift of friendship/fellowship, family. I want to share the importance of seeing value around us. We need value creators more than ever before. We need to build people, businesses, nations, families through seeing the value in them.

Count Your Blessings

As a management consultant, I work with different clients experiencing different challenges. One of the things I do is not to get into an assignment and look at all the things which are not working well only. The starting point is always to say “what is working well here?”  This approach is called appreciative inquiry as opposed to deficit inquiry.  More often than not, I discover there are a lot of things that work well for that client. I then build a solution around the things which are working well. This principle I will call the principle of counting your blessings. Instead of looking at what has not worked well, this year, why not list all the things which have worked well for a difference? As you do this it puts a positive spin to your year and lifts your spirit.

To Create Value You Must See Value

I recently read a story about one of the most successful music producers of all time Berry Gordy of the Motown Records label. He raised music icons including Diana Ross, the Jackson 5, The Commodores, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye among others. He had an eye for value. He could see what nobody else could see in these music stars.

His most successful story is easily the Jackson 5. Later know as The Jacksons they included the late Michael, Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon. Berry Gordy discovered them from a small town called Gary in Indiana (USA) and turned them into pop icons with a cross racial global appeal. Today this sounds like an easy thing, but when you look at this against the backdrop of the race issues in the US during the 1960s, you realise it took a lot of courage and faith to groom The Jacksons. Where everyone else saw a bunch of black boys from a working class township, Berry saw an ensemble of music stars destined for the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. He had well developed value intelligence (VQ).

Value Is Not Always So Obvious

To experience the power of appreciation you need to develop your value intelligence. Value intelligence is the ability see or create something out of nothing. It is the skill to develop possibilities out of the impossible and a capacity to see beyond the ordinary. Time and space would fail me if I shared about Nobel Laureate, Muhammed Yunus who started Grameen Bank. He started by lending a few dollars to 42 rural Bangladeshi women who were basket weavers in 1974. From less than USD100, today Grameen Bank is a multibillion dollar bank in Asia with over 8 million beneficiaries. Yunus appreciated the value in these hitherto ‘unbankable’ women and supported them. None of these women defaulted on their repayments yet conventional bankers would categorise them as high risk. To see value you need to go beyond the normal risk thresholds because value is not so obvious.

I once shared about Success Intelligences which included Intelligence Quotient (IQ), Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Spiritual Intelligence (SQ). I had further revelation on this and would like to add a new intelligence called Value Intelligence (VQ). This is a supreme intelligence which is the difference between the most and least successful amongst us. IQ will give you a reasonable head, EQ will give you a great heart and SQ will give you a seasoned spirit. However, Value Intelligence (VQ) combines your head (IQ), heart (EQ) and spirit (SQ) to create value.

It might too late to make a brand new start this year, but it’s early enough to make a brand new ending. You might have checked into the year not so glamorously, and the journey might even have been bumpy, but you can check out in style. The one sure way to do this is to count your blessings and have an attitude of gratitude. See the value around you and be appreciative of what the Creator has done for you. What more the Creator is the master value creator…He saw the value in you and me and paid it with His only begotten Son. Think about it!



Developing Your Personality For Success

Freedom is man’s capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves – Rollo May

I just had a chat with a young consultant who is very ambitious, focused and working on his self development. He approached me to get my insights on how he can use emotional intelligence principles to develop into a great person. I don’t mean great as in being a likeable person, but great as in being a person of influence, stature, impact and presence. As we discussed something really struck me in the conversation. He did not want to become a “great consultant” but a ‘great person’. This is deep. It resonates with my philosophy of success being ‘investment in your person and personality’. You need to build a personality architecture that generates success.

Many people become so career, ministry or business driven, they forget to develop as a person. Yet how well you do as in these areas is a function of how much investment you have made in your personality. Your life is like a seed; the extent to which it can be fruitful and multiply depends on the level of investment you put into it.  You must cultivate your gifts and abilities, grow your character and personality, and broaden your experiences in order to make an impact. If you are good you can be better, and with time you can become a master in your career, calling or business just by investing in your personality.

