My favourite line from President-Elect Joe Biden’s November 7 acceptance speech following the American election is this one, on the refusal over the last few years of Democrats and Republicans to cooperate with one another: “It’s not some mysterious force beyond our control,” he declared, “It’s a decision, a choice. So if we can decide […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-11-26 09:32:002020-11-26 09:32:00Embracing change is a choice we can make
Four years ago I wrote a column on the intergenerational challenges facing family businesses, admiring the way those who overcame such challenges did so while noting how too often the founder was reluctant to empower subsequent generations. I want to return to that topic today, thanks to the opportunity I have benefited from over the […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mikeeldon02_280.jpg404280artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-11-13 12:15:292020-11-17 08:31:37Professionalising family businesses
I was recently invited to be the guest speaker at a Toastmasters event, and perhaps not surprisingly it was on the subject of public speaking. For those not familiar with Toastmasters Clubs — of which there are 16,800 in 142 countries around the world, with around 250,000 members — they develop them as communicators and […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mikeeldon02_280.jpg404280artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-10-29 08:10:222020-10-29 08:10:22Toastmasters and the art of effective speech delivery
Even as many organisations continue asking for help with teambuilding, more recently change management has also gone mainstream. While the massive Covid disruption has brought change yet further front and centre, even before the pandemic spread around the world, the 21st century VUCA phenomenon of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity had confirmed constant change as […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-10-15 09:52:552020-10-15 09:52:55How to lead people in embracing change
As my readers are aware I am a great advocate for emotional intelligence, in which context I often talk about how we are sometimes challenged to separate how we feel from how we behave. This allows us to act in ways that keep our interactions and relationships positive, by finding the strength to overcome feelings […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-10-03 09:46:072020-10-03 09:46:07It’s wise to accept that you don’t have all the answers
OK, so you’ve served your two terms as a director, and now it’s time to give way to someone else. You’ve enjoyed being in all those board committee meetings with your fellow directors, and you have developed close relations with several of them. You also feel good about the value you have been adding to […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-09-17 10:32:172020-09-17 10:32:17How to make your board exit as smooth as possible
Just before all public events were cancelled earlier this year I was invited by the Women on Boards Network to run a session on building one’s brand as a board member. It was, as I expected it would be, a lively evening with over 50 bright, engaged women in the room. How fortunate we are […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-09-03 11:38:212020-09-03 14:29:04Building your brand for boardroom role
Ah yes, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) – they’re the hate speech guys aren’t they? The ones who hear our politicians stir up their supporters against those of their opponents, and then slap their wrists. Yes they are in business to hammer hate speech, and it’s definitely what the media love reporting on […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mikeeldon02_280.jpg404280artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-08-20 09:15:472020-08-20 09:15:47NCIC deals with much more than hate speech
As the government continues to work out an adequate and fair response to the huge rise in virus infections and accelerating death rate, out of the box thinking is required. Complete area lockdowns hurt socio-economic development, while clearly helping to reduce Covid-19 infections. Yet reduced development devastates incomes, especially of the poor who even find […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-08-10 10:21:202020-08-10 10:21:20Basic income, free face masks needed in the slums urgently
Over 40 percent of Kenyans have a bank account, and when one includes the use of mobile money over 80 percent enjoy access to formal financial services. Yet the penetration of insurance in Kenya stands at under 3 percent – and it is not rising. Understandably, many commentators therefore see huge potential for developing this […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-08-06 09:33:372020-08-06 09:33:37Hurdles that hinder growth of insurance scene
In my last column I wrote about John Ngumi’s quest for a vision of Kenya, one that will help us emerge from our national malaise and offer a national goal and purpose that can excite and focus us. Mr Ngumi worried that we live in a time of great cynicism and scepticism, with disbelief in […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-07-24 14:16:352020-07-24 14:16:35Let’s return to quest for a new vision
From time to time I am fortunate to be exposed to the highly thoughtful, well-informed and articulate WhatsApps of John Ngumi, and his most recent was one of his best. In it he asked for “an idea, a vision of Kenya, that will help get us out of our national malaise, will give us a […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-07-14 12:25:292020-07-14 12:25:29Why Kenya needs brand new vision
