The gentle giant honored...Congrat President Kufour-honored. .

https://surfos7press.wordpress.com/2015/08/15/kufour-honored/

A chapter in my book

August 5, 2015Editorials Edit

https://www.createspace.com/5619382
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BACKGROUND
This Easter was unique in the manner in which I personally marked it. Unlike previous years when my holidays were inundated with church activities, I decided to find a different way of reflecting in this yuletide. Of course one does no wrong if the period is devoted entirely for making time to further the course of the man (Jesus Christ) whose birth and death the world cannot stop celebrating. This time around I devoted my Easter celebration largely to reading.
Considering the demanding nature of the work environment, I decided not to spare any chance in my quest to update my vocabulary bank with the freedom and independence the Easter break banqueted. In fact, this time around the giver of light and darkness, ECG, was a good compatriot in my reading expedition.
I love words. There is nothing that keep me so excited than to chance upon new words, ones that I can apply in my every day interaction and thought-revving pieces.
In fact, I have come to believe that words are palm oil that galvanizes thoughts and convictions – (Full Credit to one of Africa’s erudite -The Late Chinua Achebe) -This explains my unbridled penchant to comb for new words. For most of the time that I spent scanning through my Oxford dictionary any time I chanced on a new word, one word caught my attention, plunging me into deep reflective mode.
The phrase ‘Placebo effect’ was deeper in meaning and more appealing to me considering the events that was unfolding in the political space.
For the avoidance of doubt, I wish to quote the meaning of said phrase as provided :Placebo Effect-‘‘(Pharmacology)The tendency of any medication or treatment, even an inert or ineffective one, to exhibit results because the recipient believes that it will work.’’
From the above quotation, two key elements of the phrase were thought provoking and instructive in my estimation: the fact that the treatment/medicine is inert, ineffective or contains nothing of medical value and the suggestion that the efficacy of such a treatment depended on the believe of the one to whom the said medicine is to be administered got me thinking deeply about this phrase.
For the little that I know about people in medical practice, I can say without any shred of doubts that these people do no easily give in to superstitions, beliefs and other subjective variables in the discharge of their duties.
In view of this, almost all their prescriptions are usually steeped and founded in deep scientific and medical basis. The fact that their prescription will be based on the subjective variable of a Patient believe regarding the efficacy of a treatment was most intriguing to me.
It is in my state of confusion that I consulted a friend nurse to help me with some explanations. While I cannot recount her use of some medical jargon to explain the phrase, all I made out of the probe, an ordinary man with no expertise in medicine, was that in some instances, medical practitioners tends to rely on the instinct of their patience, admistering inert yet harmless medication to their patience on account of their (Patience’s) request and believe in the efficacy of that medication.
This explanation and its medical underpinnings was not particularly relevant to me because I am not into medical practice. Nevertheless, I knew I couldn’t let this revelation go without applying it to the everyday political occurrence in our part of the world.
Specifically, I am inclined to believe that the political ritual of elections brings to life the real import of the aforementioned phrase as used in medical practice.
DISCLAIMER
I have not seen many years in politics. I wouldn’t claim I am even old enough to have had a firm and first hand grasp over the trickery that goes into elections in our part of the world. To this extent, I beg to speak to the issue of elections from the perspective of how I have grown to see and read of it.
OBSERVATION
It is my view that the political ritual of elections also give expression to the Placebo effect as we are told occurs in medical practice. In most election period, the masses usually have the tendency to call for a new political leadership believing that such will be the most prudent remedy for their ailing state of political, social and economic affairs.
In fact, the tendency are undergirded in, some occasions, either by the little largess doled out to them or interests that they(electorates) seek to garner should their preferred candidate get elected.
Rather than find a strong basis to support a political candidate, some of us dabble in trivial issues of height, ethnicity, supposed charisma, number of degrees earned, and a host of other flippant and subjective variables that is opened to all who follow politics in our part of the world. This situation is synonymous with the patient who prescribes a treatment though without any scientific or medical basis, counting only on intuition and belief.
I will not absolve the masses from blame in contributing to the kind of flagitious leaders they get, given their roles in dabbling in trivialities and allowing their subjectivity on issues to eclipse their sense of judgment.
For the Doctors(Politicians players/Educated elites/Opinion Leaders) who deceives the patient(Masses) into taking a dose when in deed such is not efficacious, I cannot but lay the lion share of the blame on them for such a gross deception.
What will happen if these political players can be frank about what the real issues in considering a leader should be? What will happen when politicians muster the political will to clarify what is plausible, feasible and tenable, given the circumstances at hand? Should every decision be based on political expediency, even when it flies in the face of prudence leadership and management?
Most of the masses who risk their lives after condoning or clamoring for a new leadership responses, have over the years been deceived into believing that all was rosy when in fact it was the case.
In the midst of glaring challenges, we continue to have politician promise heaven on earth all in the bid to arousing hope. Why can’t we be truthful to ourselves? Why can’t we limit the expectations of the masses most of whom wallow in abject poverty? Why should every decision be grounded on the quest to satisfy the masses even if it will cost the country’s long time fortunes? WHY? WHY?WHY?
We know how to give lights to Ghanaians to celebrate Easter, watch football matches and mark other festivities but we do not seem to figure out how to end the ‘Dumsor’ menace that has hit hard on industries and other economic players. Why do we dabble in such a slews of deception?
Let’s think generationally.

