[The bigger picture]

If they don't see the bigger picture, be that bigger picture. The one thing that people should be focused on in others, is the good that they are and what that good can do for them. If we do that we'll be well on our way to seeing the bigger picture.

If you check in many townships and neighborhoods you'll find that there's this particular person who takes their time on something to empower others yet be it that they don't get support from anyone. What we do instead, be that we talk them down. The good they do goes unmentioned in a good way though noticed. Good deeds are dying because good doers are being disrespected and discouraged by us whom our very own are receiving help and upliftment from those carers. The same could be said about CSR programs.

Companies that flash their big budgets on CSI gets more mentions and media attention than those focusing on CSR. Though they're all Corporate Social Initiatives, they however don't apply same in execution, hence the other celebrated more than the other. The sad part though, being the fact that ordinary citizens not aware and dare to care how they differ. The moral fiber of nations got eroded by capitalistic teachings that are designed to make them behave just that way, carefree.

People are now looking at what they gain more than what they benefit. If entity A goes out to assist in old age homes on particular days per week without giving out a cent to the homes and entity B identifies a rugby and an athletic team to donate branded kits for, nobody will be interested in mentioning entity A because it's not out there, glamorous and visible, while entity B will get the glory.

Those who do good sans fanfare never  get the mentions unlike those who do with fanfare. This not saying it ain't good doing good sans fanfare (we need to get that straight). Truth is, even if you do get the mention, it's mostly as though an afterthought or in passing. But then, the question is: is CSR for poor companies and CSI for moneyed ones?

In conclusion: Corporate Social Investment vs Corporate Social Responsibility, which is better for anyone's business? I mean, with CSI you are donating monetarily and while with CSR you devote your time and energy. But one wise and experienced executive once told me it's advisable to employ both models in your company's CSI program, for with CSR it's more of a heart to heart exercise and with CSI a PR strategy on its own. They all give an entity good repute that but is not same, though he said you best do more on the CSR because what a person takes to heart is deeper and rooted in thought than what you enjoy for now and passes with time. He compared them with an advertisement on print to the one on television. Since then, I never looked back, and what about you after reading this? Do you see the bigger picture or should I be your bigger picture? It's up to you...dp

[Pressure for a good cause]

How does feeling pressured feel? This is what others feel every day. But above all, the lesson is; 'Never leave the force of your habit in the hands of someone, for its soul a dream you alone can commit to, because its achievement not your success' [1]. 'Don't let people make you do with them what ain't needing them in' [2]. You need to learn how to control your achievements. First, limit access by ambitious heads in your build-up.

I say this because in the life of a businessperson there's a lot going on that if you're not the part won't understand and but wrongfully conclude on. As a driver I know how pressured one feel when are about to pass someone sans giving them a lift, yet going the same direction. What's painful is the conclusion made about me for not stopping and letting you jump in.

Ever thought of the route the person is going to take even though going there? Ever thought of the calls that he'll be making en route that doesn't need your ear? Ever thought of what she's carrying in her car that doesn't need your eye's attention? Fact is, there's a lot that goes on in the world of a businessperson that needs to be confidential, and you eavesdropping on them prematurely may jeopardize some of them because people talk too much.

Time and confidentiality are of essence in the lives of businesspersons. If I give you a lift and speed up to catch my appointment and you ask me to slow down, won't that make us feel each other negatively? Best I pass you and drive faster alone and comfortably. Some things just don't work if you try satisfying others for it's only you who'll lose in the end. A lot of us failed because of trying to do that, only to be told later how wanting we were to fail as we had a choice to not do the good we did for others that got us held back. The pressure of dealing with the pressure of failure so hefty especially when the pressure not self caused. Trust me, they don't care about your pressures after they pressured you to do for them, and that's the sad part.

Botho (humanity) is a curse and a blessing in one. Others will thank you and wish you well for it while on the other hand a weapon against you. This reminds me of a friend who borrowed his car to a younger fellow who lied to him about having a family crisis and needing a car to attend to it quickly. The lad returned the car claiming to rush somewhere for him to discover his mess alone. Later when he wanted to park it accordingly, the car didn't allow for him to reverse.

