1.0 – Knowledge And Wisdom

It is important to distinguish between knowledge and wisdom,

What is knowledge? It is the acquisition of skills, facts or standards in a certain field or department of life. Knowledge is the know what. It means to be aware but awareness is not equal to performance.

What is wisdom? It is the correct application of knowledge. it is the knowhow. Not just knowing what to do, but how to go about it. As a business manger, I know the differences between efficiency and effectiveness. Similarly, there is a wide world of difference between knowledge and wisdom.

The reason many are not succeeding in business is because they know next to nothing in their filed or business.

You need adequate knowledge in your business. Get relevant literatures in your chosen field of endeavor. Invest in books, articles, journals that are relevant to your subject. If truly you want to excel in that business then your library must have more literature on that subject right now because if you know more then you can do more. See people say knowledge is power, knowledge is light. So, with knowledge that powerlessness that have stagnated you in business will disappear.

However, many times you find out that there is little variation between knowledge you acquired and the real life situation. That is the place of wisdom. Haven’t you wondered two individuals who went through the same institution and acquired same kind of training but one became successful in that same vocation and the other couldn’t find his feet?

Even the holy Bible said wisdom is the principal thing that is wisdom is the main thing in life. If you major on the major then you end up as a major player. There is a wisdom path for successful business in any environment. 

Vision

What is vision? It is the plan or end result of anything. Vision is the ultimate goal set out for any vocation, project, life or a people. Vision is not some midnight script or a movie playing in front of you. It is a mental picture which defines your physical posture in life.

Why is vision important?

• without it life or business is aimless. without aims achievement is not in view
• it brings tomorrow to today
• it pumps energy into you. doubt and confusion about such matter becomes minimized
• it is a fuel for accomplishment. anytime you look at your vision written or mental your energy level rises and it positions you for accomplishment
• it is imaginative in nature: success is about 90% mental and 10% physical in communication
• many business are struggling because of visionlessness
• What is your vision for the business you are running, even our nation had to roll out an economic recovery growth plan(ERGP) by the days government.

Characteristics Of Vision

• Your vision is long term but can be broken into shorter terms which are called goals. That is why I always ask business people if they are in business to play or for business? You see, that multibillion naira Vision Empire of yours should be broken into yearly, monthly, weekly, even daily goals. These goals must be congruent with your vision. goals are short term or medium term. Don’t let ideas deceive you. It is in planning that you segmentize your idea and channel the dos and don’ts. You must have a planning time, usually after prayer I engage in 1 hour plan. Don’t just rush with your idea you may get stranded on the way take out time to plan
• Write down everything: Some people think their brain is supersonic so they don’t write but research has shown that writing down your ideas is about 30% contribution to success. Writing does not only connote pen and paper. You may use your smart phones, laptops or desktops. Just write so that you can crystallize your vision.
• Use your mind: Imagination is powerful. It is the creation of an image in your mind and most time you see it happening around you. When I read the book think and grow rich. I discovered how powerful the brain was and how most people including i have abandoned it to reflexes. now, your business is simply crulling because you lack ideas. Ideas they say rule the world. People of ideas are always resourceful and progressive. YOU MUST COMMIT TO THE USE OF YOUR MIND IN BUSINESS you have competitors, you need to be ahead of them and that is brain work. Since I read the book “think and grow rich” I have berated physical labor, the main stuff is mental. It is dangerous to be mental lack. That’s why you must read a lot. A business person must know more than a university professor because while the professor teaches a handful of students per time, the business man has the whole world as his client base. Show me a striving business man and I will show you a avid reader. They have good books in their library. The poor sleep more than the rich. See a rich man awake all night but poor people with poverty mentality sleep 10pm-6am the next day wasting 1/3 of his day on productive ventures. You are sleeping too much. Your business is not working well. Wake up in the night and read relevant books, read journals, magazines, articles that can enhance your knowledge. A struggling businessman sleep all night, why won’t his business sleep!

Learn from experts, people who have proofs of success in business.

• Challenges: challenges they say is the food of champions. Your vision will be challenged, am just being real. At some point you feel like what am I doing here? Let me throw in the towel but don’t. Why? You have invested time, energy, resources into that business so why back out suddenly; it may just amount to waste. Get ready for daunting challenging, they are normally there to make your story complete but if you redress then that will amount to failure. Tell yourself even if I fail, I refuse to quit. Failure is a blessing in disguise. Research has shown that most outstanding success failed seven times before it finally succeeded. That’s quite informative for you. When you fail learn your lesson and move on because there is future ahead of you, which you cannot jeopardize.
• Association: Your thought will affect your association and your association will affect your lifestyle. Check those you associating with, are they going anywhere at all what do you discuss most. Your association determines your allocation. Watch out for unfriendly friends and visionless people, let it not even affect who to marry. I don’t see why you want to marry a lady or a guy who doesn’t want to do business and you are into business. It won’t work. Don’t allow anybody to distract you from your goal and waste your entire life. Rather, attract people and those who are like minded. Now I have discovered too many drawbacks  with organizations and business.
• Communication
• Leadership

Many business people know where they are going but their employees are not in the picture of it. If you want your business to do well, learn to dominate the vision and goals and sell it to your employees, well written on the tablets of their heart with adequate understanding.

Similarly, the owner doesn’t appear to the people as a serious minded person, the body language just depicts they just come to get their own piece  of cake . That is the pollution from the Nigerian public service; no performance indicator.

You want a thriving business then you need good leadership and communication skills.

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