10 CEOs who prove your liberal arts degree isn’t worthless

July 31, 2015Editorials

Andrea Jung, Former Avon CEO

Hearing a son or daughter say they’re majoring in the liberal arts has never made more parents’ hearts sink into their stomachs. STEM degrees appear atop nearly every ‘best majors’ list, President Barack Obama has made jabs at the usefulness of a humanities degree, and college dropouts have colonized the Fortune 500. So when unemployed English majors joke that no degree would be better than one in liberal arts—they might actually not be kidding.
But there is life after liberal arts — just ask these 10 CEOs. From a self-proclaimed “completely unemployable” history major, to a B-average communications student at a No. 91-ranked state school, to a hippie philosophy dropout who wanted to fix capitalism, here’s how these formerly disgruntled liberal arts majors beat everyone else to the helms of some top companies.
Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO

Stephen Brashear—Getty Images Howard Schultz speaks during an annual shareholders meeting March 18, 2015, in Seattle, Wash.
Degree: B.S. in Communications, Northern Michigan University, 1975
On worrying about his post-college job prospects: A first-generation college student, Schultz grew up in a working-class family in the Projects of Canarsie in Brooklyn, and later attended NMU on a football scholarship. “During senior year, I also picked up a few business classes, because I was starting to worry about what I would do after graduation. I maintained a B average, applying myself only when I had to take a test or make a presentation,” Schultz wrote in his 1999 business memoir, Pour Your Heart Into It. “To my parents, I had attained the big prize: a diploma. But I had no direction. No one ever helped me see the value in the knowledge I was gaining.”
On getting his start in business: “After graduating from college in 1975, like a lot of kids, I didn’t know what to do next… I took some time to think, but still no inspiration came,” Schultz wrote in his memoir. “After a year, I went back to New York and got a job with Xerox, in the sales training program. I learned more there than in college about the worlds of work and business.” After three years, Schultz joined a Swedish drip coffee maker manufacturer before moving to Starbucks as director of marketing in 1982. He has served as CEO since 2008.
On success: “It took years before I found my passion in life,” the coffee exec wrote. “But getting out of Brooklyn and earning a college degree gave me the courage to keep on dreaming.” Schultz added: “I can’t give you any secret recipe for success. But my own experience suggests that it is possible to start from nothing and achieve even beyond your dreams.”
Andrea Jung, Former Avon CEO

