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Tuesday 31 July 2018

Jeff Bezos Says These Are the 5 Secrets to Success


Jeff Bezos Says These Are the 5 Secrets to Success
The story of Jeff Bezos and the rise of the largest online retailer in the world isn’t a new one, but it has staying power. In an age where business is hyper-focused on the next, newest, brightest idea, Amazon dares to rest its future on a set a principles that were written in 1997 when the company first went public. Bezos, with a net worth of nearly $130 billion, has rarely strayed from those ideals, and it’s earned him the title of Richest Person in History. Since then, he’s forayed into a variety of industries including health care and space exploration. About his first brainchild, Bezos says to Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon:
“If you want to get to the truth about what makes us different, it’s this: We are genuinely customer-centric, we are genuinely long-term oriented, and we genuinely like to invent. Most companies are not those things. They are focused on the competitor, rather than the customer. They want to work on things that will pay dividends in two or three years, and if they don’t work in two or three years, they will move on to something else. And they prefer to be close followers rather than inventors, because it’s safer. So if you want to capture the truth about Amazon, that is why we are different. Very few companies have all of those three elements.”
Focusing on the long term has always been at the cornerstone of Bezos’ empire state of mind. Beyond that, here are some key principles he employs.

1. Surround yourself with the best possible team.

Amazon has a notoriously lengthy hiring process. Potential employees can expect to submit SAT scores and answer questions such as, “How many gas stations are there in the U.S.?” The answer isn’t supposed to be correct, rather it’s intended to promote critical thinking skills.
“Every time we hire someone, he or she should raise the bar for the next hire, so that the overall talent pool is always improving,” Bezos says.
Employee evaluations happen in real time, rather than at quarterly or annual intervals. Rating software allows peers to evaluate, congratulate and even critique each other publicly.
Consider implementing a more human and live-time evaluation process into your workflow. Entrepreneurs, reach out to your peers and trusted friends—ask for candid feedback early and often.

2. Learn from your mistakes.

Amazon has famously failed more than a few times. To compete with eBay, Bezos once launched its own version of marketplace bidding. It flopped. But it also paved the way for Amazon Affiliates, allowing private sellers to use the site, shipping and even storage facilities to sell their own goods.
More recently was the Amazon Fire Phone, which was widely considered a publicity stunt. Without failure, innovation could never be possible. But with innovation comes misunderstanding, as Bezos is known for discussing. He considers it important enough to include in the 14 leadership principles listed on Amazon.com: “[Leaders] look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by ‘not invented here.’ As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time.”
Learning from failure is easy to preach and harder to practice. Remind yourself of The Amazon Story and its many failures when you’re struggling with a decision of, should I?

3. Stay frugal.

Frugality is a near-direct opposition to modern big business practices. Bezos has preached and practiced it from the beginning. A now-famous picture depicts Bezos sitting behind a desk made out of a door propped up on two-by-fours. Amazon was already a publicly traded company at the time. Doors were simply cheaper than traditional desks and Bezos always had a thing for symbolism.
An upgraded version of the desks are still used in the Seattle headquarters today, and miniature versions are given out as prizes for cost-cutting innovations. “Accomplish more with less,” Bezos says. “Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size or fixed expense.”
No, you don’t necessarily need to go buy some door desks, but consider where you can cut some unnecessary spending. A short-term perk or comfort could hurt you in the long run.

4. Stand firm.

Only in recent years has Bezos graced the media with social appearances. For many years, he was content to work behind the scenes—a kind of “head down, work hard” mentality. His recent social emergence speaks to an evolution of sorts. Bezos understands that in order to stay relevant and growing, you must be willing to adapt. But you must also know when to draw the line. For him, that means sticking to the big vision while allowing the smaller moving parts to fluctuate. For Bezos, compromising on customer experience was never an option. Once, he almost shut down an entire email marketing division after an embarrassing customer email was forwarded directly to him. That one email sparked a marketing overhaul.
As he writes in the Amazon Leadership Principles, “Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.”
Make a list of your big-vision items. Frame it and keep it accessible. Those are your uncompromisable items. Everything else is negotiable.

5. Think big.

Amazon was never intended to just be an online bookstore or even just an online retailer. Books just happened to be the easiest entry into the marketplace at the time. And for Bezos, Amazon was just the beginning. In 2000, he secretly founded Blue Origin, a space exploration company, to fulfill his ultimate dreams of not only exploring deep space, but eventually colonizing other planets as a backup option for Earth.
Think about your dreams versus the tools you’re using to get there. Don’t confuse the two, and don’t settle for the easier option.

