Destiny

Destiny, destiny, destiny...what a powerful and mystical word. Do you believe everyone has one? Yes, we do! You surely have a destiny. All of us have a significant role in shaping our own destiny! In essence, you can choose your date with destiny. Three days remaining in 2012 are too much for God...to unleash that blessing as your destiny dictates.

Your destiny is the dream that lies within you of your desired and preferred future. And the things that we choose each day are what lead us to that destiny: Our actions, our words, our attitudes, and our relationships. They all add up to develop and shape that date on which we will reach our destiny.

In due time, may God take us all to the place of our destiny.

Life & its End...

The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is 'tough'. It takes up a lot of your time...trying, striving, struggling. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! Everyone would get this inexorable gift someday. The late Governor of Kaduna State, Patrick Yakowa, the former National Security Adviser, General Owoye Azazi and other occupants of a Nigerian Navy helicopter that crashed around the Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Saturday 15th December 2012 never bargained for it. Shockingly, the wife ceases to be first-lady and other benefits terminated due to untimely death.

I pray that none of us on this forum will die young. Untimely death will never be experienced in our homes.

BOTTOMLINE: Be good, Be godly & Be God-fearing always.

Knowledge vs Mediocrity

Knowledge is key to life. In this sphere, four major categories of human beings are people that know that they know; those that don't know that they know; those that know that they don't know and those that don't know that they don't know. The last category is the haven of mediocrity.

In whatever endeavour, we need improvement on persistent basis. Not knowing what you don’t know may initially be a sinking feeling, or engender concerns that you’re not discharging your duties appropriately. Employ your time in improving yourself in the quest of knowledge.

Take Charge of Your Strategy

The speed and scale of change in today’s business environment are forcing businesses to rethink old assumptions as never before. New opportunities and threats arise daily; they can come almost overnight, and from anywhere in the world. Seizing the opportunities and responding to the threats is more likely than ever to require frequent changes in strategy—everything from a review and rethink to a 90-degree turn or even a reversal.

Whether you’re the CEO of a major corporation, a leader of a business unit, or run your own company, you may not be intimately involved with your organization’s strategy. In my experience, many chiefs aren’t; the job is left to the technicians who’ve made careers of strategy, and have matchless expertise in its quantitative details. I’m going to make the case that you should be—must be--a strategist yourself.

That’s what CEOs used to be. Half a century ago, strategy was considered the most important duty of the president—the person with overarching responsibility for setting a company’s course and seeing the journey through. Leaders didn’t have many tools to work with, but that changed during the 1980s and 90s. Michael E. Porter’s groundbreaking work in bringing economics to strategy-making led to a revolution in the practice of strategy. A whole new industry arose, run by specialists armed with ever-more sophisticated concepts, tools, and techniques. But over time the leader’s own role in strategy faded as the specialists took charge. Chasing a new ideal, we lost sight of the value of what we had—the richness of judgment, the continuity of purpose, the will to commit an organization to a particular path. Reduced to a left-brain exercise, strategy lost much of its vitality and connection to the day-to-day life of many companies.

I’ve taught strategy for more than three decades, mostly to MBA students. In recent years, however, I’ve worked in executive education, particularly a five-year stint in Harvard’s flagship program for owner-managers. What I’ve learned working with these dynamic individuals is that the leader of any business must also be a strategist. No one else can see the business as a whole and rise above the mechanical, analytical details; more importantly, no one else can commit a company to a course of action.

The very act of taking on the job of strategist-in-chief can transform your business. You will, of course, rely on others’ technical skills and knowledge of markets and customers. But in setting the strategic direction and tone, you will be guiding the entire organization—from those who work in the C-suite down to the people who face your customers.

So how do you go about being a leader/strategist? A good way to start is by asking yourself a simple but portentous question: Does your business matter? If it weren’t there, how long would it take, and how difficult would it be, for your customers to find another firm that met their needs just as well?
If you can’t answer this question, you’re not alone. I’ve spent the better part of my life working with leaders who struggle with it. It’s a difficult question. In order to answer it, you have to answer the foremost question a strategist faces: What is your business’spurpose? Nothing is more important to the survival and success of a business than why it exists and what needs it intends to fill. Every concept of strategy that has entered the conversation of business managers—sustainable competitive advantage, positioning, differentiation, added value—flows from purpose.

