Seasons Greetings

Have a Fun Holiday

Holiday sales typically refer to special promotions and discounts offered by retailers during specific holidays, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and others. These sales events are popular among consumers who take advantage of the discounts to purchase gifts, decorations, and other items for themselves or their loved ones. Retailers often plan ahead for these events, strategizing their marketing campaigns, stocking up inventory, and offering attractive deals to attract customers and boost sales during these periods.

The holiday season can present both opportunities and challenges for businesses, depending on the nature of the business and how it positions itself during this time. 

Here are some key considerations for businesses during the holiday season.

Opportunities:

Increased Sales- Many businesses, especially retailers, experience a 

significant boost in sales during the holiday season. People are shopping 

for gifts, decorations, and holiday-related items.

Online Shopping- The growth of e-commerce has made it easier for businesses 

to reach a wider audience during the holidays. Online sales often spike as

 people shop from the comfort of their homes.

Seasonal Products and Promotions- Offering holiday-themed products, special 

promotions, and discounts can attract customers looking for unique gifts 

or deals.

Gift Cards and Gift Certificates- Selling gift cards or certificates can 

be a lucrative option, as they are popular last-minute gift choices.

Holiday Events and Marketing- Hosting special events, sales, and marketing 

campaigns with a holiday theme can generate excitement and drive foot traffic.

Partnerships and Collaborations- Collaborating with complementary businesses 

for cross-promotions can help reach new customers.

Stay Blessed and See You Soon

Cluster of Idea Space

The education of the incremental innovator leads to mastery of the already available paths of scientific knowledge and methods.......William Baumol

With concepts like Big Data, Block Chain and IOT, most businesses are now confronted with the leap from “dumb" products into creating smart, connected products.

"Idea space" generally refers to a conceptual or virtual environment where ideas are generated, explored, and developed. It's a mental or collaborative space where individuals or teams can brainstorm, innovate, and problem-solve without constraints or limitations.

Breakthrough inventiveness requires unorthodox approach to education that favors the exercise of the imagination. A world of education spanning geographical barriers resulting in exchange of ideas between students, professors and entrepreneurs.

A mix of in-company training and formal training within a climate of interactive spaces for knowledge creation, dissemination and innovation.

Innovation Labs- Within companies or organizations, an idea space could refer to physical or digital environments specifically designed to foster innovation and creativity. These spaces often feature tools, resources, and processes that support ideation and experimentation.

Brainstorming Sessions- During brainstorming sessions or workshops, participants enter an idea space where they suspend judgment, encourage wild ideas, and collaborate openly to generate new concepts or solutions.

Virtual Collaboration- With the rise of remote work and digital collaboration tools, idea space can also refer to online platforms or virtual environments where teams come together to share ideas, collaborate on projects, and co-create solutions regardless of physical location.

These interactions morphed into clusters:
Businesses have clustered into networks throughout history, but today we refer to business clusters like the technology industry in Silicon Valley, the financial sector in London and automakers in southern Germany.

Business clustering is an organic process involving a self-organized, self-sustaining, and self-reinforcing formation of interconnected businesses.

Vibrant cities rely on clusters that can adapt; and cluster adaptability in turn hinges on an “idea space.”
 
An idea space for a handful of skilled individuals, local entrepreneurs recycled with academic excellence.

See You at the Top

Growth in a Digital Landmine

Error moves with quick feet and truth must never be lagging behind........ Anonymous

Digital transformation is not just about technology. The approach a company adopts to communicates with its employees, organizes them, and reskills them will play a fundamental role in its ability to take advantage of the new consumer landscape.

Plug-and-play e-commerce technology, search engine optimization, big data, block chain and other distribution solutions are making it far easier for products to directly reach consumers.

Some compaanies like:
Coca-Cola recently reshuffled its leadership team to focus on growth, innovation, and digital by enabling them to build digital road maps for their regions and businesses
.
Unilever just acquired Dollar Shave Club (for digital subcription sales)

L’Oréal invested in Founders Factory (for digital startup accelerator)

Kassir Hussain of Connected Home observed that “In a space that can often be confusing and frustrating to consumers, our focus on regular user interviews, meetings,tests, and demos allowed us to build a product that was simple, easy to use, and addressed real consumer needs.”

Companies undertake transformation for various reasons:

Untapped Potential- Capturing unexplored value.

External Challenges- Disruptive entrants, changing consumer behavior, and macroeconomic pressures.

Strategic Goals- ESG value creation, M&A moves, diversity, equity, and inclusion principles.

Types of Transformation:

Digital Transformation- Infusing technology and tech-enabled processes.

Green Transformation- Prioritizing environmental sustainability.

Crisis Transformation- Navigating storms and disruptions.

CP Transformation- Crafting purpose-driven, inclusive organizations

We must continuously invest in periodic upskilling initiatives in a range of learning experiences to grow in the digital age.

See You at the Top

Invest in People

A young man is a theory; an old man is a fact......... Edgar Watson Howe

It’s not money that’s in short supply; it’s good growth ideas.

Who has these inspirational ideas that we translate into productivity-driving innovations?
People do.

 
Reinvesting in people could unlock new levels of labor productivity for cities and companies around the world.

Education as the Seed:

Imagine a fertile field where seeds of knowledge take root. Education is that soil, the bedrock of growth.

Formal education equips minds with facts, theories, and skills. But don’t overlook the informal education, the whispered wisdom of mentors, the pages of books, the symphony of life experiences.

Health and Well-Being:

Picture a healthy sapling, its leaves vibrant, roots deep. Investing in well-being pays dividends.

Physical health: Encourage exercise, balanced diets, and mental breaks.

Mental health: Destigmatize conversations. Provide resources for stress management and emotional support.

Diversity and Inclusion:

A diverse forest thrives. Inclusion isn’t charity; it’s strategic investment.

Representation matters: Cultivate an ecosystem where voices from all walks of life are heard.

Equity: Ensure fair access to opportunities.

An inspired employee is twice as productive as a satisfied one. The average, manager has less than seven hours per week of uninterrupted time for deep reflection. They spend the rest of their time attending meetings, sending e-communications that lead to employee burnout.

Companies should seek to systematically eradicate organizational drag — all the internal complexity that leads to inefficient and ineffective interactions. Leaving managers more time for deep thinking that unlocks innovation with significant impact on productivity.

For instance, Toyota Production System use Kaizen events to improve productivity on the manufacturing line. They pull workers off the line while giving them time and space to make processes.
leaner and to devise innovative work methods.