Calling him to find out, the guy said it wasn't him and that he knows nothing and passing the phone to his mother before he could even utter another word. He got told by the lad's mother how he brought it unto himself as he likes acting rich and now wanting her to fix his car by falsely accusing her son before hanging up. What's paining was learning that he went to a forex trading presentation to show off his newly acquired wheels to lure unsuspecting attendees. What happened with the gear links a cost that was left for him to pay for repairs alone, for practicing humanity.

People will always put pressure on you, don't bend for them if they have never proved they can be there for you or for anybody else. Risk with what you know is worth risking for. You can't help everyone, that's what I now can say after compromising myself and my all for nothing.

In conclusion: it's dangerous and alarming how slow good deeds are to punch above the surface than how quickly the bad deeds do. 'Never let another run your race, but never mind them in your marathon' [3]. Your obituary tells a story of your race and make only mentions of your marathon details here and there to show how less important it is, so make sure you're a participant in it, not a passenger of it. Do make your pressure count, but for a good cause. What's left to say is that helping is a risk not an investment, so, help with the thought of liability consequence in mind all the time...

[1, 2, 3] by KgeleLeso

[What makes you?]

Are you made, or are you self-made? This is a question I pose to everyone who is big today. Are you honest about your beginnings? Where you're now, people want to know about how you got there. Are you having power or influence or authority? What you're worth will say that aloud of you.

You at times go to play the observer, expert, supporter, or the doer. But then, when you leave, what do you leave behind and what do you take away with? Funny thing is that your mental model will dictate the make of you. If you wish to be something, someone else will help make that be realized. People sometimes fail to see it that way. You want employment, someone gives it to you, and you come back and say you're self-made tomorrow? No, you were made because somebody through their effort gave you the means to be where you are now as what you are. Being self-made is tough in that you start off with nothing and build yourself and your concern sans the aid of anyone. I know only a few who can lay claim to that.

A fine example is of Anamukelo, who dropped out of school aged 16 at Grade 10 to start her hustle because education to her then couldn't put bread on their table. She started by patiently standing in queues for the elderly for a minimum 50c. She became known for that and soon collected medication at local hospital and clinic for the elderly on their behalf sans them leaving home after building rapport through queuing for them.

Because of her built relationship with the hospital and clinic, she received preference as she made their jobs simple and cutting queues. Some years later she got a contract with some elderly caretaker NGO to provide the same services in her home province. At 29, Anamukelo today employs educated personnel who taught her a lot in gratitude for the opportunity she afforded to them. Asked about her worth, if she's already a millionaire and she said; "I don't know, I just see a long number on my withdrawal slips. One day I heard someone call me by that, but I didn't think someone like me could be that 'cause I had never met one in my life to know if I'm one. I just know I can afford to buy a lot of things for my crippled mother and my supportive siblings." Her mother, the pillar of her strength, is a survivor of gender based violence. 

She's self-made and in the process making others. Now, the question is, "What makes you?" Is it connections from your friends, money from your family, your academic achievements, your own sweat and determination, or what? Someone may argue that she got a contract and that made her, but I say she was doing it before the contract and was going to get there in time.

In conclusion: it's not about what you do, but rather how you started off that gives off what you're made of. It's not a contest but a gauge to your type. It's about acceptance of the fact that not anyone can be self-made and make others, and knowing the material we are before going in because the wisest thing to do is know your limits of capacity and means, and improve on them.

Not everyone is as bold and daring to take on an unpathed veld and crisscross it. 'Be brave for your dream, it's always where your real happiness for your make is found' [1]. Good luck...   

[1] by KgeleLeso.

 

[Make room to have room]

'A man is like a book with many torn chapters, and so is his mind with many rooms' [1]. This not applying only to the male species exclusively, but that it is in their nature as a businessperson as well.

In business you deal with many issues that vary, and for you to navigate through them so as to arrive to a positive outcome, needing the sole to have room for each of those issues dealt with. If you miss that point in you, are then in for an off-ramp to your crush. One thing I keep hearing is that in business you need a clear mind in order to succeed, but I feel it needs not that alone.

For a businessperson to get to where they want to be, they need a restless mind. This creates a balance as the clear mind blocks other issues while a restless mind keeps roaming on others simultaneously. What you need is focus and time to deal with issues decisively. Thing is, 'leadership is about challenging the comfort zone first in self before the next's' [2]. A clear mind is sought solely from your support staff and team to work on your ideas for your vision.

