CC Business Strategy Videorama
In this piece on change management, DeAnne Aguirre, Senior Partner at Strategy& speaks to the importance of effectively managing change within the organization by focusing on meaningful communication and directed cultural exchange.
Wednesday
Monday
Game changer as Boko Haram takes its killing orgy southwards?
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| Jonathan's continued "inaction" may have grave consequences |
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has claimed responsibility for two explosions on June 25 at a fuel depot in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial hub, in a video seen by Reuters on Sunday, which if true would be the militants' first recorded attack on the city.
"A bomb went off in Lagos. I ordered (the bomber) who went and detonated it," Shekau said.
The two blasts minutes apart last month in the main port of Apapa were almost certainly caused by bombs, three senior security sources and the manager of a major container company told Reuters. One was most likely the work of a female suicide bomber, they said.
Authorities said the blasts on Creek Road were an accident caused by a gas canister, but the security sources told Reuters that was a cover-up meant to prevent panic in the city of 21 million people. At least two people were killed.
Shekau also claimed a bomb in a shopping mall in Abuja's upmarket Wuse II district that killed 24 people, the third in the capital since April and among a growing body of evidence that its attacks are spreading southwards.
A military spokesman declined to comment, saying it was a police matter. A spokesman for police headquarters said that only Lagos police could comment. A spokeswoman for Lagos police division, however, did not respond to a request for comment.
"You said it was an ordinary fire, but it was me in that fire. Well, you can hide it from people but you can't hide it from Allah," Shekau says in the video, which shows him next to gunmen in front of two armored personnel carriers and two pickup trucks.
A confirmed attack by Boko Haram would be a cause for concern. Lagos is both an international business hub and a usually peaceful but at times uneasy melting pot of ethnicities from the mostly Christian south and Muslim north that have fought street battles in the past.
The target of the Lagos bombs was a fuel depot. Had it gone up, it could have caused a massive chain explosion and disrupted Nigeria's mostly imported fuel supply.
Security sources say it may have been the work of a group or individual inspired by Boko Haram, and point out that its failure to hit its target makes it unlikely this was an expertly trained bomber. Shekau has been known to claim attacks suspected to be the work of another Islamist group or a criminal gang.
Shekau gets the name of the governor of Lagos State wrong in the video, mocking Adams Oshiomole, who is in fact the governor of the southern Edo State.
Shekau also ridicules Western education -- Boko Haram means Western education is forbidden -- along with "the ideologies of America, England, France, China and the whole world".
Wednesday
FIFA bans Nigeria from all football activities
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| Keshi: His "mafia" days are back again? |
FIFA has banned Nigeria from all international football activities with immediate effect as a result of interference from the government.
The world football governing body had in a letter dated July 4, 2014 demanded for the immediate reinstatement of the ousted Aminu Maigari-led board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) which was cynically removed by the Minister of Sports, Tamuno Danagogo, in line with a dubious order from a High Court in Jos.
FIFA has disapproved of the appointment of Lawrence Katken as Acting Secretary-General of the Federation, and refused to recognize the emergency extraordinary general meeting which it said was organised contrary to the NFF's statutes, as an elective congress was already due on 26 August 2014.
FIFA insists the ban will only be lifted once the court action is withdrawn, and the elected executive committee members are reinstated.
Many believe the chaos that ensued after Nigeria was knocked out of the ongoing World Cup by France, was in-fact orchestrated by Nigeria's coach Stephen Keshi (in conjunction with the Minister of Sports), as a way of ensuring the establishment of an NFF board that would renew his contract on his (Keshi's) terms.
There are reports that Keshi has been promised a whopping agreement in the neighborhood of $1 million/year by the Minister and President Jonathan, hence the basis for hurriedly forcing out one of the most successful tenures in the history of Nigerian football, ably led by the ousted Aminu Maigari.
It remains to be seen what the response will now be to the FIFA ban with continental and global competitions just 11 days away for Nigeria's male and female football teams.
Monday
A Quirky way to generate new product ideas
In our blog posts, we have often discussed how necessary it be for companies to continual develop new products. This is particularly true in highly competitive markets where the life cycle of products is often very short. For marketers who rely on new products to keep their business viable, it is imperative they regularly set aside time to discuss potential product ideas.
As we discuss in our Managing Products tutorial, new product ideas come from several sources. The usual starting point is through internal research methods, such as asking customers what products they would like to see or using brainstorming techniques to stimulate ideas among company personnel. Additionally, ideas can come by looking outside the company such as researching products offered by other companies.
