Friday, December 07, 2018

Seasons Greetings

Enjoy your Holidays


Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare;
Lenghten your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.
Isaiah 54:2-3

Tips for Business Success:

Plan Ahead: Start preparing for the holiday season well in advance. Create a detailed 
plan that covers inventory, marketing, staffing, and promotions.

Leverage Online Presence: Optimize your online store and use social media and email 
marketing to reach potential customers.

Customer Engagement: Offer excellent customer service, and consider loyalty programs 
or personalized offers to retain customers beyond the holiday season.

Adapt to Trends: Stay updated on consumer trends and preferences, as these can change 
from year to year.

See You at the Top




Monday, November 12, 2018

The Genius from Talent

Genius does what it must and Talent does what it can.................Owen Meredith (1868)


Thomas Alva Edison(1847-1931) was born in Milan, Ohio, he lost much of his hearing as a boy and had little formal training. He worked as a railroad newsboy on the Grand Trunk Railway and soon printed and published his own newspaper on the train, the Grand Trunk Herald

During the civil war he worked as a telegraph operator in various cities and invented an electric vote recording machine.

In 1871 he invented the paper ticker tape automatic repeater for stock exchange prices, which he then sold in order to establish an industrial research laboatory at Newark, New Jersey.

In 1876 he moved the laboratory to Menio Park, New Jersey, where he was named Genius of Menio Park

He took out more than 1000 patents in all;
-The gramophone (1877),
-The incandescent light bulb (1879) 
-A system for generating and distributing electricity and designed the first power plant (1881-82)
-The electric valve (1883) 
-The kinetoscope (1891).
-The first talking motion pictures (1912)
-A megaphone
-A storage battery,
-Discovered thermionic emission, formerly called the "Edison Effect"

Tireless at experimentation but always practical and commercial in his goals, he was the most prolific inventor the world has ever seen.

We also must progress from Talent to Genius

Here is the Tech Trend fo 2019:
1 Digital Twin
2 Artificial Intelligence
3 Block Chain
4 Autonomous
5 Digital Ethics and Privacy

Digital twin is a digital replica of the assets, processes, and systems of an organization, it will turn the
70% failure rate of transformation into a 70% success rate.

Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration............Thomas Edison (1903)

See You at the Top

Seasons in Life



Tuesday, October 09, 2018

Tweak 1% for 100% Improvement

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but on error also...... Carl Gustav Jung



The most effective form of self-care in radically traditional leadership is caring for others.

Isolation can have an effect on the human mind; a loss of proportion, an obsession with detail and an inability to see the larger picture.”
Leadership can be similarly isolating and no one in a leader’s orbit is neutral:

Electorates need food, shelter, security and infrastructure
Direct reports have their own teams to worry about.
Employees depend on their jobs,
Investors demand key milestones,
Customers need solutions.
Board members are shareholders first and mentors second.
Friends and family struggle to understand the burden of the job.

Leaders need a 1% tweak in self-awareness and clarity to remain a source of inspiration, guidance, and vision for their teams.
Businesses need a stable core with a disruptive edge and a 1% tweak in strategy to stay ahead.

A Few Tweaks:

1- Most companies expand into foreign markets with local business partners why not also engage digital influencers
   Digital influence is an extension of the age-old practice of word of mouth via virtual platforms
   to reach mass audiences in localities around the world. It’s time for marketing departments to recognize the potential of these
   new local voices and engage them to accelerate global expansion
2- Most businesses focus on owning resources and growing, why not to shape society and share expertise
3- Most companies strive to own talent and reduce staff turnover, why not employ part-time staff (critical experts) deliberately,
   to stay fresh with continuous flow of new ideas.
4- Most organisations try to be efficient, by putting similar units together, why not disrupt and generate creative accidents, working on different projects,
   to create movement and bumps. So employees from different disciplines continually question each other, share problems, ideas, and opportunities
5- Most organisations change their leaders every five years, why not keep them in place for more than 10. Not just at the top of the organization, but
   two or three levels further down, where key knowledge and influence resides.
6- Most businesses patent their discoveries why not also find great things to do and share them with the world particularly with kids through
   books, articles and films. NASA engineers publish their work online

Most businesses are looking for large breakthroughs, why not make tiny tweaks, as they are easier to achieve and more difficult to imitate.

