Investing in Africa – Page 2

Self-care could get you a hat-trick

Last week Monday, I exhausted every means possible to get a hold of a client involved in a deal I was spearheading. I emailed, called, texted, and left a voicemail, but he did not respond.

The next morning, he replied to my text apologizing for being unreachable since he was stuck in back to back meetings. He then suggested we set up a call for 5pm later that day. I asked for an earlier time in the day, but he was firm that he was only available at 5pm. This was a problem. I had a soccer game starting at 5:10pm, and knew our conversation would take at least 30 minutes. There was also a looming deadline, so it was critical we spoke soon. I had to decide whether to take the call at 5pm and risk missing the soccer game or reschedule the meeting to a different day and risk missing the deadline. Playing soccer brings me a lot of joy, and I also thrive on going above and beyond for my customers, so this was a difficult situation.

This dilemma reminded me of a conversation I had a few weeks back with my mentor. He encouraged me to prioritize self-care as part of my daily routine to live a more balanced life. He shared that more than exercising regularly, self-care is any activity that we deliberately do to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. According to Forbes, neglecting self-care means not knowing your worth. By making time for self-care, you “maintain a healthy relationship with yourself as it produces positive feelings and boosts your confidence and self-esteem.”

The common challenge with self-care is making adequate time for it. Tchiki Davis, Ph.D, author of Outsmart Your Smartphone, recommends twelve strategies to get started with self-care. To resolve my earlier dilemma, I relied on her “say no to others, and say yes to your self-care” strategy. Below is how she explains it:

Learning to say no is really hard; many of us feel obligated to say yes when someone asks for our time or energy. However, if you’re already stressed or overworked, saying yes to loved ones or coworkers can lead to burnout, anxiety, and irritability. It may take a little practice, but once you learn how to say no politely, you’ll start to feel more empowered, and you’ll have more time for your self-care.

I told the client that 5pm wouldn’t work since I had a soccer game starting at 5:10pm. I suggested we reschedule for the next day, and he accepted. In parallel, I worked to ensure we had enough runway so we could still meet the deadline.

The soccer game started promptly at 5:10pm, and by the end of the first half, my team was down 1 – 4. During the half time break, I encouraged the guys by reminding them we were better than our first-half performance. All we needed was to focus on getting one goal at a time. Within the first 5 minutes of the second half, I scored our second goal, getting us to 2 – 4. We made some technical changes, which allowed our team to score three more quick goals within ten minutes, putting us ahead at 5 – 4. I then added another goal with five minutes left in the game, putting the score at 6 – 4. Our opponents got a quick break and scored a goal with two minutes left, putting the score at 6 – 5. Knowing they would increase the pressure, I reminded the guys that offense is the best defense. Since our opponents committed more of their guys to attack, it left their defense vulnerable. We took advantage, and my teammate provided a perfect through pass. I then dribbled past two defenders before hitting the ball past the goalkeeper on his left side. The score was now 7 – 5, with twenty seconds left in the game. When the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of the game, we had managed to come back from three goals down to win the game 7 – 5. I thought to myself, had I taken the call and missed out on the game, I wouldn’t have been in a position to help my team and be a part of such a memorable comeback story.

The next day, the client asked about the soccer game, and I relived the drama all over again. Even better, we met the deadline, deepened our connection, and progressed our discussions. This experience was a reminder to prioritize self-care because it earns trust with clients and it is good for business.

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Use Data Analogy To Inspire Action

When asked what makes a great story, Beau Willimon, showrunner for House of Cards, gave a simple answer: “The most important element in a good story is conflict. It’s seeing two opposing forces collide with one another.”

As I have progressed in my sales career from selling T-Shirts as a college student to negotiating technology agreements as a Senior Enterprise Sales Executive, one thing remains consistent: a good story drives action. Trying to convince a broke college student to spend $25 for a T-Shirt required some artful storytelling. Displacing an incumbent and challenging the status quo means gaining executive consensus and painting a better future through stories.

Telling a good story requires knowing what makes a good story, and from the comment earlier, the most critical element in a good story is conflict. A known supporting cast in any good commercial story is data, which is also a catalyst for conflict and debate.

The key to using data in a story is that it needs to inspire action and accelerate decisions. In Nancy Duarte’s HBR article, she explains that for data to inspire action, they need to do more than make sense – they have to make meaning. If your audience can internalize the purpose of the data, it becomes more actionable, which leads to a faster decision.

Let’s assume you are trying to explain to your audience that your solution could save $2,000,000 over 12 months.