See You at the Top

The Ultimate Sale

The shrewd guess, the fertile hypothesis, the courageous leap to a tentative conclusion
– these are the most valuable coin of the thinker at work...... Jerome S. Bruner

A soft sales close is a technique used in sales to gently encourage a prospect to make a decision or take action without applying direct pressure. Unlike a hard sale close, which can be more aggressive and direct, a soft close focus on building rapport, addressing concerns, and guiding the prospect towards a decision in a subtle and respectful manner.

Buyers amass information that helps them justify their strategic decisions, with a soft close you can win the ultimate sale. A soft close can based on a suggestion that leads a buyer into believing they are acting of their own free will, when in fact they have been directed to follow an action.

A soft close technique like “If you spend another $Y, you will receive an additional X% off the entire order” can give you the winning sale.

Asking Open-Ended Questions, Soft closes often involve asking open-ended questions that encourage the prospect to share their thoughts, preferences, and objections. This helps the salesperson address any concerns and tailor their approach accordingly.

Trial Closes, instead of directly asking for the sale, the salesperson may use trial closes to gauge the prospect's interest and readiness to move forward. For example, they might say, "How does that sound to you?" or "Would you like to explore this further?"

Why Sales Win
The strategic values for buyers include :
1) Increasing revenues
2) Decreasing costs
3) Gaining a competitive advantage
4) Standardizing operations in order to reduce risk

Why Sales Fail
1) You can’t clearly explain how your solution helps the buyer’s business
2) You are too self-centered
3) You don’t alleviate the risk of buying your solution
4) You can’t establish a personal connection with the buyer

Overall, a soft sales close aims to create a positive buying experience for the prospect while gently guiding them towards a decision that aligns with their needs and interests.

Make the Ultimate Sales

See You at the Top

The Green of Business Health

We are collectively suffering from “nature-deficit disorder,” which hurts us mentally, physically, and even spiritually......Richard Louv

Research suggests that investing in landscaping our domain with plants will pay off through an increase quality of life and productivity.

Corporations can significantly reduce organizational health costs by introducing more green spaces and plants into an office space. Adding a little wilderness to your environment may just be the smartest move you can do this year.

Corporations like Google prioritize biophilia as a core design principle with these interventions you can reduce everyday stress and also boost general health.

Taking walks in nature lowers anxiety and depression while boosting total well-being. Even a very small exposure to nature – as little as five minutes – can produce dramatic benefits, especially when coupled with exercise like walking or running.

Ways to go Greener:
Encourage walking meetings outside.
Encourage naturally lit areas for breaks and lunch.
Create an indoor garden or a vertical “green wall.”
Move your creative space closer to a park or natural environment.
Display nature photography or artwork.
Play nature videos on your display screens.

Brighten your office by allowing as much natural light as possible. 

Consider LED lighting for artificial illumination.

Reduce paper usage by embracing digital processes. 

Use recycled printing paper when necessary to minimize waste.

Start a recycling initiative within your office. Place recycling bins near desks, printers, and break rooms.

Clearly communicate what items are recyclable and set goals for your organization.

Go green, improve your creativity, health and reduce your ecological footprint.

See you at the Top.

Business Growth and Transformation

Our energy is in proportion to the resistance it meets.......... William Hazlitt

Business transformation requires repositioning the core business while actively investing in the new growth business.

In today’s dynamic landscape, waiting to “earn the right to grow” is no longer viable. Trends such as digital disruption, ecosystem-based strategies, ESG criteria, and the quest for talent demand swift action. Transformation isn’t a luxury; it’s a strategic imperative.

Transformation is not just about changing an enterprise’s cost structure or turning analog processes into digital ones. Rather, it’s about pursuing a multiphase strategy to reposition today’s business while finding new ways to grow

An organization that grew up producing newspapers, for instance, may not only lacks key skills to build a digital content company but may also actively resist embracing the digital model in order to protect the business it knows.

When Netflix announced plans in 2011 to create a stand-alone mail-based DVD company called Qwikster. This prompted a backlash from angry customers and employees — which triggered a humbling apology from Hastings the CEO.

He reformulated his plan, this time to extend the life of the core DVD business while aggressively rolling out the new streaming service in parallel.

It proved to be a winning strategy that funded the business growth into digital content.
Now, with membership of 100 million homes in 190 countries, Netflix is the leader in the movie and television landscape.

The CEO sets the tone, communicating significance, modeling change, and assembling a robust top team. Enter the Chief Transformation Officer (CTO)—the orchestrator-in-chief. This C-suite role ensures the transformation process harmonizes across the organization.

By imposing economic discipline, ruthlessly prioritizing, segmentation, retention, and monetization, business transformation assures investors of continuous profitability.

See You at the Top

Reflective Urgency

Sometimes you have to look reality in the eye and deny it..... Garrison Keilor

Reflective Urgency — the ability to bring conscious, rapid reflection to the
priorities of the moment and to align your best thinking with the swiftest course of action

A Classic Scenerio:
Sarah was a new manager struggling to adjust to the pressures of delivering on her work, while keeping the team accountable for theirs.
Trying to get it all done without any drop in performance, her urgency trap was a shift
to extreme command-and-control.
In her words, “Everything felt like an urgent crisis, so I acted like it was.”
This mindset triggered reactions that consumed her in delegated work while communicating harshly to her bottom-line in every email, one-on-one conversation, and team discussion.
The result was that her team felt micromanaged and less engaged in their contributions.
She failed to deepen relationships and establish trust within the team.

Diagnose your Urgency Trap:
You need to identify what’s limiting your quality thinking time — when you feel the pressure of too many demands.

Common Urgency Traps:
Ending one meeting prematurely, only to rush to the next one with more unfinished business;
Multitasking work that requires your complete presence and attention, which only diminishes accuracy and output quality;
Saying yes to projects that dilute your contribution and burn your energy, when a No is the wiser choice.
The pressure of impossible deadlines

Here is a Task for you:
"How much growth do you need to avoid becoming a marginal player in your industry as your market grows?"
"How do you optimize your acquisition spending for maximum value rather than minimum cost?”

If you’re too quick to react, you can end up with short-sighted decisions, neglecting underlying causes while creating collateral damage. If you’re too slow to respond, you can potentially miss an opportunity while allowing the challenge to consume you. -----Jesse Sostrin, PwC’s Leadership Coaching Center of Excellence.

See You at the Top

Project Failures

The numbers tell you how your business is going, not why........ Jonathan P. Siegel

Wanda Holbrook was a maintenance technician, she was trapped by robotic machinery and killed.

Wanda Holbrook’s job was to inspect and adjust the process on the assembly line at Ventra, which makes bumpers and trailer hitches

The robot loaded hardware onto Holbrook’s head and crushed her skull

The lawsuit says “The robot from section 130 should have never entered section 140, and should never have attempted to load a hitch assembly".