‘You Are Not a Failure Until You Start Blaming Others for Your Mistakes’


You Are Not a Failure Until You Start Blaming Others for Your Mistakes
“You are not a failure until you start blaming others for your mistakes.”
This maxim of Coach John Wooden’s was a cornerstone of his approach to life. As with many of his principles, he learned it from his father, Joshua.
In his book My Personal Best with Steve Jamison, Coach described how his dad reacted when losing his farm:
“The end came suddenly. Bad vaccination serum killed the hogs, drought stunted the crops, and the bank took the farm. In those days, there was no insurance for this kind of trouble, so we lost everything. Those were very hard times for our family, and the Great Depression hadn’t even begun.
“Through it all, Dad never winced. He laid no blame on the merchant who had sold him the bad serum, didn’t curse the weather, and had no hatred toward the banker. My father had done his best, but things went bad. ‘Blaming, cursing, hating doesn’t help you’ he’d say. ‘It hurts you.’ His example is deeply embedded in my mind and, I hope, reflected in my behavior.”
The idea of not blaming others for our own mistakes was also critical in Coach Wooden’s approach to teaching and coaching.
Former UCLA and NBA star Swen Nater was coaching at Christian Heritage College in El Cajon, California, and was a little frustrated because the players were not picking up what he was teaching quickly enough. When Swen brought the situation to Coach Wooden’s attention, Coach advised Swen simply: You haven’t taught until they have learned.
This in part led to You Haven’t Taught Until They Have Learned: John Wooden’s Teaching Principles and Practices by Swen Nater and Ronald Gallimore. In this book, Coach commented on the responsibility of the teacher:
“When I became a high school teacher, I took my responsibility very seriously. I believe that I was paid to teach, and that meant it was my responsibility to help every one of my students learn. I believe it’s impossible to claim you have taught when there are students who have not learned.”
As a leader, you should work with those you supervise to get to the core problems and fix them, as opposed to blaming the team and complaining about the lack of talent you have to work with.
When you blame others, you prevent yourself from being able to do proper self-evaluation, which is critical to self-improvement. The leader who doesn’t blame others has his office in the solutions department, not the excuses department.
In his book Wooden on Leadership with Steve Jamison, Coach summed it up this way:
“You can stumble and fall, make errors and mistakes, but you are not a failure until you start blaming others, including fate, for your results. Always believe there is a positive to be found in the negative. Things usually happen for a reason, even when you are unable to discern the reason. Remember, ‘There is a special providence even in the fall of a sparrow.

Here are the 4 biggest challenges facing top CEOs in Nigeria

Strategy

The 2018 Nigeria CEO Outlook by KPMG explores the views and insights of business leaders in Nigeria.
  • Published: 
Here are the 4 biggest challenges facing top CEOs in NigeriaplayHere are the 4 biggest challenges facing top CEOs in Nigeria (Twitter/KPMG Nigeria)

 

  • Nigerian CEOs looking at ways to reposition their brand to meet the needs 

  • of the millennials.

  • Emerging technology risk is seen as the single biggest threat by 28% of Nigerian CEOs.
  • The 2018 Nigeria CEO Outlook released by KPMG explores the views and insights of business leaders in Nigeria.

A cross section of CEOs across industries in Nigeria have identified talent, emerging technology and needs of millennials as major issues facing industries and their businesses over the short to medium term.
This was contained in the 2018 Nigeria CEO Outlook released by KPMG, on Tuesday, July 10, 2018.
The survey in its fourth year and the maiden edition in Nigeria examined 1,300 CEOs of the largest companies from around the world. The study explores the views and insights of business leaders on business drivers, risks and pain points impacting industries and businesses in Nigeria.

Here are some of the findings from the survey:

1. Threats to Growth
According to the report, despite the optimism and excitement about the prospects for growth, CEOs have some major stay awake issues. The majority (88%) of Nigerian CEOs say that operational risk is one of the greatest threats to their organisation’s growth, while 48% say the same for talent risk.
Emerging technology risk is seen as the single biggest threat by 28%.
2. Technological disruption
Nigerian CEOs are aware of the potential opportunities for technological disruption but they are struggling to run parallel processes to transform the digital and non-digital aspects of their businesses. 88% of Nigerian CEOs are of the opinion that their digital and technology investments are strategic and long-term but 64% of them expect to see a significant return on such investments in 12 months.
3. Meeting the needs of the customers of the future – the needs of the Millennials
Nigerian CEOs looking at ways to reposition their brand to meet the needs of the millennials and about 40% of them said it is a challenge to understand how the needs of the millennials differ from older customers.

4. Cyber Threats
Cybercrime is a big threat in every industry but Nigerian CEOs said they are well aware and prepared for a cyber-attack while 96% of them are confident in their ability to identify new threats and manage stakeholder when it occurs.