Build Your Capabilities

In a number of organisations which I consult for, I use the capability maturity model (CMM) to assess the ability of an organisation to be successful. Using this model I hypothesize that an organisation’s success is a result of the maturity of its capabilities (best practices, processes, systems, characteristics and attributes). It is based on the premise that an organisation cannot perform beyond the maturity of its processes and systems. We could apply the same hypothesis to your life: you cannot succeed beyond your capabilities (skills, talent, methods, processes and personality). This is why I would like to implore you to make an investment in your capabilities.

In my discussion with the young consultant, I began to share with him that he need not just look at his emotional intelligence (EQ), but also natural intelligence/talent (IQ) and spiritual intelligence (SQ). These three intelligences help in building the maturity of your personal capability. As these capabilities mature, so does your person and personality and your value, impact and influence too. Enroll on a course, research, read or browse, apply your skills, seek a coach or mentor and improve the way you do things.

Build Your Processes

A mango tree will not produce fruit beyond its maturity. If a mango tree tries to produce fruit too early, the fruit will be sub standard. A mango tree which has not fully matured cannot produce in terms of quality and quantity. It takes a full season for fruit to mature and ripen. I remember when we were growing up we would take green mangos and put them in plastic to ripen them. We were not following the natural process order. When you ripen fruit quickly, it loses its flavour and it cannot compare with fruit that matures on the tree.

What does this mean for you? It is not about how fast you grow but how strong you grow. Our obsession with speed is counterproductive if it comes at the expense of strength and stability. Progress must be balanced with due process. We should not judge the success of someone by how much they have achieved, but the quality of the process they have followed. Achievements can be short-lived, but process lasts. If there is something that can set you apart from everyone else it’s the ability to follow your own due process. This gives you uniqueness and reinforces your own personal brand.

Invest In Your Personal Brand

As you invest in your SHAPE (Spiritual Gifts (talent), Heart (your passion), Abilities, Personality and Experiences), it accentuates your personal brand and builds your personal brand equity. The things you will produce are path dependant (they are trail blazing) and have causal ambiguity (hence cannot be imitated). No mango tree can produce the same fruit taste as another unless it has been genetically cloned. You are a unique individual and as you invest in your person and personality you compound your value and influence and earn the right to deliver your special assignment in this world.

Lessons From Springtime

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven… time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted – King Solomon

This week I have been reflecting on the seasons of life. I was drawn to the wisdom of King Solomon and began to think of how time touches our homes, hearts and our hope. Each moment we experience the different seasons of life, we are driven deeper into the soil of destiny and closer to our purpose. The key is in identifying the outlines of the season we go through in life and picking up the lessons. Like a tree which goes through summer, autumn, winter and spring, your life indeed goes through the same seasons. The world has just been through a long winter of recession and financial crisis. It has been tough on a lot of people. People have lost jobs, homes, cars, health and so many others things. But the seasons have changed again.

Spring time has come. Let me make my point here and now – amid the disappearing clouds of winter, spring time has brought the fresh air of opportunity.  From the blossoming jacarandas lining up the streets of Harare, the bougainvilleas blooming in humid Lagos, the flame lilies of Honde Valley, to  the  proteas of the Drakensburg Mountains it rings  with the faithfulness of the Creator – nature fulfils its promises. How about you? Even after winter you can still blossom too.

Season of Opportunity

Springtime is a season of great opportunity and promise. It’s not a time to ponder about the failures of last season or the great tribulations of the past winter. It is a time to look forward to the rains which will soon fall on your seed. Therefore what do you have in your hand?  You need to lay your seed in the ground now and wait for the summer rains to water your opportunity. The wise amongst us are no longer talking about recession and economic difficult, they are busy looking for opportunity, creating opportunities, seeking alliances and positioning for an upturn.