Lucas Jackson— Reuters Andrea Jung accepts the Leadership in the Corporate Sector award at the Clinton Global Citizen in New York on Sept. 23, 2010.
Degree: B.A. in English Literature, Princeton University, 1979
On whether she had ever imagined being a Fortune 500 CEO: A trailblazer for female CEOs, Jung finds it hard to believe how a Princeton bookworm came to lead the world’s largest direct cosmetics seller, where she was chief from 1999 to 2012. “What I find myself doing [now] was pretty unimaginable for me in 1979, after I finished my much-loved thesis on Katherine Mansfeld and my junior papers on Virginia Woolf,” Jung told students in a 2012 speech at her alma mater. “To be standing here, and saying, ‘I now run a $10 billion global company’—I would’ve said, ‘Couldn’t be possible, that is not an imagined career path, not an imagined journey.’ Things have certainly taken a wonderful, but different, path.”
On being an English major: “Because I was an English major, I loved journalism, I thought perhaps I’d go back to journalism school or law school,” Jung said during her speech. But her friends told her about a training program at Bloomingdale’s to gain experience in marketing and merchandising before hitting the books once more. “I fell in love with the business and the consumer,” Jung recalled. So she ditched her grad school plans, and dove into the women’s apparel, accessories and cosmetics industry. “The rest is history.”
Michael Eisner, Former Walt Disney Company CEO

Hector Mata—AFP/Getty Images Disney CEO Michael Eisner (R) and his hand-picked successor Robert Iger pose for a photograph in Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., on July 17, 2005.
Degree: B.A. in English Literature and Theater, Denison University, 1964
On the importance of liberal arts: “Literature is unbelievably helpful, because no matter what business you are in, you are dealing with interpersonal relationships. It gives you an appreciation of what makes people tick,” argued Eisner, who served as Disney CEO from 1984 to 2005, in a 2001 interview with USA Today.
On failed dreams and unemployment after college: “After graduating from Denison, I set off on the ocean liner Mauritania for Paris, figuring that I’d find some café to write in, live the bohemian life for several years, and turn out plays that would eventually find their way to Broadway,” Eisner recalled in his 1999 autobiography, Work in Progress. Realizing quickly that he didn’t have the talent to become the “next great American playwright,” Eisner moved to New York to find a steady job. “The only problem,” he recalled, “was that I couldn’t get a job… My inability to land a job left me feeling lonely, dislocated and slightly frantic.”
On starting off at a $65/week job: A few months later, in late 1964, Eisner received his first job offer, an NBC clerk where he logged the times each commercial appeared on air, and whether they were black-and-white—for just $65 per week. “It was far better than being unemployed,” he wrote in his autobiography. Later, he quickly scaled the corporate ladder at ABC and Paramount Pictures, before serving as Disney’s chief from 1984 to 2005. As the New York Times said of Eisner’s skill set in a 1998 article: “Eisner is unusual among entertainment moguls because he has had both creative and corporate experience. He knows how you put a show together and avoid going broke doing it.”
Richard Plepler, HBO CEO

Frederick M. Brown—Getty Images Richard Plepler speaks during the 2011 Summer TCA Tour on July 28, 2011, in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Degree: B.A. in Government, Franklin & Marshall College, 1981
On drawing inspiration from his liberal arts studies: HBO’s chief since 2013, Plepler recalled in a commencement speech this year at his alma mater that, when trying to land his first job, he turned to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writings. “I believed, with Emerson, that if a man planted himself on his convictions and hopes that, ‘the huge world will come ’round to him.’ I always felt that, and all these years later, still do,” he said. “I decided to do everything in my power to secure a job, however lowly, in the nation’s capital. I got in my little Honda, and I drove to Washington, used all my energy and power of persuasion to try to talk my way onto the staff of a young U.S. Senator from my home state of Connecticut, Christopher Dodd.”
On the chance encounter that led to his HBO career: After four years in D.C., Plepler moved to New York City in 1987 and started a one-man consultancy. One night, at a Chinese restaurant, he looked up and saw Benjamin Netanyahu, then the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. That year had marked the first Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, a topic familiar to Plepler, who then decided—on the spot—to pitch to him a documentary film about the conflict. “He barely looked up from his dumpling,” Plepler admitted. “He finally asked me to sit down, he listened, nodded and after a variety of happy accidents in the coming weeks and months, I produced a film… The film captured the imagination of the then Chairman of HBO, who invited me to join the company.”
On what young grads can learn from reading Game of Thrones: As Plepler said during his speech: “While the road ahead, to quote from Game of Thrones, is ‘dark and full of terrors,’ it is hardly insurmountable.”
Carly Fiorina, Former Hewlett-Packard CEO

