Abilities for Service breeds Leadership, Innovation and Greatness

Leadership is the act of leading, leading is the act of standing ahead, standing ahead is a way of moving infront, moving infront is a means to pave the way & paving the way is the process of creating new things, creating new things is a means of innovation, innovation can only be achieved by being innovative & being innovative can only come from the inside.

Therefore, INnovation is from the INside... 
You can not achieve greatness without being able to stand-out of the crowd, you cannot stand-out without standing ahead of others, you cannot stand ahead of others without leading them, you cannot lead well without being a good learner, you cannot be a good learner without being creative, you cannot be creative if you are not innovative and you cannot be innovative if it doesn't come from your inside.

However, since Innovation is from the inside, Creativity is from the inside, Greatness is from the inside and good Leadership is also from the inside; it is therefore neccessary to work on our input that determines our output (Feed your Inside with good information and it produces great result).
I quote Peter F. Drucker when he said "Leadership is defined by results & not attitudes..."

Above all, your leadership skill is an attribute of your service-ability.

Remember, to be serviceable is to become a great leader.

Cursed not fighting for a cause!!!

Whoever wins a battle must have fought a war, whoever wins a medal must have run a race, whoever recovers from a sickness must have been healed of sickness, whoever wins a case must have fought through judgment.

There's no winning without a battle & there's no healing without illness.
Whether you win or lose a fight is not the most paramount thing to consider, but the cause of fighting. If the cause of fighting is not worth it, then it is not worth fighting for.

Winston Churchill said in a quote "What is the use of living, if it isn't to strive for noble causes & make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we've gone" and Napoleon Hill also said in a quote: "Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting."

It is almost impossible to win a battle without fighting, but the most important thing about the battle is to have a cause fighting. Here is a little quote from Tee-softCL Oyediran."

It is better to fight for a cause, than to be cursed not fighting at all."
By Temitayo Oyediran!!!

Your Mind is Where Your Greatness Lies!!!

An abandoned battery will have to be recharged before it can start any engine. Any fire will have to be rekindled before it can burn faster or generate more flame. 
Your eyes can never capture an image, unless it engages your mind. 
The message from your mouth will not make any sense unless it has an encounter with your mind. 
 Your whole body will be useless, if not for the power of the mind.

It is therefore necessary to fill this mind with positivity & recharge it's power constantly, in other to purse greatness.

Speak positive to yourself, because you're also listening to yourself. Your mind projects what's on the inside & display it to you on the outside, as it would be in the future.

Remember, today is that tomorrow you've been waiting for; so let your mind be filled with positivity today & it will give birth to greatness in the future.
By Temitayo Oyediran!!!

Commitment to Greatness!!!

When the sun rises, the day breaks and when the sun sets, darkness creeps in. 
The commitment of the sun to revolve round the whole earth, between the sunrise & sunset is none of our business; but this must occur if we still want to experience the occurrence of day & night.

John Maxwell said in a quote "When you make a commitment, you create hope; but when you keep a commitment, you create trust" and Sheena Iyengar also said in a quote "In order to 'hold fast' to something, one must allow oneself to be held to something. That commitment may be one of the hardest things to practice in a world of so much choice."

Make sure you're committed to that great dream in your hand & in the process, opportunity will collapse with your preparation; which will give birth to greatness.

By Temitayo Oyediran
(Director, Teesoft Limited)

(Teesoft Limited is a consulting and coaching company with expertise in project management, service management, business analysis and personal/corporate coaching.)

Attitude of Greatness!!!

In the process of being consumable, a fruit must first of all be sour before it become sweet, as riped.

Before the day breaks, there must have occurred, the darkest night.
Before you can become great, you must be able to find a problem, study it, research about it & figure out a solution before you implement it. Only then can you really attain greatness. 

And in your quest to solve this problem, greater problems occur, which you would have to deal with & learn from it, as you proceed further for greatness.
Kevin Kelly said in a quote: "The secret of fast progress is inefficiency, fast & furious and numerous failures" and John Harold Johnson also said in a quote "When I see a barrier, I cry, curse, then I get a ladder & climb over it."

This is the attitude of a great man, so change your attitude towards greatness.
By Temitayo Oyediran!!!

