Achieve Your Dreams: 2 of My Great Secrets

As a young boy studying primary school in a rural district in Uganda, I had a dream to travel around the world; to study the world and make a meaningful contribution to the world. This did not look possible at the time as having been born in a family of 8; having a teacher as my father we could not have money for luxurious travels to simply experience the world. As a young man, I set out to be different. Studying from a rural school and not having the money at that time could not stop my dream, I knew I had to think and act differently if I was to achieve this dream.

As I write this piece, I have just concluded a very successful training and speaking engagement in Brazil today (31^st July, 2015) and I have tears rolling down my eyes seeing how far the Lord has brought me and by age 26, I have been able to travel to 5 of the 7 continents of the world without me or my parents ever paying for any of these trips (Ps. I am only left with Australia and Antarctica).

Earlier this week, a great friend of mine wrote to me asked me. How are you able to do it? How have you been able to travel and attract all these global invitations at such a young age? The answers lie in two great secrets:

1. The first secret lies in wisdom one of my mentors told me. He said: “In all your life, do not seek money but rather seek to become a person of value and then all the things you want in your life will come following you.” He also said, “To become a person of value you must study the world’s problems and provide solutions to them.” Since then I dedicate the biggest part of my life to studying the world’s problems and most of my thinking is geared towards solving these problems to make the world a better place to live in.

2. The second secret lies in a quotes, my dad often uses i.e. “Beyond what you know is whom you know.” At all the times I have travelled with my dad, I noticed how deliberate he was at establishing global friends and contacts. These are very essential for anyone who wants to have global impact. I came to learn this from him and at every given opportunity, I am always looking for ways of establishing contacts with different people in different countries as I know this will expand my reach.

As a reader, I hope these two words of wisdom will help you expand your reach so you can achieve some of your global dreams too. Personally with all the knowledge, skills and experience I have gathered in the different parts of the world I have been able to travel to, I now know it is time to get into business to continue my struggle of providing solutions to the problems our world is facing as I achieve my personal dreams to travel and change the world.

Business and Faith in God – Lessons from Dr. Myles Munroe

Now, there is a common notion that business and faith in God do not mix, in fact some people think that God hates business and does not want to do anything with with it. Some Christians may even go ahead to quote several scriptures in justification of this. Some of the common scriptures quoted in this regard include:

1. 1 Timothy 6:10. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

2.  Matthew 6:24… You cannot serve both God and Money.

However, on a closer look at these two scriptures, these people clearly miss the for. The first scripture says “the love of money” and not money itself. The love of money is different from money itself. The second scripture is better understood when you look at the scripture more closely. In a number of bible translations the word money in this scripture starts with capital M, which is implies that money in this context is being referred as a sort of god or idol. KJV brings it out more clearly. Here is the KJV version: …Ye cannot serve God and mammon.  Read more about mammon here.

Now that we have cleared some past misunderstanding, it is should be clear to us the business is God’s idea and God is very much interested in your business. You can read more about how God wants us to get engaged in business here.

Last year, while on his trip to Uganda, Dr. Myles Munroe spoke about Business Leadership in the 21st Century and gave one of the most eloquent speeches I have ever heard about business, below are some of the notes I picked up from his session:

Problems are very good things because they are the source of all businesses.

Business is simply the exchange of Product for value, Service for value, Ideas for value, Talent for value, Knowledge for value, Program for value, and Solutions for value. Therefore business is simply solving problems for value.

Your Value

• If you want to be successful, do not seek success, seek to become a person of value and you will never be broke.
• Value is making yourself significant by refining your gift
• You do exploits and increase your value by pursuing knowledge
• Become a consultant in your area
• You are a walking business
• You get what you negotiate

Your gift

• Your gift is personal but never private
• Whatever vision God gives you, you can do
• Your deployment creates employment

The foundations of wealth as recorded in Genesis 2:9-12. 

• Agriculture (Fruit & Food)
• Water
• Gold
• Resin (Oil, Fuel)
• Onyx (Precious stones)

The primary assignment from Genesis 1:26-28, God gave man

• Dominion over resources
• Management of the earth’s resources
• Extension of the culture of Heaven & Earth
• Divine strategy

The greatest secret

• Every human being came to earth with a treasure of greatness to deliver to their generation
• You were born with treasure of greatness that your generation needs
• You were born with treasure. Do not die with your treasure
• The greatest secret to success is discovery of your personal treasure

Wow, what a breadth of insight that was shared in this session. Truly the world is going to miss Dr. Myles Munroe however we choose to move on in life choosing to trust in the God he served who gave him all this insight. If he could give it to Munroe then surely He can give us even more.