John G. Mabanglo—AFP/Getty Images Carly Fiorina responds to media questions after an HP shareholders meeting in Cupertino, Calif., on March 19, 2002.
Degree: B.A. in Medieval History and Philosophy, Stanford University, 1976
On becoming CEO of a leading computer company: Armed with a Stanford history degree yet still “completely unemployable,” Fiorina worked short stints as a receptionist, English teacher and secretary. At 25, she landed a sales rep job at AT&T, and quickly rose up in the IT and tech industry, eventually becoming HP’s chief from 1999 to 2005. When asked in a 2001 USA Today interview whether her degree was of any use, Fiorina said how studying the transformation from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance helped her approach the ongoing technological revolution: “We have, in fact, seen nothing yet.”
On being proud of her liberal arts background: “While I joke that my medieval history and philosophy degree prepared me not for the job market, I must tell you it did prepare me for life,” the 2016 Republican presidential candidate said in March, speaking of education policy. “I learned how to condense a whole lot of information down to the essence. That thought process has served me my whole life… I’m one of these people who believes we should be teaching people music, philosophy, history, art.”
(Fiorina also earned an MBA from the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1980; and an MS from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1989.)
John Mackey, Whole Foods Co-CEO

Andrew HarrerBLOOMBERG via Getty Images John Mackey speaks at the World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C., on April 6, 2011.
Degree (dropped out): B.A. in Philosophy and Religion, The University of Texas at Austin, 1977
On the benefits of being a literary hippie and college dropout: “I accumulated about 120 hours of electives, primarily in philosophy, religion, history, world literature, and other humanities. I only took classes I was interested in, and if a class bored me, I quickly dropped it,” Mackey wrote in his 2013 book, Conscious Capitalism. Mackey, a shaggy-haired yogi, meditator and vegetarian living in a commune, ended up not taking a single business class: “I actually think that has worked to my advantage in business over the years. As an entrepreneur, I had nothing to unlearn and new possibilities for innovation.”
On philosophy and founding Whole Foods: During his college years, Mackey drifted into a progressive political philosophy that taught him “both business and capitalism were fundamentally based on greed, selfishness, and exploitation,” the self-described “classical liberal” wrote in his book. That, he said, was the motivation for his girlfriend and him to open a natural foods store, Safer Way, in 1978. In two years, they renamed it Whole Foods Market.
Susan Wojcicki, YouTube CEO

Kimberly White—Getty Images for Vanity Fair Susan Wojcicki speaks at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit on Oct. 9, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif.
Degree: B.A. in History and Literature, Harvard University, 1990
On majoring in the humanities: Wojcicki, an early Google employee who became YouTube’s CEO in 2014, credits her parents — both of whom were teachers — with encouraging her broad interests: “Their goal wasn’t to become famous or make money… They found something interesting, and they cared about it. I mean, it could be ants, or it could be math, or it could be earthquakes or classical Latin literature,” the California native told Fast Company in 2014. “No one in my family had ever worked in business beforehand. So there was the expectation that I would just go into academics.”
On becoming one of the most powerful women in tech: Wojcicki had originally planned on getting a PhD after graduation, but her career path changed when she discovered the power of technology her senior year at Harvard, when she took the school’s popular intro computer science class. “CS50 changed my life,” she recalled in a video encouraging students to take the class. “When I graduated from Harvard in 1990, I went to Silicon Valley, and I got a job, and I’ve been working in tech ever since.”
(Wojcicki also earned an MS in Economics from University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1993; and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1998.)