Wednesday 25 July 2018

Sylvester Stallone's ex-wife Brigitte Nielsen, 55 introduces her 5th child to the world as she explains why had another child late in life (Photos)


Sylvester Stallone's ex-wife Brigitte Nielsen who welcomed her fifth child in June at the age of 54, has introduced her baby daughter, Frida to the world.
The Danish actress who is now 55, explained to People in an interview why she welcomed another child late in life after more than ten years of undergoing vitro fertilization treatment.

It is such a long road Nielsen says.
“What I want women to know is that everything is possible, but you have to be realistic.” Nielsen says that soon after meeting her husband Mattia Dessi, she started planning for their future together by freezing her eggs at age 40. “If you don’t want to use [donor] eggs, you have to preserve your own eggs at a reasonable age for there to be a possibility,” she says. “I wouldn’t even bother trying after age 42.”
According to her, Doctors gave her an incredibly slim chance of conceiving with her own eggs around 3-4%.
“There is a huge disappointment,” says Nielsen of undergoing the IVF process. “If you do IVF, 80 percent of the time, it doesn’t work. It’s that phone call going, ‘It’s negative.’ It’s the waiting. It’s a lot. It’s a big, big journey.”
Nielsen who welcomed the child with Italian TV producer Mattia Dessì, 39, added, “Another thing is it is expensive. It doesn’t come easy or cheap if you do it my way. I want people to know that.”
Brigitte Nielsen who is best known for 1985's Rocky IV, 1986's Cobra and 1987's Beverly Hills Cop II already has sons Julian, 34, Killian, 28, Douglas, 25, and Raoul, 23.
The Eighties icon has been married to Italian TV producer Mattia Dessì, 39, since 2006. He is her fifth husband. She was previously married to Raoul Meyer from 1993 to 2003, Sebastian Copeland from 1990 until 1992,Sylvester Stallone from 1985 until 1987 and Kasper Winding from 1983 until 1984.

BREAKING NEWS: JAPAN BASED NIGERIAN DEVELOPER & ENTREPRENEUR TO UNVEIL NIGERIA’S MESSAGING APP IN LAGOS, SET TO SOLVE LOCAL PROBLEM AND CREATE JOB OPPORTUNITIES

A new and indigenous messaging application which enables users to chat, make audio and video calls, unrestricted numbers of group chats as well shop for affordable and genuine products is to be introduced in Nigeria and is set to change the way messaging is currently done.

According to a report by NCC, Nigeria has over 154 Million mobile subscribers with heavy reliance on foreign messaging app that serve no local content as it were. There is no doubt that Nigerians are hungry for a new technology and need something different that can be called our “own”  Beyond this, Nigerians are still paying high premium for low quality products and services, and in some cases non-existent after-sales support, a known problem that SoftTalk Messenger is trying to solve and thereby open doors to job creation.
“We do so much than messaging, we want to empower and improve on the way messaging is done today, by giving  access to users to shop, while Soft chatting and Soft talking at the same time. “We work with reputable brands and companies in Japan to sell the SoftTalk vision”,  said Simple Azenabor, founder and CEO, SoftTalk Communication Ltd, who also doubled as the founder / CEO, Prime Time Telecoms, a Telecoms Service provider based in Japan.
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10 tough questions PwC asks during job interviews in Nigeria

Strategy

Apart from the usual background knowledge questions, here are some of the tough interview questions you need to prepare for
  • Published: 
play10 tough questions PwC asks during job interviews in Nigeria

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is one of the world's most sought-after finance and consulting companies with offices in 158 countries and 195,000 employees.

Getting a job in PwC is very easy but with a herculean task as one has to go through a series of mind-boggling questions during the interview series.

The interview stages are:

Aptitude test, first interview, second interview, offer to successful candidates and the reporting day where the onboarding process takes place.
Business Insider SSA asked job seekers and some employees on what it takes to get into the multinational organisation. Apart from the usual background knowledge questions, here are some of the tough interview questions you need to prepare for:
1. Describe a situation that shows you are resilient.
2. Describe a situation that shows you are analytical.

3. A question about coping with tight deadlines and extreme pressure, and how to handle them.
4. What domestic applications have you created using knowledge from your degree?
5. What do you like about leading a team?
6. Have you faced harsh criticism?
7. On a night out with your friends, which role do you play in the group?
10 tough questions PwC asks during job interviews in Nigeriaplay
10 tough questions PwC asks during job interviews in Nigeria
 (Twitter/PwC)

8. Give an example of how you built a relationship with someone quickly.
9. Give a real-life example of how you made an impact on a business.
10. Tell us about a time when you actively sought feedback.