Ethiopian Marketing Professionals Network

31/08/2021

: "Don't dream of winning, train for it" [Mo Farah]

__The things practical people do!

The Richest Man in Babylon advised his mentees to “increase your earning capacity”. This is like me always encouraging you to !

Now here is a mistake made by many people who work in companies: they expect the company to train them. A good company will always train you to do the job for which they hired you. They don’t necessarily train you for everything you need to make you a great success.

If you want to develop your skills fully, YOU must take charge yourself, otherwise you will not realize your full potential, whether as an employee or an entrepreneur.

It reminds me of a friend of mine who worked for a big company where he was CEO, and very happy in his job.

One day I bumped into him on the street with a pile of books under his arm. “I’m on leave,” he said before adding, “I use my leave days every year as a STUDY LEAVE to focus on a knowledge area where I’m deficient”.

I was totally taken aback, and my respect for him went through the roof.

These are some of the secrets of highly successful people that you may not get to know!

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a whole degree studying full-time. Do the groundwork you need to do with what is possible... “right in your hands” [which is a LOT!] Don’t delay.

A few years ago, I was in Nairobi speaking at a townhall when a young Kenyan guy told me this story: He had read an article about the avocado industry in Latin America. Immediately, he thought it was something he wanted to do.

For the next few years, he followed everything, reading every day. Soon he had built friends in the industry. Before long, he had found a way to import a particular type of plant which is highly productive. It required months of applications to the government authorities.

He has now begun to grow and expand this business.

This young entrepreneur identified the opportunity, did his homework, educated himself, took the initiative to develop a professional network in his new industry, and went through the required to start his business.

He was not looking for any investment; he just wanted to share his story.

What is your own Story? What about your own story?

Let's talk.

Image credit: Joe Pompliano/ . This is Allyson Felix, the most decorated woman in Olympic track, who has won 11 medals [since 2004 when she was only 18]. And this is her little two year old daughter born in 2018, who inspired her entrepreneurial journey. This photo was taken a few months before the 2020 Olympics when all these athletes had to keep their eyes on the prize not knowing if they'd get to compete at all. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2021/aug/07/allyson-felix-ends-her-olympic-career-a-fighter-both-on-and-off-the-track

