Leadership and Entrepreneurship Attitude Development - LEAD Centre

GLORY!

ON WHAT WALL IS YOUR LADDER LEANING?
We are all climbing in life. And we each climb with the help of something. Let’s just call that something ‘’ladder’’. A ladder is an instrument used to reach a height you would not otherwise reach. Most ladders are useful only when they are leaning on a stronger structure, usually a wall. Let’s just say your ladder is your career. A career we are told, is a word that came from the same root word that such words as carriage, carrier, car, carry, etc came from. The root word is carrus ( a Latin word) meaning conveyor or transporter

So you’ve got a transporter or a conveyor in life, namely your job, or your business, or ministry. But here is a question. On what wall is that ladder leaning? To help you answer that question we will attempt to list a number of things that can be a wall. But first let us highlight the functions or purposes of walls:
1. Protection/defense
2. Support
3. Separation
4. Blockage/barrier

And here are things that can be or build a wall:
1. Faith
2. Fear
3. god-fathers
4. Man
5. Money
6. Politic
7. Skills/experiences/expertise
8. Talent/Knowledge
9. Certificates
10. Etc

Now, one of these may not be enough to be or build a wall with. To have a real strong wall, many of these factors may need to mix. In what degree or proportion? That is a decision left to the individual. Many or all of these factors may have to come together as building blocks. Some may appear good on the surface but may collapse on the long run making a wall weak or a wrecked wall.]

Now, check the wall your ladder I leaning on again. What (types) of materials make that wall? if your ladder is leaning on the wrong wall, you may eventually climb to its top but finds out at the end that you did not come to the top you were meant to come to . In other words, you may succeed on the wrong wall, even with speed. If your ladder is leaning on the wrong, wrongly or badly built wall – wall built with substandard material - it may not be a bad idea to reposition it now, even if that means, starting from the bottom rung on a different or differently built wall.

IF YOUR LADDER IS LEANING ON THE WRONG WALL . . .
It is not too late to remove it from that wall. If you know the wall is wrong or the wall is bad or badly built. And even if the wall is not bad, is it the right wall?

WHAT ABOUT THE LADDER?
The thing about a career is, it carries you. And you can change career anytime you want while still maintaining the journey just as you can change the vehicle you travel in while still maintaining the trip and the focus of your original destination. Careers can be changed, but destination should not, if it is the right one.

AND SUCCESS. . . ? You may succeed on the wrong wall. That is like a successful failure!
This is why the motive behind your business idea matters.

WHAT ARE YOUR MOTIVES FOR THINKING OF GOING INTO BUSINESS?
- Examining Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in Relations to
Business Goals.

Motivation simply means motive for an action. And motive means reason behind an action. It also means the push for an action. Some synonyms of motive are drive, intention, purpose, goal etc. Passion on the same hand means power for action. It is also a push or energy for an action. We can safely conclude that passion is the power, drive, desire or energy behind actions. Other synonyms of passion are zeal, excitement, fervour; enthusiasm, obsession etc. Therefore, we will be looking at both motive and passion in the same light.

Desire is the common thread that connects both words together. A person’s motive has a lot to do with his desires. Passion is the highest form of desire in man. If one’s motive for business does not run on passion the business will grind to a halt in the face of barrage of challenges and oppositions after a few ground is covered in the business adventures. Only passion keeps you weathering the storms in the midst of challenges and oppositions in business. These challenges and oppositions can come in the forms of criticisms, mockery, rejections, lack of resources, temporal failure etc.

And there are different kinds of motives behind every business under the sun. When you go into business ventures with the right motives your entrepreneurial spirit is further energized because the right motives for business will stimulate and provoke your hidden strengths and as well enable you put the right structures in place. And with the right structures and systems enthusiasm soars. Growth and prosperity is the eventual natural out come.

People venture into business because they are propelled by one or more of the followings motivations or desires:

• Desire to make ends meets or the drive for survival
• Desire for security or the drive for safety
• Desire for social relevance, respect and acceptance
• Desire for monetary or financial rewards (popularly called ‘’success’’) and
• Desire to make a difference, (which is what should be called success).
These are the five kinds of energies or push that carry an entrepreneur through storms and trials that may arise in business “ad-ventures”. And these energies are not the same in strength levels. It is not all of them that can carry you through certain storms. Most of them will wane in the face of certain business and life’s challenges. These five motives are the five levels of needs in the popular Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs.
A critical examination of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs will not only help you spot good motive for business enterprise but also help you re prioritize your present business idea(s) or ongoing business and by course, help you design or redesign and build excellent structures for the enterprise.