The HBR article shared three strategies you could use to have your data make meaning:

Connect data to relatable size – comparing length, width, height, thickness, or distance. Using our $2M in savings example, you could say to an audience in Seattle: two million dollars stacked up in one dollar bills is about the height of the Space Needle with some change to spare. Guess what happens when next they see the Space Needle from their downtown office? You guessed it, the two million dollars they could be saving with your solution.
Connect data to relatable time – we measure time in seconds, hours, minutes, days, months, and decades. Two million dollars comes out to $7,692 per working day, so each day we delay the decision costs the business $7,692 or $320 per hour or $5 per minute…a minute later in the meeting, you could interrupt yourself and say, wow, there goes five bucks, with a smile.
Connect data to relatable things – more digestible to relate to things people are familiar with. To an environmentally conscious decision maker in Silicon Valley, you could say: two million dollars could get you and your team of 20 engineers a brand new 2019, Tesla Model X. #SaveTheEnvironment (assuming they don’t already own one 🙂 )

When crafting a story, take advantage of opportunities to insert data into the storyline and use the strategies described above to master the art of having the data make meaning. If your audience understands the impact of your data, they would be inspired to use your meaning in internal discussions to navigate conflict, drive action and arrive at a decision in your favor.

Bliss selling!

FIVE Questions with Michael Amadi, Founder of Jikoro

Michael is a passionate entrepreneur focused on leaving a legacy that is filled with inspiration and courage. With the realization that “life is rented”, Michael approaches his mission to feed millions of people in a sustainable way with great enthusiasm and urgency. Although Jikoro as a company is still in its infancy (about 1 year old), the idea for the company has been gestating for years. Michael is putting to work his training as a scientist to build a company whose mission is to leverage technology to create products from palm oil that are less harmful to the environment and people. Essentially, creating a better product for tomorrow, today. The Agriscience industry in Africa is ripe for disruption as it is dominated by companies with antiquated technologies that also lack leadership when it comes to dealing with the realities of climate change.

Jikoro’s plans include leveraging technology to bring hydroponic farming to Nigeria and partnering with Universities to innovate on seed genomics.
In addition to building a company that outlasts him, Michael wants to create millions of jobs for talented youth in Africa who are yearning for the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families. Michael and his team at Jikoro have many exciting plans and their version of the future is filled with hope, determination, and courage.

Jikoro recently took first place in a business pitch competition organized by Umu Igbo Unite, at their 2019 annual conference in Minneapolis. I learned about Jikoro through the pitch competition and invited him to take part in the FIVE Questions series. I hope you are inspired and compelled to cheer on the team at Jikoro!

1. What is your unfair advantage as an entrepreneur and why should people want to do business with you?

I find this to be an interesting question because it illustrates in one aspect your fit and the other, characteristics of an entrepreneur. To appreciate my unique abilities, you would have to personally interact or shadow me for a day. You would quickly find out that I equally represent the Naija (Nigerian) hustle and accomplish my goals with a strategic mechanism. Nigeria is a unique country in dire need of multilateral solutions for all including men, women, and the youth. It’s estimated there are nearly 80 million youth ready to learn and work throughout impoverished regions of Nigeria. Throughout West Africa, a few small organizations are doing the best they can to be the change agents. However, to make the real impact it takes a collective of people and organizations. Jikoro LLC is ready to make the difference one-step-at-a-time, as our innovative strategies focus to eliminate the burdening hunger crisis and eliminate the technological barriers to entry. We are crafting a vision and creating opportunities for tomorrow, now. Our motto “Sustainable Agriscience for A Better Tomorrow”, today defines our innate hunger and desire to succeed. We should not lament and willow in stagnation; rather, let us be our own change agents. Our collective actions will be our unfair advantage.

2. What role has mentorship played in your journey as an entrepreneur and what’s your advice on how to seek out and foster relationships with mentors?

Either it’s this question or perhaps it’s the answer that goes on in life to be undervalued in its various forms. I’d have to say my journey as an entrepreneur is unique in experiences and achievement. Each day you wake up to face and overcome adversities through each stage and after each accomplishment. Mentorship is defined by the Oxford dictionary as, “guidance provided by a mentor, especially an experienced person in a company or educational institution.” The reality is that not everyone has a mentor to speak freely or directly to. Similar to myself, you may become indirectly motivated to take the first steps. Virtual platforms such as YouTube and findings on the internet are great tools for those seeking inspiration. However, I should caution everyone not to pay for free advice and stay focused exclusively on stories and interviews without the glam. Watching and learning from women who essentially created their career positions were my first exposure to entrepreneurship. While in college I started my path towards entrepreneurship with a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, which allowed me to expose myself to as many unknowns as possible. Prior to starting Jikoro, I was presented with the opportunity to meet a few CEOs in the field of biotechnology and other industries. If you are given a similar opportunity, write down a few questions you are going to ask the individual in a notebook or diary. Your goal is to learn about your future mentors’ critical thinking process, focus, and their past experiences (e.g., successes and failures).