In your life, you have personal issues and public issues, of which in personal issues you still have private matters to deal with. As such, you have to create room for each of those sides to your life. When you're at home it doesn't say your mind is off from business but rather switched to the home front, and that's why a businessperson needs a spouse that understands and complement that side to them to make them whole.

Something that people should know about you is that you just never stop and it's in the nature of your type. But truth is, you have to have room also for everyone you choose to accommodate in your life. In your rooms, there must be space for disappointments, hopes, celebrations, ideas, and so forth, that you will have to know how to attend to and when. Work life and home life both form part of you but shouldn't be in the way of the other. Learn to open and close doors to your mind in analyzing of where you are and with whom you're in presence of, that's one of the keys to your self mastery.

In conclusion: to a learner from self, 'future a time that's to find you bettered from today after a faulty yesterday' [3]. If you don't make room for learning from each of your spaces, there'll be no room for you to draw from in future. The life troubles we meet are what determines our destinies. All that we are and become, depends mostly on the quality of knowledge from the life lessons found in our rooms, so make room to have room...dp

[1, 2, 3] by KgeleLeso.

[Growth is a process]

Be it growth or regression, failure or progression, they all are a process. Funny thing about process is that it writes out a lot of expositions in one's character. How it all plays out, very much a showing of what the real you is all about in who you are or trying to portray.

This process, especially when looking at the result of growth, seeks one to evolve all the time. The aim primarily is to avoid comfort zone. Comfort zone is when you are not challenged, where you're the best thing indisputably, being the only in your race or family or community to be, and or knowing self that it's you and yours or nothing else. It feels good for anyone to be in that league but in the midst do something better to move on before you stop learning as you need to outshine your own shine so you become the "it" thing again.

What's good about process is the trail it leaves behind for retracement in future. It doesn't matter where you'll be or what you'll be doing by then, but a path that'll evidently lead anyone and anything to you undoubtedly. Process is not about cost or reaching to some level quickest, but about owning the chartered path, working on self betterment yourself, experiencing the upcoming of self yourself, giving self the intellect others procure; all these in the quest to own your growth.

'Life of a business person is a rollercoaster itself and the ride experienced by those in their space, whether everyday or by chance, formally or not' [1]. It depends on you where you slot self in. Are you in their rollercoaster for the long haul or just for experience and out? It'll all show in the process of both yourselves whether you're in to be part of their life journey or in sojourn. Interestingly is the fact that you meet everyone without knowing of them and depart with knowledge of them, and that is process. Process is time, process is being there, process is experience, process is value, process is a package, and process is a real, authentic, authoritarian, and a utilitarian phenomena that is commonly necessary.

'Life, a common enemy that's as well a common friend that but is a common stranger to the one who puts no label to it' [2]. See life for what it's not and opportune for growth will be abundant as you won't meet any limits brought by fear and regret, in that you'll be allowing it to reveal itself to you. Process is a natural word and growth a neutral word, and how you elect to apply them in your life a decision only left in your hands.

In conclusion: growth is found in mistakes for retakes, found in others' end for your start, found in where you are for where you're going, found in backdrop of your reality, and its stay and pace determined by you through your outlook on life...

[1, 2] by KgeleLeso.

[Shift, not change mindsets]

Teaching is not easy, I see it everyday, don't be lied to. We often hear about skills transfer and think just about anyone can do it the way they put it to us, but it's not.

I get to be in front of people and tell them this and that at times. Same as those who are in sales and marketing, they get to do that almost all the time. The hardest thing to do is get to make an adult person to understand something. It is then that you'll see how testing it gets hearing what you thought was easy to grasp taking a council the whole day to understand.

As a person who's impatient I thank God for having helped me be where I am now. Think of me being impatient as I am failing to understand what's being told to me, I'll be impatient with myself and to the deliverer of the information. The bottom line is it's hard to transfer skill. In my teachings as a capacitation facilitator, I encountered a lot and after coming into the side of business got it much better. Through that I got to comprehend and confidently declare that businesspersons aren't ordinary people; their thought processing, analytical views, challenge interpretation, and solution provisions and turnarounds, made me stick to this world for I learn everywhere and everyday. With that said, the problem lies with the labourers.

