No one reports to you, and you are not even a project manager. So how can you exhibit leadership if you’re stuck in individual contributor roles?

Good news is, leader isn’t a title, it’s a group of characteristics, and you can acquire them, even if you’re not the boss. Here are ideas on how to be one:

Communicate Clearly

Leaders don’t grumble behind closed doors when things don’t go their way. They don’t say yes when they should have said no. They say what they mean and do so in a way that people understand. This is not advocating rudeness, but it is advocating dropping passive-aggressive behaviour.

Learn Flexibility

There’s rarely a “right” way to do something. If you are going to insist that things be done a certain way, you’re headed down the micromanager path, and that’s not what leadership is about. Ask yourself, “Is this the wrong way to do it, or is it just a different way?”

Don’t Be a Doormat

Leaders stand up for themselves, politely. Jerks stand up for themselves rudely. If somebody interrupts you in a meeting, simply say, “I’m sorry, can I finish?” If your slimy co-worker tries to dump her work on you say, “That won’t be possible.” Does this mean you never do a favor? Absolutely not. You do favours, but you do so because you are nice or because it benefits you and the company, not because you can’t say no.

Help Others

Leaders bring others along with them and share credit for work well done. Leaders don’t look for opportunities to step on others, but rather look for opportunities to help others succeed. Remember, a leader is someone who demonstrates desirable characteristics.

Take Responsibility for Your Mistakes

We all make mistakes. Own your mistakes. When someone points out an error, don’t start throwing blame, simply say, “Thanks for letting me know. Let me fix that.” Additionally, when things start going south, ask for help rather than panicking and trying to fix everything on your own. That usually makes it worse.

[original:themuse]

Valuation is an important part that a founder or an executor always has in his mind. Valuation matters to investors as they are getting the company share in lieu of the money they are going to spent.

Determine the value of the company at the seed/early stage is commonly described as the art of describing the growth rather than a science.

Let us see what factors does influence the decision of the Investors:

Hotness of the Industry:

Investors travel in packets just like they are going behind with others who already take leads in the market. If something is hot and others are already investing in the industry, they may pay a premium so as to stand in that particular industry.

Pre-Valuation Revenues:

Revenues are more important for the startups. Revenues make the company easier to value. In the initial stage if you have a functioning product and up to the most the product is yielding the revenue from the market, then this could be the most effective point that will affect the investor decision.

Reputation of the Team:

Before going to take a round for investment one must build his/her authority or the image in the market. The most important thing what a VC looks is the founder capability and his image in the industry or belongs to the particular industry.

Traction:

Traction is a sign that your company is taking off. Traction is basically quantitative evidence of customer demand. You can always get more traction.

In other words, traction is growth. The pursuit of traction is what defines a startup.

Out of all things that you could possibly show an investor, traction is the number one thing that will convince them. The point of a company’s existence is to get users, and if the investor sees users – the proof is in the pudding.

[original:yourstory]

Kenya Airways has embarked on a mission to woo the Asian market into Kenya and the East African region to explore the various potential business opportunities and tourism in Africa. The airline is embarking on activities to tap into the high yield corporate and leisure segment to grow its business with their new state-of-the-art product.

Speaking during the Kenya Airways Golf Safari at the Riverdale Country Club in Thailand, Kenya Airways Area Manager Far East, Australia and New Zealand, Vijayakumaran Avili said that, “Kenya Airways will seek to attract other market segments into exploring business partnerships in Kenya and other African countries.

Africa is now one of the emerging markets with high investment opportunities that have seen a growing interest from the East such as China, Russia and India.” He also added that tourism has grown steadily in Africa, and this Kenya Airways Golf Safari series is a good opportunity for visitors from Asia to explore unique experience by golfing in the continent.

The Kenya Airways Golf Safari Thailand saw a participant of 100 players competing for the grand prize to participate in the Golf Safari grand finale in Kenya on March 26. The event was graced by Samori Okwiya, Kenyan High Commissioner to Malaysia; Ms. Diana Kiambuti, Charge D’Affaires of Kenya Embassy to Thailand; Robina Marks, South African Ambassador to Thailand; Mr. Thawatchai Arunyik, Governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand; Lieutenant General Sakda Cheunpakdee, Commissioner of Immigration Bureau and Mr. Manopchai Vongphakdi, Director General Department Consular Affairs of Asia, Middle East and Africa Affairs.

Phillip Salisbury emerged as the Overall Winner (Low Gross) and wins an all-expense paid trip to Kenya to participate in the Grand Finale of Golf Safari Series on 26th March 2015. Besides promoting golf tourism in different destinations, the airline has worked round the clock to ensure world class customer experience by modernising operations through acquisition of modern aircraft that includes the B787 Dreamliner, B777-300ER and the new Generation B737-800 aircrafts.