Last week I was invited by Prof Michael Hopkins to speak at one of his CSR Meetup events, these days inevitably online. Prof Hopkins has been running these for over ten years, and in different countries around the world. Now they are being co-hosted by Globethics, the Geneva-based global ethics network, and my topic was […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-06-11 09:02:502020-06-11 09:05:18Going about CSR in the tough time of Covid-19
Now that we all locked down at home, with much less to watch on television, many of us have been reading books that have for long been lying unopened on our shelves. I am certainly among them, and the first one that winked at me was The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump. I […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-05-28 09:06:022020-05-28 09:06:02Comparing books by Obama and Trump
(this was a presentation I gave on May 21, 2020 at the joint meeting of the Rotary Club of Nairobi with the Rotary Club of Kampala): It was 1978, and I had been living in Kenya for a year when an IT customer of mine, Bob Chase, invited me to join his Rotary Club of […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-05-23 06:39:502020-05-23 06:53:03The heritage we have built
After months of trying, our group of four is delighted that the government has taken its first steps toward guaranteeing a basic income for the poor and vulnerable population. The government has announced to the Senate Ad-hoc committee on Covid-19 that it has identified 250,000 households which will be put on a weekly stipend in […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-05-18 16:43:552020-05-18 16:43:55Basic income for Kenya slums – government rises to the challenge
I’m glad I’m not President Uhuru Kenyatta, nor CSs Mutahi Kagwe and Fred Matiang’i, nor Governor Hassan Joho and others who have the awesome responsibility of communicating with the rest of us in ways that get us to behave responsibly during the Covid-19 crisis. Like leaders everywhere in the world they must act neither too […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-05-14 08:30:452020-05-14 08:30:45Social cohesion critical in these perilous times
Much is being written about how the world will look after it has recovered from the coronavirus crisis. We have no idea about so many aspects of our social, economic and political futures, but one thing’s for sure: We won’t simply be going back to the way things were before the virus hit. The sudden […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-04-30 13:22:522020-04-30 13:22:52New world and cultures beckon after pandemic
The government, the private sector and others have been working hard to help the poor through offering food, medical supplies, sanitisers and other essential products. But there is increasing acceptance of the need for a basic income, that is cash transfers, for the 10 million poor people in Kenya’s slums as being the best approach […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-04-23 11:51:222020-04-23 11:51:22Roll out basic income for the poor in slums
At this time of national crisis I’ve been thinking about our national values – that long list buried deep in our Constitution. For the small proportion of Kenyans who may have forgotten one or two of them (pardon my sarcasm) here they are: Patriotism, national unity, the rule of law, democracy and participation of the […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mike.jpg400306artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2020-04-16 11:05:102020-04-16 11:06:43Let us focus on national values in Covid-19 times
Embracing change is a choice we can make
/in My Articles /by artkenyaMy favourite line from President-Elect Joe Biden’s November 7 acceptance speech following the American election is this one, on the refusal over the last few years of Democrats and Republicans to cooperate with one another: “It’s not some mysterious force beyond our control,” he declared, “It’s a decision, a choice. So if we can decide […]
Professionalising family businesses
/in My Articles /by artkenyaFour years ago I wrote a column on the intergenerational challenges facing family businesses, admiring the way those who overcame such challenges did so while noting how too often the founder was reluctant to empower subsequent generations. I want to return to that topic today, thanks to the opportunity I have benefited from over the […]
Toastmasters and the art of effective speech delivery
/in My Articles /by artkenyaI was recently invited to be the guest speaker at a Toastmasters event, and perhaps not surprisingly it was on the subject of public speaking. For those not familiar with Toastmasters Clubs — of which there are 16,800 in 142 countries around the world, with around 250,000 members — they develop them as communicators and […]
How to lead people in embracing change
/in My Articles /by artkenyaEven as many organisations continue asking for help with teambuilding, more recently change management has also gone mainstream. While the massive Covid disruption has brought change yet further front and centre, even before the pandemic spread around the world, the 21st century VUCA phenomenon of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity had confirmed constant change as […]
It’s wise to accept that you don’t have all the answers
/in My Articles /by artkenyaAs my readers are aware I am a great advocate for emotional intelligence, in which context I often talk about how we are sometimes challenged to separate how we feel from how we behave. This allows us to act in ways that keep our interactions and relationships positive, by finding the strength to overcome feelings […]
How to make your board exit as smooth as possible
