Looking ahead into 2021

When I think of the biggest problems we face as humans, I break the population into two groups. The first group focuses most of its energy on finding ways to provide for the basic necessities. Nearly 5 Billion people out of the 7.95 Billion people on this planet fall into this bucket. They live on…

Crazy odds and star stuff

It does not really matter what you want to do, the odds are always crazy. Every time we move forward to accomplish something meaningful, we take on even crazier odds. Think about the entrepreneur who overcame incredible challenges to make a billion rands. Did she stop then? No, she took on the challenge to do…

Anyone could have done it

Anyone could have written that book. Had this idea. Made that project work. Pulled this off. The thing is they didn’t. That most people don’t. And you are not just anyone. Image by Alexander Kesselaar.

Solo | Duo | Band

The solo artist gets to call the shots. It is their name on the poster so understandably it is their call what goes on the poster.For the duo: we did it your way last time so this time we are doing it my way. Makes sense. 50/50. If one person has gotten their way a…

Marketing to narcissists

The self-absorbed are always in the market for a louder microphone and a shinier mirror. They also have trouble distinguishing between interested and interesting. It turns out that the best way to appear interesting to a narcissist is to be interested. And if you don't see that, if you are not so interested in what…

Assumptions

Often when we make plans, the last thing we do is test our assumptions. We based our sales projections or plans for the following year based on certain assumptions we hold dear. So we plan to make about R1 million sales next year? Great stuff. What is the assumption that we base the R1 million…

Patience is for the impatience

When you get frustrated, it is easy to want to cut corners to fast track your way to your destination. In today's microwave world, we start tapping our foot in anticipation because it takes 30 painstaking seconds to pop our popcorn. Greatness takes time to grow. It seems so obvious to me right now that…

The secret place

Clarke Kent [Superman] did not go into the phone booth to show off, it was his secret place of transition to go into the next dimension. When all hell breaks loose in your life, you don't have to tell everybody that you are praying. Just go into your secret chamber and God will hear you…

Kindness scales

Kindness grows, it is contagious. When someone is kind, or performs a random act of kindness, she inspires me also be kind. So yeah kindness scales, it scales better than competitiveness, frustration, pettiness, regret, revenge, merit [whatever that means] or apathy. Kindness increases. It leads to more kindness. Kindness can create trust and openness and…

Understand what truly matters

It is not the person with the best idea who wins, it is the person who has the greatest understanding of what really matters to people. If that person understands what matters to people, her idea wins. If that person has no clue what matters to people, her idea is best only in paper. People…