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Brave Review: Passing It On

Posted on December 15, 2020 by @bravepublicity

“Passing It On” is a great book about the core of leadership. Written by the late Dr. Myles Munroe of blessed memory. Someone I consider to be one of the greatest leadership Coach, Teacher and Leader of all time.

This book will have you think deep and experience some mind shifts, if you really desire sustainable and impactful leadership. It’s about the legacy of leadership and about the greatest leader of all time that walked the face of the earth. Find out who this is.

It’s a book that can’t be rushed. One you’ll most likely have to go back to from time to time as you go through your own journey of leadership and service.
It applies to all industries for anyone with an open mind, a thirst for growth and truth. It’s a book for everyone who desires to have an impactful life and a great Legacy that transcends time.

It was bittersweet reading this book, knowing it’s author is no more. But his words, his knowledge, his legacy, lives on and that makes me happy, hopeful and thankful for this gift. His gift to us all.

Not done with this book yet.
But I certainly recommend this to everyone, every leader, young or old and all those who aspire to lead their lives and organizations well.

A Master Piece by Dr. Myles Munroe.

Article, Business, Career, Everyday Living, Leadership, Relationships

Article: Team Diversity

Posted on November 26, 2020October 9, 2021 by @bravepublicity

Diversity is such an important force in the world. How boring a place, the world would be if we all were the same, had same interests and saw things from the same perspective.

Creativity would be lost, uniqueness and all of those great things that makes life so beautiful and colorful would seize to exist, because diversity makes all of these wonderful things possible.

Humans are the most diverse, dynamic and intelligent set of beings on the Earth you know, and this is one of the forces that makes us so powerful and special.

Every day, we meet new people and we sometimes are quite amazed by how different they are from us. Their unique abilities, experiences, interests, skills, heart and the beauty of who they are and their personalities just simply shines through.
So, diversity is quite important and the world is so much better for it.

When it comes to the workplace and team formation, diversity plays a huge role on the strength of a team and so, I’ll be sharing on its importance, impact, and why we should have an open mind by embracing the concept of “Team Diversity” in all spheres and walks of life.

Here are six things worthy of note regarding team diversity and why you should embrace this great culture and belief system.

A Pool of Knowledge and Ideas

Applied knowledge is power and when you have a diverse gathering of people, great ideas and solutions are bound to emerge from such places. Ideas that stem from diverse work experiences, backgrounds, sources, and network of these dynamic individuals.

Diversity of Skills and Uniqueness

When it comes to vision, execution and posterity, structures and people are always the solution. With a diverse team comes diverse skills sets and perspectives for delivery.
When you have sameness in a room or gathering, it’s always difficult to think outside your own “Outside The Box” ideas, but with diversity, you would come to experience new mind shifts and experiences that can help you accomplish so much for vision actualization and sustainability of your businesses and goals.

The Strength of Divide and Conquer

The Lion remains king of the Juggle, capable of operating alone, but he also understands when the strength of the Pride is needed. Pride of Lions operate by the strength of divide and conquer, and sometimes may come together to focus on a prey, depending on how challenging it may be or what their target is.

Diversity of teams helps you to be able to collaborate to divide and conquer territories that may be unfamiliar to you, but may be accessible and familiar to others onboard.
This is the reason, some businesses are capable of expanding and spreading to other regions of the world.

If your focus remains on sameness and exclusivity of certain people from your circle or group, those you may have placed in a category mentally, then you just may be placing a cap on your ability to know and achieve greater things.

End to Racism and Discrimination by Acceptance of People’s Uniqueness

Racism and discrimination is such a terrible mindset. It destroys and robs people of the chance to come to know the beauty and brilliance that resides in many others that are very different from themselves.

Beyond the global scale of the “Black vs. White” or the “Everybody Else vs. Racists” protest movements know around the world, grassroots and local levels across all Nations also have their own fair share of this big problem, and they come in forms like tribalism and social exclusivity and stereotypical assumptions.

