Umbusi Ziqalo Blog

Leadership is not part of Management, but management is part of leadership. We must move away from the term management, because if you are a manager, you are presumed to also being a leader. Actually, Management is a subset of leadership. Management is a room within a leadership house, where non living items or "things" are planned, counted and controlled. Management has nothing to do with people. We must join our ranks, and call leadership by its right name, Leadership. When we give a leader their responsibility list, they may or may not include, managing. Umbusi Ziqalo is a Speaker and Thought Leader in Transformational Leadership and Personal Mastery.

Yesterday's sunshine is no guarantee that today it won't rain. The successes of yesterday, can be an enemy of tomorrow's progress. I am in awe of such terms, such as "Good is the enemy of great" "God hates your last success" "Celebrate briefly, and move on" It is as if life knows and is in fact acutely aware of the curse of past successes.  Imagine, just imagine. Imagine a world where there was no competition, but cooperation. A world full of 7,7 billion geniuses, who are individually competing against "yesterday", and not against other geniuses. In reality, how in the first place, do you even begin to compete with genius? We need a world where men and women are striving to become better than yesterday, achieving constantly a version of themselves that surpasses their individual yesterday, true to principle, fairness and equity. Your greatest enemy is your last success. Umbusi Ziqalo is a Speaker and Thought Leader in Transfo...

Professionalism is about building and preserving your Personal Brand within the professional space. The question we need to ask is, to be or not to be, emotional and cry victim in the professional space? I guess the those who have the authority and financial muscle could allowed to cry victim and from time to time, become emotional at work. They can, because of the Orwellian observation, that some are more equal than others. The victim mentality? Well to some in the professional space, it is one of those things, because of power distance. For you and me, only show your passion and emotion for your work, and leave everything else at home. From victim ... run from it as it were leprosy. Umbusi Ziqalo is a Speaker and Thought Leader in Transformational Leadership and Personal Mastery in South Africa.

Adaptation, reflection and stewardship are forward-looking life lessons. Jean-Claude Biver, a man who has faced many challenges, encountered his biggest personal hurdle in the midst of one of his biggest successes. He fell ill while working on the TAG Heuer Connected watch – a transformative partnership between Swiss luxury and Silicon Valley. After 45 years at the top of watchmaking, rather than discarding the mantle of leadership, he has embraced a new form of it, understanding that we are not limited by age. Although Biver has stepped away from the day-to-day business, he insists on giving back. Not only by supporting his corporate successors and his mentees, but also by sharing his enthusiasm for lifelong learning with younger people. He recently sat down with me to discuss his life change and adaptation, reflection and stewardship. Adaptation As a veteran of both large and small luxury brands, Biver spent the past few years before his retirement reaching out ...

The Homosapien (Latin for Wise-Man) , has been known like this for more than 250 years. Humans are often asked what they are, in the final analysis, what is their core? You are not your biological fuculties. Let's look at what i call the five levels of humanity. Leve1 - The Emotional Faculty (World of Simulus, Sense Receptors, and Reactions) a) Humans possess five senses These are triggers of your emotional faculty (touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing). The senses basically receive stimuli from your environment, and generally followed by a reaction.  You are not your emotions. Meaning, Don't do things based on the force of emotion, the force of habit. b) Humans possess a higher order sense You are defined therefore, by your choices, your higher order faculties of judgement and discretion.  The greater sense called discernment, being able to not react, and do wrong, but to stop yourself and do right. After some time, this quality decision, repeated again and again, be...

TECHNOLOGY MONDAY: How companies can use five levers to regulate online user engagement over time. In June 2018, the World Health Organisation added gaming addiction to its International Classification of Diseases. That the WHO would place video games alongside alcohol, gambling and illegal drugs reflects a rising social concern over their impact, specifically as regards boys and young men (the majority of so-called “core gamers” – those for whom gaming is more than a casual pastime – are males under 35). Why now? Video games have been around for decades, but experts say the new breed is precision-tooled (often with the help of psychology experts) to encourage compulsive use. Social media operates in much the same dopamine-driven fashion, drip-feeding enthralled users doses of digital happiness in the form of likes and retweets. Today’s games are also much more technologically sophisticated than their 20th-century forebears, offering an entryway into ...

Belief is not an emotion, but a Universal Law. Regardless what you believe, the universe has the resources for you, the raw material for your belief, exists in abundance. This is not some voodoo magic or some transient spiritual thing. It is what the universe offers. Someone needed warmth and to cook, fire was discovered. Take note, fire did not get invented at that point, it was always there, the oxygen, the air and a spark (ignition). What your soul yearns for, and you believe in it, will happen. The raw materiel exists. Disregard therefore, your doubt and emotions of helplessness, and start doing three things. One, feed your belief by doing exactly what is resonates within you. Secondly, try new things, the universe has the material. Thirdly, accept failure as part of the journey. Umbusi Ziqalo is a Speaker, Author and Thought Leader in Transformational Leadership and Personal Mastery in SA.

