Great achievers focus on improving things they already do well. Others spend more time trying to improve things they hardly do well. Until you discover what you do well and focus to be better on it, you will struggle to rise.
Finishing the Mission
They travelled around cities with their Master. They experienced great moments and accomplished great things. They saw miracles – dumb spoke, deaf heard, diseases cured, lame walked, etc. But when the Master was crucified and buried, they were disappointed. The master has left a promise: I will be back. And He could have expected them to be checking where He was buried.
No – they did not bother. They were disappointed because the physical presence of the Master was no more. The travels across cities had ended. And a great Friend was taken. The special people around the Messiah were now hiding. Possibly, going back to fishing may be an option, for some. In the midst of the disappointment, they forgot that promise of I will be back.
But the Master, legendary in His strategies on the Call to Mission had recruited great women as well, for the most important phase of the Mission – receiving and announcing the resurrection. Yes, the men – the disciples – may be down for the events on friday [you cannot blame them], but the women, though in pains, would not just give up, even to anoint the body!
It’s early in the D-day, the men were not to be found. But the women found the empty tomb and received the eternal message: “He has risen! …But go, tell his disciples and Peter…”
In business, as you build with the C-level executives (the disciples), make sure you consider the contributions which others can bring (here, the women). The message the three women passed from the angel to the disciples remains the heart of the Grace. Imagine if they were not involved – the reunion in Galilee might not have happened. They were not backups to hear “He has risen”– they are women who never give up, no matter the challenge. That market is hopelessly gone, but they will say “we can still try something new”.
You need a complete team to finish a mission.
Reference: Mark 16:1-8
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It wasn’t by mistake that no human is self-sufficient, it was a design to value complementarity; and when neglected – things go awry.
If you are in a board or executive meeting and everyone always agree with your viewpoints, then you need to be really worried, the group could be on its way to damnation. You need one or two persons who do not see or think like you; they are your insurance, a dependable backup!
Most big events and decisions always come down to finer details, which usually escape the gaze of those with ‘big ideas’, you need those who care about the small things as well; they are highly invaluable. Importance is relative, because circumstance changes everything, making it possible for the ‘least’ person in the group to suddenly become the life-wire; do not neglect that.
In some circles, we talk about Authentic Informal Leaders, the real people that communicate company’s vision, making sure that everyone buys in. Real diversity captures all elements, not the type that is a product of political correctness or societal pressure; look deeper, to realise why things work so well in certain places. Any great mission must be a product of all encompassing team attributes.
Another comment
Women at work. The value of having the eye and heart of a woman is far beyond the ordinary. Who would have thought the men will be no were to be found? Sometimes the women have a lion heart.
Another Comment
It’s so inspiring thinking of how we can apply to business, the principles summed up in the live and choice of the greatest leader who ever walked the face of the earth hashtagJesus. It’s so instructive to know that the hashtagWomen held on to the master’s vision and believed it’s fulfilment, when the hashtagMen were unbelieving.
Muhammadu Buhari University … coming
Very soon, applications will be opened for Muhammadu Buhari University. Nigeria needs as many universities it can register. NUC is processing 303 at the moment; this new one will make it 304.
First Lady Aisha Buhari has expressed her plan to establish a private university to be known as “Muhammadu Buhari University”.
She disclosed this on Saturday during a town hall meeting in Yola organised by her in collaboration with concern indigenes of Adamawa.
Mrs Buhari, who did not however reveal when or where the university would be sited, explained that the university would be established in collaboration with partners from Sudan and Qatar.
Beyond 303 NEW Private University Applications in Nigeria, Quality Access Is Key
Lessons from Dubai, Singapore and Barcelona on Smart City for Africa
By Nnamdi Odumody
A Smart City is a city in which technology is a driving force in provision of smart services to its citizens. According to Mckinsey Global Institute, by 2025, cities will save up to $1.7 trillion a year delivering services if they deploy new digital systems on a large scale. As part of hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics, the city of Barcelona which is the capital of Catalonia in North Eastern Spain converted its abandoned textile district into a technology hub called @22 which is now home to dozens of startups, and laid a network of fiber optic cables which covers 310 square miles.