Spring is sharp and short…very soon it will be over and the opportunity will be gone. Don’t let the aroma and dazzling beauty of springtime blossom lure you into slumber. Only those who are sowing seeds of promise now will smile when the summer clouds start to gather. If you don’t know what you are supposed to be doing in your life, let alone in this season please seek help. With the seed of purpose in your hand, the vision of a harvest in your heart, the faith and hope of fruitfulness in your spirit, it’s time to get into action.

Season of Faith

The essence of springtime is faith disguised as human effort. Much of the effort and opportunity of springtime rests in the depth and degree of our faith. It takes great faith for a farmer to prepare the ground and sow seed in springtime. Faith further provides to us an irrevocable law decreed in heaven which assures that for every disciplined human effort we will receive a multiple reward… for each cup planted, a bushel reaped. It is the promise of spring that as we sow, so shall we also reap. Sow greed, reap poverty; sow inactivity, reap an empty storehouse. A kernel of maize produces after its own kind. A seed of doubt, or fear, or distrust placed in the mind also produces after its own kind. As certainly as the soil gives back like unto that which we place into it, so also does the mind of man give back in human circumstance that which we place into it by our choice of human thought. You need faith to change the circumstances of your life. Like a farmer we need to learn the art of finding the miraculous hidden in the common – you just plant a bag, and you reap silos of harvest. But it takes faith… The fertilizer of faith will overcome every weed of doubt and every bug of discouragement.

The spring is a time for the creation of things of value, and those things require the season of summer for growing. For now you need to be creating by planting your seed. Do I have a seed? Yes you do….such as you have! Your seed is that talent, skills, personality, prayer, idea, concept, dream or thought. You can do something. The pain of discipline weighs ounces, and the pain of regret weighs tons.

Developing Strategic Relationships Part 1

Did you know that you are only six people away from every other person in this world? Really? Yes, you are that close to anyone you can think of. In the social networking world of Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, you could even be the only person between you and the next person. So what does this mean? It means the possibilities and impact you can make in this life is so great, only if you make the right connections. You need to develop strategic relationships. These are relationships that are well thought out, and part of an elaborate  and systematic plan of action leading to specific personal success outcomes. To be strategic in relationships means you make the important relationships important and invest in them.

Life Is A Summary of Relationships

Your success in life is determined by the relationships you have. You cannot succeed beyond the kind of relationships you. Your life is summary of relationships. You are a product of a relationship between your parents. The stages we go through in life whether its school, college, work, business, marriage, associations or friendships …is all a series of relationships. While some of the relationships are a biological, geographic or social fact, you nonetheless hold the key to improving the quality of these relationships. Your relationships create your environment, and your environment determines your success, therefore to achieve success you need to manage your relationships.

Relationships Create Opportunities

Education, skill and experience are the nuts and bolts to success, but the oil that makes them turn is relationships. There are many people with great qualifications, skills and years of experience, but they have not met with corresponding success. The missing spark could be relationships. A week ago, it was reported that President Zuma’s approval ratings are going up. He recently met with his arch critic Archbishop Tutu and appointed another critic Tony Leon an ambassador. He has defined his presidency as one based on a more engaging style, than his predecessor, President Mbeki who was perceived as an aloof intellectual. Intellect without relationships is like a boat on dry ground. The key lesson is that while education or talent can open doors for you, to keep them open you need relationships. The secret to accomplishing personal objectives can be found in reaching out to other people. What distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships to create opportunities for everyone.