“Kenya Airways is now proud to have the youngest fleet in Africa. We want to offer our customers world class experience. Our inflight services are now to the global standards and our business class is lavish to suit our customer needs “added Vijayakumaran Avili. In addition, the airline’s operations are now in the new luxurious Terminal 1A at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi. The modern terminal is dedicated to operations of Kenya Airways and Sky Team Partners, and offers an exclusive, comfortable and relaxing place for guests to unwind, work, freshen up and rest before travel or during transit.

The customer is always right, right?

Well, maybe not. Turns out, this common corporate rule, plus a few others, could use a bit of revision. Check out this infographic for five guidelines that most companies follow—but that might be killing their business.

[original:themuse]

Hal Elrod, Business Coach: For anyone who values financial security and ultimately desires financial freedom, creating at least one additional stream of income is no longer a luxury. It has become a necessity. Here’s how you can diversify your income:

1. Establish financial security.
Now, this idea isn’t sexy, but it’s imperative: Don’t focus your time and energy into building a second stream of income until your primary source is secure. Whether you have a day job or own your own business, focus on establishing and securing a primary monthly income that will support your expenses before you pursue other steps.

2. Clarify your unique value.
Every person on this planet has unique gifts, abilities, life experiences and value to offer — and be highly compensated for. Figure out the knowledge, experience, ability or solution you have that others will value and might pay you for. Remember, what might be common knowledge to you isn’t for other people.

You and your personality differentiate your value from that of every other person on earth. Many people will resonate with you (and your style) better than they will with someone else offering value that’s similar or even the same.

Packaging is how you can differentiate your value. When I wrote my book The Miracle Morning, I had to overcome my insecurity that waking up early wasn’t exactly something I invented. Would there really be a market for the book? But readers shared that the book was life-changing in the way the information was presented. It was written focusing on how to significantly improve any area of life by simply altering how a person starts the day.

Knowledge is the one thing you can increase very quickly. As Tony Robbins wrote in Money: Master the Game, “One reason people succeed is that they have knowledge other people don’t have. You pay your lawyer or your doctor for the knowledge and skills” you lack.

Increase your knowledge in a specific area, and you’ll simultaneously increase the value that others will pay you for, either to teach them what you know or apply your knowledge on their behalf.

3. Identify your market.
Determine whom you are best qualified to serve. Based on the value you can add for others or the problems you can help people solve, who will pay you for the value or solution you can provide?

4. Build a community.
A turning point in my financial life came when I heard author and self-made multimillionaire Dan Kennedy say, “The most valuable asset you have is your email list, so focus on growing it.”

I don’t like to think of my email community as merely a list of names but rather as a group of individuals, each with their own hopes and dreams.

Here’s how you can build your community:

Acquire an email-marketing program (good: AWeber, better: Infusionsoft).

Get a program to create an opt-in page (good: LeadPages.com, better: Kajabi).

Create an added-value deliverable such as a free report, an ebook, an audio or a video training so that people will happily provide their email address in exchange for the value you provide.

5. Ask your community about their desires.
You can either guess or assume what people desire and need, invest valuable time in creating it and then hope your guess was correct. But remember: Hope is rarely the best strategy.

Or send an email to members of your community with the link to a survey, asking what they want or need help with in your area of value that you’ve identified. Ask open-ended questions to help you later brainstorm or offer multiple choices if you’ve already thought about what you can provide.

6. Create a solution.
After your community members tell you what they need, it’s your golden opportunity to get to work and create it. This could be a physical or digital product (a book, an audio, a video, a written training program or software) or a service (dog grooming, babysitting, coaching, consulting, speaking or training).

7. Plan the launch.
Think about how Apple rolls out its products. The company doesn’t just throw a product on the shelf or its website. No, the company makes it into an event. Apple builds anticipation months in advance, so much so that people are willing to camp out in front of stores for weeks to be the first in line.

Do that. To learn how, read the definitive book on the topic, Launch by Jeff Walker.

8. Find a mentor.
The best way to cut your learning curve and achieve a specific result is to find people who’ve already achieved what you want and then model their behavior. Rather than try to figure it all out on your own, find someone who has already achieved what you want, determine how this person did it, model this behavior and make it your own.

While you might seek a relationship with a face-to-face human mentor, you could also hire a coach, read a book or articles by an expert or do web research. After some consideration, you may decide to make this your first step.

Schedule time to begin implementing these 7.1 steps, one at a time, and within months you can be enjoying the benefits, the perks and the financial security and freedom that comes from having multiple streams of income.

The Standard: The late Senator Otieno Kajwang’s second wife Faith Vivian Otieno claims she has been cut off by her husband’s family. She also says, her children are unable to access money raised by Kajwang’s friends for their education.

