NOT SELLING

There was a farmer who once lived on the same farm all his life. It was a good farm even though the only person that failed to realize this was the farmer.

The farmer got fed up of his farm and he decided to change it for something better. Every day he found a new reason for criticizing some feature of the old place. Finally, he decided to sell and listed the farm with a real estate broker who promptly prepared a sales advertisement.

As one might expect the advert put emphasis on all the farms advantages: ideal location, modern equipment, healthy stock, acres of fertile ground etc. Before placing the advert in the newspaper, the estate agent called at the farmer’s house and showed him the advert for approval.

After reading it, the farmer cried out, “Hold everything! I have changed my mind. I am not selling anymore. I have been looking for a place like this all my life”.

Many of us are like that, we fail to recognize the treasures we currently have and can easily throw it away.

A few weeks ago, I asked the community I lead to list everything we have that gives us competitive advantage. It was a surreal experience and an encouraging one too.

It is the start of a new quarter in 2014; you could make it a quarterly exercise to review your assets. Not necessarily material assets, it can be material, emotional, knowledge, network assets etc.

You need to remember that there is no one like you and there are people out there who will always look up to you even if you fail to realize this.

Take time out, take stock, and be thankful for the things you currently have.

A TALE OF 2 FRIENDS

One day, Brendan, a young but rising DJ in New York, was coming home to his Brooklyn apartment when a homeless woman asked him for money. He said, honestly, that he had no money.

By the end of the week, she asked two more times, and each time he answered “no.” Finally she frankly replied, “You better not, because every day you say no.” Inserting some rational thinking into an otherwise awkward conversation, he proposed, “I am on my way to a job interview. If I get the job, I will take you out for Chinese food.” This promise yielded a friendship that neither were prepared for — that changed the trajectory of their lives, both forwards toward each other.

Brendan got the job. But their friendship didn’t just end with Chinese food. They built a friendship of mutual support, spending their birthdays, holidays and tough times together, over a period of eight years. When Brendan’s heater broke, she made him a blanket. Two days later when he told her that he had lost his job, she disappeared, returning minutes later, bringing him groceries, and which continued to do throughout the winter. Even with so little, she never hesitated to give back.

Over these years, Jackie moved from the streets and subway stations, into a halfway house, YMCA, and is now moving into an apartment. To celebrate this occasion, Brendan wanted to do something special for Jackie. He went with her to Target, a retail company, and helped her to pick out everything she’d need for an apartment, starting a registry. Then, he set up a campaign to raise the money to pay for the registry (now closed), along with an awesome video telling their story. While their original goal was to raise $500, the campaign went viral and they’ve raised more than $6,000, and are now looking to use the extra funding to support other women in need.

This is a reminder that having a day job doesn’t relieve us of the challenge of being loving neighbors, for the few within miles, or the thousands within blocks. Similarly, loving our neighbors, whether next door or at our door step, doesn’t require a change in profession, just a willingness to speak, to listen and to give.

May Brendan’s story challenge us this week to step out of comfort zone, and find a new way to honor, serve and love the people around us.

12 YEARS A SLAVE- My review

We sat down settling into the Saturday weather, taking a walk down the shops in the Ikeja Shopping Mall, then we strolled to the Movie counter to see the movies on queue. Then Ono’s eyes spotted the much talked about movie of the month “12 years a slave” staring the highly celebrated Chiwetel Ejiofor who scooped awards in the last Oscar just to mention a few other awards.

I was eager to sit in the movie but was told it wouldn’t start till 45 minutes, now that was the longest 45 minutes of my life as I literarily watched the seconds count. Then finally the cinema was open and our pop corns almost already cold and dry joined us inside.

The movie started slow and then gradually opened into the most torturing movie of all times. I could barely stand the pain and anguish the lead actor and actress went through not to mention what happened to other dark skinned actors. I looked at Ono’s eyes and asked what looks like the dumbest question ever. “Why did they act this movie?” to stir hate or to cause more pain? I have never hated the white skinned human ever as I did in the 1 hour of the movie, the anger and the hatred was un describable, I can clearly recall the part where the dark coloured skin was tied to the tree and the longest horse
whips was used countless times to tear her tender back. That scene sent wild chills down my spine.

How a man was denied his freedom and sent to slavery, how he lost every bit of the growing up of his kids, he lost all he had and lived in poverty. It was so clear Chiwetel was more enlightened than the white kid who was supervising him, that his rebellion drove him to almost kill him, he was hung all day and all night and barely supported himself by the toe. He had a gift to play the violin and that saved his life. The wife to the baron hated the lady (played by Nupita Nyongo) because she perceived her husband was falling in love with her. He tried to send a letter to the other side of life and a white spy sold out. Raped and tortured, left out to dry and hung on a tree, starved and over worked.

After a long days job, there is usually a performance appraisal that sees the best go rewarded by words of mouth and the laggard tortured till satisfaction. When the white guys do poorly, they are just told to put in more effort, when the black does not badly at all, the sun would only witness the bath of stripes to the back while the rain drains the blood back to mother earth.

I would only but wonder why in 2014, a movie explaining all the hate of that happened way back was brought into our faces. The concept was nice, the execution was amazing, the cast couldn’t be better selected, costume was most appropriate and set was perfect. My challenge is the story line. The hurt, the pain, the agony, I only wonder if anybody felt the same pain like I did for almost 2 hours of the movie. The awards are well deserved for execution. The story line is my pain. So gratefully this slave era has ended.

I rest my pain.

IN BUILIDING A GOOD BUSINESS….

