RIP Collins Khosa, George Floyd

“You ultimately judge the civility of a society not by how it treats the rich, the powerful, the protected and the highly esteemed, but by how it treats the poor, the disfavored and the disadvantaged.” -- Bryan Stevenson  May your lives not be in vain. We have a long way to go, inde lendlela, this…

But the Emperor has no clothes

A vain emperor who cares too much about wearing and displaying clothes hires two weavers who claim to make the most beautiful clothes and elaborate patterns. The weavers are con-men who convince the emperor they are using a fine fabric invisible to anyone who is either unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid."  These unbelievably beautiful clothes…

Don’t let a crisis go to waste

When things stand still, the economy closes, churches, schools, shops, and other daily activities ceases to operate due to a crisis, the easiest thing to do is to also stand still and wait. In waiting people get frustrated. We are frustrated because our normal has been disrupted. Then I remembered a piece of advice I…

Learning to create

What have you produced yesterday, last week or two weeks ago? What have you created recently? What is that thing that you took from a blank sheet, canvas, material, or idea and turned it into something of value? I'm not talking about updating your social media or sending an email or text message. Think about…

Looking closely at ourselves

This is the story of a trap we all fall into. Every single entrepreneur or creator without exception is thrown off course by following a similar pattern. It does not matter if you are on the board of a listed company or a designer trying to get her blog off the ground. The same struggle…

Learning from your competitors

Lerato has been a successful financial advisor for many years. She is at the point where she does not need to advertise her services. Lerato chooses the clients she wants to work with and generally only takes on new clients by referral. She is intentionally built the kind of business she wants. Lerato will tell…

Studying and Learning

Doing well in school required us to get good at studying. To study, per the dictionary, is to devote time and attention to acquiring knowledge on [an academic subject], especially by means of books. Studying, however, is different from learning. To learn is to gain or acquire knowledge of or skill in something by study, experience, or…

I have learned…

I have learned:- That you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them. I have learned:- That no matter how much I care, some people just don’t care back. I have learned:- That no matter how smart, beautiful or charming you…

Power and brain damage

My favorite excerpts from a fascinating article on The Atlantic – “Power causes brain damage.” _______________________________________________________ Sukhvinder Obhi, a neuroscientist at McMaster University, in Ontario, studies brains. And when he put the heads of the powerful and the not-so-powerful under a transcranial-magnetic-stimulation machine, he found that power, in fact, impairs a specific neural process, “mirroring,” that may…

The Simple [Not Easy] Strategy For Business Growth

When we think about business development opportunities, we mostly begin by knowing exactly where we are today and what goals we want to reach next. From there we set out to widen our net and acquire more customers or users for our existing products and services. Our growth strategy starts with the need to expand…

Ethiopia’s Green Legacy

In an inspiring display of leadership last year [2019], Ethiopians planted more than 350 million trees in 12 hours as part of a wider reforestation program called “Green Legacy.” Led by a call from the Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy and his cabinet of ministers, Ethiopians broke the previous record set by Indians in 2017 [66 million trees].…