28/05/2021

13/11/2020

A GOOD BOSS is better than a good company!
~~~~~~~~~~~
My first boss was the best. I had a family emergency and before I could finish explaining to him the situation. He said, “And you are still standing here talking to me? Why aren’t you out the door yet? I’ll cover for you.” I smiled then went to my desk, took my belongings and left. Thereafter, he had my full commitment.

Joseph was a good boss and I would have worked for him in any company. Good bosses can make work meaningful and interesting even in a bad company. They make work feel like a home away from home. Whilst a bad boss can make your work life miserable. They will micromanage you, blame you, and do everything to hold you back.

A good boss is better than a good company. A good boss would discipline you, train you, develop you.” -Jack Ma

Joseph was a people builder. Words such as “Good work team,“”You are the best”, “I trust your judgement” were at the top of his dictionary. He empowered, appreciated and trusted employees to get the work done. Team spirit was high during his reign.

Sadly, his approach of putting people first did not sit well with top management, and within a year he was moved. Our new boss was quite the opposite. I felt like I had to be constantly looking over my shoulders. His sole focus was on the bottom line and he was always pointing fingers. He was more concerned about pushing his weight around than building relationships. Employee engagement and morale fell at an all time low. It’s demotivating working for a manager who does not stand up for their team. If you make a mistake they quickly turn into judge, jury and executioner. I liked my job but I could not function effectively in such an environment, so I decided it was time to hand in my resignation letter.

A truly Great Boss is hard to find, difficult to part with, and impossible to forget.

Employees don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses! Most of the time an employee has an issue with a company, it has to do with something related to their boss. At the heart of the breakdown of the manager-employee relationship, lies a lack of trust, respect and empathy. When you go beyond the call of duty for your employer, and they respond with insensitivity and inflexibility during your time of need, the relationship at that exact moment is lost.

Employees yearn for good bosses. A recent study found that 65% of employees would rather have a better boss than a salary increase. There is nothing like having a boss who has your back. They make your working experience so much better. Employees spend over half of their lives at work. They want to work in a healthy environment with a boss who looks out for them. It’s time that companies realize that all the money or perks, will not retain good staff if they have a bad boss. A good boss is without a doubt, one of the best incentives to keeping staff, happy and engaged.

CHECK OUT MY LATEST BESTSELLING BOOK
Leading the Workforce of the Future

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If You Can’t Trust Your Employees to Work Flexibly, Why Hire Them in the First Place? BRIGETTE HYACINTH.

Global Speaker Brigette Hyacinth is an international keynote speaker, bestselling author and thought leader on Leadership, HR, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Transformation. She has…

06/10/2017

28/06/2016

The third most important skill in business (Part 3).
By: Strive Masiyiwa

___You and your brand.

When I launched my first business in 1996, I didn’t really know that much about marketing. As I mentioned in my first post in this series, I first learnt to "sell" when I was only eight years old. Remember my story about selling sweets to my school friends? People bought from me because they knew me and, of course, I was selling something I knew that they wanted!

It’s possible to run a very successful business short-term, even if you don’t know anything about marketing. You can sell, sell, and sell. But if you want to run a really profitable business, you must understand the importance of marketing, which involves many steps.

Confused? It only means I have gained your attention. Now let's talk!

# Sales and marketing are not the same thing, but they go hand in hand.

# Advertising and marketing are not the same thing. Advertising is simply one of the tools we use in marketing.

# It's important to develop a brand. In the end, the most valuable part of your business must be its brand. Branding is what I want to talk to you about today.

A brand is not just a cool logo. It’s a kind of promise, an identity, a vision, even a mission that goes beyond the product or service to be sold. Think of the message communicated by Nike’s “Just do it.” No mention of sports gear at all! What do you think they mean by “Just do it”?

The Nike “Swoosh” is one of the world’s most iconic logos. Designed in 1971, the creator was a young graphic design student in Oregon, in the USA. An accounting teacher at her school had heard she needed some extra money for oil painting lessons, and asked her if she wanted to help design a logo “that showed movement and speed and would look good on a shoe.” He and another guy were planning to start a company. He told the her the design mustn't look too much like the main competitor’s logo, (Adidas’ stripes).

“What else you got?” was the response of Nike’s co-founder (the accounting teacher) when she presented him the Swoosh design. He was not very impressed.

So she designed a few more ideas, but he chose the initial design saying, “Well, I don't love it, but maybe it will grow on me.” At the time, she was paid only a whopping $35 ($2/hour) for her work.

45 years later, the Swoosh is still around, nearly unchanged. The company is now worth billions, employing tens of thousands of people globally.

__But it’s not the “Swoosh” visual symbol alone that’s important! Or the Apple logo. Branding goes beyond the graphic image.

Although admirable in simplicity, and amongst the most powerful brands on earth, if Nike or Apple made bad shoes or computers, it wouldn’t matter how memorable their logos. A brand has to do with perceived values, and building trust.

Now think about Walt Disney which for decades has produced family films. Walt Disney was a pioneer of innovation in entertainment. What Disney wanted to do was “create happiness through magical experiences.” Not “create films,” but create happiness!

Bringing a brand like Disney’s to life over the years is not easy. It means continually listening, to understand what your customers really care about. It means consistent delivery of value and quality, true to the brand you’ve created. It means keeping your promises as a person and a company.

How do people learn about your brand? I’ll talk more about other aspects of marketing in my next post.

To be continued. . .

17/05/2016

The third most important skill in business (Part 1).
By: Strive Masiyiwa

A few weeks ago I identified the most important skill in business as the ability to read. The second most important is the ability to count (work in numbers). I've also talked about this before. Now what is the third? It's the ability to sell!

