Fear! And How To Cope….

I loved this from Chris Heivly writing in Inc Magazine. If you run your own business you’ll know exactly where he’s coming from, and even if you don’t, it’s well worth a read:

“On the outside, I am an extroverted, sometimes over-the-top cheerleader for my portfolio companies. The Startup Factory (TSF), the accelerator I run, has 31 investments. But I have a secret. I worry. I worry a lot. At its core, my worry is all about fear. What do I fear? I am afraid that my investments are bad and I won’t return capital back to my investors. I am afraid that my reputation (whatever that is) will be crap and I won’t be taken seriously. I am afraid that I will have wasted three, four, five years for no gain. Ultimately, I am afraid that I will be a failure. Again.

Why me, you might ask? I have had success. I co-founded MapQuest, served as the president of Rand McNally, and worked as a corporate venture capitalist. Now I operate one of the best seed investment funds in the Southeast. But I have had real failures as well. In the late 1990s, I spent a year raising investment capital to roll up and combine a handful of map publishing companies that never materialized. I was brought in as an executive (along with a CEO I had worked with before) of a multimillion-dollar software company that was losing millions a year. We got close to rescuing the company before the recession hit us hard. It is a shell of its former self today.

The Startup Factory is on its third iteration.

You want full transparency? I feel like the successes were lucky and that the failures were entirely my fault. I think about it every day. And I worry. I’m not the only one, of course. Everyone worries. The difference is I now know how to cope with my own insecurities.

Take credit for the good, along with bad. Ultimately, with age, I have come to realize that I had something to do with both the successes and the failures. There it is. I said it out loud. I am responsible for the successes. I earned that. My brain, my experiences, my personality, and my drive can make positive things happen. This is a positive building block for my own daily psychology.

Develop a support system. A few years ago, a very close friend and I were talking about this issue and how our brains naturally took us to the dark place (we have a code for it–ask me sometime). We were lamenting how peers we knew had seemed to naturally transcend our demons, and we committed to helping each other. We developed a trick for me. I was raising capital for the first iteration of TSF and I would call him before each meeting. He would ask me one question: “Who’s the king?” My answer: “I am the king!” Corny, but I like to think it helped put me in a different frame of mind.

Let it go. When I look back on what factors are integral to my successes, I can clearly see a distinct pattern emerge. When I had no fear or worry, I was free to be in the business-moment. I operate best when I have released the baggage of fear. I love this quote from Jack Canfield, “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”

My goal, every day, is to find my way to the other side.

0

The Jericho Experience!

Meet Jay Jericho Kashiya (above) Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. ‘The Experience’ is our weekly radio show, sponsored by Chanters Lodge, airing for an hour every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Jay, (or Jericho as Milli Jam preferred to call him, seeing there were two Jays in the studio) told listeners that he lives in Lusaka but was visiting Livingstone partly for work but mostly for love! It transpired that the love of his life Niza, stays in Livingstone. Half way through the show Jericho recited a poem he had written for Niza, ‘The Girl From Ellen Brittel’. We cried! Ellen Brittel is one of the Livingstone suburbs and we speculated that when he announced the title but before Jericho said who the poem was for, there must have been a lot of excited girls right there in Ellen Brittel!

Jericho told listeners that he is a graduate from the University of Zambia holding a degree in education with a major in history. He also has a certificate in marketing, and is currently studying for a diploma in business management. After a short time teaching at Mpelembe Secondary school, Jericho decided that despite his degree in education, teaching ‘was not really for him’. Currently, Jericho is a membership officer with the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants, a position he has held for the past 17 months. His responsibilities include recruitment and events. The Institute in Zambia has some 5000 members at different levels. He lives in Rhodes Park and travels daily to work near Arcades fortunately against the flow of the traffic, notoriously congested in Lusaka at rush hours.

The music on the show was good as usual, opening with tracks from Chris Brown ft Ariana Grande and Professor Green ft Tori Kelly. Jay and Milli Jam chose tracks from Crisis Mr Swagger, Labrinth, Judy ft Muzo, and Mary J Blige. Our oldie of the week was by Chilu, but no-one won the prize of a dinner for two at the lodge we give to the first person to text us telling us who’s the artist on the track. My pick of the week was a new one from 1D – ‘Fireproof’ and we closed with a new track from Jennifer Hudson ft Iggy Azalea.

Jericho told listeners that in football locally he favours Nkana Red Devils and in UK he supports Manchester City. His favourite player is Mario Baletelli even though he is no longer with City. Music wise he loves Pompi, a Zambian artist and Emile Sande, a Zambian artist busy being Scottish! He loves rap, R&B and sometimes Rhumba. In his spare time he writes poems (we gathered that!) He’s always busy studying and reading for his further education. Milimo wanted to know if he had ever done the bungee jump in Livingstone and this wise, likeable young man said that even the thought terrified him! He has a Facebook page and is also on LinkedIn.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Jay Jericho Kashiya said that he would like to be married with three children and to be a business leader, the chief executive officer of a large company. We thanked him for coming on the show and wished him the best of luck in the future.

0

Quotes

Some quotes from Lee Colan

• Leadership is about others, not ourselves.
• Leaders who give the best of themselves get the best from others.
• If you do not take care of the little things over the long term, you won’t take care of the big things.
• Leaders who underestimate the intelligence of their employees generally overestimate their own.
• Great leaders appreciate their employees, not just their contributions.
* Don’t worry about leaving your leadership legacy. Just live it.

Some of my favourites:

* What gets rewarded is what gets done
* Fixing the blame does not fix the problem.
* People tend to do what you do not necessarily what you say.
* There are no problems only opportunities to learn
* Honest people do not lie, steal or cheat

0

Leadership Quotes

Here’s a nice one from Lee Colan (above) writing in Inc Magazine

“As an author, the question, “May I quote you?” is a humbling request and a great compliment. For anyone who is in search of leadership excellence a good quote is fuel for your team and your journey. It’s amazing how a short, simple quotation can quickly provide perspective, inspiration, comfort, motivation or insight. What a wonderful return for our invested time! Take 10 seconds each morning to read a new quote and our day, maybe even our world, is changed.

I wanted to share a few of my favorite leadership quotes:

•    “To add value to others, one must first value others.” – John Maxwell

•    “A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear.” – Herb Kelleher

•    “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.” – Yogi Berra

•    “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

•     “Those who let things happen usually lose to those who make things happen.” – Dave Weinbaum

•    “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”  – Winston Churchill

•    “In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Lee added some of his own but I’ll save those for a future post and chuck in a few of my favourites as well!

0

The Schultz Philosophy

Nice one from my sister Ruth Binney

The Charles Schulz Philosophy

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip.
You don’t have to actually answer the questions. Just ponder on them. Just read the blog straight through, and you’ll get the point!

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields.  But the applause dies, awards tarnish, achievements are forgotten, accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson:

The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money…or the most awards, they simply are the ones who care the most. Pass this on to those people who have either made a difference in your life, or whom you keep close in your heart, like I did.
Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia!

0