Agility to achieve greatness!!!

A calm water is that, which has been left alone for too long without anyone drawing from it or pouring into it.

It is most times filled with dirts or unwanted substances but a running water will never have anything settled in it, because it is being drawn from & replaced, from its source.

This goes to say that you must not be an idle man, but an up & running person; who goes about looking for something to do, so as to perfect his achievement for greatness.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said in a quote "It is common sense to take a method & try it. If it fails, admit it frankly & try another.
But above all, try something." Leonardo Da Vinci also said in the same way and I quote "I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do." 

Idleness is hazardous, keep on with the attitude of doing.
By Temitayo Oyediran!!!

Innovation and Creativity!!!

You have to be eager to search, you have search to find, you must find to learn, you must learn to understand, you must understand before you know, you must know how to implement, you must implement to innovate and you must innovate to create. 

Frustration could be the foundation of innovation, which springs up creative spirit in you...

Edward de Bono said and I quote “Creative thinking is not a talent, it's a skill that can be learnt. It empowers people to strengthen their natural abilities, which improves teamwork, productivity and where appropriate profits."

Theodore Levi also said in the same way; "Creativity is thinking up new things but Innovation is doing new things".

Be creative and innovative, as you keep on doing new things.
By Temitayo Oyediran.

Give your Mind the knowledge required!!!

You can hear but not understand, you can look but not see, you can smell but not perceive...
It is only with your MIND that you can fully comprehend the quality of any given information.

So, if your mind is not ready to accept it; then you're not getting it.
Winston Churchill said that "The empires of the future are empires of the mind" and Napoleon Hills also said in a quote: "What the mind of a man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."

Put your mind in all that you do & you'll get the best out of it.

Vision against Captivity!!!

Without knowledge, it is captivity; because you become slaves to those that have knowledge. Without vision, it is also captivity, because you become slave to those that have vision.

Greatness is in everyone, but only those that search there inside can identify it and bring it out, for the world to see. 
If it's not seen, then it will be hidden on the inside; which makes you a slave to those that are able to bring out their own greatness.

George Bernard Shaw said and I quote: "When we stop thinking in terms of conditions and start thinking in terms of possibilities, success comes knocking."

Don't rest until you're able to bring out that greatness from your inside, for the world to see.

By Temitayo Oyediran.
(Director, Teesoft Limited.)

(Teesoft Limited is a consulting and coaching company with expertise in project management, service management, business analysis and personal/corporate coaching.)

Enthusiasm for Greatness!

It is necessary to be quiet before you can think, you must think before making any decision, decisions are made for reasons and reasons are the cause of actions. 

You can decide to progress or withdraw, but your enthusiasm in the cause of progressing makes the progress exciting. 

Enthusiasm keeps you going, even if the going gets tough; until you achieve the level of greatness you've envisaged for yourself. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson said and I quote: "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm" and I also quote my words by saying: "Enthusiasm is not just useful for greatness, but it must be full of use, to achieve greatness." 

By Temitayo Oyediran.
(Director, Teesoft Limited.)

(Teesoft Limited is a consulting and coaching company with expertise in project management, service management, business analysis and personal/corporate coaching.)

Thinking with FOCUS!!!

It is easier to come down a mountain than to climb it, so is it easier for rain to fall down from heaven than to go back there. 
It will be easier to achieve success, if you can only put your skills, experience & strengths with great attitude towards achieving one goal at a time. 

Abraham Zaleznik said & I quote "Keep focused on the substantive issues. To make a decision means having to go through one door and closing all others" and Jeffrey Pfeffer also said that "You are more likely to acquire power by narrowing your focus and applying your energies, like the sun’s rays, to a limited range of activities in a small number of domains."

Because your focus determine your thinking, so streamline your thinking to focus on your goal... By Temitayo Oyediran.

Don't be used less than your worth!

"Nothing is as useless as being used less than necessary or required" ~ Tee-softCL Oyediran.

Take up new challenges & learn from it. It could be the shortcut to your greatness.
I quote John Maxwell in one of his messages: "Adventure is a thing of hope & expectation."

Hope for better & expect to achieve greatness, if your attitude towards any challenge is great and positive. 
By Temitayo Oyediran!!!

