THE BONDAGE OF FREEDOM

For the past few weeks, the focus has been on Nelson Mandela. He is credited for the significant role he played in securing freedom for many South African citizens. All of his efforts paid off when he was released from prison and made President but that is not the end of the story because freedom for South Africa brought about a bondage of enormous responsibilities for him because what Mandela is celebrated for today is not what he did be.

I remember watching a movie and part of it was about a man that spent most of his adult life in prison and all he dreamt of was freedom and finally, he got released and discovered that life outside the prison walls was a thing of horror. In prison, the only persons he had to be bothered about were the wardens but outside of it, was the tax collector, the employer, the landlord, the doctor and non-existent family members to mention a few. To put himself out of this misery, he committed suicide.

I also remember growing up and all I wanted to do was to know how to drive. I got so obsessed with the idea of driving that I watched in awe as my dad drove. I mastered all the movements of his hand and his legs, eventually, I was permitted to go to driving school, passed and got my driving permit and finally I was glad at the idea that I could drive but before I could celebrate this freedom, I discovered the bondage of Lagos traffic where it could take 1 hour to cover a distance of 100 meters and I just can’t abandon the car and take a walk to my destination.

The fact that countries have fought for and gained independence only to discover they could not bear the burden of infrastructural and economic development is evidence that along with freedom comes the bondage of responsibility. This implies that it is not enough to work hard to achieve our freedom; we even need to work harder to live up to the responsibility of freedom.

Nelson Mandela came out of prison knowing that he was free but still, he had to be responsible being President did not give him the right to dehumanize a fellow human being even when he was dehumanized by fellow human beings. His acts of responsibility made him one of the greatest leaders the world has produced till date. 

Freedom does not make you truly free, it makes you truly responsible. You have the freedom of speech but it does not give you the right to hurt people with the words from your mouth, you have freedom of movement but your movement should not hinder others, your freedom to buy a gun does no give you the right to kill at will, our wealth should not be used to dehumanize the poor, our strength should not be used to dehumanized the weak, our knowledge should not be used to dehumanize the ignorant.

Freedom gives Power and if there was anything I learnt from Spider man, it’s that “with great power comes great responsibility” therefore, with great freedom comes great the great bondage of responsibility.

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Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time

 This reminds me of my younger years. The statement meant I was about to listen to a story. A story of success or that of failure, one with a happy ending or a sad one; above all, I learnt one ultimate lesson. Time eventually sorts everyone out.

It is commonly said here in Africa that 20 children do not play together for 20 years. It is because time automatically creates levels and as some children move up to higher levels some move down of course to lower levels. Something worthy of note about time is that it does not tolerate stagnancy you are either improving or getting worse, amassing wealth or losing it. Time enormously rewards those who use it judiciously and punishes those that waste it.

I lost my grand mum a day into the New Year. It was quite a heavy loss to me. She was aged 89 and had seen a lot in those fruitful years even though she spent the last decade of her life in blindness. She taught me this vital lesson about life;

Wasted time can never be regained and what we call “time enough” often proves “little enough” - unknown.

She never saw her blindness as a disadvantage or an opportunity to just sit in some room and idle away. She made good use of every minute. Being a teacher in her earlier years she taught we her grand children to be the best in whatever we do and to make the best use of time and never to waste time wishing our condition were better but to make the best of everything and every time we had.

She fostered unity of purpose and instilled Godly virtues in her children, was an inspiration to those without the family and a provider to not a few families.

Do you love life, do not waste time, for that is the stuff life is made of and in using time, never confuse being busy with productivity as many have wasted their productive years by “being busy” doing the wrong and unnecessary things that do not count.

How much more than necessary do you spend in sleep, forgetting that “The sleeping fox catches no poultry and the sleeping Jonah is unaware of the damage he causes everyone on the boat?” Failing to realize that there would be enough of sleep in the grave - unknown.

All I can say now is that once upon a time, the world’s greatest grand mum walked the face of planet earth.

Today presents you with another “once upon a time” opportunity and its left for you to decide what people read and say about you tomorrow.