Twenty seven years later, it is Europe’s and the world’s most wired city. With an operating system that runs the entire city within one interface in place, different applications aimed at making the lives of its 2 million residents happier, it saves $58 million annually through Connected Water management, $37 million from Connected Street Lighting Solutions, reducing costs by one third.
According to Cisco, Barcelona will see cumulative economic benefits of 832 million euros by 2025, including 86.4 million euros in extra tourist spending. Its #1 tourist attraction, Camp Nou which is the homeground of FC Barcelona new stadium, will offer new revenue streams by linking fans directly to merchandising with free Wi-fi. It will also remove the fences around its 54 acre compound that attracts about 1.7 million tourists annually, creating a smart city neighborhood in the middle of Barcelona.
The Emirate of Dubai launched its Smart Dubai Initiative to make it the world’s smartest city by 2021. Between 2014 and 2017, Dubai launched 137 Smart Initiatives and 1, 129 Smart Services with 307,105 total downloads. It’s AVG happiness index in 2016 was 90 percent with 30,123 questions asked in three months and 11 billion AE Dirham transactions same year.
The Government of Dubai between 2003 and 2015 saved $1.2 billion through smart services with $5.6 saved by them for every $1 spent on Smart Transformation. It’s potential value from IoT (Internet of Things) is $4.8 billion by 2020, $1.5 billion potential value at stake from government blockchain by 2020, $2.9 billion potential gross value added to GDP from Open and Shared City Data annually starting from 2021 (i.e $1,000 value per person in the city) while 100 percent Dubai government transactions will be on the blockchain by 2020. Dubai’s government will celebrate its last paper transaction by 2021.
The Smart Nation Singapore is the national effort of the government to remake the city state and its about 5 million citizens to embrace technology to make their daily lives easier, irrespective of age, gender, race and religion. It’s CODEX (Core Operations Development Environment and Exchange) is the digital platform that will enable the government to deliver better digital services to citizens faster and more cost efficiently. Its benefits:
- Reusable digital components including machine readable data flows, middleware and micro services will be shared across agencies so that developers can plug and play into these resources and focus their time and energy on building better products to serve the public better.
- The adoption of common tools and standards within government and by vendors will reduce bugs and raise the quality, reliability and security of services.
- Government can tap into what the commercial cloud can offer in scalability and reliability as well as software services and tools.
- This facilitates public and private sector to work together to develop more user centric services for the public.
The Smart Nation Sensor Platform is an integrated nationwide sensor platform to improve municipal services, city level operations, planning and security. More systematic use of sensors and data to improve urban planning, build more responsible and reliable public transport and better public security. An interconnected network of 110,000 lamp posts with wireless sensors will collate data that will be used for urban and operational planning, maintenance and response.
The Lagos State Government and other State Governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Governments of Rwanda, Kenya, and Mauritius can learn from these three different experiences in adoption and implement smart initiatives and services to digitally transform their nations as well as enjoy the benefits of digital economies. Our continent needs to get 5G adoption and deployment right as it will be important in this redesign.
It’s Easter – the day of resurrection
It is Easter – the day of resurrection. I want to wish you all-around Easter in your life and career. As Heavens send angels on assignments today, may you be remembered to move from any valley in your life to the mountaintops. The grace, the amazing grace, and the abiding grace qualify you.
In mathematics, they call it exponential. In nuclear physics, they use quantum. I am combining them with wishes of exponential quantum blessing and breakthroughs. Today, no commercial-level computing can process that trajectory effectively. It is a huge gbaam – unbounded Miracle.
It is glory – overcoming the bounds of physics on this earth to experience the miracle of grace. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so shall the grace this Easter will bring: total protection, total security, and total abundance.
Happy Easter