Get rich quick schemes: Why I believe they are not a way to your becoming wealthy?

Once upon a time in my High School I betted on Senegal winning the 2002 World Cup and lost half of my pocket money simply because a week after I placed the bet Senegal lost to Turkey. It is from that time I said NEVER in my life will I ever bet a gain.

Over time I have been meditating on get-rich-quick schemes and the viability of their money especially given the new schemes that keep coming up each and every other day. It is common to find youth spending all their money (most of them actually use their pocket money or even worse tuition) on schemes such as Sports betting, Forex trading, Telex FREE, WIN competitions by different telecom companies, lotteries etc. During my meditation I was reminded of this verse in the Bible.

Proverbs 13:11 Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows.

 

I believe this statement/verse is true. I have always observed even in my personal life that there is a difference between the way I spend the money I earn from a hard project I worked on and the money given to free of charge. I always find it way easier for me to spend money I have been given and actually never even care what I spend it out after it comes unexpectedly and there is no sense of the need to account for it. I believe this is one of the major reasons we actually have no rich man around who can attribute obtaining all their wealth from a get-rich quick scheme. There are also a number of other reasons that came to mind as I tried to think about the reasons why people never get rich from these schemes. These include:

1. The lack of knowledge and experience by many of winners/ earners from such schemes on how to handle and manage money. There are specific techniques of how handle and manage money and most of the people who actually get huge sums of money from these schemes do not have these. Most of these skills are learnt from having small sums of money and as the Bible mentions “if you are faithful with little, you can be entrusted with much”. This is the principle where such people lose all the money they have won or “earned” from the schemes.
2. Lack of a plan on what to spend on. Most people have neither a spending plan and then even if they had an investment plan most of them do not know the basic rules of investment such as partnerships, mergers etc. This also clearly explains why people don’t become rich from these schemes.

Over time I have observed common characteristics especially the ones on-line and I would summarise these below:

• They will imply that anyone signing up will become rich within months to a year.
• They will tell potential victims that the route to success is by following “secret formulas” that no one else knows about.
• They will often claim they have been seen on various websites such as Google and YouTube, causing the viewer to assume said websites endorse the product.
• They will use pressuring tactics to get the vicitim to sign up quickly, such as claiming that there are only a certain amount of copies of a CD left, or using special discount prices that are only available for a short amount of time.
• Schemes such as this will often employ the tactic of displaying testimonials from “previous users.”
• When trying to navigate away from their website, users are often presented with popup windows offering further discounts, in an attempt to make the user feel special.
• They use happy faces on the websites and keep using words like “Earn dollars with no efforts”, “Get extra income from the comfort of you home.” etc.

Finally, I call upon all the young people in my generation and those below, lets not be deceived into laziness or even make irrational decisions because of the high unemployment rates. We need to appreciate that money that is going to be beneficial to us comes from hard work so lets go back to the basics, the basics of saving, the basics of not living superficial lives we know we cannot sustain, the basics of planning our expenditures, the basics of prioritization. Let us not just focus on getting rich but have a plan and purpose for our lives and even finances. You do not just want wealth no body only wants that. We all want sustainable wealth and this only comes through hardwork and setting aside certain principles to guide your life. A good place to get principles is the Bible. Get yourself one and READ it. You will be amazed and how much you will then. Now, do not just stop at read, APPLY the principles in your personal life they will help you live a much better life.

Biography 2.0: How to write your personal biography?

Through my work life I have had a number of opportunities of speaking at local and international conferences, serving on several global and local committees, interviews with global media houses, and serving as a judge on a number of global media panels. With all these responsibilities I have been asked to compile a 250 word biography that can be used to introduce me to the various audiences. 

Earlier this month, I also had an opportunity of reviewing a number of documents as part of my consultancy work and part of the documents people where supposed to share was a 250 word biography and I was amazed at how many people are ignorant in this area and how people treat the biography section. 