Who You See, Determines Who Sees You

Have you ever wondered why you will never see a Mercedes Benz dealership located downtown? This is because of the principle of positioning and association.  If you are positioned in a common place, you will meet with common opportunity and the converse is true. You are the product of the company you keep. In order to experience uncommon success you need to develop new relationships . Make it your aim to develop relationships with people who challenge you to better yourself. What is better to be a big fish in a small pond, or to be a small fish in a ocean? Leave your comfort zone. It’s allowed to go into a top hotel lounge and just ask for even free tap water or sit and ‘just relax’. Drive to a nice neighbourhood and start viewing houses for sale, visit a golf club just to see. If you bump into some big shot and they say ‘I don’t know you’ just respond and say “now you have an opportunity to know me”. As you do so, you begin to expose yourself to interactions which can take you to the next level. The law of association also states that what you continuously expose yourself to, you will soon become.

Your Personal Brand and Relationships

If you were to sit with billionaire mining entrepreneur Patrice Motsepe on a 6 hour flight what would you discuss with him? What impression would you want to give him about yourself? Would he entrust you with USD10 million dollars to incubate poverty alleviation projects in Africa? The point is to build relationships you need to be credible and offer your own compelling value proposition or unique point of view. Relationships are a give and take affair. You may not bring material resources to a relationship, but at least bring your personal substance and identity. How can you offer anything of value if you haven’t thought about how you want to stand out and differentiate yourself? Be someone worth talking to — even better, someone worth talking about. In everything that you do make sure you create your own content and develop skills that differentiate you from others and increases your value. Your unique intellectual property creates key opportunities to gain credibility and visibility. It can be a cause, an idea, a trend or a skill. Stamp your style and exercise the right to be yourself and see your value increasing.

If you’re not distinct, you’re extinct. A powerful personal brand is a great advantage in building relationships. A credible, distinctive and trustworthy identity attracts more people to you or your cause, and you’ll find it easier to win new friends and have more say in what you do and where you work. Who you are and what you are known for determines who will pay attention to you.

It’s Never Too Late

Its never too late to be what you might have been – George Elliot

Last week Kimani Ng’ang’a Maruge, the man declared as the world’s oldest pupil passed on to glory. He made the world headlines a few years ago when he decided to go to primary school aged 85 years. As the BBC’s Will Ross in Nairobi said the 90-year old pupil gave new meaning to the phrase, “It’s never too late”, so Mkoma Roland dared me to do an article on this and I obliged.

How many times do you give up because you think it’s too late? What dreams die because you think you have missed the time?  The Creator in His great wisdom has made times and seasons for a purpose. His time (kairos) is different from the natural time (chronos). His time is in eternity and He has set eternity in your heart, so you can live your life in eternal bliss and infinite possibility. If you catch this greater truth you will never again let the seemingly missed opportunities of the past and the failures of yesterday rob you of the opportunities in the present and the future.

Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number

If you feel you are too old to do something, I have some good news for you – age ain’t nothing but just a number. If an 85 year old can go to primary school, surely you can at least read something for your development. By the way Kimani had set his sights on getting a Veterinary diploma even though he had just started primary school. But, hey its not just about education. It could be a project, a business, a book, a house…or any dream you have always wanted to do. You can get married and have a family. The biological clock is a mirage giving an appearance of ‘lateness’ and hopelessness. It’s never too late.

I could talk about one Caleb of ancient Israel who after 45 years in the wilderness (he was 40 years when the Exodus started), at 85 he asked for a mountain. The frustration, defeats, battles, wandering or time in the wilderness did not dim his faith and vision. What is the secret of holding on to your dreams even at 85 years? You need to be a person of conviction and principles. Conviction is anchored by hope, and principles are driven by faith. Hope is the belief in a possibility, and faith is the mental outline or image of that possibility. Without faith in the future, you lack power in the present.  Are you convinced that this world must change because you were born for such a time as this? Are you convinced you can make a difference? Awaken your dreams today, defy your physical/social condition and attempt that which you think you could not do before. It’s never too late.

I have some good news for the young too – it’s never to early – Caleb believed when he was still a young man that he would get to the Promised Land, and he held on to those convictions for 45 years!

