I was walking in the snow with my daughter today. 

She's leading and would want  me to follow her tracks.

When I'm feeling tired, she asked me to push on.

When we get to the top overlooking the yard, she asked me not to look down, whatever happens, or else I might slip.

If I feel am slipping or getting stuck, she would hold my hand and steady me.

She asked me to follow the tracks closely and not to deviate.

She also reminded me not to make my own tracks because she's the bus driver.

She also reassured me that she knows where she's going and that I need to trust her.

When she's doing the loop-to-loop, that means that I have to just go along with the loop.

When it's time to go home, she will lead me home.

She tells me to enjoy and have an adventure. 

​If you have a firm and confident leader like that, there's nothing you can't do!

Cheers!

People nowadays, tend to equate game changer with change maker.

These two have very different connotations. 

Would you want to be a game changer? or a change maker?

Game changing  is about changing the direction of the game (or game itself), reframing the scope and parameters of the engagement, and ensuring that you come out with a winner's advantage. This can be a short-term project or a long-term horizon perspective. Consistent game changers are Apple, Amazon, Fedex, to name a few. 

Whereas, being a change maker reminds me of the long-term work that needs to happen to get our audacious goals for ourselves, our communities, our enterprises succeed. 

You can position yourself as both. 


This world calls for game changers with the short-term stakes on the pie, and change markers with the eye for long-term sustainable progress.

But, if you have to choose, choose game changing, because the ambiguous future looks to bold and audacious leaders who are willing to stretch the imagination of society, so that we can all come out thriving, not just surviving. 

Game changing doesn't require a lot of brain power, or talent, or more connections. It doesn't require you shift lanes or careers or jobs. It doesn't require lots of capital infusion. 

They can see the writing on the wall when others are busy mounting on their saddles again. It's called prescience, reinvention, mining opportunities, and #beyondresilience attitude. 

Drop me a line to learn more about these new concepts. 




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Disengagement is the best strategy to quell the temptation for overreach and overdoing. 

Founders, especially have the tendencies to unconsciously usurp more control and power beyond their capabilities and their mandates within their organizations. 

The best thing to do with disengagement is to completely pull away, when new leadership is established and a new mandate for them had been set up. The old guards must vacate not just physically but emotionally and ceremoniously so that their influence and their previous ideas of "how things should be done" no longer can sway the organization.

Believing that the organization will exist, will prosper, will evolve in new and exciting ways is something that should be in the mindset of outgoing leaders.

This is tough for those that have cared for the organization for a number of years, invested all their lives nurturing its development, and letting-go seemed to be a case of 'midlife crisis.' 

The question for leaders hanging-on is that: would the organization best served if you continue in your role or when you go? If the answer is, "I don't know."

They haven't been doing their homework thinking about accelerating goals.

​Before you can  reach the next mountain, you have to abandon the pretty hills on the way.

What can I say? These past few weeks have been hectic. More than that, there are many opportunities that are presenting itself without much effort. 

The lockdown and the social distancing have caused a resurgence of the desire to connect at a deeper level, whether it is business or personal, which was never seen before. 

Speed is everything. Things are moving fast from all directions. People want instant, immediate, almost real-time action and attitude towards approaching challenges and turning them into solutions. 

There is a plethora of resources and information but what we are seeing is that, business leaders are turning to people they trust and they can work with to get over the humps to get better at adapting to the current climate.

Despite the sad prognosis about the economy, Zoom, Fedex, Amazon, Google, Twitter, and other tech companies are laughing their way to the banks. 

Are you positioning yourself to capture the opportunities this new wave is presenting? It's positioning. 

What are you doing to ensure that you are top-of-mind and leading the market? It's your actions. 

What innovations are you doing right now to help ride the crest and come out stronger when things get better? It's your strength. 

Who do you think you are that makes you the best person to reap success? It's all about mindset.

There are things in life that you can't control so you wait it out until it gets better or it gets out of the way.

Most of the time, waiting it out is counterproductive and can do you more harm than good.

Being in the fence about what is going on around you or going on in your business/organization is reneging on your responsibility to take action when it matters.

Lawsuits can be avoided if management had taken concrete steps or actions to ensure that a valid complaint is dealt with and that people who are accountable are called out for their behaviors.

Waiting for things to naturally acquiesce on your favor is like waiting for $100 dollar bill to be found while you are walking down the street. The probability of that is very slim. It is called luck for a reason.

Now that the COVID-19 they say has reached its peak and that measures can be lifted in a few weeks is not a product of waiting, it's a product of conscientious efforts by a lot of actors, the authorities and people who have to cooperate every day to stem the tide of the epidemic. 

A conversation I had a few weeks ago sums up this point:" if you stir the boat, you will get nothing."

I say" if you don't stir the boat, you will end up with nothing." 

The latter affords you the initiative to take action and take responsibility for your lot. The former gives the other party the onus to either decide on your favor or not. 

Choose the action that affirms your purpose and never let another person or situation control how you behave.

With waiting, you are leaving a lot of resources and decision-making powers on the table that can, otherwise, minimize your risks and accelerate your progress. 

Take action right now.

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The COVID-19 crisis however, unprecedented in scope and gravity, is not a new phenomenon.

We have SARS, Ebola, Zaika, and other epidemics throughout the recent years and countries who have underserved and underfunded health structures collapsed under the weight of the health demands of populations who are sick and needed medical care and attention.

While here in Canada and other developed countries, there are aid packages for businesses and workers that are hit by the crisis, poorer countries have nothing to resort to cushion their economies and their people from economic ruin due to collapse of trade and commerce and mobility of people, goods, and ideas. 

We do not appreciate that we have the resources and the will to ensure that our economy and country withstand this crisis. We have to cooperate and lend our support to those that are more vulnerable and can easily succumb to harder situations. Even in our communities, there are pockets of deep poverty and isolation. There are many ways to touch them  and it's not always about money.

This is the time when all these talks about charity and benevolence must be demonstrated. Lest, we become the noise that nobody wants to hear. It is even useless to complain when we know that there are more suffering in other places. 

When you think about it, there are more opportunities that have opened up for us to become more united, accepting, and kind to one another.

Embrace the challenge or move out the way.