A biography (according to the Webster dictionary) is usually written history of a person’s life or an account of the life of something. In other words, it is a document where you not down an account of your several life achievements. It is an opportunity to market yourself as a brand. I think the greatest gift anyone or any company can give to you as an individual is an opportunity for you to market yourself i.e. to tell the whole world what your worth.

During the review of the documents earlier this month, I noticed that despite having been given ONLY 250 words to write about yourself some people wasted them writing about their hobbies, how sweet their sister is, describing the place they work, adding inspirational quotes, jokes that make them laugh etc. I believe adding some of these is a waste of the precious few words you have been given to describe yourself. Unless you do not know the value of the opportunity you have been given by the person who is asking for your biography.

I personally believe there are 4 key principles when writing a biography. These are:

1. Know the purpose for writing the biography. It is often said that where purpose is not known abuse is inevitable. Before you actually start documenting your bio, find out the purpose/reason why you are writing the biography and align your biography to suit the purpose. Do not just write EVERYTHING you have achieved, make it purposeful. e.g. if the people who have asked you to compile your bio are into leadership, compile your bio to suit that audience. That way it will be relevant and well received.
2. Brief and to the point: In most cases when they asked for your biography, they will give you a specific number of words to use, so always make it mandatory to keep your biography brief and straight to the point. DO NOT waste your words. Make sure each line you add to it is very relevant and is one the best represents you or an achievement you would want to highlight.
3. Study the audience and write to a specific audience: Just like with any other piece of writing, it is always important to write for a specific audience, this will make it more receptacle to that audience. Do not write like you are writing to everyone; that will hinder your reach. Have a specific target audience in mind and write to them.
4. Meet the requirements: Each time you are asked for a biography, you will be given certain conditions/requirements that you need to meet e.g. 250 words or less. Discipline is a very essential attribute for every individual so please ensure to maintain discipline and meet all the requirements that have been set out by the people who asked you to share your biography.

Finally, after meditating and researching on biographies here are some of the things I believe one should add to their biography to make it readable and relevant. 

• A bit about your personal life (depends on audience e.g. it is fitting to talk about my family and marital status at my church)
• Your passions, personality, and ambitions
• Your past work experience and achievements
• Your education experience and skill-set
• And any other phrases that you feel will market you to the audience

In conclusion, always remember your biography is meant to market/highlight you the individual and not the places where you work so do not spend a lot of time talking about your work place, you can just simply mention the place you worked in and what you achieved there but do not waste words describing what they do and how it is a very organization is. Your biography is about YOU not your place of work.

Hope you find this helpful and are now comfortable writing your biography the next time you are asked for one.

Trusting God at all times

Often times we go through rough times thinking God has neglected us or left us alone and yet these are actually the defining moments for our destiny in life. Going through tough times does not mean any of the above.  There are a number of people who went through tough times in the Bible but they did not give up on God even when they were really facing it rough. Let us look at some examples here

1. Joseph was sold off by his brothers into slavery in Egypt. It was not the best thing that could ever happen to anyone. Just imagine your own brothers; people you are supposed to trust and are supposed to help you grow up in a supportive environment selling off because you are doing God’s Will at all times. Then as if that was not enough when he got to Egypt, Potiphar’s wife gets him thrown into the worst prison because he refused to sleep with her and choose not to betray his God. But look here, even through this turmoil Joseph did not bow down to any other God. He kept serving the Almighty God, the God of Israel and God had NEVER neglected Joseph at any of all these stages of Joseph’s life. He was simply preparing him for his destiny. That is to rule over the entire earth.  And at the end of it, Joseph became leader and saved the entire world from Famine because he set himself apart to trust in God at all times.
2. Job was a man who served the Lord in his days. He was a wealthy man who lost EVERYTHING God had given during the course of his life but he NEVER gave up on God at any one time. Even when his friends and wife encouraged him to do so. He refused to give up on his Master in Heaven even then He knew God still loved Him and could not do anything to harm Him.  Must as Job was going through a tough time in His life, God was using the situation in Job’s life to the Glory of His Name. He was using it to show the devil once and for all that there are people who trust in Me and can serve Me in all situations.
3. The disciples were very sad and felt lonely when Jesus was crucified on the Cross. They could not believe that the Messiah who is the King of kings, Lord of lords, whom they had walked with, given up their lives to follow for three and half years; believing that He is going to save them and the entire world from sin and all redemption had just been crucified helplessly on the cross. It was not a good time seeing this. But little did they know that through His death of the Cross, the WHOLE earth was saved. That a wretch like you and me were saved from our sinful nature and given access to the King on the Throne. Because through all that suffering and pain on the Cross, God was restoring His relationship with mankind; He was showing His Love to the creation He loved the most and that much as Christ was suffering. He was being lifted up to a position none can NEVER have on earth because EVERY KNEE WILL BOW AND EVERY TONGUE shall confess that He is Lord. Trust it is much better for you to confess this before you die because after you die you will have to be judged and either way you MUST confess that He is Lord and you will have to bow before Him.