Holbrook family says "the robots were not properly designed, manufactured or tested and hence, unfit for use.”
The case is currently awaiting trial.

Project failure is rampant across all sectors, industries and fields:

• PricewaterhouseCoopers reviewed 10,640 projects from 200 companies in 30 countries and across various industries, and found that only 2.5% successfully completed 100% of their projects.
• McKinsey & Company studied over 5000 projects and found that 56% delivered less value than expected, 45% were over budget, and 17% unfolded so badly that they threatened the company’s very survival.

Business innovation, growth and profitability is directly dependent on completion of successful projects.
Avoid these five common causes of project failures:
Lack of Visibility
Lack of Communication
Lack of Technology
Lack of Resource Management
Lack of Project Culture

The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom but to set a limit to infinite error.......... Bertolt Brech

See You at the Top

Investing in Digital Currencies

Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought .... John F. Kennedy

 
A new decentralized global financial system is possible with cryptocurrencies by removing layers of intermediation.
Every major financial institution in the world is doing blockchain research at the moment and 15% of banks are expected to be using blockchain in 2017.

Blockchain is a distributed database that maintains a continuously growing list of ordered records, called “blocks.”
The first major blockchain innovation was bitcoin, a digital currency experiment in 2007 .
The market cap of bitcoin now hovers between $10–$20 billion dollars, and is used by millions of people for payments.
Blockchain has remained resilient to attack and it supports a robust payment system.

Cosider just 10 years of work by an elite group of computer scientists, cryptographers and mathematicians:

• A higher degree of reliability than the current system
• International currency transfers will go from days to a few minutes
• Auctions can now be universal and global
• A scaled blockchain is expected to be fast enough to power the internet of things
• Go head-to-head with the major payment middlemen (VISA and SWIFT) of the banking world.

With these suddden changes to existing business models and e-commerce, blockchain will disrupt the financial system much
like what the internet did to media and adevertising. Such a fundamental restructuring of a core part of the economy is a big challenge to all.
Preparing for these changes means investing and experimentation.
Those who do so will be well placed to thrive in the new, emerging financial system.

While Investing in Digital Currencies, Reflect on these three Propositons:
 1. Globalization is a major driver of growth and prosperity
 2. Technological progress enriches our lives
 3. Shareholder returns reflect businesses contributions to society

Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them.... Francis Bacon

See You at the Top

Tax the Robots

"There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better."-------Elon Musk

23% of routine jobs have largely been replaced by robotics and automation,
robotic production lines like Tesla’s will continue to eat away at manufacturing jobs.

This is just the beginning of the disruption;

There are now more robots on the internet searching for news an updates than humans

Robots are now taking over a range of jobs from security to checkout clerks.

At one restaurant in China, you can order a bowl of noodles made entirely by robots.

Japanese life insurer Fukoku Mutual replaced 34 insurance claim workers with IBM Watson Explorer software

Self-driving cars and drones will be able to pay for services (charging pods) with block chain 

There are just a lot of things that machines can do better than human beings;Jobs like teacher, doctor,
financial advisor, stockbroker, marketer, and business consultant.

Doctors and Consultants will never be able to keep up with every new publication in their areas of expertise.  Instead, they must rely on a small number of personal experiences rather than the complete knowledge in their field.

Humans can’t just plug in more servers when we reach our limits of processing new information

Many skilled jobs follow the same general workflow that robots perform better:
Gather data
Analyze the data
Interpret the results
Determine a recommended course of action
Implement the course of action

There is a social cost:
The avarage human with an income of $45,000.00 will pay income tax, pay social security tax, pay for services at the grocery store, restaurants, school, clinics, banks and run a family.

With the jobs gone, the entire social fabric is at risk.

Casting the blame of job losses on migration and globalisation is for small minds. These families are barely making enough to survive.

Plugin and Tax the Robots.

A powerful idea communicates some of its power to the man who contradicts it........... Marcel Prous

Unconventional Business Thinking

 The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.... —Albert Einstein

Everything you want, and everything you need is somewhere in the world around you. And it’s closer
than you think. All you have to do is develop the ability to sense it, feel it, see it, and hear it.
But first, you have to believe it. Belief gives birth to passion. Passion gives birth to action.

If you’re shooting at Eagles, don’t focus on where the Eagle is now. Focus on where it is going to be.

Great entrepreneurs and innovators resist “success as usual” syndrome, They try to keep the big picture in mind and are wary of being too efficient and too optimized. This perspective helps them promote unconventional ways of thinking, solving problems, and challenging the status quo.

They know the goal is not to chase a fixed horizon but to understand when and how the horizon moves as they approach it.

For example, if you bet one dollar that the coin will fall on heads, your odds of winning are 50/50.
But if we happen to win 6 times in a row on head, we subconsciously believe that the odds of the coin landing on heads the seventh time are mysteriously in our favor. But they are not. The odds of the coin landing on heads are still only 50/50.

But most of us would optimise and bet all our dollars on the 7th flip; that’s when we lose it all.
We have rationally defined the odds; Our perception of the risk has become skewed by our most recent string of success.

Every time you define something, you subtract from it.......Herb kelleher

Each time you start a new business the odds are againts you, no matter your past success, the odds are still againts you, the odds does not change.

Step forward with instinct and caution each time.

See You at the Top

Becoming an Entrepreneur

Learn the business skills and startup mindset you need to excel.

Becoming an entrepreneur involves more than just starting a business — it’s about solving real problems, taking calculated risks, and building something valuable. 

Here's a clear, step-by-step guide to help you get started:

1. Understand What Entrepreneurship Is

• It's not just about making money — it's about identifying a problem, creating a solution, and delivering it in a sustainable way.
• Entrepreneurs take ownership, deal with uncertainty, and often wear many hats in the beginning.

 2. Identify a Problem or Opportunity

Start by asking:

• What frustrates people?
• What needs aren't being met?
• What could be done better?

Example: Uber started because of the frustration of not being able to get a taxi easily.

3. Validate Your Idea

• Don’t build a full business before confirming there's demand.
• Talk to potential customers.
• Create a simple prototype or landing page.
• Offer a service manually before building tech.

Tip: Read about the Lean Startup methodology.

4. Learn Basic Business Skills
At a minimum, you should understand:

• Sales
• Marketing
• Financial literacy (profit, loss, cash flow)
• Negotiation
• Time management

Success Tips

• Education (formal or informal) in business basics can be helpful but is not mandatory.
• Start small and test urgency and market demand for your idea.
• Prepare financially to cover personal and startup costs for several months.
• Use research and feedback to refine your business model and marketing

Becoming an entrepreneur involves a mindset shift towards problem-solving, identifying specific 

problems or opportunities, validating ideas with potential customers, and taking concrete 

steps like business planning, launching, and managing a business. Success often requires 

resilience, learning from failure, building a strong network, and possibly finding mentors.