These are 7 things you MUST avoid to successfully build your business and personal life
1. Avoid Conflict – Conflict erodes peace. To be successful in business and in life, you need a healthy dose of peace constantly. Conflict drains energy and resources that can be better utilized profitably.
2. Avoid Burnout – You are only as effective as your health. Take care of it. Health is wealth is a golden phrase. To achieve success in your life and business, you need to avoid burnout. Learn the very important skill of delegation and also learn to say NO.
3. Avoid Rumors – Rumors are prolific time wasters. Whatever you cannot verify, don’t pass on and refrain from taking action based on rumored facts.
4. Avoid Busyness – Let productivity be your watchword. Be productive, don’t be busy.
5. Avoid Lies – It takes so much effort, resources and even being a genius to keep up with lies. Even after all that, lies are bound to be exposed. Be a person of integrity and build your business on integrity.
6. Avoid Scandals – This is applicable to both personal and business platforms. Be sensitive enough to protect your name and your business / brand image.
7. Avoid Family disruptions – Many businesses collapse because the families attached to the business are challenged. This can be business owner’s families, employee’s families, partner’s families etc. Be intentional about building a happy home, and you’ll see amazing results both in your personal life and business.

ENCOURAGE SOMEONE

The story is told of two very old gentlemen lying down on their bed. They occupied the same room in the old people’s home they were being taken care of.

One of them lied in the bed near the only window in their room. Every day he was allowed to spend some time sitting up in his bed to help him relax. The other man was forced to spend all his days flat on his back.

They talked a lot about their life, families, jobs, vacations. Every time, when the first man was sitting by the window, he described in detail all he sees outside the window. His roommate always looked for those moments, when his world was broadened and brightened up by the world outside.

Amazing views of a park with a beautiful lake could be seen from the window of their room. Children delightfully played among ducks and swans. Couples walked arm in arm among colourful flowers. Also the stunning city skyline could be seen.

When the man by the window had thoroughly described all that was happening outside the window, his roommate would close his eyes and imagine all the beautiful scenes of life that were told to him.

One morning the man, whose bed was near the window died peacefully in his sleep, his roommate was very sad. After some time, when the nurse came to visit him, he asked if he could be moved next to the window.

The nurse agreed and kindly made the switch. When she left, the man slowly and painfully propped himself up on one elbow and took the first look at the world outside. He was stunned. The window faced a blank wall.

When the nurse came to visit him the next time, he told her about beautiful things outside the window that his roommate described to him.

The nurse replied “He was a blind man, maybe he always tried to encourage you”

We all have situations we hope and pray to get better, but despite our own issues, we can still spare a moment to encourage someone.

Next week, please encourage at least one person every day.

IMPOSSIBLE

Cameron Welter, one of the youngest members of our team, has a fresh perspective. Here he shares how the history of sailing technology and the advancements that have been made today, reframed for him what can be considered ‘impossible.’

As a millennial, I’ve grown up amidst incredible technological change and innovation. That being said, if you had told me about the iPhone 5S 10 years ago, I would have told you “that’s impossible!” (In 2004, the coolest feature on my flip phone was a mirror on the outside of it.) And that’s just one example of how quickly the world is changing. In my short life, a number of things I deemed “impossible” have actually happened. Now, I see the power others harness when they refuse to use this word.

If you haven’t seen the ORACLE Team USA’s “Fun on Foils” video before, you will only need to watch the first 30 seconds to understand what I’m talking about.
The boats used during the 2013 America’s Cup are like nothing I have ever seen – at least outside of a George Lucas movie. As this new generation of boats gets up to speed (using a sail that mimics an airplane wing no less), the boat lifts off the water on a set of stilt-like apparatuses called hydrofoils and accelerates to speeds near 50 MPH.

For those of you unfamiliar, the America’s Cup is a yacht race that originated in 1851, pitting Great Britain’s Royal Yacht Squadron against the New York Yacht Club. Since then, it’s evolved into the yachting community’s equivalent of the World Cup, attracting the world’s most prestigious yacht clubs, the finest sailors and designers, and the business elite like Sir Thomas Lipton and even Oracle CEO Larry Ellison for funding and team management.

Each America’s Cup involves very carefully defined parameters for the boats used, parameters that change each competition as newer technologies become available. This year, teams reportedly spent upwards of $50 million researching, designing, and building their crafts, a model called the AC-72. The result? Speed. Lots of speed. Almost impossibly, these boats can move more than twice as fast as the speed of the wind propelling them.
Even more incredibly, the top speed of the AC-72 is about twice as fast as the boats used in the 2010 contest, which in turn was significantly faster than previous vessels. In fact, if you were to map out the top speeds of the different boat models used since the very first race in 1851, you would see that the top speeds are increasing at an exponential rate.

But what does all this mean for you? It means everything. In the face of increasing competition in nearly every industry and market, there are some incredibly important lessons we can learn about what it takes to win today:
• If you think something is an insurmountable barrier – it probably isn’t. You just haven’t found the right solution to the problem. In 1851, you probably would have been laughed at if you suggested a boat could move twice as fast as the speed of wind. In 2014, not only is it possible, it’s what is required to win.
• What wins today is not good enough for tomorrow in this constantly accelerating world. If you aren’t willing to adapt, you will be left in the dust. If you aren’t constantly looking to better yourself, your company, and your product with the latest technology, you will lose to someone who will, making you the next Blockbuster or Polaroid.
• Impossible is outdated. Gone are the days when we can be content with the status quo. Companies are born and die each day. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezosdreams of delivering your packages with drones in less than 30 minutes; Elon Musk wants you to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than an hour. Impossible? They don’t think so.

As for the AC-72? By the time the next America’s Cup rolls around, there will probably be a new innovation that makes this boat utterly obsolete. These days, anyone who claims we have maxed out our potential in anything, from boat speeds to mass transit to product delivery, will be on the wrong side of history. These are very exciting times to be alive – anything is possible.

Jide Salu