So friends, we must learn to trust in the Almighty God at all times. We must choose to study the Word of God each and every day because as we know Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. The only way you are going to grow in Faith is by hearing from God through His Word. Let His Word not leave your lips; meditate on His Word day and night so that you may show yourselves approved of God as His sons and daughters. He says in Hebrews “I will NEVER leave you nor FORSAKE you.” My question to all of us is: Do you believe Him when He says He will NEVER leave us nor forsake us? Or we choose to take what the world around us tells us?

The Bible mentions only one reason as to why God’s people perish. Hosea 4:6. “My people perish because of lack of knowledge” Friends study the Word of God, let it not depart from your lips. Do not let yourself perish because you do not know what is going on. Choose to set yourself apart so that you will know the seasons and won’t miss out on what is happening in the land but will be a part of what God is doing in the Land.

Phil 4:6-7. Do not worry about anything; instead, pray about EVERYTHING. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. If you do this you will experience God’s Peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Jesus Christ. So it is not our job to worry about anything because after all we do not and have never provided for ourselves. We have a master in Heaven we provides us with everything we need in due time. We need not to worry about anything but pray about everything; telling God what we need and thanking Him for all He has done. Let us not be like the pagans who have no God and keep running around wanting to do everything on their own. The Bible should be our inspiration and the source of all truths we believe in. Let the Bible be the TRUTH that we believe in and everything else we have read or come across BE FALSE. If anything is not in the Bible then it is false. Study the Word and let the Word teach you how to get RADICAL FAITH at all times.

God bless you and Glory to God for this message. He is worthy of all praise.

3 Key Lessons We Can Learn From a Flight As We Plan for the New Year

I am very excited to be writing my very first blog post this year and since you are now reading it allow me to say Happy NEW YEAR to you! I am certain it has gotten off to a great start and it is indeed going to be a great year. Back to business!!!

At the close of an old year or beginning of a new year, individual, organizations, governments, churches, charities etc always take off sometime to reflect on their company/private goals and set out new plans for the new year a process that always seems draining for some people but very important since one can only get a sense of personal satisfaction if they had developed plans at the beginning of the year and actually went on to achieve these by the end of the year. This is means they have lived on purpose since they had a specific vision and went after it. On the contrary some of us never go on to make these plans and things just keep happening as the year progresses; the disadvantage with this is that you have no focus. As the old saying goes if someone does not know where they are going then probably any road will lead them there. If you fall in this category, the year is still VERY young I strongly advise you to think through your personal priorities and dream big. Desire to achieve something you have never achieved and then focus all your efforts towards going for that. You will be amazed at what you will achieve simply because you purposed to work to what it.

Last December (2013) during my last flight I noticed 3 peculiar things about flights that when well thought through would make great lessons to learn from and help people develop better plans not just for their lives but also for big corporations. Lets take a quick look at these 3 things:

1. Every flight has a starting point and every passenger on the flight knows the starting point.

2. Every flight has an end point and every passenger is fully aware of the end point.

3. Every passenger on every flight is fully informed of how they will move from the starting point to the end point.

It was amazing when I discovered these 3 things. Every planned flight has these 3 qualities. My desire for sharing this with you is that you can apply these 3 qualities just as the planners of flights do. So for every plan you set out to achieve (whether individually or as a company) make sure you know the starting point, the end point and how you will move from the starting point to the end point.

Have a great year folks and remember to dream big as you plan this year. Remember ONLY THOSE WHO DARE TO DREAM BIG ACHIEVE BIG THINGS. 