Many of those who are preaching the gospel of skills transfer don't have a clue themselves on where to start off. This bringing back the words of Moeletsi Mbeki when he said: "How do you expect a minister of finance to do well while he himself had never run a business, let alone a mere tuck shop". The labour market in our region is still filled with low educated people. If you compare us to other regions can have a clear picture of what I mean. I truly envy the legislators for they have it easy. The tough part is getting information into the heads that told themselves they don't want to change, while you on the other hand are forced by the very laws to get a resistor to soften up and learn from you.

What I got from my observation is that our leaders just don't care. If they did, they'd use their very influence they use during elections and tell their people to cooperate as it's for their own good. Being a business person you just don't get a rest. Many of the people who are hard nuts are the ones in unions, and should they have the message from their leaders to learn at work, and give them reasons to, they won't behave as they do.

In conclusion: 'to shift the mindset, you need to condition the mentality first' [1]. Much as the frontline managers may do and say whatever but sans the buy-in from politicians, no message will be gotten through. If they want to really help grow their members mentally, the best thing to do is drive them towards learning so they be empowered instead of planting divisive sentiments in them.

With education they will be promoted, earn better and have better status in society. I sometimes believe what I heard someone say that politicians don't want members to wisen up because they won't see their importance, but I differ with that sentiment as the ruling party govern even those more qualified to them academically, as such a case not going to be different with unionists. 'True empowerment starts with embetterment of the sole's mind' [2]...

[1, 2] by KgeleLeso.

[Naming essentialias]

'If you don't have experience, draw from others.' [1]This is in reference to what I recall hearing from a conversation with a visitor at Ruptid House, a vibrant middle-aged woman who said she was the owner and CEO of a flower shop.

I asked a few probing questions and established she was working with her son, and their monthly turnover was at an average of ZAR 38K, with a monthly net income of ZAR 14K. It got worse when I asked about the name of their business, and what her son was in the business. She said the son was the CFO, and the business name was Sizwile Holdings Group. From thereon I just kept quiet and started playing games on my phone before I decided to leave after hearing her answer her phone, addressing the caller as Mr Chair, translating to Chairman. Before I could ask she said, "My husband, but he is a sleeping partner."

I narrated the encounter to a friend at Dharl_Suuva.Ledwaba+Zogott! who laughed and remarked it's their staple story. This begs the question, "Why are we so obsessed with titles, business people?" I'm not sure about other parts of the world but here in Africa a cradle of that ill placed mentality. This is kind of disturbing in that even those ones who furthered their studies do that. Do try to correct those types and you're going to rue the day you learned whatever it is you wanted to clarify.

What we should school each other on is the essential elements necessary when naming your business, campaign, position title, product or service, and a division or department or unit. The hidden consequence about business name is the attraction of its classification in tax systems, enterprise category, and belittling from ridicule, that impact on a lot in terms of image for you, your family, business and those associated with you. We can't also run away from the fact that the name of your business should set itself apart, be purposeful, invoke a sense of "I want that which they sell" in your target and be growth allowing. As for the title, it can be changed anytime without much cost if any while with the business name a lot of cost involved.

People going into business should learn about those small things first before jumping in. Trouble is, those in know use such as a grey denominator in most cases to decide whether you're worth their time, chance and investment. Going into business a good dent to unemployment scourge, and but thinking that it makes it okay to parachute your unknown clueless self in with peak hope for a big ceremonial welcome, you're mistaken. The world of business is not for harboring of your type. You need to learn hard in order to make it up the ranks unless you're connected and supported, as your protection like many we witness or hear of as instant money makers.

Listening to that song telling you about burning cash and spending money from dusk to dawn will make you want to work smart and earn smart, we all know that, but how is it possible sans hard work first? Building an empire requires a lot of know-how blocks and the have-what's backing. So, know your story, and that starts with a good scalable business name, viable business model, modest title, good product or service, and a concise and expressive practical idea plan. If not, we'll remain as just that, CEOs and Chairmans in holdings groups of our many one flower shops we own.

In conclusion: the most basic title ever is director if you run a registered enterprise. Play far from fancy lexicon titles and categories as they expose you. If not in a registered enterprise can simply be a partner if are not alone. That's not the end of it but rather the right start to getting in safe and armed with a pen and notebook to scribe any and everything you learn each day in. To your surprise, I still meet 70+ aged directors of companies who tells me they're still learning at that age and ranks in business, and that always humbles my morphed ego...dp

[1] by KgeleLeso.

© ddwebbtel publishing. 2K20.