Creating, Failing and Innovating!!!

There are so many ways to a round-about. Sometimes, we need to go round the circle before we can fully identify our own area of concentration. 
Don't dwell too much on that, just get your strengths from your experience in the past or even in the present; then put some commitments to achieve what you've set as a goal for yourself. 

James Caan said and I quote: "If you wait for the best idea & the best time to implement it; you will not make any progress. Just keep creating, failing & innovating; you'll get it right one day" and Warren Bennis also said: "Any new idea will not be accepted at first. It takes repeated attempts, endless demonstrations, monotonous rehearsals before innovation can be accepted."
 
Only those who never tried, never got a result. 

By Temitayo Oyediran.
(Director, Teesoft Limited.)

(Teesoft Limited is a consulting and coaching company with expertise in project management, service management, business analysis and personal/corporate coaching.)

Create value in your comfort zone!!!

When we go into silence or comfort zone for the purpose of meditation and collection of information, it creates a platform for individual development and self evaluation. But when we come out of that comfort zone to deliver these great acquisition or wealth of knowledge; it is for the purpose of adding great value to others, which invariably add immerse value to our own 'personal brand' and improve our 'self promotion'. 

The value is created and developed while inside the 'box', but coming out of your moment of mediation (i.e. box) to deposit the worth of your mediation as a valuable service to someone 'outside the box'. 
This tend to increase the validity of your value, whereas indulging yourself in less or no acquisition of knowledge, while 'inside the box' will only decrease your ability to deposit knowledge to someone 'outside the box'... 

Wisdom is principal thing to achieve great success and wisdom is also the accumulation of knowledge. Keep learning to receive knowledge that grows to wisdom!!!

START YOUR JOURNEY TO SUCCESS NOW!

Here is a brief explanation to one of my presentations while speaking to the creative students at the University of Hertforshire, Hatfield. 
The title of the event and my presentation:
"HOW DO I SUCCEED IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY?"
As I began the presentation, I gave key points on how to succeed in the creative industry and I also gave different ways to enhance creativity. 
Here are some of the points.
3 steps  to achieving success in the creative industry.
1.) Start
2.) Spend
3.) Stop

START - I gave an explanation to the above points by telling the creative students to build upon their existing skills and experiences. I said to them that it takes a courageous person to 'start' something but it also takes a determined person not to wait till he/she gets all the details of an idea before he/she can commence the project/business; afterall you might still have to adjust some of your findings along the line or remove some informations, as the project gets bigger and better. 
After you've identified an opportunity, the next stage of achieving success with that idea is to take a step towards actualizing the idea and this would only be possible when you begin to work on the idea.

SPEND - Proceeding to the next step in achieving success is to 'spend' quality time with those that believe in your idea and those that are ready to contribute positively to the success of that idea. If they value the idea, they will be willing to support you till it becomes a reality but if otherwise, they will be the first set of people to talk you out of the idea. It is wisdom not to spend time with those that belittle you because that is not what great people do... Great people make you believe that you too can become great. Like they say, birds of a feather, they flock together.

STOP - Lastly, I explained that the creative students should 'stop' limiting their imaginations. Limiting your imagination will reduce your creativity, because being creative means that you are not thinking within the confine of what your eyes can see but beyond what your visual sense can visualize. If you can only see it before you believe it, then you are not creative enough.You must be able to conceptualize it in your mind before you eventually bring it out to reality.

Below is a copy of an article that I copied from BUFFER blog, written by James Clear. In this article, he explained his experience listening to Richard Branson, while he was sharing great insights of business success in Moscow; and I could connect to his words in this article because I also read some of them from Richard Branson's book "Like a virgin: Secrets they won't teach you at Business school." and some other articles that Richard published on his virgin blogsite.