 

Mediocrity and its vices

This is truly one of my last blog post this year. Very impressed with how I have grown as a write over the last couple months and happy with the fact that for 1st time this year I have been able to write my thoughts out an idea that was just a mere dream and desire for me. Every end of the year I take off time to meditate on my life and look at habits and/or areas of my life I need to grow or improve in..in the coming year. Through my meditation this time round, I have noticed that if I am to serve my generation with my gifting I have to get rid of mediocrity and pursue excellence in every thing I do. As I meditated on this I decided to note down some of the mediocre habits I have observed in both myself and people around me and the potential causes of most of these. As you read through these I hope you be able to relate with some of them and draw up your personal strategies on how to overcome them. My job with this post is to help identify some of these and their potential causes. I hope in a later post I will be able to write about how to overcome most of the habits I will mentioning below:

• Complaining and blaming: I have come across very many of use who enjoy complaining and blaming other people even for things that typically concern us as individuals. Some people go to the extent of complaining about things in their personal lives to themselves on a daily basis; they never do anything about these things and yet they somehow think these things will get resolved somehow by someone who they are not sure where they will come from. A case in example I have a couple of friends who complain of how they are not good readers to themselves and instead of making efforts to start reading… they somehow think out of no where they will become good readers.
• Thinking what has been done or achieved in a specific area is the best that can ever be achieved in that area. Often times we hear sentiments like ndaba that is what my friends also did or if so and so could do it this way, since I have gotten to a level just below his/hers I have truly achieved. This is a very destructive spirit affecting our generation. My mentor usually mentions the greatest enemy of excellent is good. Many of us work towards just being good enough to fit in society even when we know we can achieve much more than the status quo.
• Incomplete assignments: Having very many incomplete assignments is surely another great sign of mediocrity. It is shocking that many people even with the many incomplete assignments do not even bother complete them or even strategize on how to complete these. 
• Completing tasks at the last minute. Mediocre people even when given an assignments way in time wait for the very last minute and then they start panicking asking for assistance on how to complete it. A great story I remember was of a friend of mine who went to our university lecturer to ask for help on last day of handing in the project and the lecturer told him point black that “poor planning on your part should never be an emergency on mine.”
• Blaming others: For many mediocre people, it is always someone else’s fault and not necessarily theirs. They never want to take the blame no what has gone wrong; even in their own lives. Last week while in a planning meeting, the chairperson of the meeting kept blowing of how he had assigned tasks to specific individuals and how these people had not gotten back to him for over two weeks. When asked if he as the chairperson had contacted them to check on progress, he had not. To me, this would be acting sort of mediocre because as a supervisor you also have the responsibility of checking on the people you assigned tasks to at least midway the task period.
• Rejecting feedback: Many mediocre people I think because of laziness reject all possible forms of feedback from people because probably they do not want to repeat the tasks or polish them to make them better.
• Other qualities that came to mind included wasting time they have been paid for in doing their own things, spending a lot of time on very simple assignments, failing to respond to emails promptly etc.

Some of the cause of mediocrity include:

• Lack of exposure to great things/challenges than what one knows currently.
• Settling for less all the time
• Laziness
• Procrastination
• Lack of access to the truth
• Lack of knowledge of the truth
• Fear of success
• Fear of failure
• Wanting to be like others
• etc

I know this feels like a very negative post as compared to all the others I have posted in the past but the purpose of this post is to expose some of their causes. I believe the first step to solving a problem is first of all identifying and agreeing that it a problem you are actually facing and then devise ways of how to solve it. So I would encourage us to now draw up strategies on how to deal with mediocrity head-on and then we should be able to achieve excellence.

 

 

10 Mistakes I have seen managers/leaders make – Through My Own Eyes

I have been employed for the past 12 years working with several global corporations on at least 4 of 6 continents on earth and have been exposed to a vast range of management styles. However in November, 2011 I joined a large global British corporation and was exposed to some of the worst management styles in my work carrier. During these two years, I have worked under 4 managers so far and who have made some clear mistakes to me that have cost 3 of them their jobs. The 4th one almost lost his job immediately a few months back. Unfortunately, all our bosses have been making the same mistakes and non of them has taken off time to ask the team members what exactly cause the previous person’s departure. They instead consult fellow ‘bosses’ who exactly do not know what happens on ground.