The QUICK GUIDE series comes in simple, colourful and vivid graphical illustration. It is deliberately designed and written to cater to the needs of MSMEs, start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs. The language is so simple that no matter where you are on the educational ladder, you will enjoy reading it.

Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Human Needs is employed to illustrate how human needs can be anticipatedin designing products and services was used with vivid graphical demonstrations so that even those who have no higher education, let alone understanding Maslow’s theory, would get a firm grasp of the idea.

The followingsubjects on entrepreneurship(and in some cases, leadership) are covered in a non-academic style:
• Business Formation
• Business Management
• Business Planning
• Business Communication
• Business Laws
• Business Growth
• Sales and Operations Management
• Service and Influence
• Emotional Intelligence, Time and Stress Management
• And more.

Presently, the focus is on the first in the series, Business Formation, which addresses such important and basic topics like:
• Differentiating between riches and wealth
• Using riches to build wealth
• Product / service ideation and design
• Building protective hedges and management structures around the idea
• Designing systems around the business and its operational functions
• And so much more.

It is divided into two parts with five sections in each part which take the reader/user step by step from what entrepreneurship is all about to what an entrepreneur should know about business and the business terrain.

Now available in its E-BOOK format, the QUICK GUIDE is a manual that will be an important companion for entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Leadership and Entrepreneurship Attitude Development centre (L.E.A.D. Centre) is a capacity building outfit that cater to the needs of MSMEs in the areas of human capital development, technical, social and networking support with other entrepreneurs for synergy, leverage and growth.

The four major platforms through which the centre carries out its missions are:

1. Training and capacity development, covering:
Personal Transformation
Emotional Intelligence
Stress Management
Time Management
Public Speaking
Business Communications
Communication Skill & Elocution
Leadership Development
Social Entrepreneurship
Human Resources Management
Business Management
Agribusiness
Food Processing and Technology
Book Keeping
Marketing & Sales Management
Fashion, Art & Design
Branding
ICT
ETC

2. The Small Enterprise Resources Value Exchange [S.E.R.V.E.] Forum for both commercial and non-commercial aspiring and budding entrepreneurs, SMEs and Start.
• This forum holds quarterly to help entrepreneurs and leaders in NGOs, social enterprises and businesses connect and support each other and as well interact with those already succeeding and leading in their own fields.
• It will encourage and promote partnership and collaborations as well as mentoring and interactivity with successful entrepreneurs who are willing and wishing to help young and upcoming entrepreneurs.

• It will also help entrepreneurs explore avenues for financial.

S.E.R.V.E. Forum will hold quarterly in various towns and cities nationwide.

3. The Small Enterprise Resources Value Exchange [S.E.R.V.E.] CONFERENCE.
This is an annual conference that draws stakeholders from all walks of life, featuring the SMEs and Artisan Exhibition as well as other varieties of activities such as:
 Talks
 Panel Discussions
 Social Enterprise Forum
 Workshop
 Exhibitions
 Awards / Gala Night
 Etc.

4. IEI [Innovation & Enterprise Incubation]. The IEI Programme is tailored to the needs of small businesses that lack competent management expertise. The programmes enables them stay under the tutelage, supervision and mentorship of our team of experts for a period of six to twelve months before been released to stand on their own feet.

THE LEADER
God did not design us to dominate one another. We were designed to relate and connect with one another for mutual benefits. The earlier a leader realizes this, the better. In every unit of human societies such as the family unit, communities, institutions or organisations, someone or a group of persons from within the unit have to be at the hem of its affairs. Somebody has to do some things on behalf of the people. This is what is called leadership.

The leader serves the purpose of his people. The aspirations of his people are his inspirations. The fact that he has access to resources is not a sign that he is richer than the people. He is given the access to those resources on trust. The access is on trust and the resources are the people’s wealth. That he has more security than other people only shows he is a common concern of the people. He is the people’s asset and needs protection. Those instruments of protection, such as driving in convoy, etc, must not become tools of terror to the people in his hands.