Steve Ells, Chipotle Co-CEO

Victor J. Blue—Bloomberg via Getty Images Steve Ells on a Bloomberg Television interview in New York on June 27, 2014.
Degree: B.A. in Art History, University of Colorado Boulder, 1988
On his liberal arts education: “In college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I studied art history and had a great time, but I didn’t have any sort of career aspirations,” recalled Ells in a 2004 interview with Westword. “I never took business classes in school. I never really thought about the economics of a restaurant — only the food and the experience,” Ells added in a 2011 video interview about Chipotle’s beginnings.
On founding the now-$20 billion burrito chain: After college, Ells, who had always been passionate about cooking, attended the Culinary Institute of America, graduating in 1990. When he launched Chipotle three years later, he had to play catch-up with his business smarts. “Raising money for Chipotle was really my MBA,” Ells said in a 2009 Wall Street Journal interview. “People asked a lot of questions about the business that forced me to take a critical look at how it ran.”
Alexa Hirschfeld, Paperless Post Co-Founder

Ramin Talaie—Bloomberg/Getty Images Alexa Hirschfeld speaks at the Empowered Entrepreneur Conference in New York on Oct. 18, 2011.
Degree: B.A. in Classics, Harvard University, 2006
On quitting her first job to co-found Paperless Post with her brother: The e-vite service was conceived in 2007 by her younger brother, James, while the Harvard undergrad was planning his 21st birthday party. He then called his sister, who had planned to leave her first job as an editorial assistant at CBS, where she was often stuck opening mail. “I wanted to be in something that was not figured out yet,” Alexa said in a 2011 interview with Cosmopolitan. “I imagined that if I were, there would be more room for creativity.”
On developing Paperless Post: “[James and I were] really focused on not having lives that were really awful and conventional,” Alexa told the Harvard Crimson in a 2011 interview. But starting out wasn’t exactly easy, she said: “The gestation period was really painful. It felt like, ‘Is this ever going to be real?’ We sat in my parents’ living room and we didn’t celebrate any holidays for two years — we both lost a lot of weight.”
On how her non-technical skills helped her in the tech field: “We’re very contrary to the Internet,” Hirschfeld said in a 2013 interview with The Huffington Post. “So these people who were the scions of the Internet did not get it. They were like, ‘Why would you care what it looks like? Wouldn’t you just want a calendar invite? Why would you want to have an image?’ Like, you know, the Internet’s not about that — we left those formalities back in the real world.”
Jack Ma, Alibaba Chairman

Andrew Burton—Getty Images Jack Ma poses for a photo outside the NYSE prior to Alibaba’s IPO on Sept. 19, 2014 in New York City.
Degree: B.A. in English, Hangzhou Normal University (Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute), 1988
On struggling to put his English degree to use: After graduating from college — it took Ma three tries to even pass China’s college entrance exam — Ma faced a string of over 30 job rejections, including a rejection from Kentucky Fried Chicken. He was eventually was hired to teach English at a local college for $20 a month, while also running a small translation company and peddling flowers, books and clothes to support himself on the side. Ma’s English skills later caught the attention of some entrepreneurs, through whom he learned about the Internet. In 1999, he and 17 friends founded Alibaba.com, the global wholesale online marketplace. Its $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest ever.
On why liberal arts education matters, especially for China: With entrepreneurship and innovation critical for China’s future, Ma has emphasized repeatedly why Chinese education needs to be less pre-professional. As Ma shared in an internal speech to hisALIBABA employees: “I told my son, ‘You don’t need to be in the top three in your class. Being in the middle is fine, so long as your grades aren’t too bad.’ Only this kind of person has enough free time to learn other skills.”

My Congratulatory Message to all National Service Personnel

July 31, 2015Editorials

https://www.createspace.com/5619382

We end the journey today.The journey that has exposed our resilience,persistence and patience to endure.
A journey that has given us a glimpse of how our next world would be.Indeed, it has truly been a journey of learning.
Yes, learning of our strengths ,weaknesses and that of others.
If we could cope in hope, then there is absolutely no doubt that we can survive our next world.

While I express my profound gratitude to God for his goodness and strength, I will also want to applaud the many young men and women who didnt baulk at the unknown, but availed themselves to a national service engagement in places they never knew of.