Racism and Discrimination is such a terrible mindset that has been passed on from an older generation with grudges and wrong beliefs, forcing the younger generation to develop hatred for something or people, picking on and continuing battles that sometimes have existed before their birth.

Some with structures that have encouraged the continuity of brutal and systemic racism and discrimination, which have place some minorities in a perpetual state of struggle and poverty.

The moment, we begin to embrace the uniqueness of others and incorporate such diversity in our organizations, businesses and wider communities of influence; with structures that encourages diversity and aids in the success of those who are often excluded: groups, people and tribes, only then will we begin to see positive shifts regarding the end of racism and discrimination.

The great news is we can begin from where we are, with our own organizations and businesses, reorienting those within our sphere of influence about the importance of embracing humanity and diversity. While opening doors of opportunity for others to advance in places where there has been unjust exclusiveness, barriers and hindrances.

End to Inequality Including Gender Inequality

In many businesses and organizations, for years, most industries have been mostly male dominated, and this transcends leadership opportunities as well as strategic roles that are core to the growth and development of many communities as well as nations.
However, this norm is beginning to experience a shift with global and glocal efforts towards closing the gender and inequality gaps.

When we have a healthy mind shift and perspective that embraces and encourages team diversity, we begin to think about all aspects of this. Bringing onboard all those that should be on some tables of influence, leadership, service or power.

This is achieved by taking into consideration, first the humanity of all people, secondly the need to foster great team strength for posterity by developing tolerance and respect for the uniqueness and preferences of others, especially when those things do not put anyone else in harm’s way.

Lastly, their value, namely: experience, merit and skills, a very important factor that should qualify anyone to be a part of anything great and worthy of attention, irrespective of who they are.

As it is in the world today, there is a lot of unjust actions to many who by merit should have access to or be on board certain teams or have access to some opportunities, but have been hindered.
This will always be wrong. So to see change, there is a need to start with ourselves, and the teams within our sphere of influence.

This simple action is capable of widening our team’s scope of experience that comes from collaborating with different people. Only then will we come to appreciate the beauty of diversity, and this can cause a ripple effect that can ignite the positive change we need to see regarding bridging the inequality gap.

The Humanity Factor and Love

When you see people, it is my hope that you first see humanity, before a person’s race, origin, background or the color of their skin.
I hope you see someone living and breathing the same air just like you, with the same red blood flowing through your veins.
Someone with a heart and heart-beat just like yours, showing up every day, in efforts to make their own lives, families and communities better.
Someone with great dreams, desires and aspirations, just like you, someone with a brilliant mind and a good heart.

I hope you see humanity first.

I hope you give them a chance when opportunities of life for great things and collaborations come your way, especially when those opportunities accessible to you or are within your power for decision making.
I hope you see the beautiful human before you and you can respond in love to them, just as you would love yourself and in the same vein, respond to others you love.

This is the ultimate factor that can foster the possibility and humanity of team diversity, LOVE.
This is for every human.
This is for you.
And me.

Thank you for reading.

Article by Opeolu Adeyemi.
Corporate Communications and Public Relations Consultant
Founder, Brave Publicity Ink!

Article, Business, Career, Leadership, Self development

Article: Effective Communication

Posted on July 16, 2020October 9, 2021 by @bravepublicity

Friendships, relationships, businesses and communities are built on communication. Without the ability to communicate, the world will be in disarray, filled with much misunderstanding, breeding loneliness and possibly the exasperation of being misunderstood or judged wrongly.

Effective communication is what makes systems, structures and our relations with others work out smoothly. It is an essential factor for long lasting relationships.
It is such a powerful skill that aids conflict resolution, strengthens bonds between nations, people, and changes the perspective of long standing disputes and disagreements between people or communities.

Life circumstances become better as a result of effective communication. However, the application of this very essential soft skill is based on established understanding and relevance, a skill not many have mastered.

When the value of a skill is established, only then does it appeal to those in need of it. This is so about effective communication.