"In 1966, a dyslexic sixteen-year-old boy dropped out of school. With the help of a friend, he started a magazine for students and made money by selling advertisements to local businesses. With only a little bit of money to get started, he ran the operation out of the crypt inside a local church.
Four years later, he was looking for ways to grow his small magazine and started selling mail order records to the students who bought the magazine. The records sold well enough that he built his first record store the next year. After two years of selling records, he decided to open his own record label and recording studio.
He rented the recording studio out to local artists, including one named Mike Oldfield. In that small recording studio, Oldfield created his hit song, Tubular Bells, which became the record label’s first release. The song went on to sell over 5 million copies.
Over the next decade, the young boy grew his record label by adding bands like the Sex Pistols, Culture Club, and the Rolling Stones. Along the way, he continued starting companies: an airline business, then trains, then mobile phones, and on and on. Almost 50 years later, there were over 400 companies under his direction.
Today, that young boy who dropped out of school and kept starting things despite his inexperience and lack of knowledge is a billionaire. His name is Sir Richard Branson.

How I Met Sir Richard Branson

Two weeks ago, I walked into a conference room in Moscow, Russia and sat down ten feet from Branson. There were 100 other people around us, but it felt like we were having a conversation in my living room. He was smiling and laughing. His answers seemed unrehearsed and genuine.
At one point, he told the story of how he started Virgin Airlines, a tale that seems to capture his entire approach to business and life. Here’s the version he told us, as best I can remember it:

I was in my late twenties, so I had a business, but nobody knew who I was at the time. I was headed to the Virgin Islands and I had a very pretty girl waiting for me, so I was, umm, determined to get there on time.
At the airport, my final flight to the Virgin Islands was cancelled because of maintenance or something. It was the last flight out that night. I thought this was ridiculous, so I went and chartered a private airplane to take me to the Virgin Islands, which I did not have the money to do.
Then, I picked up a small blackboard, wrote “Virgin Airlines. $29.” on it, and went over to the group of people who had been on the flight that was cancelled. I sold tickets for the rest of the seats on the plane, used their money to pay for the chartered plane, and we all went to the Virgin Islands that night.

I took this photo right after he told that story. A few moments later I stood shoulder–to–shoulder with him (he’s about six feet tall) and thanked him for sharing some time with us.

Sir Richard Branson in Moscow, Russia. Photo by James Clear.

The Habits of Successful People: What Makes the Difference?

After speaking with our group, Branson sat on a panel with industry experts to talk about the future of business. As everyone around him was filling the air with business buzzwords and talking about complex ideas for mapping out our future, Branson was saying things like: “Screw it, just get on and do it.” Which was closely followed by: “Why can’t we mine asteroids?”
As I looked up at that panel, I realized that the person who sounded the most simplistic was also the only one who was a billionaire. Which prompted me to wonder, “What’s the difference between Branson and everyone else in the room?”
Here’s what I think makes all the difference:
Branson doesn’t merely say things like, “Screw it, just get on and do it.” He actually lives his life that way. He drops out of school and starts a business. He signs the Sex Pistols to his record label when everyone else says they are too controversial. He charters a plane when he doesn’t have the money.
When everyone else balks or comes up with a good reason for why the time isn’t right, Branson gets started.

Start Now

Branson is an extreme example, but we could all learn something from his approach.
If you want to summarize the habits of successful people into one phrase, it’s this: successful people start before they feel ready.
If there was ever someone who embodied the idea of starting before they felt ready to do so, it’s Branson. The very name of his business empire, Virgin, was chosen because when Branson and his partners started they were “virgins” when it came to business.
Branson has started so many businesses, ventures, charities, and expeditions that it’s simply not possible for him to have felt prepared, qualified, and ready to start all of them. In fact, it’s unlikely that he was qualified or prepared to start any of them. He had never flown a plane and didn’t know anything about the engineering of planes, but he started an airline company anyway.
If you’re working on something important, then you’ll never feel ready. A side effect of doing challenging work is that you’re pulled by excitement and pushed by confusion at the same time.
You’re bound to feel uncertain, unprepared, and unqualified. But let me assure you of this: what you have right now is enough. You can plan, delay, and revise all you want, but trust me, what you have now is enough to start.
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to start a business, lose weight, write a book, or achieve any number of goals… who you are, what you have, and what you know right now is good enough to get going.
We all start in the same place: no money, no resources, no contacts, no experience. The difference is that some people — the winners — choose to start anyway.
If you’re having trouble getting started, then read this article: How to Stop Procrastinating.
No matter where you are in the world and regardless of what you’re working on, I hope you’ll start before you feel ready."
This post originally appeared on JamesClear.com