The title of the book is ‘How Toyota Became Number 1: Leadership Lessons from the World’s Greatest Car Company’ by David Magee. It’s a book I have had in my library for some time now. The copy with me was published in 2008. Exactly one year after, Toyota began to careen down from its heights; recalling over 8.3million cars; resulting in massive loss in reputation, loss in double-digit billions of dollars; a pile of lawsuits and most especially loss of customer lives. Listen to this commentary from David Buss in 2010: “Not very long ago at all, Toyota was … [Read more...]
The Error that brought the Nobel Prize
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Alfred Nobel was one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the nineteenth century. In 1867 he patented his new explosive – ‘dynamite’. Soon he had patents in every industrialized country. By 1880 he was head of the largest dynamite-producing cartel in the world. Royalties, dividends and profits grew. And then one day a simple mistake changed his life forever. A French newspaper confused the death of Nobel’s brother, Ludvig, with his own. Alfred got the opportunity to do what many of us would love to do – he sat down with a cup of coffee, read his … [Read more...]
Who will save the Customer?
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The Inspector General of Police Force Headquarters Abuja – Nigeria Dear IG, I write to you sir with heaviness in my heart. I don’t know whom to turn to seek redress and repair for the injustice that the customer has suffered in the hands of residents and people of Nigeria. Who then can save the customer? To whom shall we turn for the long awaited emancipation of the customer? As the customer is being battered on all sides by service providers, regulators and products, to who then shall the customer turn for salvation? The perennial perils faced by … [Read more...]
The N25billion Human Resources department
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What will the Human Resources department look like as the New banking emerges with the N25billion capitalisation being requested of banks by the CBN. Which people management strategies will be employed from day one? What competencies and structures will we need to manage our chief resource (people) in the consolidated organisations that will emerge when the dust of the capitalisation exercise finally settles? Basil Onugu in his piece to Atedo Peterside on this same issue loaned us the phrase ‘New banking’. It would seem that this … [Read more...]
The Power of Learning
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People who earn hundred times your salary aren’t hundred times smarter or more productive. The only difference between you and them is that they know something you don’t. Then it is our responsibility to learn that “something”. You have to find out what successful people know that has made them successful. The only way to do that is to get educated on the topic. Go into the home of any self-made person, and chances are you’ll find a library containing books on business, success, and wealth creation. The question you need to ask yourself is: Which came … [Read more...]
Hiring Great Talent Takes GUTS!
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Hiring great talent takes guts. It takes a lot of nerve to decide to only hire the best man/woman for the job, regardless of environmental influence, no matter whose ox is gored. And these pressures are real, let’s not make light of it at all. But a lot of the pressure also comes from inside of you. This has made it very difficult for people to assemble the best team possible to them. I’ll give you an example. One of Abraham Lincoln’s earliest political enemies was Edward Stanton. In one speech he called Lincoln a “low, cunning clown,” in another he … [Read more...]
HR consultant, Life & Career Coach, Job Search Strategist, Author, Writer, Workplace Readiness Coach & Youth Instigator 