See You at the Top

Mood



Friday, September 21, 2018

The Trade of Globalization

A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy...... Bagehot quoting Benjamine Disraeli 1845



Globalization is not a modern development but technological advances have greatly enabled it by making goods and capital transactions quicker.

An ancient series of trade routes, designated the “Silk Road” by a 19c historian ran from the Mediterranean to Xian in central China and was used by Alexandria the Great to conquer Persia.Silk, spices, perfumes, amber, coral, gold, ivory, glass were traded along these routes. Apart from commodities, knowledge, art, science, disease and religious cultures also travelled along the Silk Road 

In earliest times, at the rise of globalization; consumption left the asset whether a gold field or a cinnamon tree in the hands of the producer. Modern globalization of production can mean that the asset is owned and controlled by a foreign concern.

Global corporations increasingly tend to influence national governments to set up tariff-free zones, such as NAFTA, EU, ECOWAS to homogenize consumer preference. To its critics, globalization has no philosophical basis and is merely a new form of cultural and economic colonialism.

While independent theories speculate that globalization can close the gap between the first and third worlds, my personal observation is less conclusive.
     
The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy...........Robert Blake Disraeli 1966

Do some trading and.....

See You at the Top



Lilies in the swamp

Saturday, August 11, 2018

A Step Ahead

It’s more fun to arrive at a conclusion than to justify it........ Malcolm S. Forbes



Our world has been transformed by digital technology. It would be hard to explain how an IBM mainframe in 1960 will someday replace friends, books, and newspapers, but now our daily habits.

We need to start preparing for a new era of innovation
AI (artificial intelligence) is great for marketing more intelligently and efficiently but AI is simply a requirement for making sense of the vast arrays of data — structured and unstructured

Every member of your team should be able to answer:
How artificial intelligence work?
What it is good at?
What it should never do?

AI will soon move from being a “nice-to-have” capability to a “must-have.”

If you Ask:
Why should a non–data scientists learn data science?
That’s like asking why non-accountants should be expected to stay within budget.

But more precisely

We are at the close of the Digital Era:
1- the technology itself that allows more transistors onto a silicon wafer, known as Moore’s Law is ending.
What enabled us to make our technology exponentially more powerful year after year is no longer easy to achieve.To maximize performance, we now need to optimize existing technology for a specific task

2- the technical skill required to create digital technology has dramatically decreased, by no-code platforms.
The ability to work with digital technology is increasingly becoming a midlevel skill.

3- digital applications are becoming fairly mature. A new device like laptop or phone today, does the same things as the one you bought five years ago.

Essentially, the challenge ahead is to learn how to use bits to drive atoms.

Consider robotics and the effort to develop advanced battery chemistries to drive the clean energy economy, or the discovery of materials that don’t yet exist with the simulations on genomes.

See You at the Top


Art: Intertwine


Sunday, July 15, 2018

Voting Beyond Digital and Paper Ballot

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have perverted it withtyranny......Thomas Jefferson



Voting is an absolutely essential tool for any democratic government, it is the carnival of democracy.
But it is really fascinating that a lot of countries are yet to move from the digital or traditional paper ballot system of voting.

The Problems with Traditional Paper Ballot System
• From physically going to the venues and waiting in long lines, The entire process is extremely tedious.

• The amount of time taken to count the votes is too high.

• The election can be hijacked via the insertion of bogus ballot papers.

• More powerful parties can use intimidation tactics on the venues to rig the election in a certain way.

• The amount of paper wastage can cause harm to the environment.