There are few more dramatic examples than Apple. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak didn’t start with a clear purpose, but three years into the game they nailed it in Apple’s 1980 annual report: “Bringing technology to individuals is, we believe, the extraordinary business of the decade.” Jobs would later go on to elaborate that the technology had not only to be great, but “insanely great.” It worked for a while, and in the nascent world of personal computers, Apple staked out a difference that mattered. In time, however, the gap between Apple’s premium prices and those of computers that were merely “good enough” grew very large, and the lack of compatibility and software further dimmed its prospects. The company flailed around in search of a viable strategy. Nothing worked; twelve years and three CEOs after Jobs left, the company was on the brink of failure.

When Jobs returned in 1997, he was a wiser manager. More important, he brought an evolved iteration of Apple’s original purpose with him: he would turn the company’s resources to “the next great thing.” And as we all know, Apple became a fountain of “next great things,” bringing technologies and design of groundbreaking appeal to consumers and ultimately transforming the music and telecommunications industries. From near-bankruptcy in 1997, it soared to become the world’s most valuable technology company in 2010—all because Apple had regained a viable purpose, and a new difference that mattered to consumers.

Note that purpose is not the same thing as core competency. If the things you do well are drifting away from your purpose, or that purpose is no longer relevant in your competitive context, you may have to move beyond them. The Holy Grail of strategy is a long-run sustainable advantage, but it has never been more elusive than today. The specifics of translating your purpose into action—the strategies you will choose and the ways you execute them—will change with the changing business environment. The winning game is to keep your strategy dynamic: to reinvent yourself around your purpose.

For most businesses, reinventing yourself means being one thing while becoming something else. And this is something only a leader/strategist can manage. As a strategist, you’re the person who must watch over the organization, guiding its course, making the choices that bring it back to center day after day and year after year even as you choose when the center--the purpose itself--should evolve. You must decide whether to lean into the wind or not, and judge whether your strategy is dynamic or dead.

Leading strategy is a nonstop responsibility; it can’t be outsourced or solved in one great brainstorming session. You won’t just wake up one morning to find that your company has a new advantage or that its purpose changed overnight. Rather, it will change because the industry changes. It will change because tastes change. It will change because your people change and bring new strengths and skills to the enterprise. And ultimately, it will change because someone made the call to do so—you, the strategist.

This article is based on the author’s book: The Strategist: Be the Leader Your Business Needs (New York: HarperBusiness, April 24, 2012).

Our Pledge...

Whenever you read the National Pledge below, what runs through your mind? Do the wordings make meaning to you?

I pledge to Nigeria my country
To be faithful loyal and honest
To serve Nigeria with all my strength
To defend her unity
And uphold her honour and glory
So help me God.

Happy Independence Nigeria.

LET's TALK ABOUT SEX

Summary of Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo's message at the Redeemed Christian Church God National Youth Convention in camp.

LET's TALK ABOUT SEX

Proverbs 4:23, Proverbs 6: 23-27

Be careful what you take in, the music and movies you watch could desensitizes you to the truth. It is the truth you know that will set you free.

Colossians 3:5-6

You are to honour God with your body, sex is not allowed outside marriage.
Even though Nike may say 'Just do it!" You're not to with SEX!

The simple thought of sex crossing your mind is not a sin but the desire for sex is the sin!

Sex goes beyond the physical, it's spiritual and emotional!

In the bible, when a man sleeps with his wife the bible says "He knew his wife" but when a young man sleeps with an unmarried woman the bible says "He laid with her"

Don't let anybody deceive you, you can know them by their words. e.g "You don't need to tell anybody what we are about to do!"

If a guy comes to you with a condom, he is a con(artist) and you are dumb!

Virginity is something you give away and not what is taken from you by force! If you were violated and tampered with, only your virginity is broken, you destiny isn't, so don't mess up yourself! You are still so precious in God's sight. God values you, He values your body so honor Him with it!

85% of those who live together before getting married end up divorced. 50% of marriages in UK and 80% of black marriages in US end up in divorce!

If you sell yourself cheap, you end up being treated anyhow. A man who cannot treat you like a lady doesn't deserve you and any woman who cannot treat you like a prince doesn't deserve you!