But going forward, i hope we will be awoken to the power of friendship,loyalty and

Doctors’ strike: More regions set to join

The strike by doctors across the country is set to intensify even further today with more regions set to join.

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has sent official memos to public hospitals across the country, urging their members to leave consulting rooms in accordance with nationwide strike that begun Thursday.

On the first day of the strike, only doctors in the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions were reported to have left consulting rooms. Patients were turned away from the hospitals.

Medical doctors in other regions largely stayed at work as they waited for formal communication from their leaders.

But the situation is very likely to change Friday with the delivery of the official memos.

Members of the Ghana Medical Association withdrew their services nationwide Thursday after four hours of negotiations with government on their condition of service failed.

According to GMA’s road map, doctors will begin with the withdrawal of OPD services for a week.

The strike has begun hitting the health sector hard as the country’s premier health facility, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, has announced that its OPD has been closed.

If, after a week, the concerns of the doctors are not resolved, the doctors will withdraw emergency services later resign en masse.

Social media has been saturated with what is perceived to be the demands of the doctors, posted on Facebook by a Presidential Staffer.

Some have called the patriotism of the doctors into question describing what is purported to be the demands by the doctors as outrageous. The demands include clothing allowance, 30% of basic salary; professional allow 50% of basic salary/ month, fuel (House Officer- SMO), 80 gallons per month; PMO – Specialist, 90gallons per month; Senior Specialist- Consultant, 100gallons per month.

But members of the GMA have condemned the "false" speculation as offensive and unfortunate.

Even though the Facebook post by the source at the Presidency claimed House Officers are currently enjoying 20 gallons of fuel per month, an anonymous doctor who spoke to Joy FM Thursday has said that claim is aimed at maligning doctors.

Ofori Amponsah to release highlife song – Manager

Ghanaian highlife artiste turned pastor Ofori Amponsah is set to release a new highlife song soon.

The Man of God, who quit secular music some years ago to pursue full-time ministry, preaching the word of God, is returning to unveil a love song for his fans.

Manager of the artiste, Franklyn Wiafe Agyekum speaking in an interview on Showbiz Review on Hitz FM, revealed that the singer will remain a pastor and still give back to his fans.

“Ofori Amponsah is coming back with a highlife song,” he said.

According to him, singing about love between a man and a woman is approved by God, and is not wrong.

Popularly known as ‘Mr All 4 Real’ Ofori Amponsah who has been out of the music industry for some years now started writing music at the age of thirteen and is one of the most famous contemporary highlife artistes in Ghana.

He was introduced into the music industry by Daddy Lumba but became a pastor a few years ago.

He is currently the Head Pastor of the Holy Ground Sanctuary in Accra.

STC workers to use salaries to help buy buses

The umbrella union of workers at Intercity STC Coaches Limited (STC), comprising both senior and junior staff, have resolved that their members should lend part of their salaries for July and August 2015 to the company towards the purchase of four Mercedes Benz buses from Germany.

By the resolution, about 450 workers on the company’s payroll, including management staff who also support the idea, will lend 50 per cent of their salaries for the two months to raise about 56,000 euros.

The company will top up the amount through internally generated funds to raise 112,000 euros which is the 

initial deposit being demanded by the supplier for the four buses worth almost 3000,000 euros.

The decision was reached at a worker’s durbar called by the union last Wednesday.

According to the Chairman of the Senior Staff Union, Samuel Korley Clottey, the decision stems from the urgent need to augment the current fleet of mostly old buses in order to sustain coach service operations.

He explained that the gesture is also to lend support to management which, through prudent use of resources, has managed to purchase three Neoplan Youngman buses from Jordan which are expected to arrive in the country next month.

Current fleet

Mr Clottey said for some time now, ISTC’s coach services operation had depended on only 13 buses, four of which belonged to alliance partners.

The union leader noted that for management to have been able to keep the company thriving on such a small fleet, without defaulting in paying workers’ salaries; and still be able to raise the deposit for the first three buses, the workers deemed it appropriate to support efforts to revive the company.