• There is no historical record possible to keep track of each and every vote made.

• The cost of expenditure on paper ballots is very high.

• It is impossible to keep track of your vote.

• Once you have cast a vote you cannot change it.

These are some issues with digital voting system:

• The client side machine could develop a malware which reads each and every vote cast and changes the
vote to the other candidate.

• An attacker can directly infect the servers through malware placed on the servers and transfer the votes.
Burning Questions:
What exactly happens to your votes after you cast it?
How is integrating blockchain technology going to fix this?

The goal is simple; To make the election process as transparent as possible.

The use Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) to create votes can make the electoral process transparent. ECC is a form of asymmetric cryptography. Asymmetric cryptography uses two keys (a public key and a private key) to encrypt and decrypt data. ECC is basically what bitcoin and ethereum use for their cryptography

Any potential voter can securely login using their webcam and government issued ID.
After they are done the voting, anyone can use their voting ID to track their votes and check that it has been cast correctly. On top of that. They even give their voters the ability to change their votes any number of times till the deadline.


See You at the Top



Friday, June 15, 2018

Ethical Machines

The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. Once humans develop artificial intelligence, it will take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete and would be superseded.
— Stephen Hawking



You awake one morning to find your brain has another lobe functioning. Invisible, this auxiliary lobe answers your questions with information beyond the realm of your own memory, suggests plausible courses of action, and asks questions that help bring out relevant facts. You quickly come to rely on the new lobe so much that you stop wondering how it works. You just use it. This is the dream of artificial intelligence.

Imagine a more intelligent smart phone embeded in your brain

Hyper-intelligent software may not necessarily decide to support the continued existence of humanity, and would be extremely difficult to stop. This could be a real source of risks to civilization, humans, and planet Earth

There are three philosophical questions related to AI:
1. Is artificial general intelligence possible? Can a machine solve any problem that a human being can
solve using intelligence? Or are there hard limits to what a machine can accomplish?
2. Are intelligent machines dangerous? How can we ensure that machines behave ethically and that they are used ethically?
3. Can a machine have a mind, consciousness and mental states in exactly the same sense that human beings do? Can a machine be sentient, and thus deserve certain rights? Can a machine intentionally cause harm?

Development of militarized artificial intelligence is a related concern. Currently, over 50 countries are researching battlefield robots, including the United States, China, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Many people concerned about risk from superintelligent AI want to limit the use of artificial soldiers

Wallach describe artificial intelligence as being guided by its two central questions
1- Does Humanity Want Computers Making Moral Decisions
2- Can Robots Really Be Moral

At present businesses are deploying AI for profit with drones, driverless cars, medical diagnosis and financial apps, why stop the momemtum before the ethics concern are adequately understood, articulated and crystalized.
 
In conclusion, apply the the three-box framework to your AI business.
The Three-Box Framework, first introduced by Govinderajan and makes leading innovation easier:
Box 1: The present- manage the core business at peak profitability
Box 2: The past- abandon ideas, practices and attitudes that could inhibit innovation
Box 3: The future- convert breakthrough ideas into new products and businesses

Humans Remain the Biggest Ethical Risk

See You at the Top

Great Blockchain Opportunity: https://chain-trans.com/portfolio/ref/scroll


Saturday, May 26, 2018

Ideas in the Air


Saturate yourself through and through with your subject . . . and wait. —lloyd morGA



Are There Ideas in the Air? There are several scientific discoveries made by separate people working independently in different parts of the world at around the same time.

These coincedences raises the possible question— are there ideas/inspiration “in the air?
If So;

Why can’t that person be You?