3. Why is the cause you are pursuing or problem you are solving the most important for this generation and how can people support /help you move your cause forward?

Well around the world the average age of a farmer is 60 plus years, and in the continent of Africa 60% of the population are under the age of 25. Let’s focus on Nigeria, the most populous country with the largest economic factor (e.g., GDP) in Africa. Without the need of a microscope, youth unemployment and data representing the quality of life is dismal. Primarily such concern for poor health is due to unemployment, hunger, and inaccessibility to resources. While Jikoro is only an agricultural sciences and farming company, the potential of a robust agriculture industry should bring excitement, as the number of improved lives may be exponential. Our vision is to develop the next generation of farming technologies and food crops to feed a nation through science and development of a stable supply chain. Moreover, we are focused on eliminating the biotechnology barrier and innovating to produce bio-engineered oil seeds and specialty crops for advanced technologies (e.g., biofuels and affordable medications). When you do the math, innovation plus product, multiplied by scalability equals profitability in the business world. A profitable agriculture industry translates into new forms of income, resulting in affordability of key services (e.g., healthcare) and investments in infrastructure, such as roads and water systems. There’s a saying, “those who fail to plan, plan to fail” and so far, no one has been able to disprove planning. In all realness, hopefully, individuals with additional resources will pick up where we left off and learn from our mistakes. To succeed, we are utilizing the grassroots community business funding model, so donations, investments, and partnerships are welcome, as well as feedback and advice. If you really want to help, first check out Jikoro’s website (https://www.jikoro.international), then if you feel compelled, contact us by email. Remember, it takes a village.

4. Reflect on all of the key milestones or sacrifices you’ve had so far in building Jikoro to what it is today, which of these milestones or sacrifices would you say is the most pivotal and why?

Too many milestones but selling my car and investing the money into the business was the most pivotal sacrificial milestone. I woke up and said today is the day, now each day I remember moving forward is the only way to go. Today, I’ve obtained all the necessary permits and formed a few collaborations. Tomorrow, big data will be flowing in, new products will launch, and a new research team will be built from the ground up. All these milestones excite me and I look forward to achieving each one. You can stay up to date with our movements by following us on Instagram — @jikorollc

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice you’ve received that continues to be a source of inspiration in good times and challenging times?

Great question! Idioms and quotes are equally inspirational, from Mahatma Gandhi’s “Be the change you want to see in the world” to Maya Angelou being attributed with “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” During challenging times, I find myself going back to the advice I received as a kid and throughout college. If you are frustrated, go for a walk. Feeling disappointed? Remember the hundreds, if not millions, facing a tougher decision than you are. And most of all, communication is key. Stay in touch with family and friends; and remain focused on your vision. As for when all is well, be humble.

Kedu…Mr. & Mrs. Customer

A few days ago, I called my uncle who recently underwent knee surgery. Thankfully, he had good news to share. His pain had begun to subside and he was now able to move around. We prayed and laughed together, celebrating his progress.

During our conversation, my uncle shared an Igbo proverb:

Kedu ka i mere ga-agwo oria ma gi jiri obi oma juo ya.

Or in English – asking someone how they are doing can heal their sickness when you ask with a pure heart.

While sales was hardly the focus of our time together, the proverb struck a chord with me. The first half of the idiom is quite intuitive; it’s the second half that I found most poignant, so I’ll focus there.

“…when you ask with a pure heart.”

As sales executives, we are measured on the quantity and quality of our output. As such, we set our sights on delivering these outputs quarter after quarter – making more dials, qualifying more leads and closing more deals. The risk though of getting into this routine is that it’s all too easy to lose sight of the fundamental reason for all of this effort. At worse, our actions could become influenced by insincere motives, which inevitably leads to reduced customer trust and lost business.

With a pure heart, one can climb through layers of rejection and come out unscathed. Even when dealing with what may seem to be a difficult client, a pure heart takes a long term view and eventually earns the customer’s respect and signature. Essentially, a pure heart gets rewarded over and over. It’s also difficult to “act out” having a pure heart for an extended period. In due course, the movie comes to an abrupt end.

In my experience, asking with a pure heart means starting with the customer outcomes, not the product or the competition. If the customer doesn’t believe the intentions are genuine, then nothing else matters and your window of opportunity closes.