Well, it looks like we can add another option to the list of ways to generate product ideas – solicit these over the Internet for everyone to see. That is, ask people to offer their own suggestions for products and let others offer comments. According to this Wall Street Journalstory, one company Quirky.com is taking this approach and is building its product offerings from ideas that are freely suggested by visitors on the company's website. The company then takes these ideas and evaluates possible products using the advice from an online community. For the products chosen, the originator of the idea receives a small percentage of the revenue, while some in the online community can also see funds for the support they offer.
For marketers considering this process, a great advantage is the vast amount of innovative concepts that can be suggested that likely no marketer can generate on their own. However, on the downside a significant barrier for adopting this type of approach for generating ideas is the openness. Everyone in the world can see what the ideas are, and most marketers are not accustomed to publicly sharing their product ideas before a product is marketed. So while this approach works well for this company, it remains to be seen whether this idea generation method will be adopted by many other marketers.
Source: Christ, Paul (2014). A Quirky Way to Generate New Product Ideas. From Blog Postings. KnowThis.com. Retrieved July 07, 2014 from http://www.knowthis.com/1936-a-quirky-way-to-generate-new-product-ideas
Keshi: South African interest seems to be waning in light of scandals under his watch
Before the ongoing World Cup in Brazil, it was almost certain that former Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi would not come back to his job with the Nigeria Football Federation.
He walked taller because according to him, there were several tempting and juicy offers on his table to choose from and that of the South African Football Association, SAFA, was almost a certainty.
The NFF on their part, were happy that his contract would also come to an end with the World Cup and had no intention of renewing it.
They had taken so much from Keshi and this time, there would be no turning back.
As Nigerians watch the unfolding drama at the NFF and Nigerian football, we can reveal that Keshi's ''tempting offers" and the much talked about South African deal may not be after all. There are strong indications that the South African Football Association are on the verge of recruiting Iranian coach, Carlos Queiroz over Keshi and that might leave Keshi in limbo.
''Yeah, Keshi has always been in the books of SAFA as well as Queiroz", our South African source said yesterday insisting that the pendulum may have finally moved over to Queiroz after what he did with the Iranian team at the on-going World Cup in Brazil.
Iran considered a whipping team in the Group F that comprised South American giants, Argentina and African Champions Nigeria and Bosnia and Herzegovina turned out to be a thorn on the flesh of the teams with Nigeria scrapping a barren draw with them.
Queiroz a veteran and versatile coach had told the world in Brazil that Iranian football was a sleeping giant that was faced with the challenge of waking from this sleep.
And many people believed that the man who once assisted Alex Ferguson in Manchester United had done a good job to bring Iranian football to the front burner to the extent of challenging Argentina until a late goal from Argentine wizard Messi.
''Keshi was ahead of other coaches but the table has turned and Queiroz is the man of the moment", a source said.
Sources have intimated that issues of money and players' protests may not be unconnected with the sudden change of heart from South Africans who have been monitoring the chaos that saw players skip one training session in Brazil and threatened not to play France unless their appearance fee was paid even though FIFA had not yet disbursed the monies to the various Federations.
That made President Gooluck Ebele Jonathan to send Sports Minister Tammy Danagogo to bring money on a Presidential jet to Brazil before the Eagles played France.
Nigeria also sent wrong signals to the world before the Confederations cup when the players, again under Keshi, threatened a no show if funds due to them were not paid.
There are those who believe, based upon highly reputable feelers that the team officials (coaches) are indeed the ones stoking the fire through the players.
Overall, South African officials are said to be uncomfortable with Keshi's history of contentious relationships with players and FAs of other nations, namely Togo and Mali before his most recent stint with Nigeria, where the same pattern seemed to continue.
It remains to be seen where the former Nigeria captain ends up, but South Africa currently seems an unlikely destination.
Obama administration to fine French banking giant for violating sanctions rules
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| BNP Paribas CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafe |
BNP Paribas' CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafe has informed his staff that the French banking giant will be fined heavily by American authorities.
"I want to be clear, we will be punished severely," Jean-Laurent Bonnafe said in the internal memo.
The bank could be fined $8.9 billion for allegedly violating sanctions rules as early as Monday, reports suggest.
The Financial Times and New York Times also report that the bank will, unusually, admit guilt.
The bank is accused of breaking sanctions against Iran, Sudan and Cuba between 2002 and 2009.