It is a calling, you are the solution the world needs, you are Relevant and Required. However as beautiful as it may sound, understand that it is a crucible, this leadership "thing". Many occupy high and comfy positions, driving and flying in opulence. But do not be deceived, they have, and continue to, pay the price that is Leadership. I guess the idea of leading, without the willingness to make sacrifices, is a falacy, and true leadership has a tendency to demand, at times, even the life of its advocate. Umbusi Ziqalo is a Speaker and Thought Leader in Transformational Leadership and Personal Mastery.

Whether you become a fan or a genius, is entirely up to you. You were designed with genius in mind, not to become a follower. You are called, designed for a calling, not for a qualification or promotion. These are man-made. In you, is an awesome beast, a freak of natural genius, waiting for release and service delivery. Umbusi Ziqalo is a Speaker and Thought Leader in Transformational Leadership in South Africa.

The human mind exists in a limited skull physically, but has the unlimited capability to visit any place, idea or dimension. We have a responsibility to expand our thinking, our beliefs and our truth(s). Successful humans are those who can self-critic, self-correct and self-expand. All this happens within our ocean of thinking, an abyss of potential. We do so much to keep the waters of this deep abyss, and so less to dive deeper into the unfathomable and uncharted territories of the ocean of our thinking. Commit yourself to doing something new every week, meeting a new person every month, going to a new place every year and going to a new country every 5 years or so. The proverbial stepping out and away from the comfort zone is true. Step out of your comfort, into the vast and great deep sea of new thinking and exploration. Expand your thinking, expand your Universe. Umbusi Ziqalo is a Speaker on Leadership and a Life Coach in South Africa

We see others through our bias, whether positive or negative bias, nevertheless, its still our bias. We never see others as they are, but we see them as we are. This phenomenon delivers a dilemma, because we then realise that, our bias colours everything. Our bias, is how we think we are, and how we think the world should be, and therefore, our potential. We can never become, until we unthink, unlearn, unbelieve, so that we can re-think, re-learn, believe anew. It is then that our potential has a chance. Umbusi Ziqalo| Author and Speaker on Leadership in South Africa

It seems that leadership has deteriorated to who has the money to secure support, secure in this case meaning "buy" support. I accept that leadership is a contested space, and it shouldn't be.  We have the systems such as voting and proportional representation, etc, simply for the sake of peace and fairness. In reality, no one can elect you to leadership. It is embedded already within you. Public elective systems as we know them, are then riddled with money and buying of support, precisely because, once you can elect someone to leadership, you can control them. How did you get your leadership position? How were you elected? Would you continue if you were not going to be paid? Why do you want more responsibility? It is impossible to lead, when you are elected/voted. Human beings were sent to planet earth to exercise their vision, purpose, conviction, passion and influence.  We were not designed to be elected. Umbusi Ziqalo| Author and Speaker on Leadership

Entitlement that is offered, is better than entitlement that is demanded. We call God by His name, whichever name suits our conversation, we even call Jesus by name, those who are Christians. Yet, we seem uncomfortable calling mere mortals by name, simply because of culture, power, age, gender, standing in society, academic accolades. I am distraught at men and women, who insist on being called by their titles, yet they have not "earned" their title in deeds. Entitlement, in its pure unadulterated form, is when people refuse to call you by name, in recognition of what you have done to improve their lives. Entitlement that is offered, is better than entitlement that is demanded. Have you earned your title? Umbusi Ziqalo| Author and Speaker on Leadership 

In a time of Ai and Big data, when we seem to be standing at the cusp of the 4th Industrial Revolution, we seem to be connected and online in most places. Wifi seems to be working just fine everywhere we go nowadays, in areas that do have wifi. I guess the question is, how connected are we to each other? The question asked differently, how connecting are we, with each other? We have never been more tech savvy, and internet connected as we are today, yet we are growing further apart, even though we are online. Are you connected? Or are your simply online?

Managers are not Leaders, and leaders are not managers. Definitions: 1) Managers by definition are concerned with maintenance of the status quo, x-amount of resources that are spent according to agreed budget . To A Manager, Profit comes before People. 2) Leaders are concerned with the development of people, with the sole purpose of creating a space or platform for those people to migrate from Victimhood to Victorhood. To a leader, profit comes because of people. 3) People who are managed are Victims Victims by their nature are: ✖they need instructions ✖they don't take Innitiative ✖they blame others ✖they are never wrong ✖they have haters ✖they are demotivated ✖they are proud ✖they have no energy ✖they are not ready for work ✖they are never punctual ✖they do not have journals for reflection ✖they have a negave attitude ✖they have self-entitlement ✖they hate the uniform ...