Does it really hold that much value?
Can it be obtained and mastered by all?
Does it really have the power to resolve conflicts and end long standing wars?

What does “Effective Communication” really mean?

To put to rest some of these questions, let’s explore the definition and attributes that make up the phrase, “Effective Communication.”

Let’s begin with the word ‘Communication’.
‘Communication’ means to exchange information through speaking, writing or some other form of medium. It is also the act of conveying meanings from one entity or group to another, through the use of mutually understood signs, symbols, and semiotic rules.

‘Effective’ means to reach an optimal level, a peak of excellent delivery or performance.

In order words, ‘Effective Communication’ means, exchange of information between parties at an optimal level, where the entities or groups involved have mutual understanding of what is being conveyed and can respond accordingly.

So, effective communication is only established when all parties involved are able to create mutual, accurate and clear understanding of what is conveyed.

Some defining attributes make this possible and without them, it is often impossible to have effective communication and they include these four broad features: Conversation, Sound, Cues and Action.

Let’s examine each of them for more insight.

Conversation

To establish excellent or effective communication. The conversation or message being conveyed needs to be understood by both or all parties involved.
A conversation that is one sided with decisions being set in motion by one party, is an enforcement, not a mutual agreement. Both or all involved must have mutual understanding of the dialogue.

When this is absent, effective communication cannot be achieved and this involves active and attentive listening. This means, listening to respond accurately to the message being conveyed, not just listening to speak in turn.

This is a challenge for many people and organizational leaders, and so the result is, effective communication is never established, breeding dissatisfaction with all involved in the conversation.

In a dialogue, the focal point, challenge or objective must be identified and acknowledged by all involved and then satisfactory solutions and actions can be established.
This is only possible when attentive and active listening is put in play, when conversations and meetings are held.

Sound

Sound gives meaning to a message and strengthens conversations. It is essential in establishing excellent or effective communication, when used appropriately. Sound in terms of the ‘Voice’ and ‘Tone’ of a message, whether spoken, written or conveyed via art or creativity.

The established tone or voice can ultimately determine the meaning of the message being conveyed. It could be deciphered as either compassionate, hostile, mild, suggestive, derogatory, exhilarating, cheerful, gloomy, heated, commanding, weak, strong, assertive, guarded and the list goes on.

Many people, institutions, nations or communities have been able to establish excellent or poor communication, hence developing amazing or terrible relationships as a result of the choice of voice and tone.

This is very critical factor, as interpretation of conversations are often made based on the perceived tone or voice by the conveyor of any message.

Also many great writers have gained mastery of this very important skill in the act of communication, artistically infusing the appropriate voice and tone with their words, creating excellent publications across a genre of books that have stood the test of time and have attracted great readership and rewards.

The ability to identify the appropriate tone or voice for use in various dialogue circumstances or deduce what is being received from others, ultimately helps one understand accurately any conversation. It also helps one identify improvement opportunities for effective communication in active discussions or feedback.

Cues

Cues are so essential in communication and they include verbal and non-verbal cues. These can be easily decrypted from time lapses and body language.

Time lapses, a pause in a conversation, verbal or written (a presence of silence for a period or a written symbol for a dialogue expressed in written words) is often indicative of something, usually an impression or meaning the conveyor wants one to decipher.

Such time lapses could mean disinterest, disregard, a plea for understanding and reconsideration, fear, anger, permission to hear out the other person or party, a gentle nudge towards reflection or appraisal, etc. regarding an already established dialogue or an on going conversation.

Time lapses are typically applied to strengthening an impression regarding information that has already been laid bare by a conveyor. That pause or silence often carries a weight and has meaning in an ongoing conversation.

In the same vein, the body language of a conveyor or the parties involved also expresses and strengthens the meaning of a message, often combined with or without voiced expressions.

The body language may express, pain, weariness, passion, anger, joy, excitement and a variety of emotions that eventually makes a conveyed message more accurately deciphered.