It’s Never Too Late to Make Peace

Kimani lost all his belongings during the Kenya post election violence in 2007. At 88 years he could have chosen to be so bitter and never forgiven those who had destroyed the only property he had amassed over his 88 years. He was interviewed and explained that he had forgiven those who had destroyed his home and taken his belongings. He made peace with fellow man. Secondly he had recently made peace with his Creator, when he turned to organised religion and got baptised. It’s never too late to make peace with yourself, fellow man and with your Creator. You rob yourself of clear vision and encumber your journey with baggage by failing to forgive yourself and others. It’s never too late. You can make a brand new start just-as-if you had done nothing wrong. Without releasing the past, you rob the future of power.

Don’t Give Up Too Easily

There was a man who once discovered a rock claim that he thought might contain gold. He spent thousands of dollars driving a long tunnel into the rock, but after one and a half years he had still not found gold. Discouraged, he gave up and sold the mining claim. The next company bored 90 cm more and struck the gold vein. The Wright Brothers only added movable flaps to the edge of aeroplane wings and they are credited with inventing a plane.  Alexander Graham Bell,  turned a simple screw, one quarter of a turn, to transform the interrupted current into continuous current capable of reproducing human speech and today we have the telephone, but Reis had done all the difficult work.

People fail in life because they think they have spent too much time already! Don’t give up. We might be in August and things are not getting better for you. Hold on. Fight the good fight of faith – your breaking point is your break through moment. It’s never too late, and the Creator is always on time (kairos).

Conquering Your Fears

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyses needed efforts to convert retreat into advance – Frank D Roosevelt

“This is the captain. We have started our descent for Richards Bay airport. However there are very strong winds on the ground, the runway is short…the runway lights are not working today and unfortunately this type of plane does not have precision landing equipment, but we will try and see if we can land” After these words there was a great silence on the plane as I was on a flight to a client site this week. One word explains the reaction – FEAR gripped the hearts of the passengers (me included). For a moment I thought of my young family. As I processed all sort of thoughts in my mind, I remembered how I had overcome the fear of flying more than 10 years ago. Flying was a nerve wrecking experience for me for some time until I decided to deal with it. Those lessons helped on that day and are applicable to overcoming fear in general.

Fear is not good because it creates a negative energy or force field. Fear serves as a counter-intention to all of your positive intentions. This affects the way you think or coordinate your activities. It is paralyzing and is the reason why most people fail to succeed in life. It is for that reason why fear must be conquered. How can it be conquered?

Face Your Fears

In moments of fear, I have seen people closing their eyes. Now that’s a temporary way of dealing with fear. The moment you open your eyes, the thing you fear will still be in your face. My day of facing my fears of flying was 10 years ago. Before the flight I asked the cabin crew that I wanted to go into the cockpit and see what happens there once we get into full flight. Once airborne I was led to the cockpit where the captain explained to me what happens in there and all the takeoff and landing procedures. They were so relaxed in the cockpit and even having drinks! That day I conquered my fear of flying.

You might not have a fear of flying. Your fear might be of financial, medical, social, professional, business or spiritual problem. Some people don’t look at their ATM receipt after withdrawing money because the bank balance ‘scares’ them. We could share of so many examples. However you need to go into the ‘cockpit’ of your fear, and leave your fear demons in that cockpit. The captain in that ‘cockpit’ might be a counselor, mentor, pastor, friend, doctor, sister or brother who could help you deal with your fears. Fear melts when you face it head on. When you fail to face up to it, the fear grows and grows. Fear is really nothing but an illusion, but your thoughts make it seem real.

Change Your Focus

Fear is like an attention seeking child, if you pay too much attention to it, it will get out of hand. One way I dealt with my fear of flying years ago was to get a nice book to read, or do work on my laptop. Sometimes I would start a conversation with a fellow passenger just to get distracted. This way, I would get lost in my little world and give fear no chance. I also have an intention to enroll into flying school at some point in the near future. I read a lot about flying and it’s now a hobby. I have conquered my fears.