Wake up and maximize your time, once upon a time Bill Gates envisioned Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook, Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed Google. Today these discoveries are an essential part of our everyday lives.

Lessons in Externalities from the Entertainment Industry

An externality (this is an economics term by the way) is a cost or benefit that is not transmitted through the prices of goods and services in that it is incurred by a party who was not involved as either a buyer or a seller of the goods or services.

Please take note that when cost is incurred, it is regarded as a negative externality and when benefits are given, it is regarded as a positive externality. In both cases, prices do not reflect the full costs or benefits of producing or consuming the products or services.

This means that when producers can produce goods and services at a fraction of the cost, they over produce and in turn under price the goods and services. And when they discover that the goods and services are delivered at less than the overall benefit gained, they tend to under produce and over price.

Now, lets go back to the entertainment industry with particular reference to Music.

When an artist works hard at a song for over a year and releases a hit track (without knowing it) and put it on the internet and a random guy who did not pay for studio sessions or crack his brain to create the lyrics picks up the song at the least cost, he tends to over produce the song on CD's and under price it to sell as many as possible. This is a negative externality.

When artists decide to shoot music videos and need girls to dance half naked in their videos and they discover that there are many ladies willing to do so at the least cost, there is some form of over production in that too many ladies now appear in the video that none of them will ever really get recognized or celebrated and of course, they will be under priced. This is a negative externality.


When musicians attend live shows and discover that the organizers are charging up to a million naira for a common table (okay, its covered with table cloth at least), and people are willing to pay, then immediately, they discover that they are actually giving more benefits than just producing songs (concerts are some peoples on source of happiness, the opportunity to show they have arrived, the means by which some companies reward their staff, some ladies would do anything to attend, some guys would have low self esteem if they don't attend) then, the artists (actually, their MBA managers) after discovering all these additional would automatically under produce and over price. Thats how one musician asked me a student to pay 1.5 million for a 15 minutes performance (100,000 naira per minute). This is a positive externality.

Then the creation of the iPod by Apple computers that made music readily available in unbelievable volume to the consumers which came at a huge benefit in the sense that one could now buy only the tracks that he or she liked. You can only appreciate this if you ever used a walkman or a discman and of course, the guys at Apple under produced and over priced. This is a positive externality.

So, it's your turn;

1.) When you listen to music on the radio without paying for it, is it a positive or negative externality?
2.) When communication service providers pay artists to appear on their call cards, is it a positive or negative externality?
3.) When young men and women collapse at a concert because of an artist, is it a positive or negative externality?
4.) When teenagers take to drugs, illicit drinking, reckless dressing, carrying of arms, vulgar language and premarital sex owing to examples is it a negative or positive externality?

Remember, its about the cost or benefit to the third parties.


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Marriage Lessons in a Mergers & Acquisition Class

Just when I expected to hear talk on FRICTO analysis, Exotic Financing schemes, Human resource restructuring, cost efficiencies, assets, liabilities, tax benefits and the like, the facilitator starts by asking a question that changes the direction of the class and of course lightened every form of M&A tension.

Is Marriage a Merger or an Acquisition?

Now this question got the class into a heated argument for the next 10 minute with the guys referring to Marriage as an Acquisition and the ladies referring to Marriage as a Merger and some ladies even added the third dimension of 'A hostile Take Over' and some guys came up with the fourth dimension on 'A Leveraged Buy out'. Of course, everyone had different reasons for their answers and just before the session got out of hand, the facilitator interrupts and gives the much needed additional information.

In Marriages;
1.) A bride price is paid
2.) One surname is changed to another

Then the answer became obvious, Marriage is a/an .... no (I won't be lured into giving an answer), you answer the question yourself (I want no troubles with my future wife).



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THE FREE MODEL

Ever wondered why some stuff sell out while many other stuff do not even see the exterior of the shop in which they have been warehoused..

ANY IDEAS??

Well, before you start giving me all the Business school answers  such as innovation, superior customer service and the like let me tell you that the answer is far from all of that.. This answer is rarely found within the walls of a Business School.