Don't start what you can't handle! The skin is only a few centimetres deep and beneath that skin, there are 18million nerves passing information round. When ever someone touches you sexually, your nerves sends info that are stored somewhere in your brain. That's why when you see the person later you remember the touch! You have imprints of people on your life through sexual relationships.

Don't let anyone touch you in a way that is not holy. From hugs to kissing and then the deed happens unplanned!

Once you mess up your sexual life, it messes up your spiritual life! Get it right!

Exodus 26, 27 gives a summary of the Tabernacle. It was divided into the outer court, the Holy place, Holy of Holies. As a human being, your body is the outer court, your soul the holy place and your spirit the holy of holies!

The outer court gave access to many levities and they brought their sacrifices there. Your body is your outer court many people will have access to you, you'll meet many boys/girls but be careful, many will come and go. Proverbs 4:23

Only the priests were allowed into the holy place. The holy in your body is your soul. Your emotions are conceived there. Before you let anyone touch your soul, be very careful! The reason many broken relationship ends up a soul tie is because they let someone else make an impact on their soul and no matter how much they try to forget the person it is difficult.

Guard your soul, don't let just any nice person get in. The holy place had a lampstand in it, anyone who must get into your holy place was be a lamp. Ladies, any man that wants to court/date/marry you must have more light than you already have! He needs to be the lamp! Don't settle for less!

Only the High priest was allowed to enter into the holy of holies (Hebrews 9:7) ! He had to break through the veil to get in. There is only man allowed to get into you and that is your husband! When a man sleeps with a virgin, it's more than just sex! It's spiritual, it's a blood covenant!

Guys note, everywhere you go as a man and have sexual releases, your testicles will testify against you! The reason God gave you two testicles is because the bible says out of 2 or more witnesses, a statement is established (Deuteronomy 17:6).

There is a point when sexual activities goes beyond the physical, it becomes a demonic activity! It is spiritual!

Easy sex does not make more romance, neither does not give joy and happiness!

When you have sex while waiting to be married, you crush the foundation of your marriage

Don't let anyone blackmail you to stay in a relationship! After giving your life to Christ break away from every ungodly relationship!

Titus 2:11-12

To get out:

It requires the decision to maintain your integrity!

It requires a bold step to confront ungodly relationship you are in!

Break away and make a vow to be pure!

Keep yourself and honour God with your life!

No sex is safe sex!

Desire change, deny yourself!

The Unstoppable City Builders

Summary of Pastor Matthew Adebayo's message @ the ongoing RCCG Youth Convention in Nigeria. Read and be blessed by it.

**The Unstoppable City Builders**

Gen 11:1-8: The people had one mind, one goal, one purpose and they worked together to achieve that purpose!

The power of unity is unstoppable! If the church will come together in unity and work together with one purpose, we will build nation!

The city could refer to a place or the people while a builder is a constructor. A city builder is therefore someone constructs a city/people.

3 CHARACTERISTICS OF CITY BUILDERS

1)City builders always have a desire!

The starting points of all achievement in life starts with a desire, ability to recognise what you want in life!

Don't hide under the pretence of spirituality! Many just wait for the holy spirit to do everything but this is wrong! You need a burning desire and driving force in life.

City builders have vision! Have the image of the city you want to build in your heart, create a mental picture of desire and start working towards it.

Phil 2:5, when you have the mindset of christ, you can set your life right and your life settings will be better.

2) City builders are determined !

They are men/women of determination who have made up their mind on what to do! They are risk takers who refuse to give up come what may. 2Sam 23:15

City builders don't succumb to threats, they are not fearful. Even in the face of death city builders don't give up! Esther 4:15-16

3) City builders are Diligent!

Proverbs 22:29. They are not just hard working, they work hard to achieve what they have set their minds to do.

Prov 13:23, Prov 12:11. Any christian youth is not at work is a joker! No city builder folds his arm and gets anything done on earth.

If you can't take over your immediate environment, you can't take over your local government! If you can't take over your local government , you can't take over your city! If you can't take over your city, you can't take over your nation!

To be a city builder, you must start by making a difference in your immediate environment!

If you're not able fly, run! If you can't run, walk! If you can't walk, crawl! Just do something, make sure you are not stagnant!

Keep moving because if you don't move, you'll be removed!

Romans 8:14-19

Move now because God is counting on you! Move now because your nation needs you! Move now because the world is waiting for you!