The entire context and content of such conversations enables one to identify differences and the real meaning that should be deduced from such a dialogue.

Actions

For effective communication, one of the most credible ways of deducing if a dialogue has reached a point of mutual understanding by both parties is by the actions that follow.

If the actions that follow are satisfactory and correspond with the resolutions and agreement by all parties or the conveyor of a message in a dialogue, then one can say that effective communication has been established. If not, what may ensue is a lot of friction and resistance.

Many times, individuals pay attention to only what is being said, without paying close attention to the actions that follow as well. In corporate environments as well as social circles, this plays out all the time. When one pays close attention to actions that follow any conversation, then one can understand accurately what is being communicated.

However, it is important to note that these four (4) highlighted features work in harmony and the application or interpretation of just one or some from an active discourse may lead to wrong conclusions regarding a message or due to poor communication.

But when all of these features are applied in sync, it helps in accuracy, clarity, mutual agreement and ultimately, effective communication.

I hope you found this article to be insightful and helpful.
Thank you for reading.

Article by Opeolu Adeyemi.
Corporate Communications and Public Relations Consultant
Founder, Brave Publicity Ink!

Article, Business, Finance, Money, Self development

Article: The Financial Pig

Posted on December 4, 2019October 9, 2021 by @bravepublicity

You are most likely to get offended when someone says to you: “You are such a pig!”. This is possibly because of the unattractive nature and habits generally associated with pigs.

The Nature of Pigs.

Pigs care less about their environment, and will happily wallow in mud and dirt. They are excited about eating all the time, anything and almost everything that comes their way, including food from dumps!
The irony about this creature is, it also happens to also be a symbol for money savings and wealth, and is easily recognized world-wide.
It is worthy to note that, the value placed on pigs is not determined by their behavioral nature, but by what can be harnessed from them.

The Value of Pigs.

From a pig, one is able to obtain hide and skin, for manufacturing costly and valuable leather products (shoes, bags, purses etc.), their hair can also be used for making brushes, their meat for making beacon, their fat for the production of cosmetic products, and even gelatin for food and non-food products like toothpaste, pizza etc.

As attractive as some of these highlighted values may seem, many people rarely indulge willingly in commercial pig farming, because of the herculean tasks it entails in rearing them. What most likely repels people the most is the smelly nature of pigs and difficulty in coping with such bad odor all day long.

So the job of rearing pigs can be a difficult one. The same applies to financial discipline or the mastery of savings.

It is worthy to note that, the bigger a pig is, the bigger the chances of harnessing much value from it. The same principle also applies to our personal finances and money management skills. The bigger our financial capacity, the bigger the investment opportunities before us.

The Piggy Bank.

Ever wondered why the pig has for a long time been an identity for petty savings items, made into boxes shaped mostly as an attractive pink or white pig item for saving some money?
The piggy bank has for a long time been a symbol for financial savings, especially one used in the home, by young children and young adults.

It represents strongly finance, especially the savings habit that one hopes to inculcate from a tender age to adulthood. So when the image or the thought of a pig comes to mind, please think again and think about how your finances are doing.

Two Kinds of Financial Managers.

There are two kinds of people when it comes to financial management, those who operate their finances based on their immediate wants and those that operate their finances in view of the future.

Those who operate their finances based on their immediate wants, splurging on whatever comes their way, without a care in the world about tomorrow. They love to live in the moment, enjoying all of their earnings and what it has to offer in that moment. They only like to think about the future, when they reach cross roads and never think to plan ahead.

Then, there are those who operate their finances in view of the future, reserving and compounding their financial spendings, for the value that will be obtained from it in the long run. They ensure that their finances are robust and ready for the harvest of great investments.

So you should ask yourself these often: Are you spending all of the resources that come your way? Or are you ensuring that your financial pig or piggy bank is well fed and robust to produce much in the days ahead, to secure a bright future, full of prospects and limitless opportunities?

Your Relationship with Money.