See You at the Top

Economics of New Economy

A courageous leap is the most valuable coin of a creative thinker................Emmanuel sodipo

Imagine you’re about to leave the house to pick up your kids. As you grab your keys, a device from your coffee table interupts:
“It looks like you’ll use the last of your milk tomorrow, and yogurt is on sale for $1.29. Would you like to pick up an order from Shoprite, for a total of $4.95 before it closes for the xmas break?” You say yes. Alexa confirms; The order will be ready for delivery in 20 minutes.

The next generation of smart assistants and connected devices will learn from user habits and pick up on behavioral and environmental patterns in order to make these experiences more predictive. Devices like the Echo will access data from everyday interactions to predict specific opportunities for a transaction.

The future of predictive retail requires designing new ecosystems for commerce. These systems will be built around the human, rather than around a particular device or around online/offline experience. These systems will need to incorporate human connection, spatial design and lots of data.
Companies everywhere are making investments to build their digital businesses.

Decisions about digital platforms can make the difference between high growth and high margins or limited growth with declining margins. Unlike other technology and business investments, the digital business gets to the core economics of the company: revenue, growth, and margins.

The right digital business investments are of paramount interest to the CEO and critical to its long-term agility and margins. While questions about revenue, viral growth, and privacy receive attention, it is the agility and margins that ultimately determine the success of most digital businesses.

However; the Economist and the CEO differ in Approach:

Digital economics is set to upset markets trends and change everything. But economists don’t buy into the hype largely because the old economics lens remained useful for looking at the changes taking place.

The economics of the “New Economy” could be described at a high level;
Most human activities can be described by five high-level components: data, prediction, judgment, action, and outcomes.

For example, a visit to the doctor in response to pain leads to:
1) x-rays, blood tests, monitoring (data)
2) diagnosis of the problem, such as “if we administer treatment A, then we predict outcome X,
but if we administer treatment B, then we predict outcome Y” (prediction),
3) weighing options: “given your age, lifestyle, and family status, I think you might be best with treatment A; how you feel about the risks and side effects” (judgment)
4) administering treatment A (action)
5) full recovery with minor side effects (outcome).

As machine intelligence improves, the value of human prediction skills will decrease.

Machine prediction will provide a cheaper and better substitute for human prediction, just as machines did for arithmetic.

However, human judgment skills will increase as it complements prediction.

I believe the CEO and Economist prediction requires some human judgement.

Have a Perfect Holiday 

Redefining Work

The rate of unemployment is 100% if it’s you who is unemployed................ David L. Kurtz

Joshua Brown, a 40-year-old entrepreneur and technology enthusiast from Canton, Ohio, was cruising  his Tesla Model S sedan at 74 miles per hour in self-driving Autopilot mode when suddenly a tractor-trailer turned across his path. The Tesla failed to register the white tractor-trailer and
Mr. Brown didn’t engage the brakes in time. He died.

That was a brief snapshot of when machine intelligence fails us. But how does this affect work?
Autopilot and machine intelligence is when machines learn by experience and improve their performance over time through the entire production lifecycle.

Researchers are trying to predict its impact on jobs.
- Optimists suggest that intelligent machines will free human workers to do more
“creative” tasks
- Pessimists predict huge levels
of unemployment, as nearly half of existing jobs appear prone to automation. Hence, extinction
.
This view, in effect, calls for a re-examination of what a “job” actually is:
-How it is structured?
-How it should be reconfigured?
-How should companies rethink the value of a job, in terms of increased performance?
-What set of skills should companies invest in?
-Which jobs should remain within the company or outsourced?

This view further challenges modern culture of capitalism; how to generate a sustainable economic growth that is built on high-value well-paying jobs which is at the core of entrepreneurial societies.

Lets look at an interesting viewpoint from Martin Sorrell (CEO WPP):
"I’m actually somewhat suspicious when people use the C word—“culture”—because it’s often used by people who don’t want to do what we want them to. That said, several things have radically changed organizational culture. One is technology. Digital is now 40% of WPP’s business; data is 25%. Then there’s the fact that we operate in 113 countries. It’s impossible to run the company from the center; you have to have local sensitivity. Lastly, we now need to be purpose-driven, to appeal more to customers, to clients, and to our own talent".

With this redefinition of work, the male specie is the most endangered; for generations, he took pride in adapting to physical nature ofwork to care for his family, he now has no physical advantage over the female specie. Perhaps, it played out well for him in the recent US election with a Trump win, but for how much longer?

My mania for analysis exhaust me, excites her but educates us........Emmanuel Sodipo

See You at The Top

The Wrong Portrait

We see what you are driving at but you have not said it, and therefore we shall go on as before..... Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

Economic stress is not always a matter of unemployment or underemployment.
There is a new kind of sweatshop in America, High pressure, high compensation firms,
such as banks and many tech companies, hire bright, young Ivy League graduates and pay them $75,000
or more per year with luxurious perks, in exchange for 70–100-hour workweeks.

What is wrong with that picture?
It is dysfunctional, let's take a closer look at the picture.

 The following numbers represent percentages of the U.S. adult population.
• Depression – 9%
• Anxiety – 18% (commonly in conjunction with other mental illnesses)
• Stress – 33% (between 33% and 42% since 19941)
• Workaholism – 25%
• Substance Dependence and Abuse – 8.2% (8.6% treated for an illicit drug or alcohol use problem in 2013)
• Alcoholism ○ Binge Drinking – 22.9% ○ Heavy Drinking – 6.3%
• Illicit Drug Use – 9.4% (not classified as addicted) ○ Nonmedical Use of Prescription-Type Psychotherapeutic Drugs – 2.5%
• Eating Disorders ○ Overweight – 60% ○ Obese – 34% ○ Binge Eating – 2-5%
• Nicotine Addiction – 25.5% (480,000 premature deaths per year plus 16 million people with a serious illness caused by smoking)
• Sexual Addiction – 6%
• Problem Gambling – 3%
• Shopping Addiction – 5%
• Insomnia – 20%
• Suicide – 0.0126% (41,149 per year, 10th leading cause of death – more common than homicide)
• Domestic Violence – 4%
• Crime Rate – 9% ○ Incarcerated – 2.7% (the most incarcerated country in the world)

"Economic stress" refers to a state of financial strain or pressure experienced by individuals, 

households, businesses, or entire economies. This stress can arise from various factors, and its 

effects can manifest at different levels.