During this time, instead of cursing the bad bosses I have had; I have decided to take off time to note these mistakes so that when I become a boss some day I don’t make the same mistakes as they do. Below is the list of these mistakes and my justifications of why I think they really matter:

 

1. Getting bogged down in meetings and not doing any hands on work. A person only gets better at hands-on work when they actually do it. In my opinion it is OK for the boss to spend most of his time in meetings and making decisions however this shouldn’t be at the compromise your hands-on skills. It gets hard to supervise your subordinates when they know much more than you do as the boss. There have been times when I have questioned what my boss says about a specific technique and I have approached him personally and he also is very unsure of why he had suggested us to use a specific study methodology yet clear it is does not apply to this particular setting.

2. Passing on your work on your subordinates so that you can effectively “supervise” them. I have seen this cost one of my previous managers his job. He kept on passing on some of his work to one of the team members and before he knew it; the organization was asking itself if we still really need him since one of his subordinates can actually do all the boss could do. At the end of it, the boss was fired.

3. Using fear to get work done instead of inspiration. One of the commonest lines I have heard from one of the bosses is “I will give you a warning letter” each time one of us as members of the team has missed some of his deadlines. This does not only cause panic but also slows down the speed at which they get work done. Surprisingly even when work gets done in time, there is no thank you or anything done to motivate the person who has done the great work.

4. Publically assaulting your subordinates when they do something wrong. This has been the most disturbing mistake I have seen managers here at my work place make over and over again. I have always thought it is common sense that when someone has made a mistake you do not scream at them in public, you call them out and take over it in private and look for ways in which it can be solved. Unfortunately, almost all my managers have been making this same mistake. 

5. Reporting your subordinates to your boss not knowing that it is part of your job to develop your subordinates capacity to perform and become better employees. This to me is also a very common mistake. Time after time I have seen these people running to HR/or even the country director to report some of the team members that they are not performing well. I believe as a manager, the proper thing to do is would be to sit down with your team member and talk over how they can perform better instead of just rushing to report them so they can be fired. I believe part of the managers’ job is mentor team members and help them perform better.

6. Competing with your subordinates when they are high performers. I experienced this a few months a go when my boss’ boss joined the corporation and they would compete with each other on who should do what and unfortunately the one lower in rank was a more competent than the boss. This only leads to rubbing of shoulders and hatred between team mates. My own thinking is that in such a situation the boss should look for all possible of working in harmony with the high performing member of the team. Unfortunately instead of finding a solution to this, most bosses do exactly what my boss did i.e. get rid of the high performing members of the team so that you can remain comfortable in your sit. I think that is lazy thinking and poor management.

7. Refusing to ask your subordinates for help when necessary because you want to appear the boss. I have also seen these bosses suffer with some tasks (especially when they are new to the organization) and sturbonly refusing to come and ask for help from their subordinates all because they want to prove themselves as the bosses. Now, this has not only affect their performance (since they are in most cases  still on probation) but also affects the whole organization and leads to delays in decision making because someone does not want to consult people who have been at the organization longer than them. Some have been smart enough to consult but they do not take the advice they are given and in the end they ended up appearing as poor performers.

8. Delegating tasks you have failed to do as a manager to your subordinates and putting stringent deadlines for them to finish them on time and yet you could not finish them off yourself. I saw this happen a month ago when the manager failed to analyse data on a study he had personally conducted and then he passed on to one of our team members and kept threatening him with warning letters because he failed to finish it within a day’s time and yet he had done the task for over a week and had failed to complete it. I kept wondering to myself how do you failed to complete the task you started off with and then expect your subordinate to complete it in record time and yet actually according to the pay-check your the expert here. I think this is a really bad way of passing on your failures to your team members because the manager should always appear good.

9. Failing to take the blame for mistakes made by some of your team members and instead to reporting them and yet you are supposed to review some of the work. One time I was asked to compile a report at work and forward it to my boss to review it. I received the report on Friday evening; shared it with my boss by Saturday for review and then get it back to me to make the edits before it can be presented on Monday. Now the report was not sent back to me for review and when it was presented on Monday and there were queries to it; I was blamed for the faults. Now what confuses about this specific point is that the managers job was simple i.e. review my work and let me know the edits needed, now since he did not review it then we should both take the blame and not just me.

10. Taking the ALL the credit for the work done by your subordinates. I have seen this happen over and over when a manager fails to offer some of the credit to the members. Often times after presenting the teams work. I believe when subordinates hear such that the boss is taking on the credit it de motivates them. I remember the team stood up to one of the past bosses for this act and it is part of the reasons why he was fired.

