Author: Nkozi Knight
Nkozi Knight is a finance expert with over 20 years of experience. He is a proud graduate of Marquette University where he also serves on their National Alumni Board of Directors. Nkozi is also a graduate of Marquette’s Future Milwaukee Community Leadership program. He is the owner of GreenHomeHub, Knight Investment Group, and Bodhi Photography Studios.
If you want happy workers, stop treating them like children
5 Ways to Shift from Manager to Leader
Sometimes I am working with a client and it hits me; although an individual holds the top position at their company they have not consciously accepted the role of “leader”. And as 
I’ve touched on here before, there’s a big difference between being a manager and a leader. A manager can oversee the operational side of a business – and often do it well. But, that’s only half the battle. Businesses require a visionary. They need someone who can envision what the future will look like and how the business will get there. And just as important is the skill to get share that vision and keep the business moving in the direction of the long-term destination.
The other truth that I’ve seen is that many business leaders are thrust into that position sometimes without asking for it or desiring it or even being ready for it. All of a…
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Seven Leadership Tips from a Public Speaking Champion
A picture that rendered me speechless, snapped at TED2015
26 Lessons Learned from Investing in 26 Startups
After yesterday’s post Investing in 100 Startups, several people asked me about the lessons learned from the 26 startup investments I’ve already made. Generally, startup investing is much harder and less glamorous than it sounds, but I really enjoy it — entrepreneurs have such great energy and enthusiasm.
Here are 26 lessons learned from investing in 26 startups:
- Entrepreneurs are always overly optimistic
- If anything seems fishy or out of the ordinary, immediately pass
- Any signs that the entrepreneur isn’t self-starting and resourceful, immediately pass
- Everything takes twice as long and costs twice as much
- Look for a pattern where the entrepreneur had already started a prior business, failed, and is at it again
- Lean startups are better than heavy startups
- Expect regular investor updates
- More traction reduces risk
- Lack of liquidity is one the biggest challenges
- Exits are few and far between
- Plan for 7-10 years before seeing a…
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Leadership
By Oula Kassir MPH
Michigan State University School of Public Health, East Lansing, MI
Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was a man who offered an inclusive vision for racial equality. He healed the division of society and built communities. He is vividly remembered as a great leader who believed that there are laws created by higher authority and others created by man and justice will not be served till both laws are even.
MLK made me realize that leadership could be interpreted and approached differently. I came to understand that leadership involves “inside out” awareness while individuals often think from the “outside in” aspect. In other words, individuals tend to know “what” they are doing but very few know or understand the“why” in relation to the purpose. Leaders, however, begin by understanding “why” and move toward what they need to do to fulfill their purpose. The civil right…
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Brand You! – Developing your online social presence.
Google yourself – don’t worry, no one’s watching and we won’t judge you! Were you pleasantly surprised, alarmed or was everything just as you expected? Most of us think we have no social presence online because we do not have any social media accounts but that can be far from true. If your search yielded no results, is that what you really want? Whether you work in sales or not, we are all in the sales business. We are constantly selling our services – skills, expertise, experience – or products and to do this we need to NETWORK. Think of social media as networking with the biggest audience possible – the whole world. In this article, we share how some of these social tools can be used to boost your professional presence and develop your unique and personal brand.
I (Amara) like to think of my social presence as not…
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Stephen Curry: The super cheap MVP
“Children are…
“Children are the embodiment of all that is right with the world. For a child sees the world in its purest form where all of God’s people are of equal value and ability.”
~Nkozi Knight
“The best executive is t…
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. ”
~ Theodore Roosevelt
10 Traits of Extraordinary Leaders
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
Although all leaders are different, the best leaders throughout our history exemplify key characteristics that set them apart making them extraordinary. The below list contains those traits that all extraordinary leaders have in common.
- Inspirational: They inspire others through their actions as well as their words often leading by example.
- Ethical: They display high moral character and are guided by ethical thought and actions.
- Consistent: They stick to the task at hand seeing it through until the end rarely wavering unless absolutely necessary.
- Executive Presence: They command attention when they enter a room and often make a great first impression with their communication and presentation skills.