This is a huge topic and one of my favorites: Every entrepreneur must be a good salesperson. You must never stop selling, even if you're the richest man in the world.

I remember listening to Bill Gates one day talking passionately about one of the products from Microsoft. I thought to myself, "Wow, he is the richest man in the world, but he’s still interested in selling his products!"

And it's not just Bill Gates.

__Every great entrepreneur has this skill: the ability to sell.

Let's talk. First things first:

When I was about eight years old, my mother gave me a packet of sweets to take to school. I sold the sweets one by one over the lunch break! After that, I bought my own sweets and sold them to my friends using my profits. Before long I had a little business.

But it almost became a disaster when I took to the streets and got lost, whilst trying to sell my sweets. Then my mother intervened! She stopped me selling sweets on the street and channeled my energy into more creative things, and helped me sell them from her shop. She did not kill my entrepreneurial zeal.

There are a lot of people who dream of getting into business, but they think it’s beneath them to be seen trying to sell something.

__Never look down on a street vendor, because from their ranks will come more great entrepreneurs than from most business schools!

Whatever it is you're trying to do, whether it's a product or a service, you must know how to sell. There are millions of people who work for organizations, even in very senior management positions, who could not even sell an alcoholic beverage to an alcoholic. This is bad.

There’s an old adage amongst military planners which says, "A battle plan is only as good as your first contact with the enemy." In business we say, "A business plan is only as good as your ability to sell to a customer."

The ability to sell is a skill you need, beyond selling something to a customer. It includes "making a proper pitch" to investors and bankers. It also includes "selling your vision" to potential and current employers, and partners.

__It's all about the ability to sell!

I want you to become conscious about what it really takes to sell something. Once you become conscious of selling at its most basic level, we can move on to things like marketing.

Let me close by saying this: Some of the greatest salespeople I've ever known are Americans. I have such admiration for the practice of sales and marketing in the United States.

Imagine for a moment the guy who invented Coca-Cola... How on earth did he persuade people they could overcome thirst by drinking a "black" liquid?! I imagine people would have recoiled at the idea of drinking something that looked dirty, and there were no fridges in those days.

From now on, I want you to think consciously about how a product or service is being sold!

One last thing: It doesn’t matter how good you are in sales, if the product or service is bad, you will not last. Let's talk about how you can become the greatest salesperson, even to the point of selling ice to Eskimos!

To be continued....

04/04/2016

Pause:
What is the most important skill you need?

If you want to be successful, you’ll need many specialised business skills, but probably the most important one will surprise you: it's the capacity to READ! Yes, READ!

You must develop the capacity to read, and to read FAST, and by this I don't mean basic literacy. This is why I talk of "capacity." If you’re on this platform, you’re someone who has more than basic literacy skills. You are the next generation of leaders.

I'm sure you’ve heard the expression: "(Great) leaders are readers."

You must have the capacity to read a lot, if you want to be successful. All the greatest leaders I’ve ever met, from any walk of life, had this in common: they liked to read books, journals, and articles.

On one of my travels, I met someone who asked me a simple question:

"Where do you live?"

"I have a house in London and one in Johannesburg, but I spend most of my time in airports."

"Where are your books?" she asked.

"In Johannesburg."

"Ah, that is where you live, because books are your most prized possession."

You must BUY and own books. It must be a constant investment. You’re not a reader if you prefer only to borrow books. It means you're not committed. If you have children, take them to bookshops. Buy or build them bookshelves. Encourage them to own and treasure books. Take them to libraries, galleries and museums… they're generally free!

__For the African continent to grow and prosper, we must build a greater culture of reading in our young generations! There’s not a moment to waste.

The pastor of a great church asked a young man, "Where is your bible?"

"I can't afford one, sir" the young man replied.

"Then sell your shoes!" the pastor replied.

This is the attitude you must build towards the ownership of all other books, too: "If you think books are too expensive then you have not yet realized their value to you, and your family."

Reading is by far and away the thing I do most in my day:

# You all know by now that I start my day by reading the bible for at least an hour. I read it cover to cover at least once a year.
# Before I go to work or start my day, I delve through at least 5 newspapers that I subscribe to.
# Then I read reports, mostly about what’s going on in our various businesses. I also read the latest developments in our industries.
# I read emails (I don’t allow an email to go unanswered for more than 24 hours). Generally, I read every email that gets into my inbox. This is why I don’t like all sorts of emails to clutter my box. I manage emails very strictly because if I don't, I’ll lose control of my agenda.
# Throughout the day, I’m reading reports and responding to them. I can read very fast.

I hate rituals, but if you must have a ritual, this is it: Read every day to understand, reflect upon and follow what’s going on around you that affects you. Remember what I’ve said before: things happening far across the world can seriously affect you, too!

You can train yourself to expand your reading capacity quickly and easily:
1. Buy and read books.
2. Buy and read books.
Did I repeat myself?
Buy and read books!

In closing, the other day I went to see a play in New York about Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers. It was a remarkable musical production and worth all the rave reviews it’s getting. I only had one problem: it was a musical performed in "rap" by a mostly young African-American cast; for a long time, I didn’t understand a thing they were saying! But I could still follow the story very well, because I’d read the book on which it was based more than 10 years earlier. If I must see a movie, I need to read the book as well.

Someone who has a smartphone or tablet is reading (quantitatively) more than 100x what their peers read 20 years ago. Nevertheless, the key to reading capacity requires an interest in reading books, even those in electronic format.

Be smart, be wise; buy and read books. If you’re planning to get to the top, one book a week should be your minimum target.

End.