Allaying fears that the deal for Scania buses might have collapsed, the Acting Head of Finance of the company, Richard Hotor, assured the workers that with Parliament having approved the loan, the buses would be shopped once the documentation process was completed.

Despite its handicap with fleet size, ISTC manages to operate all its international services on schedule. These are daily services between Accra-Abidjan, three times weekly services between Abidjan-Cotonou, Abidjan-Lome and Accra-Ouagadougou.

There is also a weekly service between Abidjan and Zabre in Burkina Faso, in addition to a small local fleet.

Coaster buses

Lately, coach operations have been supported with three mid-size Toyota Coaster buses. They were recently procured through a loan from SIC Life Financial Trust Limited which also saw the company taking delivery of six Toyota Hiace mini buses.

ISTC is expecting two more Coaster and four Hiace buses to be delivered by the supplier, Focus Four Limited, under the SIC Life Loan deal.

Towards the end of 2013, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), the majority shareholder in ISTC, decided to offload its share in the company as it was insolvent.

The Government, being the minority shareholder, blocked the move and in early 2014 appointed a new Board of Directors as well as a Managing Director, Samuel Nuamah Donkor, backed by a promise to secure a loan for the company to procure 50 coaches.

Since assuming office, the new Board and the Managing Director have explored various avenues that have enabled ISTC pay its workers from its own resources and stay in business while awaiting the 50 Scania buses from Brazil.

Calming Tempers

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I once saw a flight attendant defuse a quarrel between two passengers. She did it calmly, assuredly, and quickly. I couldn't hear what she said but I could see the result – the two passengers seemed to make peace with each other.

Given the tenor of our times, the ability to make peace between two people (or two organizations) may well become a very valuable skill. It’s also a teachable skill. Here are the tips I’ve picked up in researching the topic.

Take a step back and a deep breath – you’ll want to slow things down and derail the rush to judgment. It’s likely that both parties are thinking in System 1 (and only System 1). You need to help them activate System 2 – that’s where the quarrel can be resolved. Ask both parties to think consciously about what’s going on. Asking each person to literally take a step backward can be a good starting point – it activates embodied cognition.

Clarify their intentions – saying, “I assume that both of you want to settle this amicably…” can help you clarify their intentions. It also activates their System 2 – they have to think about what they want. It can also help you identify obstacles to an amicable agreement.

Back away from the conclusion – System 1 is very good at taking partial information and jumping to a conclusion, often erroneously. Ask each person to describe the situation in his own words. Don’t interrupt and don’t allow the other person to interrupt. Then ask, “What do you conclude from this?” and “Do you think that’s a fair conclusion?” “Why?”

Climb the context ladder -- Many quarrels result from an overly narrow focus; both parties frame the issue too tightly. They don’t see the context and history. Asking questions like “How did we get to this point?”, “Why do you think this happened?” can help them climb the context ladder and get a broader understanding of the issue.

Listen, rinse, repeat – both parties will want to know that their side has been heard and considered. Listen carefully and summarize what you’ve heard. (“So, what I hear you saying is…”). If one person keeps repeating the same point, she doesn’t feel that she’s been heard. Repeat the process as necessary.

Identify points of agreement – most disputes are not black and white; they also contain many shades of gray. The participants may not recognize that there are many points of agreement. In fact, there may be more points of agreement than disagreement. Be sure to point these out and ask each party to validate them.

Avoid assumptions – don’t assume that you know how the parties feel or what they want. Ask questions even when the answer seems obvious. Ask both parties to explain themselves fully, while the other party is listening.

Don’t play winners versus losers – you want an agreement that both sides can live with. There’s no point in identifying one person as a winner and the other as the loser. A person who is identified as a loser will likely see the entire process as biased and unfair.

Don’t make recommendations; draw them out -- an arbitrator listens to both sides and renders a judgment (often with a winner and a loser). A mediator also listens to both sides but doesn’t render a judgment. Rather, your job is to draw out recommendations from the two parties. Be patient; this will take time. But, it’s worth it in the end. If the parties themselves recommend the solution, both sides are more likely to live with it.