These ideas “in the air” are waiting to be snatched up by the right person at the right time in history,
Some Ideas Discovered :

■ Telescope: Hans Lippershey, James Metius, and Zacharias Jansen each independently invented the telescope around the same time. (1608)
■ Electricity: Thomas François D’Alibard and Benjamin Franklin each independently captured electricity at around the same time. (1750–1752)
■ Oxygen: Joseph Priestley and Carl Wilhelm Scheele each discovered the molecules that make up oxygen at around the same time. (1773–1774)
■ Telephone: Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell each independently discovered the telephone at around the same time. (both in 1876) 
■ Social Networking: Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook at around the same time that Tom Anderson invented  MySpace. (2003–2004)

In order to “receive” the ideas in the air, you have to deliberately and consciously scan your environment for ideas that are relevant to your task.

Ideas around batteries include.
Recycling:
Proper disposal or recycling is crucial to managing the environmental impact of batteries. Many types 
of batteries contain materials that can be harmful if not handled and disposed of properly.

Recovery of Materials:
Recycling facilities aim to recover valuable materials from spent batteries, such as metals, plastics, 
and electrolytes. These materials can be reused in the production of new batteries or other products.

These ideas encompass a wide range of initiatives, and their success often relies on 
a combination of individual actions, community involvement, and government policies. Each idea 
addresses different aspects of preservation and sustainability, contributing to a 
healthier planet for current and future generations.  

To capture new ideas, you have to make a new choice about what is relevant.
Then you have to focus to isolate noise
Then you have to record those ideas as they come

Nothing or Nowhere is Useless; Wealth or Poverty, Urban or Rural, Extrovert or Introvert............just be a Willing Vessel

Capture the Ideas in Your Environment

See You at the Top



Sunday, April 22, 2018

Havard Business - The Nigerian Case Study


Harvard Business School, General Manangement Program; Leaders Incentives and Development

Nigeria - Faith in the Balance


Case Study:
Africa is growing; Seven of the ten fastest gowing economies in the world are in Africa, and the continent's largest economies are becoming less dependendent on extractive commodities. The continent's rising middle class has demostrated a tastefor consumer goods and technological innovation and Africa's population - currently more thana billion people- is booming
and overwhelmingy young at a time when population in other regions are shrinking and ageing.

Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa's largesteconomy epitomimizes both the promise and the problems the continent faces in the 21st century. The country had failed to thrive for its first therty years as an independent nation, despite having a developmental head start relative to countries
like China and India, as well as hundreds of billions of dollas in oil revenue.

Now after pathbreaking reforms followed by signs of retrenchment, Nigerias new president faced both vast opportunity and grave challenges.
Would the county flourish or founder in this new era?
Let's analyze key reforms in Nigerias economy, significant political developments and other choices facing the countrys fast-growing private sector.

1 Why did Nigeria fail to thrive between 1960 and 1999, particularly relative to China and India?
2 How would you characterize former president Obasanjos legacy?
3(a) Are you bullish or bearish on the next fifteen years for Nigeria?
  3(b) What would make you change your mind?
  3(c) What opportunities do you see?
  3(d) What ae the challenges (and risks)?

Add to the global body of knowledge with your comment

See You at the Top



Friday, March 16, 2018

Female Startups

In the absence of clear goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until we become enslaved by it.......... Robert Heinlein



One of the most important thing a female entrepreneur can bring to the table is Trust.
Building trust with customers can be challenging but you can overcome that challenge by
Co-creating your products and services,
Associating with prominent figures and
Embracing transparency

Here are Some Interesting Female Startups:

1. Accompany uses AI to be your virtual chief of staff, providing you with all of the information you need before meeting just about anyone.

2. Brandless was just named by Fast Company as one of the world’s 50 Most Innovative Companies. Brandless co-founder Tina Sharkey has created one of the strongest direct to consumer brands around.

3. Verge Genomics uses machine learning and human genomic data to defeat neurodegeneration. This is one exciting genomics startups.

4. Mighty Networks co-founder Gina Bianchini is taking on Facebook once again, having previously co-founded social platform Ning together with Marc Andreessen (which grew to 90 million users).

5. Hipcamp is a marketplace that connects campers and land. If you're an outdoors person you'll love it. Dave Morin says: "This is an amazing idea and so well designed. In love."