There are practical ways to remove your focus from your fears. Instead of focusing on a medical condition, or the condition of your bank balance, you can focus on ways to get out of that condition. I have an uncle who 2 years ago was diagnosed with diabetes. Instead, of focusing on what foods he could no longer eat, and a worst case scenario, he focused his attention on how to overcome the condition. He changed his lifestyle and researched on natural methods to overcome this condition. Within a year, he went back to the doctor, who could not detect diabetes anymore.

Instead of writing an obituary about your health, business, finances or relationship change your focus. You could start an association or develop expertise around helping people get out debt, deal with a bad relationship, turn around a business etc.

You need to look at fear in the face once and show it the way out of your life. As fear goes through the window faith comes through the door. The law of polarity states that nothing can exist without its opposite. Fear is faith turned inside out. Pray up your faith, play down your fears.

Tapping Into The Great Within

Within each person is a fountain of hope, an ocean of possibility, a spring of creativity and a stream of entreprise – Lovemore Nyatsine founder of Seedbed Consulting

I want to have a conversation with you today; to provoke and awaken your dreams. I want to take a walk with you to some place. This place is called the great within. It is a place that presents a strange and deep yearning within your heart, an ache for something beyond, the yearning of a yearning. You were not born empty – you are a complete package awaiting delivery. The Creator has placed inside of you a sense that this is not all. It is that search for significance, meaning and worth that drives people from Timbuktu to Kingdom come. King Solomon in his great wisdom saw this and said “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts...” This greatness needs to be awakened from within your depths.

Society has made you book bound and externally dependent you can’t hear the great within anymore. Laws, paradigms, ideologies, concepts, systems and principles have robbed you of the right to be yourself. We want to change that. I want to unpack 3 key elements of the great within. Working together, these elements will direct and transform your life. They are:

Dream

A dream is an aspiration you hold for your life. It is a picture of possibility and a preview of the future. A dream is what the eye of faith has seen in the land of hope ahead. Dreams are the bridge between impossible and possible. Dreams come from the ocean of possibility inside of you. The principal function of a dream is to enter the boundless and awaken the great within. As you dream, armies of execution go on a high alert ready to execute. It brings energy and focus to your actions.

I know we talk of dream cars, houses, jobs, wife, and husbands. It’s all good, but I want us to engage in a bigger conversation. The most profound dreams are those that are the expression of your life’s purpose. I want to challenge you to go beyond consumptive dreams into productive dreams. Dreams that will touch generations. Without a dream everything is reality. With a dream the circumstances of your life are subject to change.

Insight

The best vision is insight – Malcolm Forbes

Insight is an understanding of issues beyond the ordinary. It is a sight or view of the interior of something; a deep inspection or view. Insight is the power of acute observation and deduction; penetration, discernment and perception. It is a breakthrough in understanding, received from superior understanding of issues. It’s not enough to know issues, you need to have your own point of view on the knowledge you acquire. This is what will give you an edge in life.  As billionaire Li Ka Shing said “We are approaching a new age of synthesis. Knowledge cannot be merely a degree or a skill… it demands a broader vision, capabilities in critical thinking and logical deduction without which we cannot have constructive progress” I will add to this that knowledge without insight is sterile.

Insight is the ability see what no one can see, because it comes from the great within…‘in-sight’. Respect your intuition, your hunches and your instincts. Listen to them – they are the culmination of a lifetime of study and fact-finding. When you have insight on issues you dissolve doubts and explain hard sentences. With insight your value add is extending the existing body of knowledge and creating new knowledge bundles in your profession, industry, business or field.