With the situation not getting any better at my work place, I decided I will not just complain about these but I have decided to learn from them so that I can be a better manager when I step in those shoes.

Additionally I also feel the main reason we have such mistakes being made is because when people get into managerial positions they never take off time to study more on leadership. They think because one is technically competent at the time of recruitment then they are also good in leadership. I believe even before one becomes a manager they should read and study leadership. Most of these require basic reasoning to be solved and I believe one who has studied leadership should be able to manage any team because leadership is not about position it is an attitude. I also believe managers should once in a while get hands on just to know the hussle team members go through and also info their review process as they review their subordinates work. 

My Wedding Video

On August 10, 2013, I tied the knot and married my best friend Hansa Phillpa now, Kakinda. On this special day, a special friend of mine, Kingdom citizen as well took off time not to enjoy the ceremony but to document it for me so that we can have some profound memories with my wife. Thanks so much Henry Sanyulye. Here is a glimpse into what took place. Hope you enjoy it.

My Wedding Speech

On 10th August, 2013 I entered one of the 3 big gates in my life when I married the Love of My Life, Hansa Phillpa at a great ceremony at Deliverance Church Makerere Hill followed by a great reception at Amka Gardens. ( Will share the photos in my next blog post). During the wedding preparations, my best man noticed a quality in me, that I had never noticed all my life. He mentioned to me that I am a man of details and always ensure I have all the details before I do something.

One of the detailed things I did was to write down my speech so that I have all the details engraved in. It is a speech  I wrote from the bottom of my heart and it encompasses some of the core reasons behind the big celebration. Allow me to take this opportunity to share it with all of you. Hope you enjoy reading it and are in turn inspired:

“Today we celebrate a new phrase, the starting of a new season in a journey that started 3 years and 4 months ago. On April, 10th, 2010 I asked Hansa who I barely knew at that time to start this walk with me; promising her that of all the guys that had tried to vibe her I was the most serious one and that I would walk her down the aisle. There must have been fear in Hansa’s heart but I forever cherish her choice that she made that day because she choose HOPE ahead of fear and as we celebrate today; we ought to remember we are celebrating because of the choice she made on that day. I love you Hansa and I thank God we have got to this day when I fulfill my promise of marrying you. This is a lifelong journey and I know the Lord, our King has a lot more in store for us.

A week back as I spoke to my boss’s boss about my wedding plans, she was extremely excited and smiling asking me all these questions why I was getting married at such a tender age. Around the same time I read a story from my mentor that exactly represented my choice, the choice that I made 3 years after I met Hansa. It is captured in a short article called the “Decision affecting the future – written by my Dr. Myles Munroe”

 

I will read it out for you:

We only realise our inherent strength and leadership strength within us when we come to understand our true selves. Just as the young lion, living on a sheep farm watched the beast/male lion walking away and knew that he had to make a decision about his future, we too have a choice to make about your own future.

Just as the young lion looked back at the farm where the sheep were and then looked toward the forest where the lion was heading, we have to evaluate our past and our potential and step toward one or the other. Just as the young lion knew that, to become his true self, he would have to give up the safe, secure, predictable, and simple life of the farm and enter the frightening, wild, untamed, unpredictable, dangerous life of the jungle, we will have to leave the safe confines of being a follower if we are going to become a leader.

Just as  the young lion turned his back on the farm, crossed the river, and walked into the forest leaving behind his old life as a sheep and embarking on the life he was born to live. Today we choose to live the safe, secure and predictable confines of our parents’ homes and move on to the untamed, insecure, unpredictable, unknown,  life of marriage, where we will have to create new definitions, provide security and make the home and marriage with the guidance of our Lord, King and Father in Heaven.

Conclusion

For the past couple months we have been organising for this day, it has been a rough time getting everything set and in place for TODAY and all your support and help has made it easier and simple to accomplish this. Allow me to specifically say thank you and recognise our families and 3 of our great friends (Simon, Judith and Chris) who took our vision for the wedding, took on every task we have assigned them and have made this day look exactly like our dream wedding. These guys have worked tooth and nail to ensure that this day is totally as you have experienced it. We are forever grateful for all the time, finances and efforts you have put into making this day come true. May my King, the Lord of the Heavens forever bless you and each and every person who has in each and every way made this dream come true for both  of us. We bless the Lord our King for all you and your impact on our lives.”