- Great Delegators: Leaders who can identify the strengths in others that they lack in themselves and use those talents to their advantage often exceed their peers in performance.
- High Aptitude: Ability to recognize key issues and proactively address them prior to it becoming a major crisis.
- Adaptability: The ability for leaders to effectively navigate through change when there is no other alternative.
- Develops Others: Extraordinary leaders work to develop the talent in others through mentorship and volunteerism.
- Delivers on Promises: Great leaders stand by their word and give people the confidence that they will deliver on their message.
- Great Listener: Extraordinary leaders are also extraordinary listeners that look to fully understand issues, concerns, challenges prior to engagement.
References
Zenger, J. H., & Folkman, J. (2002). The extraordinary leader: Turning good
managers into great leaders. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Bevelin, P. (2012). A few lessons for investors and managers: From Warren E.
Buffett. Kansas City, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company
Tierney, M.A. (2012, October 4). Ready, set, lead: Making sure you are positioning yourself
for leadership. HPGM Conexiones
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Executive Presence: Proven Leadership Strategies for Corporate America
According to Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, “Really great people make you feel that you too, can become great.” This well-kept secret is the key concept of effective leadership and team management. Bringing the best out of others through inspirational leadership, team building, and effective communication will catapult you to the ranks of history’s greatest leaders.
Invest in your team members and they will in turn invest in your company. Inspirational leadership is inspiring your team members through active engagement by helping them to connect the dots between the work they do and the mission of the organization or company for which you work for. By bridging the gap for employees, you help them understand where they fit in the company and how that company fits into the outside world. Helping employees understand where they fit into the company is only half of the battle. An inspirational leader must also lead by example, exemplifying high character, moral and ethics in both a professional and personal setting.
Teams are often a representative of their manager and building a team in your image is critical to the success of a group. Of course this concept only works when the manager is a positive representative for the team and leads by example. Team building is imperative and gives employees the opportunity to get to know their manager and vice versa. Team building activities should include the entire group and be led by a committee of team members chosen by the manager. The key to the team builder is to get your team involved in the planning and the implementation of the event. Putting individuals into leadership roles among the team through the delegation of activities empowers them and gives them the desire to perform at a higher level. Team builders are not only engaging for team members but it also improves communication among the group.
Effective communication can be summed up in two simple words- active listening. Often times leaders fail to listen to the needs of those that look up to them and as a result their employees eventually tune them out. Listening to the needs of your employees will help you to determine their needs and what motivates them to perform at a high level. The top Fortune 100 companies understand the importance of investing in their leaders and implore training tailored to the vision and values of the organization. The relationship is often reciprocal in that the company that invest in the leader will in turn invest in his staff that benefits the organization and the community in which they service.
Urban Ecology Center- Riverside Park
I am always amazed when I find new and exciting places to visit here in Milwaukee Wisconsin, and Urban Ecology Center’s Riverside Park is one of those places. Made of 76% recycled material, the Urban Ecology Center “Green” building boast that it using rain water for all restroom purposes and is not connected to the Lake Michigan water filtration system, saving thousands of dollars a year. On the roof are solar panels that produce enough energy to sustain it for the summer months and get a rebate from Wisconsin Electric Energies (WE Energies). The hardwood maple floor is over 100 years old and was donated after the demolition of a nearby elementary school gym. The wraparound porch is made entirely of wood scraps of trees from Africa from the construction of the Atlantic City Boardwalk. Although the building is amazing, the best feature of the Urban Ecology Center is its people.
Led by the unassuming Executive Director, Ken Leinbach, the Urban Ecology Center has grown year after year as one of the key organizations designed to connect urban areas with the beauty of the outdoors. In just 10 years the organization has grown from a $50,000.00 annual budget to over $3 million dollars as of the 2011. To ensure that all of the employees of the Urban Ecology Center share the vision of the organization, they are required to go on a 3 day camping retreat with no access to technology while being immersed in nature. This helps drive the purpose of the mission and the importance of what they look to accomplish; improving the relationship between nature and the urban community while promoting green energy alternatives.
If you are interested in learning more about what the Urban Ecology Center has to offer, please visit their website at: http://urbanecologycenter.org/ for more information.
Nkozi Knight 