Some common contributors to economic stress and potential impacts.

Unemployment and Underemployment:

Cause: Loss of jobs or inability to find suitable employment.

Impact: Reduced income, financial instability, and increased anxiety about meeting basic needs.

Financial Market Volatility:

Cause: Fluctuations in stock markets, currency values, and other financial instruments.

Impact: Investors may experience losses, affecting personal wealth and confidence in the financial system.

High Levels of Debt:

Cause: Accumulation of personal or institutional debt.

Impact: Debt repayment challenges, interest burdens, and potential credit issues.

Addressing economic stress often requires a comprehensive approach involving government policies, 

social safety nets, financial education, and efforts to promote economic stability and inclusivity. 

Individuals and businesses may also need to adopt strategies such as budgeting, saving, and 

diversifying income sources to navigate economic challenges successfully.

America is still the largest economy in the world. Perhaps, clever and a showman,
we can keep the status quo, or we can strive to be better...

I have one request: may I never use my reason against truth...... Elie Wiesel

See You at the Business Top

Vague Dilutes Leadership

I am bound to furnish my antagonists with arguments, but not with comprehension........ Benjamin Disraeli

Zeroing in on small innovations leads to big breakthroughs and that is the hinge for doing more with less. Instead of becoming obsessed with big, ask yourself questions like, “What’s the smallest change we could make in our product, our delivery, our distribution, our organizational structure, or our communication?”

Questions that force you to add by subtraction: “What could we take away from those same areas to make them better and simplify the process?”

Lets look at communication:

Fuzzy writing allows fuzzy thinking;

Clear writing uses well-organized, active-voice sentences to explain what is happening, what ought to happen, and what people need to do.

Conversely, inexact and passive language reflects gaps in thinking.

Requesting clear, direct, active language has two benefits. It forces writers to think through what they really mean and the arguments they can use to support it. If you prize clarity, the clear thinkers will rise to the top.

A culture of clear writing makes managers more productive while vague writing dilutes leadership.

Case Study -
CEO Marissa Mayer email to staff on the sale of Yahoo to Verizon: “…our incredibly loyal and dedicated employee base has stepped up to every challenge along the way….The teams here have not only built incredible products and technologies, but have built Yahoo into one of the most iconic, and universally well-liked companies in the world….I’m incredibly proud of everything that we’ve achieved, and I’m incredibly proud of our team. I love Yahoo, and I believe in all of you.”

That’s four uses of “incredible” or “incredibly” in a single paragraph. It all reads like misdirection and the happy, vacuous language certainly would not inspire the workers to stay. (The rest of the email is similarly vague.)

Clear leadership, expressed in writing, creates alignment and boosts productivity.

For example,
In writing email; the CEO down to the managers must set an example by communicating exactly what they want, clearly, in the subject line or title and the first two sentences of everything they write.

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Why Businesses Remain Small

There is a danger in being persuaded before one understands........... Bishop Thomas Wilson

As a leader, if you mature with the discipline to build an organization that can grow and scale, then you can go the distance.

An organization is essentially the sum total of its physical, financial, human, intellectual, and relationship capital. Different industries and different business models have always maintained different percentages of these asset types.

Manufacturers invest most of their capital into physical assets, while high-tech firms invest in R&D to create new intellectual capital.

So why would a $100 million organization be trapped in the body of a $30 million company.

Why?

- They confuse growth for scaling. Growth means adding revenue at the same pace you are adding resources; scaling means adding revenue at a much greater rate than cost.

- They let their identity be formed by the biggest customers rather than in-depth strategy work;
For example, Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry, lost its market leadership position because it didn’t move beyond its traditional corporate customers; it failed to understand the mobile app market.

- They think to quickly multiply successes is the same as building for sustainable growth;
Taking the time to design an organization that can sustain growth is what distinguishes great executives from those that eventually get swept away by the wave. In today’s market, tech platforms enable relationships to scale rapidly, and at near-zero cost.

This is the phenomenon that has led to exciting platform businesses like Facebook, LinkedIn, Uber, and Airbnb. Even when these firms rely on physical assets, like cars for Uber, they own the technology, not the physical asset.

- They fear that standardizing approaches to work will neutralize entrepreneurial freedom and stunt creativity;
But this is rarely the case. Standardized processes liberate creativity because they free up distracted energy that’s consumed by reinventing approaches every time something is done.

Organizational transformation must begin with a leadership transformation

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Lifestyle Choice of Business Executives

Swift instinct leaps; slow reason feebly climbs.............. Edward Young

It is time to make your body fit for a healthier lifestyle in order to perform better in business.
Taking care of your own body also maintains a healthier mind while improving your quality of life.

What if you do not enjoy going to the gym?

Then you should.........

Turn your Android Phone into the Ultimate Fitness Tracker

Here are the best apps for your android mobile.

1  Water Drink Reminder
Do you drink enough water throughout the day? this app simply reminds you to drink water and tracks your water drinking habits.
This app contains customized cups that helps you to stay motivated towards drinking water, it also sets the start and end time to drink water throughout the day. Drinking enough water is the best way to stay in shape.

2 Calorie Counting: MyFitnessPal
With the largest food database, it is amazingly fast and easy to use calorie counter which helps you
take those extra pounds off. This is one of the best and well known app that counts up the calorie that you had taken in.
This app is being now used by lots of gym trainers.

3 Strava Running and Cycling GPS
Millions of runners and cyclists use Strava to record their activities, compare performance over time, compete with their community and share the photos, stories and highlights of their activities with friends

4 7 Minute Workout
This app is exercises based that comes with a virtual trainer to motivates you. This is the perfect app for those who are looking for losing weight as soon as possible. This provides the 7-minute training per day and it allows you to train your Abs, chest, thighs and legs. It has the complete set of exercises that are very popular in terms to loose weight fast.

5 Pocket Yoga
This is simply a yoga instructor as it gives you positions, sequences and exercises according to each body part. It divides each yoga into levels and every level has alternate duration to follow. It contains over 200 illustrated posed images that will guide you throughout each session. It also tracks your progress.

6 Google Fit- Fitness Tracking
The app is from Google Inc. it can track any activity that you perform while holding the phone. 
As you walk, run or whatever throughout the day it keeps the records. It also gives real-time status for runs, walks, and rides which help to stay motivated on the field. This is the must have app if you are looking for a fitness tracking app.

7 5K Running Trainer
The app was designed for inexperienced runners who are just beginning an exercise routine. The plan’s structure prevents new runners from giving up and at the same time challenges them to continue moving forward. This app works because it starts with a mix of running and walking, gradually building up strength and stamina to fully running 5K.