Creativity

Creativity is a breakthrough in expression achieved by leaps of imagination. It is the combining of ideas which were previously thought to be unrelated. It is your ability to combine ideas in a unique way or to make useful associations among ideas. Break out of self-imposed limitations. Look for wider solutions,   and think beyond the square. Think sideways; explore the least likely directions; abandon step-by-step approach and thinking ‘to one side’ and master the ‘lateral thinking’ approach. Refuse to be an experienced superintendent of old ideas, systems, rules or ideologies. Tap into the unending stream of creativity in the great within and create your own paradigms, principles and laws. This world must change because of your own original creations. Let’s read your books, drive your car, use your phones, read your books, use your medicines. We want to name institutions and infrastructure after you.

There is virtually no problem you cannot solve, no goal you cannot achieve, no obstacle you cannot overcome if you know how to apply the creative powers of the great within, like a laser beam, to cut through every challenge in your life.

Obama Leadership Book Presentation

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Harnessing Your Strengths For Sucess

“Presence comes before presentation and when all the presentation is gone what remains is your presence” – Lovemore Nyatsine Founder of Seedbed Consulting

OVER the last few months I have been involved with personal brand coaching with clients in different parts of the world. One thing that is so clear is that without self awareness and insight of individual strengths, it is not possible to position your personal brand effectively. I counsel most of my clients to spend some considerable time on identifying their strengths. The reason for doing so is because 60% of personal branding is making sure you are certain in knowing what makes you unique in strengths.  If you jump into merely positioning your personal brand, you risk much in there being a disconnect between who you say you are and who you really are. And, as we know, reputations take life times to build and moments to destroy. I take personal branding seriously because it is about an individual’s purpose and unique value proposition.

Personal branding is not about ‘packaging’ you, but is about accentuating you as the package.

There are categories of strengths which you must build your personal brand around:

Your Personal Best or Natural Strengths

Your personal best is what comes naturally to you. Some people have natural strengths, one such person is Bishop TD Jakes who is naturally charismatic, poetic and a powerful minister of the word. You cannot ‘package’ Bishop TD Jakes, he is the package already. When it comes to matters of the pulpit, he is a natural. He has the presence. So do you. You only need to identify the area in which you have natural strengths. Presence comes before presentation and when all the presentation is gone what remains is your presence. Your personal best is the right to be yourself through your unique talent and personality. To have a presence in life you need to identify your personal best. Life is like a stage, and you are an actor each with a unique part to play. Life is like an orchestra or symphony, and there is a part which only you can sing.

Competitive Strengths

“If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete” – Jack Welch

These are the skills that are stronger than your competitors or peers. This kind of strength is due to your striving instincts or conative strengths. You have energy tanks which fuel your passions and gives you energy to compete – stand out of the crowd. If I am placed in a situation where I have to compete, I default to my competitive strengths (striving instinct) of innovation. I break all the rules and start to create my own. This is how I compete. I also have a friend who when placed in a similar situation gathers all the facts first, follows the rules and is methodical. At the end of the day we both achieve results but we use methods which play to our different strengths.

Years ago when Muhammad Ali faced George Foreman in the “Rumble in The Jungle” his competitive strength was around his mantra ‘float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’.  He would dance around his boxing opponent using his speed and agility. On the other hand Foreman used his massive built and weight to absorb punches. In short Ali’s competitive strength was agility while Foreman’s was absorption. What is your own competitive strength in life? Taking a defensive position in life or taking an offensive position?

Distinctive Strengths

These are the strengths which do not only make you compete but also stand out from the rest. It’s the kind of strengths which give you naming rights for your industry, profession or sport for example Oracle of Omaha (Warren Buffet), King of Pop (Michael Jackson), Father Zimbabwe ( Joshua Nkomo ) and  Father of African telecoms (Miko Rwayitare). You need to do something different with a difference in order to make a difference. This can apply to the student at Goto High school in Zimbabwe, the driver of a matatu (commuter taxi) in the slums of Kibera (Kenya), the trader on the streets of Sururele (Lagos, Nigeria), the bankers on Wall Street (USA) or the miners at Debswana in Botswana. The greatest call you have upon your life is to make a positive difference. You are distinctively different in order to execute a special assignment which only you can do.