6. Lumi co-founder Jesse Genet turned down a Shark Tank deal two years back. Today, the packaging company serves customers from all 50 states and 20 countries worldwide. Lumi recently announced a $9M Series A round of funding, and the company is profitable. 👏

7. Shippo helps businesses succeed through shipping, and powers eBay's Guaranteed Delivery Program (among other marketplaces and platforms). Shippo recently raised a $20M Series B funding round.

8. Guild Education is an education benefits platform that allows employers to offer tuition reimbursement and college degree programs to their employees. Lifelong leaning is one of the most important skills to in internalize.

9. May Mobility is an autonomous vehicle startup that deploys fleets of driverless vehicles for enterprise and municipal customers. For more, check out our list  of the Top Self Driving Car Startups. 🚙

10. Werk is the premier destination for flexibility as the future of work. The company sources highly flexible jobs from top companies.

11. Collective Retreats offers luxury retreats to the kind of destinations that will blow your mind. It's a new, more meaningful way to travel.

12. Modern Fertility introduced easy test that gives you powerful information about your fertility. The same fertility test offered in top fertility clinics, online, and for a fraction of the cost.


See You at the Top


Monday, February 19, 2018

Intrinsic Motivation

Why are some people unimaginative in one context and so creative in another?
Intrinsic Motivation is a major component of what makes people creative, if there is a true commitment to a shared mission, the ideas will come.


Established firms will be disrupted by startups if they fail to innovate
The biggest misconception about innovation is that it’s about ideas. It’s not. It’s about solving problems. So the first step to building an innovative team is to hire people interested in the problems you need to solve.

Three Ways to Improve Intrinsic Motivation:
  1. Create Diversity.
    The challenge for managers is to create an environment that is both diverse and psychologically safe. Great innovative teams learn to constructively work through these tensions. You should be creating an environment where people expect to have their
    perspectives challenged by someone who looks, talks, and thinks differently.
     
  2. Value Teamwork.
    Creative people are friendly, gracious, with genuine interest and desire to help others. The best innovators are knowledge brokers, who embed themselves into networks. This character is so consistent that we can conclude that when it comes to innovation, generosity can be a competitive advantage.
  3. Promote Psychological Safety.
    The opportunity of each team member to give voice to their ideas without fear of reprisal or rebuke. Perhaps; That one elusive piece of insight can crack that tough problem
The truth is you don’t need the best people — you need the best teams.

See You at the Top



Sunday, January 07, 2018

Start the Debate

“Often pleasant, seldom pleasing — but certainly not disruptive are dicisions made without debate”.......Emmanuel Sodipo



Research has shown that how one defines and identifies with entrepreneurial role, affects ones
ability to amass key resources. While investors allocate significantly more money to disrupters, that capital is deployed less efficiently because disrupters’ flashy ideas may energize and inspire others, it might not be enough to keep them.

Operating models must define ways of working and behaviors that bring your cooperate strategy to life

Consider these three cooperate models:
  • Your company’s promise to its customer is lowest costs, is everyone focused on cost control?
  • Your reputation is built on superb service, is everyone highly attuned to how they affect the customer experience?
  • Your brand is on high-performance, what behaviors are nonnegotiable and how you’re enabling them?

Now consider these three personal profile:

  • I am a passionate innovator who loves helping fast-growing companies excel. I create the
    greatest value when leading or advising an organization where there is a need to
    disrupt existing solutions to achieve growth and value.
  • I am a builder of things. My purpose is to build systems and tools that allow for things to be done with greater
    intelligence, with less friction. I surround myself with like-minded people who see the possibilities and find a
    way to make them a reality.
  • I am diligent, loyal and a believer, I have faith in God and all things work together for good, the wealth of
    the wicked shall be transferred to the rightous
What personal profile best match the listed cooperate model?
Start the Debate

See You at the Top