Nobody appreciates the Scaffolding After the building is completed, no one cares about the Scaffolding. The ugliness and the unsightly look of the Scaffolding produces the beauty of the building The power of any building, its beauty and aesthetic prowess, dependson the Scaffolding. What are the Scaffolds in your life, that you seem to have forgotten about. Those scaffolds are sometimes people, families, companies and communities... Appreciate the Scaffolds #UmbusiThoughtLeadershipCo #Speaker #CorporateSpeaker #Author of #TheArtandScienceOfLeadership and #TheLeadershipJournalForReflection

It is probably the most powerful force in your intangible constitution, your emotions. Wars are started by them, ego rides on the wave of emotion. Relationships are started and abruptly ended on their account. You are however not your emotion, you may be known through them, their highs and lows, but you are definately not them. The next time they kick in, do not allow them, if they will make you do something you will regret. Use your emotions, to transmit powerful information, but don't be used by them. You are not how you feel. You are HOW you use them. #UmbusiThoughtLeadershipCo #Speaker #CorporateSpeaker #Author of #TheArtandScienceOfLeadership and #TheLeadershipJournalForReflection

I guess if you have never been betrayed ... The very topic or title of this blog, is problematic to those, who have done nothing of significance, in this life, to warrant or qualify for BETRAYAL. Yes ofcourse, you have to be special to qualify for it, indeed, to even have a space in the "betrayed economy" How do you qualify? 1) Be Yourself, Ask no Favours 2) Be About You and Your Vision 3) Be Prepared to suffer for Your Vision 4) Be Prepared to die for Your Vision If they have not betrayed you YET... just be faithful and strive for excellence, it will come. UmbusiThoughtLeadershipCo #Speaker #CorporateSpeaker #Author of #TheArtandScienceOfLeadership and #TheLeadershipJournalForReflection

Common Management Mistakes to Avoid Like the Plague Sales managers bring together the skills and talents of sales reps and channel them to realize the company’s sales goals. As leaders, they sift through all sales activities, spot the gems and the kinks, and report their findings up the company totem. In the same vein, the sales manager is in charge of making sure the company’s vision is realized in practical action as they lead. It’s not uncommon that sales managers who don’t fit the job or don’t push for continuous development lag so severely that a big chunk of the sales organization suffers. If you’re a sales manager, you know that small mistakes add up. That said, it’s your task to ensure that you do what it takes to make your team better while making yourself better. Here are some common sales management mistakes you have to watch out for. Poor time management In sales, from reps to leaders, time management is a...

You’ve probably had (or you currently have) a bad manager. This is a person that falls into some of the classic “managerial traps:” Authoritarian, manages your every move. Stubborn, not willing to listen to suggestions, “my way or the highway”. Only provides negative feedback, ignores positive results (or takes credit for them)Never at fault, blames everyone else – or everything else. Good at the technical aspects of the job, terrible at the people-oriented aspects (or bad at both!) Whether because managers don’t want to be managers, they weren’t given enough training in being a manager, or they are simply losing a battle against their own inner demons, we – as employees – don’t care why our managers are bad, we just want them to get better. Better management is a perfectly reasonable expectation in today’s workplace. Based on the title of this article, however, you can probably guess at (and I’m willing ...

The Leadership Determinant:   Identity “We view ourselves, others, and the world at large, as we view ourselves” Identity is basically Your self-image and is the light through which you view yourself, others and the world at large.   Now imagine for a moment, if that light was dim, lacking enough strength and brilliance.   It would mean that the light you are using is dim and not effective in showing you everything you needed to see, discover and work-on in your life. When the light in a room or environment is not enough, it becomes difficult even to perform simple tasks and look for objects that are hidden. It is the same with self-image, if your self-identity is dim and not so important, that is how you will tend to see yourself, and your life-programme, as well as the significance of others will be greatly diminished in your considered or not so considered viewpoint. Here are some important points about Identity; Your potential is forev...

The Daily Chores of A Leader Keep doing it, keep at it. Keep doing the things that make you the leader, like coaching, motivation, mentoring, directing for results, being humble and being disciplined. What will produce the results is the daily consistency, the weekly monitoring and the monthly targets. Leadership happens over a course of time, not in a day. Umbusi Ziqalo is a Speaker and Life Coach on Leadership and Personal Mastery in South Africa. He is the Author of the personal mastery book called: The Leadership Journal For Reflection (2019)

Is your job going to be there 5 years from now? The proverbial "hunter vs hunted" stands out when i think about how cetain jobs were high up on the demand list, compared to today when actually rank lower in demand than an uber driver job. It seems to me that the technology aligned and dependent jobs are moving up the demand list. What will you do if your skills set, God forbid, becomes redundant. The degree or diploma you passed a decade ago, was simply a spring-board ... the best of challenges are simply ahead of you. At some point you were the hunted, you were on demand for your skills,  now it seems, all of a sudden, you are becoming the hunter. Umbusi Ziqalo| Author| Speaker| Thought-Leader|