Kenyans recall how Faith bitterly stormed Lee Funeral home demanding to view her late husband’s body and the dignified silence at the funeral in Homa Bay that lit up social media and won her an army of supporters.

Three months on, she says her relationship with the family seems to have grounded to a halt after Kajwang’ died. For the past two weeks, Faith claims, she has been forced to beg and plead with Kajwang’s brothers to send school fee for her daughter, who cleared Form Four last year but can’t join college.

“What is painful is that a harambee was held to cater for the education of Kajwang’s children. Yet right now, my daughter is at home. She can’t go to school even though somebody somewhere has the money that was raised for the children,” states Faith. She accused the late senator’s brothers of frustrating her and playing hide and seek over her late husband’s estate.

“I had to fight for over three weeks to get some money from that family so that my son could go back to university. What’s wrong with these people?” posed Faith. After Kajwang’ died, there was a fundraiser which was meant to cater for children of the late Homa Bay during and Sh6.7 million was raised. She has never seen a penny, she claims.

She reveals that she met Kajwang’ in the early 1990s. “He just stopped me on the streets and we struck a conversation. He was a young lawyer back then who had nothing but ambition. At the time, I had just started a business which was picking up well. He later informed me that he was formerly married, but that his wife had left him and, therefore, he was single and searching.

He was witty, and I fell for him,” says Faith. She reveals that the first house she shared with Kajwang’ was bought through a Sh800,000 loan she took from her sister and slowly paid off. “It is the same house his brothers stayed in – house number 41, Phase Two, Komarock. They knew their brother had no money and that I was the one supporting everyone in that house. But now they have turned their backs on me as if I was merely Kajwang’s girlfriend. I am his legal wife,” says Faith.

Kajwang’ traditionally married Faith in 1993 in a ceremony called nyombo (dowry), after paying 12 cows and Sh60,000, when his first wife Rose left for the UK. It is said that Cord leader Raila Odinga was among those who accompanied Kajwang’ to pay dowry.

“All I want is upkeep and school fees for the children. I am tired of fighting. They would not even let me view my husband’s body. They didn’t even acknowledge my children. My children were so embarrassed because they were being treated like lepers during the funeral, as if they were bastards.

“I was married to Kajwang’ for 19 years and we got two children – Christie, who just completed high school, and Ronnie Odinga Otieno, 19, who is in university. I wonder what those men want to do with the money. “I am the one affected most because I lost a husband and my children lost a father.

Those men are all independent and all of them are in gainful employment. Why are they fighting a widow and her children?” asks Faith. She says her in-laws have been referring her to Rose, Kajwang’s other wife. “What business do I have with Rose? I wasn’t married to her, and I didn’t have children with her. The only thing we have in common is the fact that we were both married to the same man.

The Standard: It’s over. Sarika Patel and her ‘Bukusu Darling,’ Timothy Khamala have called it quits. The romantic fairy tale of a girl from a wealthy Indian family who got married to a Bukusu ‘hustler,’ caused a national storm when they got married against Sarika’s parents’ wishes.

When the story broke, the couple received overwhelming goodwill and were even offered jobs at a local sugar firm. But she now accuses Khamala of harassing, insulting and mistreating her, resulting in their ‘divorce.’

“When I fell sick, he did not bother to take me to hospital instead his parents took me to the local hospital. Besides, he has been abusing me physically,” said Sarika amid sobs. She is now full of regrets for defying her parents.

“I regret having defied my parents and got married against their wishes. I am so sorry. I hope they would accept me back home,” she said.

The fourth-born in a family of five has made up her mind to go back to her family and vowed never to engage in a relationship again. But she says her father, Chabbadia Patel, has given her conditions.

“My parents do not trust me anymore. They have asked me to stay with a family friend as I make up my mind whether I really want to reunite with them,” said Sarika Patel.

Sarika Patel fears her Asian community may find it hard to forgive and accept her back as she did not listen to them when she was ‘hotly’ in love with Khamala. “I wanted to be a role model to other Indians who are in relationships with other Kenyans. But it did not work. I have failed terribly,” she said.

Sarika Patel said her problems started when she fell sick. “It was not my fault that I fell sick. He did not take me to hospital. When things got worse, he told me to call my parents to take me to hospital,” she recalled.

Sarika’s brother came and “Khamala and his first wife handed me over to my brother. He told me to get married in future and that was the end of our marriage,” recalls a tearful Sarika Patel. She says her experience has made her vow to soldier on with life without engaging in any other relationship and advises youths to think twice before making life-changing decisions.

“I have learnt a serious lesson the hard way. I will focus on my life and pray that my parents trust me and accept me back. I want to travel overseas to visit my sisters and have a peace of mind,” she says.