"This is good news for all staff and for our clients," Mr. Bonnafe said. "It will enable us to remove the current uncertainties that are weighing on our group. We will be able to put behind us these problems, which belong to the past. "The difficulties that we are currently experiencing must not affect our future plans."There have been months of speculation about the fine, which could force BNP to slash its dividends and issue billions of euros of bonds, reports say.In April, BNP Paribas said it had set aside $1.1 billion to cover the cost of U.S. penalties, but warned that the "amount of the fines could be far in excess of the amount of the provision". The bank's share price has fallen more than 15% since the beginning of April. If the latest reports are correct, the fine could almost wipe out BNP's entire 2013 pre-tax income of about $11.2 billion. Earlier this month, one of the European Union's top officials intervened in the controversy.Michel Barnier, the EU's internal markets commissioner, said any penalty on the giant French bank must be "fair and objective". Reports at the time suggested the fine would be in the region of $10 billion.France's President Francois Hollande has also raised the matter with U.S. President Barack Obama.As part of the deal with U.S. authorities, BNP may be suspended from converting foreign currencies into dollars, reports suggest, which would hit its ability to operate in international wholesale banking markets.Reports say U.S. authorities are keen to make an announcement on the settlement early in the week.
Saturday
Intellectual Capital: Bringing technology to the urban teen
As technological advancements continue to shape both the national and global landscape, a certain group has continually been left behind on this journey of innovation through inspiration. I used the latter term to define the very idea of discovery through the activation of one's intuitive and imaginative senses.... which of course is the defining factor in how technologically advanced a society or a people become.
For far too long, African-American children in particular have been discouraged from the sciences and mathematics. For young black males or females to even phanthom the idea of exploring a career in the technological field or the sciences, would mean to be branded as "trying to be white", unfortunately by their own kind.
Society, on the other hand found it convenient to pidgeon-hole the black child as a budding athlete or entertainer never once even considering the intellectual acumen and intutive dexterity that goes into music production, from the writing of the lyrics to the very art of incorporating various technical and professional nuances into the art of recording, itself.
As an immigrant to the United States, I myself experienced this unfortunate prejudice as I took science, economics and other technical classes, in the course of attaining my educational and professional qualifications. I even had the personal experience of an instructor that asked me if I was cheating as I routinely made mockery of his Organic Chemistry exams at will.
Times have however changed and as America and indeed the world's landcsape continues to be reshaped by technological advancements, African-Americans and other children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds must embrace technology and the sciences.
It is along those lines that Mosaic Blueprint, a Vancouver, Washington based diversity recruiting firm, seeks to encourage young urban kids with its urban technology initiative aptly dubbed the iUrban Teen Tech program.
Sponsored by the likes of Google and NIKE among others, Mosaic Blueprint’s iUrban Teen Academy brings together under-served and underrepresented Teens in an all day, immersive technology event that shares opportunities in a myriad of technical careers.
At these events, attendees will learn about what’s new in the amazing world of technology and preview hands-on, cutting edge products, including mobile applications for students on the go, gaming and much more.
The events are free to attend and participate while presenting children who would otherwise not have the opportunity, an environment that spurs their technological and innovative senses.
Participation in activities of this nature serves to increase the awareness of the children to the dynamic and enlightening world of technology.
In the end, America can only be better off for this as technology remains the one space where an individual's background and formal education hardly matters. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were both college drop-outs and they both have gone on to shape the world in ways they probably never envisioned, even in their wildest dreams.
Mosaic Blueprint has shown through this key initiative that America's best resource remains its Intellectual Capital and it is one asset that comes in all colors and must be treasured.
About Mosaic Blueprint
Mosaic Blueprint is a boutique firm located in the Pacific NW specializing in recruiting, communications, consulting and outplacement services on a national level.
Our practice areas include, but not limited to; Executive Search, Diversity and Inclusion Consulting, Executive Coaching, Resume and Career Transition Services.
We are committed to the principles and implementation of diversity and social inclusion in our practice and services - it's one of our core values. Being a diverse organization enables us to be dynamic and innovative in a period of major change and helps us identify and meet the diversity needs of our clients. We partner with some of the top diversity practitioners across the country to bring our clients the best solutions for diversity and inclusion.
Friday
Ghanaian "prophet" predicted Ghana would get to the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup™
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| Ghana crashed out following a 2-1 loss to Portugal |
Well, going by the results of the final group games played yesterday, he may actually not have heard from God as Ghana crashed out courtesy of a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Portugal.
Here is the video (below) of his prediction last December.
Nothing beats video evidence as it can't be refuted.
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