Maybe you don’t exactly have a great relationship with money or your finances and feel justified to splurge on things you think you need, since your earnings are really small.

Well, let’s let you in on a secret.
No matter how much you earn, if you are unable to master the art of “Savings and Investments” from very little earnings, even when you have so much more, you’ll find yourself operating your finances based on only your immediate wants.

Some Solutions.

There are a few ways to effectively manage and grow a robust financial pig and they include some of the following:

Have a Budget:

A budget helps you know how much needs to be allocated for your spendings, gifts, savings and investments. With a budget, you are able to stick to a precise amount and percentage for all of your allocations.

Track your Spendings:

With a daily or weekly budget and tracking system, it’s easy to know where your money goes and adjust accordingly, when you discover that you are going beyond your daily or weekly allocations.

Without keeping track of where your money goes, it becomes easy for your finances to grow wings or just disappear without tangible proof of what you’ve done with your money.

Simple tools like your mobile phone and applications like Microsoft-Excel can prove to be very useful for tracking. There are also numerous fee applications that are ready to use and can be accessed from some online stores, to aid financial tracking.

Have an Intentional Savings Plan:

A percentage of your earnings for savings is non-negotiable, irrespective of how small you may be earning. This is like paying yourself a percentage for all of your hard work.
This percentage should be increased over times, just as your earnings also increase. To achieve this, it may mean having a bank arrangement that enables automatic deductions of a percentage of your earnings or bars you from being able to withdraw beyond a specific amount for a period of time.

You could also put aside your savings manually, into a separate account with no easy access such as services that include: ATMs, Credit Cards or Online Banking access.
The bottom line is, ensure you intentionally grow a robust financial pig. So you can have something to fall back on for the rainy days or have something tangible for great investments opportunities that may come your way.

Make Careful Investments:

It’s not enough to grow a robust financial pig, you must find ways to multiply what you have. Just as the value of a pig lies not in being just fat and big, but in being able to harness other things from it.
The same principle applies to your saved up finances, you must find ways to make profitable trade. So do your research and make careful and wise investment.

Beware of quick money making schemes, and investment models that you do not understand. Many today have lost their hard earned money from such numerous Ponzi schemes. So do your research and ask the relevant questions before taking a plunge.

It is worthy to note that, some of the best investment opportunities are in things that appreciate over time and things that are required for or are non-negotiable for everyday living. Such as ‘land’ for real estate investments, ‘food’ etc.

In conclusion.

It’s really no coincidence that the home made piggy bank for putting aside petty cash in homes often comes designed as a pig. We hope it serves as a reminder about the value that can be obtained from the mastery of the difficult habit of financial discipline.
We also hope whenever you sight a piggy bank or an actual pig, it also serves as a subtle reminder to grow a robust financial pig and operate your finances in view of the future. Simply by mastering the art of “Savings and Investments”.

Thank you for reading.

Article by Opeolu Adeyemi.
Corporate Communications and Public Relations Consultant
Founder, Brave Publicity Ink!

Article, Business, Career, Corporate Communications, Entrepreneurship, Public Relations, Strategy

Article: Working Virtually.

Posted on August 2, 2019October 9, 2021 by @bravepublicity

Organization and a well rested mind is key to achieving success as a virtual worker or coordinator.

Today’s jobs no longer entail just physical coordination, but also a handful of virtual responsibilities, since a lot of job roles are beginning to get more automated and entail a lot of digital tools and applications for successful operations.

For a person whose sole work entails virtual coordination or for a person who has a mix of both virtually responsibilities and physical responsibilities, some ground rules and balance have to be established in order to achieve success.

Here are seven (7) things to consider:

Structure:

Just like a physical workplace, your virtual work place also needs to be well structured to function optimally.

From the devices needed for your execution, to the resources and tools such as the internet, power supply, your work space and furniture, applications and software that are required to get the work done.

The state of all of these determines if you will experience less stress while working. If these are all in good condition, it influences and enhances the mind’s productivity and reduces the number of hitches that may be experienced.