So, lets take a walk into a religious centre.... The first stop is my Church *smiles*. Here, we believe in Jesus Christ who is the only son of God and was sent to earth to die for the sins of man and redeem him from the bondage of sin and death. After offering himself up as a great sacrifice, he offers redemption free of charge. All that we need do is accept Him as our Lord and saviour, become born again and we become free from the hold of death....ALL THESE FOR FREE.

No strings attached, no sacrifices, no hidden charges (at least for the upright worship centres)

Nothing sells like FREE stuff ... But when you are told that nothing goes for free, not even in Freetown, you had better believe it. The free in Christianity comes with huge responsibilities and in the world of business its not a different kettle of fish.

Many technology companies have built successful business empires around this business model that I would like to call the Free Model. It probably started with www.yahoo.com (but can you believe I was made to pay for opening my email in Nigeria), then companies like Facebook attained half a billion followers in a few years and Twitter was not a different story.

But there are TRUST issues coming up, issues of businesses selling the information of their users without their permission and the like.

So, here's my advice for both business owners (Adopters of the Free Model) and user (Benefactors of the Free Model);

Business Owners:
The Free Model is a smart tool for acquiring a large client base
Your job is to redefine the revenue model (advertising is such a lazy approach, try something else)
Respect the privacy of the users of your products or services
Avoid bad publicity
Trust is invaluable, never loose it


User:
The moment you accept free stuff, you accept to take primary responsibility of yourself
Never give away valuable information that could be used to harm you
Never forget that nothing in life is truly free



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4 Powerful Words From Don Meredith

DON'T STOP AT YOU

He commended the Lagos Team at the John Molson International Business Case Competition from Lagos Business School. He advised us to look outside ourselves and inspire others to be better. He stated that having had the opportunity to get a good education and represent our country and our Business School there are many other young ones out there that would do better in life with such opportunity and that it is our duty to help them by sharing our knowledge with them.

Don Meredith is a Senator representing the Canadian state of Ontario on the platform of the Conservative Party of Canada. He is also a man of God and the Executive Director and co-founder of the GTA Faith Alliance, an interfaith group that is dedicated to finding solutions to youth violence.  An active community and anti-crime advocate, the Reverend has been tireless in his work to counter gun and youth violence.  He has partnered with churches, police, politicians and communities to organize or participate in rallies and community events that work to find solutions to senseless violence.  His community activism has been honoured with awards such as the Urban Leadership Award from the Canadian Urban Institute (2006) and the Toronto Police Service 13 Division Community Service Award, from the Ontario Government (2008).

Don Meredith has served as co-chair of the Black Community Police Consultative Committee, a member of the York Region Police Chief's Advisory Council, a member of the York Regional Community Police Liaison and as a member of the RCMP Consultative Committee.  He is a member of the Toronto Police Service Chief’s Advisory Service and is a long-standing member of the B’Nai Brith Canada Special Advisory Council to the League for Human Rights. 

Don Meredith has been an entrepreneur and businessman for over 19 years.  He is the owner of Donscape Landscaping Services. The Reverend attended Ryerson University and holds a master’s degree from California State Christian University.  He is the Pastor of the Pentecostal Praise Centre in Maple, Ontario.  He is married to Michelle and they have two children

What I really do on the MBA Programme

This is what my grandma thinks I do on the MBA programme.

This is what my facilitators think I do on the MBA

This is what my Mentor thinks I do on the MBA 

This is what my childhood friends think I do on the MBA

This is what I think I do on the MBA program

This is what my Prof. thinks I do on the MBA program

This is what my parents think I do on the MBA program

This is what my girlfriends think I do on the MBA program

This is what my brother thinks I do on the MBA

This is what my best friend thinks I do on the MBA

This is what my business partners think I do on the MBA

What International students think I do on the MBA

What the Canadian Minister for Trade thinks I do on the MBA

This is what my colleagues think I do on the MBA

THEN I ASK MYSELF, WHAT DO I REALLY DO ON THE MBA??

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