UK data find the mental well-being of Uber and Deliveroo drivers to be surprisingly good. Around the world, Uber drivers encounter wage and security worries, Deliveroo workers have too much competition, Airbnb owners face problems in Paris and other cities. But rather than a dark cloud over the heads of those self- and/or temporarily employed in the gig economy, recent data unexpectedly show that they are about 33 percent more likely to self-report positive traits in terms of mental health. Given the many stories we have read, it seems like a counterintuitive result. But, in a working paper with Bénédicte Apouey (Paris School of Economics-CNRS), we found that the self-employed gig workers in the United Kingdom score higher across a range of psychological well-being measures than workers in the mainstream economy. Meanwhile, gig work in the UK is surging in an environment with low unemployment (under 4 percent in 2...

TODAY'S REFLECTION: In politics, leadership means perception. You remain in political power through fixing people's perception of you. This is Political Leadership, where perceptions of the constituency are the currency of influence. True Leaders are Humble and Honest. In other words, they are willing to help others, and suffer personal loss for their convictions. Leadership is not legal and political correctness. Umbusi Ziqalo| Author and Speaker on Leadership|

PROFESSIONAL THURSDAY: Empathy is like a muscle – use it or lose it. Reading a novel about grief and looking at contemporary artworks may sound like part of a liberal arts education or languid diversions of people of leisure. Of late, MBA students at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business are also engaging in such pursuits in the name of empathy. Empathy training, to be exact. Before you dismiss it as woo-woo, Tepper’s programme is only one of the latest entrants in the growing drive to incorporate empathy in the workplace, as study after study attest to the benefits of empathetic offices even though they are far from being the norm. Empathy is seen as helpful to every aspect of business, from management and relationship building, negotiation and conflict resolution, sales and productivity, to customer loyalty. The top 10 companies in the Global Empathy Index 2015 increased in value more than twice as much as the bottom 10 and genera...

What type of leader do you aspire to be? What is the specific development objective you want to achieve to support this? What are the specific behaviours that are preventing you from being such a leader and achieving your development goal? [Consider the absolute radical opposite of those behaviours] What concerns and fears do you experience when imagining yourself exhibiting these opposite behaviours? What positive emotions, feelings or thoughts are you likely to experience if you achieved the development goal you are seeking? What personal characteristics or experiences could explain why you would feel either the  positive or negative ways? Umbusi Ziqalo| Author| Speaker & Thought Leader|

Personal Mastery As a Teacher of Personal Mastery, i often meet people who desire greatness, away from what they are currently doing.  Read more on this topic from my book The Leadership Journal For Reflection by Umbusi Ziqalo In other words they have what they do now, daily in their jobs, and then they have the other which they yearn for. The sad fact is that this yearning comes from a sense of incompleteness and inadequacy, emanating from not knowing why you do what you do. So then, let me ask you the question, why do you wake up everyday and do what you do? what drives you to such activities? You might want to check your step, is it aligned to your heart's desire? are you going to be fulfilled after a long day doing what you do right now? Some suggestions from me: Purpose - you need to find the reason you were sent to planet earth Natural Gifts - the assignment you were sent to do is embedded in your natural gifts Vision - Your desire for the future is good...

Leadership is Not the Position of Leadership It seems so simple, yet to many a leader it is not.  The Leadership Space or Position of Authority, is not Leadership. Put in other way, Leadership is not the Position, but the Person's attitude towards the position that they occupy. Leadership is the mindset, yes, the mindset and not the authority-set.  Leadership is not the tools of authority nor the vicinity of power. Making conversation with the powers that be, and actually executing their wishes and whims, is not leadership. It is exactly that, executing the mandate of the powers that be. Leadership is a nuance, it is not obvious to the casual observer.  It is concerned with the future, by inspiring the present, using lessons from the past. I challenge you to consult a book called The Art and Science of Leadership by Umbusi Ziqalo, and begin a journey of unlearning, so that you can learn true leadership.

We live in a World of Many Voices, filled with Many Choices, and on a daily basis we are confronted by decisions that are either praiseworthy or precipitous. In our daily decisions ... is there any value in being authentic? I guess the challenge for me is the depth of your authenticity.  In other words, what really measures your authenticity is, How much do you stand to loose if you are to be strictly authentic? Many a leader out there lead a life of expediency and compromise.  What will this or that do for me? What will i gain by being authentic, genuine and truthful? Some even go the victim route.  They remark "i have seen what happens to authentic people in organisations, they never last long" Perhaps this is true, perhaps not. But the centrality of this topic is truly entrenched in the depth and height of what you stand to win or lose by being authentic. Umbusi Ziqalo| Speaker| Author| Thought-Leader