When a leader begins to have personal agenda in leadership endeavours, he ceases from being a leader. When he begins to take advantage of his people’s ignorance, weakness, or trust, he is through as a leader. He has become a ruler, or may be a tyrant. To sustain his evil agenda, he will lie; he will defraud his people and surely he will oppress them. This begins usually as little adjustment here and there, followed by traces of lies, half truths and total withdrawal of important information.
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Many leaders who turned out this way may not have started out with such intentions. But when faced with the challenges and the vicissitudes of the game of leadership the temptation to bend the rule will present itself. Some may chose to blend in with popular smart leadership moves and ideologies that say it is not everything that the led should know about. And the circle of secrecy that leads to deception is formed. Of course, the led must not know everything. In fact there are some whose minds are not trained or matured enough to handle certain information. And it is the duty of the leader to draw the line of difference. But in drawing the line, honesty, sincerity and probity must play their full roles.

The leader must connect with his people. The people are not privileged to have him as their leader. Rather, he is privileged to serve them. He is part of them, after all. If his heart is not beating along with the hearts of his people, he is not qualified to serve them. The following, in my view, are the things that show he is a true leader. These, among other things, are the signs he is truly serving his people:

He identifies with his people’s pains, concerns, goals, aspirations and struggles.
He knows their strengths and weaknesses. He encourages the strong and inspires the weak.
He provides responsibilities and opportunities for his people to serve with him.
He gives them the platforms and chance to grow, thrive and succeed in their own dreams.
He challenges them to prove their own strengths, skills and supports.
He inspires courage, unity and tenacity in his people.
He keeps communication lines open between himself and his people – he listens to them.
He surrounds himself with the best brains in the land, as well as visionaries like himself.
He accepts corrections. He admits mistakes. He accepts his humanity. He knows he is not a deity.
He rewards excellence, heroism and punishes deviants and villains.
He is a believer of and a champion at making sacrifices for common good.
He is a man of his own words. He is also an orator whose words forge his men into an army of winners.

In conclusion, I would like to insist emphatically, that leadership begins from the heart. It is a burden of the heart and energized by the leader’s heart beats. The intelligence of the leader will fly as far and as high as his passion and compassion power it. Leadership is a heart cry. Those whose hearts are not burdened for their people stay away from the leadership arena or let them learn it quietly at home before they come to the arena.

ABOUT L.E.A.D. CENTRE
Leadership and Entrepreneurship Attitude Development Centre is a capacity building organization that provides human capital development platform for people who want to develop their entrepreneurial skills for self-employment and also for SMEs owners and start-ups that needs technical, social and networking supports with other entrepreneurs for synergy, leverage and growth.

OUR MISSION
To help local businesses operate at global standards

OUR PLATFORMS
The three major platforms through which the centre carries out its missions are:

1. Training and Capacity Development Covering

Leadership Development:
• Social Enterprise
• Public Speaking
• Emotional Intelligence
• Project Management
• Soft skills & Etiquette
• Etc

Entrepreneurship Development:
• Book-Keeping
• Marketing & Sales
• Business Communications
• Legals & Taxes
• MSMEs (Business) Management
• Etc

Others are:
ICT capacity building
Agribusiness capacity building
etc.

2. SMEs Forum:

This quarterly forum is a hub for micro, small and medium scale entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs. It is designed to provide strategic Business networking and synergies among entrepreneurs for collaborations, leverage and mutual growth.

It also affords participants the opportunity for mentorship and interactions with successful entrepreneurs who are willing and wishing to help young and upcoming entrepreneurs and as well help participant identify and explore avenues for financial empowerment such as grants, loans and funding from venture capitalists, angel investors, finance houses, govenrnent etc.

3. S.E.R.V.E. [Small Enterprise Resources & Value Exchange]:

This conference holds annually and will feature other activities such as:
 Talks
 Panel Discussions
 Workshop
SMEs and Artisan Exhibition
 Awards / Gala Night
 Etc.

Leadership and Entrepreneurship Attitude Development (L.E.A.D.) Centre is a capacity building organization that provides human capital development platform for people who want to develop their entrepreneurial skills for self-employment and also for SMEs owners and start-ups that needs technical, social and networking supports with other entrepreneurs for synergy, leverage and growth.