Coordination and Prioritization:

To stay organized virtually implies good organization and coordination.

From proper naming of files to grouping of relate items or files, to effective and clear communication about tasks to your virtual team, to prioritizing on the urgent and important tasks that need to be attended to before others, etc.

When all of these are properly aligned, it enhances greatly the success and speed of execution of tasks that you may have for each day. Creating a “To-Do-List”, scheduling tasks and setting reminders for your activities will certainly help you achieve better coordination and prioritization.

Automation and Activities:

Working virtually can be a very huge task, especially when multiple minute tasks are lined up for execution daily.

Many of these monotonous tasks would be more enjoyable if they were automated.

It is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking these things would take very little of our time, however after a while, it can become tiring, especially with others physical tasks that need our attention come our way. It is also very easy to lose interest in the monotonous ritual and we find that some crucial details in communication may become mixed up often or lost when working virtually.

All of these can be avoided when software, applications or structures that aid automation or reduces the daily stress or responsibilities are used. Some of them include cloud services such as (Google Drive, Dropbox etc.), file sharing applications (WeTransfer, Google Drive), Content automation Services (MailChimp, Hoote Suite, Buffer etc.) and any other applications that enhance your workflow virtually.

Third parties and Team work:

Having a strong and reliable team, that understands the work process, the purpose of a project, the urgency of various task and the cooperation required for execution, is very important.

It also helps greatly if the team members are equipped with the relevant hard skills for execution.

This is very important especially for rainy days, when you need the total support of the team or their assistance in getting some things done on your behalf.

To achieve this will require effective communication, sometimes training and a lot of patience as the team grows. In the long run, time with a steady team helps you understand each member, their strengths and weaknesses.
This eventually leads to the establishment of a workflow that empowers you all to work in sync without too many corrections, back and forth conversations or confusion on how to get things done virtually.

Activity follow-up:

Working virtually can many times entail multiple communication platforms and tasks with a variety of people.

As an enabler or driver of a task, it is important to do a regular follow up regarding diverse responsibilities assigned to the people you work with virtually.

This is because as humans who have other needs that require our attention daily, we sometimes forget virtual conversations that require our input or feedback.

So, it won’t hurt to do a follow up or send a subtle reminder regarding tasks and responsibilities. This way, you would be able to meet the timeline assigned to various projects or responsibilities.

Boundaries and the close of business:

It is easy to fall into the “Superman” and “Wonder Woman” trap.

Meaning, getting caught up totally in work without adequate breaks or short walks instead of long hours sitting and other self-care routines.

Many times, we find ourselves working late into the day or night and this could sometimes be a strategy for urgent projects for short periods, but the long run effect of such a work culture is “Burn-Out” and “Ineffectiveness”.

So it is important to draw the line without guilt and set some boundaries and switch off from the work mode, like you would for a physical work place. Effective virtual work requires that these rules and boundaries be adhered to achieve success.

Some of them could include: having a check-out time from work without taking work home virtually and creating a system that accommodates your lunch breaks and other rest periods as required.

Relaxation and mental health:

Sometimes working virtually or remotely can be hard and lonely, especially when your team is located in a different geographical location or if you work alone as a consultant or an entrepreneur.

This sometimes affects your motivation to keep working effectively and consistently. So a leave from work or a period of long rest is always welcomed after a long sessions of work, because it is really important to get refreshed and get the necessary rest required for the long haul.

This time off virtual work, creates room for you to bond with friends, catch up with colleagues or with other more relaxing and fun activities. This certainly is a good investment for sound health (physically and mentally) and enhances productivity at work.

In conclusion, working virtually at optimal performance can be achieved, but not without the required efforts to ensure your virtual work experience and that of your team becomes enjoyable and effective.

The above highlights are only guides that can enhance this process, however, what counts most, is being able to have clarity of purpose and establish a virtual structure that works for you, one that is sustainable and can be replicated.

Thank you for reading.