/in My Articles /by artkenyaOK, so you’ve served your two terms as a director, and now it’s time to give way to someone else. You’ve enjoyed being in all those board committee meetings with your fellow directors, and you have developed close relations with several of them. You also feel good about the value you have been adding to […]
Building your brand for boardroom role
/in My Articles /by artkenyaJust before all public events were cancelled earlier this year I was invited by the Women on Boards Network to run a session on building one’s brand as a board member. It was, as I expected it would be, a lively evening with over 50 bright, engaged women in the room. How fortunate we are […]
NCIC deals with much more than hate speech
/in My Articles /by artkenyaAh yes, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) – they’re the hate speech guys aren’t they? The ones who hear our politicians stir up their supporters against those of their opponents, and then slap their wrists. Yes they are in business to hammer hate speech, and it’s definitely what the media love reporting on […]
Basic income, free face masks needed in the slums urgently
/in My Articles /by artkenyaAs the government continues to work out an adequate and fair response to the huge rise in virus infections and accelerating death rate, out of the box thinking is required. Complete area lockdowns hurt socio-economic development, while clearly helping to reduce Covid-19 infections. Yet reduced development devastates incomes, especially of the poor who even find […]
Hurdles that hinder growth of insurance scene
/in My Articles /by artkenyaOver 40 percent of Kenyans have a bank account, and when one includes the use of mobile money over 80 percent enjoy access to formal financial services. Yet the penetration of insurance in Kenya stands at under 3 percent – and it is not rising. Understandably, many commentators therefore see huge potential for developing this […]
Let’s return to quest for a new vision
/in My Articles /by artkenyaIn my last column I wrote about John Ngumi’s quest for a vision of Kenya, one that will help us emerge from our national malaise and offer a national goal and purpose that can excite and focus us. Mr Ngumi worried that we live in a time of great cynicism and scepticism, with disbelief in […]
Why Kenya needs brand new vision
/in My Articles, News /by artkenyaFrom time to time I am fortunate to be exposed to the highly thoughtful, well-informed and articulate WhatsApps of John Ngumi, and his most recent was one of his best. In it he asked for “an idea, a vision of Kenya, that will help get us out of our national malaise, will give us a […]
Going about CSR in the tough time of Covid-19
/in My Articles /by artkenyaLast week I was invited by Prof Michael Hopkins to speak at one of his CSR Meetup events, these days inevitably online. Prof Hopkins has been running these for over ten years, and in different countries around the world. Now they are being co-hosted by Globethics, the Geneva-based global ethics network, and my topic was […]
Comparing books by Obama and Trump
/in My Articles /by artkenyaNow that we all locked down at home, with much less to watch on television, many of us have been reading books that have for long been lying unopened on our shelves. I am certainly among them, and the first one that winked at me was The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump. I […]
The heritage we have built
/in My Articles /by artkenya(this was a presentation I gave on May 21, 2020 at the joint meeting of the Rotary Club of Nairobi with the Rotary Club of Kampala): It was 1978, and I had been living in Kenya for a year when an IT customer of mine, Bob Chase, invited me to join his Rotary Club of […]
Basic income for Kenya slums – government rises to the challenge
/in My Articles /by artkenyaAfter months of trying, our group of four is delighted that the government has taken its first steps toward guaranteeing a basic income for the poor and vulnerable population. The government has announced to the Senate Ad-hoc committee on Covid-19 that it has identified 250,000 households which will be put on a weekly stipend in […]
Social cohesion critical in these perilous times
/in My Articles /by artkenyaI’m glad I’m not President Uhuru Kenyatta, nor CSs Mutahi Kagwe and Fred Matiang’i, nor Governor Hassan Joho and others who have the awesome responsibility of communicating with the rest of us in ways that get us to behave responsibly during the Covid-19 crisis. Like leaders everywhere in the world they must act neither too […]
New world and cultures beckon after pandemic
/in My Articles /by artkenyaMuch is being written about how the world will look after it has recovered from the coronavirus crisis. We have no idea about so many aspects of our social, economic and political futures, but one thing’s for sure: We won’t simply be going back to the way things were before the virus hit. The sudden […]
Roll out basic income for the poor in slums
/in My Articles /by artkenyaThe government, the private sector and others have been working hard to help the poor through offering food, medical supplies, sanitisers and other essential products. But there is increasing acceptance of the need for a basic income, that is cash transfers, for the 10 million poor people in Kenya’s slums as being the best approach […]
Let us focus on national values in Covid-19 times
/in My Articles /by artkenyaAt this time of national crisis I’ve been thinking about our national values – that long list buried deep in our Constitution. For the small proportion of Kenyans who may have forgotten one or two of them (pardon my sarcasm) here they are: Patriotism, national unity, the rule of law, democracy and participation of the […]