8 Instant Heart Rate
This app tells your heart rate or your pulse rate and you can easily judge the workout level according to that stats. It does not need any external hardware. Use it for optimizing your exercise and tracking your progress.

9 RunKeeper
The RunKeeper is the perfect app for those who like to run. It records information about your activities and shows detailed statistics, distance travelled, time taken to complete the run and even your heart rate during exercise.

10 Check Body Fat: BMI Calculator
The best app that will count your BMI easily and give the accurate results. Body fat percentage is estimated from BMI by formula derived by Deurenberg and co-workers.

Turn Your Android Phone into the Ultimate Fitness Tracker and you can easily maintain a healthy body.

See You at the Top....

Truth and Brexit

Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it..... Andre Gid

To put it bluntly, during the 20th century Germany twice failed to achieve a dominant position on the European Continent by brutal military force. Following World War II, and thanks to their special relationship with the U.S. and its business community, Germany gained hegemony in Europe without firing a single shot.

For Britain now defiantly concentrated on the preservation of its Empire, the wartime special relationship with the U.S was slowly eroding. Denying these new postwar realities, British memory of the special relationship became a myth. Margaret Thatcher never admitted how dependent her government had become on the U.S. With the Empire still shrinking, she also ignored that Washington had urged her predecessors to join the European Economic Community. She opposed the reunification of Germany in 1990 but had to fall into line when George H. W. Bush decided to pave the way for it.

These setbacks highlight a bitter irony: It was Germany that the U.S. forged a special relationship with after the six years of war against Hitler. After 1945 U.S. experts quickly discovered that West Germany, Allied bombing notwithstanding, still had greater industrial potential than Britain. This potential, if mobilized, could be used as the engine for the growth and modernization of Western Europe.

As the American-German special relationship blossomed, with export-oriented, highly adaptable
German industries taking advantage of the Open Door, Germany greatly benefited from what eventually became the European Union.

Britain needs reality check.

Northern Ireland Protocol- The Northern Ireland Protocol, which was designed to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland (an EU member state), will create tensions and challenges. May lead to the implementation of checks on goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, sparking political disputes and concerns about its impact on trade and stability in the region.

Overall, the full extent of Brexit's is still unfolding, and its long-term consequences will depend on various factors, including future trade negotiations between the UK and the EU, as well as the UK's ability to forge new trading relationships with other countries.

Beware of half-truth, you may get hold of the wrong half......

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Great Leadership Mastery

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. Frank Zappa

Great leadership grow their organizations by deliberately working on three areas:

1.They wisely manage the present, anchoring in purpose and values.
2.They selectively let go of old values, beliefs, and behaviors that no longer serve them or their organizations.
3.They purposefully create the future by adopting new aspirations, values, beliefs, and behaviors.

Lets take case studies of the three values:

Abraham Lincoln:
learning from the success of his recent letter-writing campaign to enlist the support of the British public for the Union, Lincoln implemented a successful public letter-writing campaign in his own country. Five-hundred thousand copies of one of his letters alone were in circulation and were reportedly read by at least 10,000,000 people.

Lincoln’s public outreach was effective in communicating his purpose and values which helped him
keep significant public support during the remainder of his presidency from 1863 until his assassination in 1865.

Sales to delivery:
Over the years, showcased cars rarely match the preferences of customers, who are reluctant to pay for options they do not require. Dealers are then forced to sell cars at discounts.

By relying more on big data forecasting techniques, we estimate that manufacturers globally could significantly boost their margins by as much as $600 billion. They can forecast the effective demand for models and options at individual dealers even more precisely and sell cars more quickly with fewer discounts. All can be achieved by incorporating real-time information from sources such as third-party research data, customer-relationship managements systems, competitor information, and online forums.

Machine Operators:
With real-time monitoring and improved analytics, operators will no longer be replacing parts too early or too late. Instead, they can bring their stock levels more in line with actual needs.
By using 3D printing to obtain parts “on demand” with very short lead times, they will avoid keeping a large stock of spare parts on hand.

For Great Leadership in Business  -
The cases help highlight a few general principles:

•The value derived from the analytics piece can greatly exceed the cost of the infrastructure.
•Big data is less about size and more about introducing fundamentally new information to prediction and decision processes.
•The new information is often buried in detailed and relatively unstructured data logs known as a “data lake”

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Launch Into the Deep

For with God Nothing shall be Impossible......

I Thought I should share Steve Harrison's Story

"It’s been more than 14 years since this happened but I still remember it like it was yesterday... One cold winter day in February 2002, I left my office in the middle of the afternoon and walked to a local park. I found myself standing on the pitcher’s mound of a Little League baseball field. I looked up at the sky with tears in my eyes.

“God, why is this happening to me!” I cried.

No answer came. But in that moment of raw honesty, I sensed someone had at least heard me. My company’s sales had nose-dived with the economy in the months after the 9-11 tragedy. Our credit cards and credit line were maxed out. Even though I’d helped many authors and experts promote their books, grow their businesses, and make a lot of money, I was now in a situation where I was almost broke.

I was scared, angry, and didn't know what to do. How was I going to explain to my loyal employees that I could no longer pay them? What would I say to my wife and three young kids? I went back to my office uncertain about what to do. A few days later, my brother and business partner Bill said, “Steve, we’re really in trouble financially.

 If you don’t come back from LA with at least twenty-thousand dollars we’re going to have to close up shop.” He was referring to a conference for aspiring authors in Los Angeles where I was scheduled to speak the following week. I spoke every year and people would tell me how much they loved my talk. But I was lucky if I brought in $2,000 to cover my expenses. How was I possibly going to bring in TWENTY-THOUSAND???? Fortunately, Bill and I have always had the habit of continually investing in coaching, seminars and trainings.

 In fact, even today, I pay five different coaches and consultants to help me be at my best. I started to recall some of the things one of my coaches had taught me about how to give an effective speech without making it some kind of heavy-handed sales pitch. I made a few adjustments in my presentation and flew to Los Angeles. As I was being introduced to the audience, my heart was beating 1,000 beats per minute.

This could be the final hour of my business and nobody knew but me. I said a quick prayer with my eyes wide open and began. It wasn't a GREAT speech. My PowerPoint stopped working in the middle of the talk. I stumbled over the details of one of my stories. But somehow I felt the audience was with me. I also incorporated the advice I’d received from my marketing coach.

A few minutes before I was going to finish, a woman in the audience stood up. She got out of her seat, came down the aisle and was heading very quickly straight toward me. What was she doing? Did she have a complaint? Then I noticed she was holding the yellow order form I had handed out. She simply smiled and handed it to me.