Real success does not just come from playing to your strengths. It comes from self awareness and adaptability. If you overplay strength, it can soon become a weakness. In our personal brand coaching programmes we emphasise self awareness and self insight in order to set you up to play the game of life with skill and panache.

Reflections from the Halfway House

Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action -James Levin

A few years back when we were living in Zimbabwe, we used to visit our folks in the Eastern Highlands. The journey had a number of milestones including a place called Halfway House. This was halfway through the journey and is a place where we would normally stop for a number of reasons. I used to enjoy the fairly priced macadamia nuts, cashew nuts, biltong and some dried fruit from the farm store at this place. We would stop to rest a bit, take a comfort break, stretch our legs or body break, grab a bite, check tyre pressure, top up goodies for our folks among other things. At the Halfway House those travelling by bus would also stop for the same reasons, while some motorists would stop to change tyres, refuel or ask the petrol attendants for directions. This was the experience at the Halfway House and there are some lessons I would like to unpack.

This week marks the last week of June, and end of the 2009 first half. How times flies! At the beginning of the year, you set goals you wanted to achieve by the end of the year. You are at the ‘Halfway House’ of your journey, and let’s have a conversation around this place.

Time for A Break

Just as a drive on a long journey takes toll on your body, the pursuit of your goals also puts pressure on you physically. You might be getting grumpy, tensions headaches, muscle aches and general body stress. It’s a sign that you need to park yourself at the ‘halfway house’ and get a body break. A body break allows your body to regain energy while clearing your mind of clutter and giving you an opportunity to focus. Take the day, afternoon or week off. Go on a weekend breakaway to just get your body and mind back into gear. It doesn’t have to cost you money…go to the local city park, go to the village or spend the day at home just resting for a change.  From time to time the body needs a comfort break to release mounting tension and negative energy build up. As the negative energy is displaced it is replaced by positive energy which starts to fill up your tank…

Top Up Your Tank

The motorists and buses would normally refuel at the Halfway House. This refill would make them last the whole journey. They would also top up tyre pressure, oil and radiator water to cool down the engines. As the year progresses, your energy and passion tank might be half full by now. This is a time for refilling to make you last the whole journey. The wheels of your goals might be low on pressure and turning slowly, putting pressure on your energy tank.  It’s time to add some more pressure to help with a better bounce. Purpose is the fuel that fires the vehicle of your dreams. Goals are the pressure that helps you stay focused on your purpose. Passion is the oil that helps the wheels of purpose to turn. Discipline is the water that helps prevent you from burn out. Once you have enough fuel, oil and pressure in you, you will be ready to finish, and finish strong!

Are You Going in The Right Direction

Along the journey, there was no better place to ask directions than at the Highway House. I remember I would see a lot of motorists asking the petrol attendants for directions or remaining distance. It’s so easy to continue one’s journey without asking directions, but the chances and cost of ending up in the wrong place are very high. Just a quick check of your bearings or directions is a small price to pay than to go through the whole year chasing the wrong goals. Are your goals still in line with your purpose? How much more effort do you need to put in order to achieve your goals. You need to have the reassurance that you are on the right track and that your goal is within reach.

Change Your Goals

If you are on a journey, you cannot change your vehicle, but you certainly can change your tyres. Your vehicle is like your purpose. Your purpose is what and how you are wired. The tyres are the goals on the vehicle of purpose. If the goals are worn out, it means the vehicle of purpose won’t move. Tyres without treads will soon cause a car to crash or slide on slippery roads. If your goals are lacking traction because they are not SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) then your purpose is headed for the skids. The only thing to do is to change the goals and put goals which fit in with the purpose.

I would like to encourage you to strengthen the feeble knees, prop up the drooping hands and square up the sagging shoulders. Take some time to reflect while you are at the ‘halfway house’ of your goals. Confirm your directions, fill up your tank, top up and make the rest of the journey fired up and ready to last the distance.