Context is the New King

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Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.”  Bill Gates, January 3, 1996.

These first words from the now famous essay ‘content is king’ published in 1996 by the Microsoft Chief, Bill Gates , reflect how important the role of meaningful content has been in driving  marketing success for a little over a decade now .  It can be argued that if content on a 140-character platform can have long lasting and often irreversible impact for organizations, we would do well to up the ante on content and storytelling to build favorable reputation for our brands.

In the last 30 years, mankind has produced more information than in the previous 5000. A recent study done by the Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profssuggests that                

On average, the most effective marketers are spending 37 % of their marketing budgets on content marketing, which is up from 33% last year. 55% plan on increasing content marketing spending next year. 70% are already creating more content than last year. “ 

A Market Experiencing Content Burn Out

With the explosion in publishing and the evolution of content marketing to its present avatar, we are consuming more and more content every walking minute. The real challenge for B2B marketers in the face of growing desensitization of their audience is no longer producing enough content but producing content that is engaging and of value.   

Enter Hyper Relevance

With connected devices, wearables and mobile first technologies, today’s marketers have unprecedented access to more information and greater insight into customer preferences. Few companies demonstrate the ability to create customer-driven content blueprint and deliver experiences that truly benefit the customer. The ‘how-to’ begins with hyper-relevance not just in the online world but at every touch point along your customer’s journey.  

It’s no longer enough to just have great content; you now need to know how, when, where, and to whom, you should deliver it.” 

Beyond identifying web and mobile users and serving appropriate content in the right format, the latest technologies can identify context, sentiment or express moods, as well as associate content with appropriate design or look and feel, to enhance text, images, or sounds to deliver a truly personalized, immersive experience.

“2015 will be the year when marketers will wake up to hyper-targeting. Only 10% of online visitors find what they are looking for when interacting with online content. Savvy digital marketers will be able to match traffic with business attributes, identify segments they want to grow and serve them with a precisely targeted message.” - Christophe Primault, CEO, GetApp (Forbes.com)

 Getting Hyper Relevance Right

Hyper-relevance demands that you have the ability to tailor interactions with your customers, seamlessly meshing the organization’s goals to individual’s interests.

Right Customer:

We are in the era of “post-demographic consumerism”.  The online behavior and consumption of the consumers is no longer defined by previously used demographic segmentation based on age, gender, location, income, etc. Today audiences of all demographics have access to mobile, social, and wearables and what differentiates them is their comfort levels in using these tools and their willingness to share information. With complex customer journeys, how do you ensure that the content resonates with right target audience? A combination of traditional methods of segmentation based on demographics, psychographics, archetypes and personas and the new-age analytics tools to track real-time conversations and shifting interests of the consumers is the right path to go down on.    

Right Message:

The genesis of the right message begins with understanding the motivations of the consumer. For instance, Harley-Davidson did not focus on the base product the motorcycles instead chose to appeal to the lifestyle, adventure and persona of a potential Harley-Davidson. The content must tap into the essence of what the consumer hopes to accomplish. It has to be simple, direct, and easy to remember. It must rightfully intrigue and capture the interest of the customer.

 Right Medium:

The next step is to identify the format and channel that is right for the message. The selection of the channel explicitly focuses on the online forums, social media and other destinations frequented by your audience. Your choice of medium impacts the extent to which customers can engage with the content, and should be in sync with the objective of the content - is the content looking at initiating conversation or merely aimed at dispensing information?  

Right Time:

Once the message is crafted, the audience identified, and the medium chosen, you need to establish the time and frequency (if applicable) to deliver the message. Marketers use marketing automation tools to track the audiences’ activity and group them as per their interests.  With this data at hand, marketers can send high targeted message to the right audience at the right time in the buyer’s journey.

In an overcrowded digital landscape, it is often tough to get the attention your content deserves. The answer lies in Hyper Relevance- tailoring your message to suit the needs of your audience is the only way you can hold their interest, expect their participation, be in their minds when they are ready to commit to a purchase.