Then another person came up... and another... Before I’d even finished speaking, dozens of people in the audience had come forward and were handing in completed order forms for the $1,700 package I was offering. I couldn't believe my eyes. In that very moment something else happened which usually doesn't happen to me. A picture came to mind. I remembered a story in the Bible where Jesus tells a bunch of skeptical fishermen, who hadn't caught anything after fishing all night, to put their net on the other side of the boat. They obeyed reluctantly.

Suddenly so many fish were pouring into their nets that the nets started to burst. As strange as this might sound, I now felt like one of those fishermen experiencing a miracle. I didn't bring in $20,000 that day. I brought in $67,000!!!!! And as great as that felt, I had something even greater: a profound experience of the truth that God sees me and loves me.

I’m convinced that even if I hadn't made any money that day, God would have figured out some other way to help me and provide for my needs. If you were to say to me, “Steve, your results changed dramatically simply because you improved your speech and the way you marketed what you do.” I would say, “That’s true but it’s not the ENTIRE truth!" I believe both God AND my improved marketing deserve the credit. But you don’t have to agree with me.

You can achieve all your goals, sell millions of books, touch millions of lives, and make millions of dollars without believing in any kind of higher power whatsoever. But in sharing this story, I wanted to make sure I told you the whole truth from my vantage point. That success set me on a whole new path of showing authors, speakers, experts and entrepreneurs how to achieve their dreams – whether they’re struggling like I was or simply want to multiply their current success.".......

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Feudalism

"A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain." - Robert Frost

Feudalism refers to a system of social, political and economical control which is best represented by the Western European societies of the Middle Ages

Feudalism was a combination of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labor. An early form of feudalism existed in the Frankish lands of Western Europe in the 8c. 

All land was traditionally the property of the monarch, therefore prospective tenants had to petition the king for a benefice or land grant, which lasted for one lifetime.

Gradually the concept of providing land in return for acts of service emerged, allowing a king or lord to retain ownership of and access to the land they granted. Benefices were soon to disappear altogether, replaced by hereditary fiefs as royal power increasingly gave way to regional dynasties.

Key Concepts:

Lords- Noble landowners who held fiefs from the Crown.

Vassals- Warriors who swore loyalty to lords, serving them militarily.

Peasants- Bound to the land, they toiled, paid homage, and shared produce with lords.

Reciprocal Obligations:

Lords protected vassals, who, in turn, defended the realm.

Peasants worked the land, sustaining the entire system.

Manorialism:

Beyond warriors, feudalism encompassed all three estates:

Nobility- Lords and vassals.

Clergy- Spiritual leaders.

Peasantry- Those who lived off the land.

This broader definition is sometimes called a feudal society.

The system spread south and east as it matured and became the dominant European social and military structure. The crusades carried it as far as Jerusalem and the Normans brought it to all of the British Isles

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Creative Destruction

"In science all facts, no matter how trivial or banal, enjoy democratic equality"....... Mary McCarthy

We are undergoing a whole lot of “creative destruction.” first coined by Marx but popularized by Joseph Schumpeter,

Simply stated; it is a way young companies with superior technologies or processes invariably unseat established ones.
Old ways of doing things are replaced by better ones. There is pain as companies go out of business and people lose jobs, but ultimately there is gain as the new market establishes itself.

People grow, coral reefs and even jungles grow — but eventually, they stop. They reach a level of maturity where health is not about getting bigger, but about sustaining vitality.

The whole system learns to maintain itself over time, without the obligation to grow.
Corporations in particular are duty bound to grow by any means necessary. There’s no such thing as “big enough.” corporations must grow in order to survive.

This requirement of corporations have had a pretty long successful run as the way of a dominant business entity.

However; Uber a creative destroyer of the current taxi industry. It styles itself as a way of connecting drivers and passengers. According to this way of processing, it is primarily a platform and payment system, not a taxi service.

By calling itself a platform rather than a taxi dispatcher, Uber has been able to work in a regulatory gray area that slashes overhead while inflating revenue. This is how Uber can be valued at over $18 billion while many of its drivers make below minimum wage after expenses.

Uber's path to success involves destroying hundreds of independent taxi companies in the markets it serves.

On the surface, it’s the creative destruction of centralized taxi commissions and bureaucracy. The result, however, is the elimination of independently operating businesses, replacing them with a single platform.

Former business owners become Uber’s unprotected contractors.

Market pricing and competition are replaced by a monopoly’s algorithmic price-fixing.
It’s like big fish swallowing up smaller ones until one big fish remain. And with enough influence, that big fish can change the rules.

They are playing a winner-take-all competition.

Google is trying to leverage its platform monopoly to become a shopping platform, Facebook is leveraging its monopoly in social media to become an advertising service, and Amazon is
leveraging its store to become a cloud service.

In this game, there’s only room for one. A winner take it all while everyone else gets nothing.

"From error to error, one discovers the entire truth".............. Anonymous
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The Strategic Resource

The strategic resource is information.......... Daniel Bell

Multiple studies affirm that reading enhances intelligence, creativity, and insight. It’s the forge where vocabulary, knowledge, reasoning, and empathy are tempered.

Reading is an essential component of leadership development. A broad and deep reading habits can sharpen both intelligence and communication skills.

Data Illuminates the Path, Psychologists David Kidd and Emanuele Castano linked empathy and literary fiction. Subsequent surveys confirmed that fiction readers excel in emotion recognition tests. Reading isn’t mere escapism; it’s a bridge to understanding, a compass for leadership.  

For business leaders, the most impactful reading extends beyond explicitly “business” books to include histories, biographies, novels, and even poetry. The most effective “must read” books by leaders in business are incredibly diverse.

Engaging with diverse content, fiction, history, biography, social science can pull you out of your day-to-day routine and help you make connections between ideas from other fields, such as:

Financial Literacy- They have a deep understanding of finance and are proficient in financial management. They monitor cash flow, budgets, and investments closely.

Innovation- Business leaders encourage innovation within their organizations. They are often at 

the forefront of adopting new technologies and methodologies.

Focus on Value- They prioritize delivering value to customers. Leaders understand that satisfied customers lead to long-term success.

Long-Term Perspective- They take a long-term view of their businesses and investments. 

This perspective allows them to weather short-term fluctuations and make decisions that 

benefit them in the future.

Self-Reflection- Successful leaders often engage in self-reflection. They assess their strengths and weaknesses, seeking to improve and grow as individuals and leaders.

Giving Back- Many business leaders are philanthropic and engage in charitable activities. They use 

their wealth to make a positive impact on society.

Fellow seeker of knowledge, let your eyes traverse the written horizon. For in the pages of books, leaders find not just answers, but questions that ignite galaxies.

This is the legendry secret of all Geniuses in creativity.

Read More and See You at the Top.

Leaders communicate

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. –Thomas Edison.

History has documented that outstanding leaders take time to reflect. Their success depends on the ability to access their unique perspective and communicate their decisions.

Extraordinary leadership is rooted in several capabilities: seeing before others see, understanding before others understand, and acting before others act.

A leader’s unique perspective becomes a competitive advantage when communicated and acted out.
To thrive this year; Leaders would need to influence all shades of people and as we all make our 2016 Goals, remember to include

• Improving communication skills 

People receive and communicate information in four main communication styles, but one style is more dominant or preferred:

 

 a) Visual: They learn by watching or having images. They think in pictures and like to see their way clearly so they have a long-term vision, details and are impatient. They use words such as clear, focus, look, see, clarity, show, picture, visualize.

 

 b) Auditory: They learn by listening or talking it out. They brainstorm ideas and are detailed when explaining a project, but they get upset when interrupted. They use words such as sound, hear, tune, resonate, idea, listen, repeat.

 

c) Kinaesthetic: They learn by doing and feeling. They connect well with others and make decisions based on how they feel. They like keeping a balance, but they dislike too many choices. They use words such as comfortable, feel, fits, grasp, connect, get, touch.

 

d) Digital: They learn by having facts and figures. They solve problems and prioritize well, but they can also be stubborn. They use words such as think, makes sense, figure it, process it, first, second, list.

 

As a leaders, we need to connect with our audience by using the principles from all four styles of communication. Have images for the visual person in our presentations; have some emotion and stories for the kinesthetic person; and group work for the auditory person while having some facts and figures for the digital person.

Alex Elle once said "I’m thankful for my struggle because without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength" 

Make communication skills your strength and See You at the Top

Relevance Not Rigor

In today’s marketplace, the smartest companies do not out-produce the competition but outthink them.

Relevance is the bridge between theory and practice. It’s the scholar who doesn’t merely dissect ancient texts but applies their wisdom to contemporary challenges. It is the entrepreneur who doesn’t chase trends blindly but aligns their product with real-world needs.

Trends offer early warnings and opportunities across all industries; Let's look at two tech trends.

1. Bots - These are Software Applications that run automated tasks. 2016 will bring a host of creative bots that will supercharge our productivity, keep us company, and help us track what others are doing. You will also have the opportunity to program them yourself from your mobile phone.

• News Organizations can use bots to sort and tag articles in real time. We’ll see advanced
• Stock Markets can manipulating social media and stocks simultaneously.
• Intelligence Community can deploy bots for surveillance and digital diplomacy.
• HR Managers can use bots to train employees and help automate meetings and status updates, saving time and increasing productivity.

     2.  Quantum Computing - Quantum computers can solve problems that are computationally too                   difficult for a classical computer, which can only process information in 1s and 0s. In quantum               physics, those 1 and 0 bytes can exist in two states (qubits) at once, allowing computations to be             performed in parallel.

• IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Google and D-Wave are researching on how to advance and commercialize the technology.
• The National Security Agency is predicting that the current cryptography will be rendered obsolete once quantum computers goes public.

Relevance drives us to ask the right questions while rigor ensures our answers withstand scrutiny.

Relevance whispers, “What matters?” Rigor replies, “How shall we express it?”

Have a Fun Holiday

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Consequences of the Unknown

"I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got." 
- Walter Cronkite

In a time where the half-life of any skill is about five years and leaders bear a responsibility of constant learning in order to secure the relevance of their organizations.

These organizations are fearful of being vulnerable to an unknown future, for instance the
militaries have long suffered from the consequences of the unknown. In World War II nearly every military cracked the communications of their enemy. However, each service continued to believe in the invulnerability of their own signals despite the fact they had broken those of their opponents. Consequently the battle was lost

Increasingly organizations requires searchlight intelligence; That is, the ability to connect the dots
between people and ideas giving them an informed perspective in order to anticipate accurately and succeed in the emerging future.

But how can business leaders stay relevant on a playing field that is constantly changing?
The best way to predict the future is to create it:

• Technology that extends security, people want to be safe at home. For instance, Microsoft and SmartLabs have introduced a kit that allows people to remotely control motion sensors and surveillance cameras at home using the Internet Protocol. Basically, they can monitor their homes from anywhere. Google’s Nest and Apple’s HomeKit are also working on similar technologies
• People are interested in data that give vitals about themselves with simple dashboard analytics to understand this data. We want to know how we compare to others—in terms of emotional intelligence, sleep patterns, Body Mass Index, etc. Self-quantification is one of the most avidly downloaded IoT applications while wristbands with embedded sensors and software, are among the Internet-enabled consumer products that have taken off the fastest.
• Services that optimize our machines, connected devices can be optimized to save people time and money. There are new products that can automatically adjust air-conditioners, heaters, and other devices that use electricity, depending on when people are more likely to need them.  General Electric, Whirlpool and startups like Chai Energy—suggest that rising supply will lead to greater demand.

In business, the skill to success is still in the domain of entrepreneurial thinking and innovation, of weighing decisions, of collaboration and in trust – qualities that are utterly different from the machine logic of networked sensors and processors we create.

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The Brilliance of Bad Economics

“when management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.”
----------Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffet

While it's clear the status quo would not hold in a marketplace where more of what we do and experience is digitalized, there is little evidence out there on which kinds of technology
and business changes will bring success. We have to disrupt ourselves before the market does.

For instance, in a study on the digital maturity of French companies; six in ten French people shopped online while only one in 10 French companies sold online that same year. This gap means that, for most organizations, the consumers digital maturity offers significant untapped potential.

Research by Interim Partners found that a third of senior insurance professionals felt that spending more on technology would have the greatest effect on boosting their company’s profitability, while 21 per cent said that investing in new staff to develop new products should be top of the agenda. This compared with just 6 per cent who thought that increasing margins by raising average premiums was the key to boosting revenues.

In some cases, companies’ competitive advantage has enabled them to survive multiple technology disruptions and industry shifts over time, making their founders some of richest people in the world: think Bill Gates, Carlos Slim, and Larry Ellison.

Steve Kaplan’s found that 50% of venture capital investors described the management team as the most important factor at the business plan stage, this emphasis had dropped remarkably by the IPO stage in favor of non-human assets — i.e., their competitive advantage.

The implications: first choose the right industry and company, then pick the right management. If the managers don’t perform, they can be replaced much more easily than the basic business idea or industry.

let’s embrace the unexpected. Let’s chase the horizon, knowing that beyond it lies uncharted territory. Let’s be architects of our own destiny, sketching blueprints with stars as our ink. For in the dance between reality and aspiration, we find the rhythm of life.

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