Developing Executive Presence

Earlier this year, I was invited to give a talk on Developing Executive Presence to a group of startup founders from Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, and Nigeria. Below are excerpts from my talk with corresponding slides. I hope you get some value from it.

I strongly believe a mastery of executive presence (EP) can help you close more business.

Executive presence starts with you. It requires you to work on your whole self.

From my research, the best definition of executive presence (EP) comes from Sylvia Ann Hewlett in her book “Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success”. She argues that EP rests on 3 pillars: How you act (gravitas), how you speak (communication), and how you look (appearance). Each pillar is somewhat interactive. For example, if your communication skills ensure that you can command a room, your gravitas grows exponentially; conversely, if your presentation is rambling and your manner is timid, your gravitas suffers a blow.

The numbers in each circle means something as well. Of the 268 executives she interviewed, 67% ranked gravitas as the most important pillar. Which means, “you know your stuff cold” and can go “six questions deep” in your domain of knowledge. Next is communication which is at 28% and appearance 5%. The low percentage for appearance explains why executives in Silicon Valley can get away with wearing T-shirts, shorts, and slippers, because they know their stuff cold and can speak to it with confidence and conviction.

Gravitas is the very essence of executive presence. Without it, you simply won’t be perceived as a leader, no matter what your title or level of authority, no matter how well you dress or speak. According to Senior Leaders and Executives, the top aspects of Gravitas are listed in the slide. For this discussion, let us focus on three aspects.

Confidence & “grace under fire” – When you think of any successful executive you know, it’s almost a given that you associate them with being confident and handling “pressure” with ease. If gravitas is the building, then self-confidence is the foundation. Executives want to deal with people who are confident and can handle pressure well because that is their world. When they meet someone with confidence, they are automatically attracted to that individual because they see a similarity.

Decisiveness & “showing teeth” – making difficult decisions is what we look to leaders to do. Executives have to be decisive and are responsible for making the toughest decisions. To sell to executives, you need to develop the same level of decisiveness and showing teeth. According to Sylvia, “real leaders don’t issue edicts just to look and sound like they’re in charge. Real leaders listen, gather critical information, weigh the options carefully, look for a timely opening (typically when everyone else is wallowing in indecision), and then demand action.”

Right-sizing your reputation – your reputation precedes you. The best executives own their stories and you have to do the same. It’s common for someone to google you, check out your Facebook profile, read your tweets, or look at your LinkedIn profile before meeting with you. Are you owning your personal brand and reputation, offline and online?

The author of the book provides eight ways to deepen your gravitas. I want to focus on the three that has helped me win over executives.

Surround yourself with people who are better than you. Studies show you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with so there shouldn’t be any shame in seeking out people who are better than you and finding opportunities to hang around them. When you seek these individuals, they motivate you to step up your game and raise your standards. This constant pursuit of getting better accelerates the mastery of your craft which will help you win over executives. Executives want to know what other executives are doing and are always looking for opportunities to learn something new or get inspired. Be that inspiration for them.

Be generous with credit – Have you ever had a boss or someone who always took the credit whether they deserved it or not? Well, that is a sign of shallow gravitas. As a leader, the more generous you are with your credit, the more your people will stay engaged and work harder because they know they will be recognized and appreciated. One simple thing I do after calls/meetings with an executive is to thank my team publicly for their insights and contribution in front of the executive. I even make it a point to thank the executive’s staff, whether they were involved directly or indirectly in the meeting. A good example of the impact of this was after a meeting with an executive I had been trying to tie down, I thanked him for his executive assistance (EA) and mentioned how pleasant it was to work with her. An hour or so later, I got an email from the EA, thanking me for going out of my way to say nice things to her boss. Guess what would happen when I ask her to schedule another meeting? Also, I’m sure the executive must be thinking, “this guy went out of his way to thank my EA, what a class act. I’ll definitely meet him again.” He did. This leads me to my next point, humility.

Show humility – Being humble, especially, in a world where everyone is trying to be famous on social media could be difficult. But it really doesn’t have to be. Being humble is always in style. Being humble could be as simple as admitting when you don’t know the answer to a question and committing to finding the answer. Executives can tell when you’re bluffing or making sh*t up. It’s not worth it. Be humble.

The second pillar of executive presence is Communication. I like the author’s definition of communication as it is not so much what you say, but rather how you say it. Essentially, your choice of words matter; your tone matters, your cadence, inflection, articulation, delivery, and eye contact, all play a key role in determining what and how much your listeners take in.

The author identified six communication traits but I want to focus on the first one superior speaking skills. A big component of speaking is your accent. In one of the first cold calls I made early in my sales career, the prospect thought I was calling him from another country because of how thick my accent sounded. I’ve since worked on flattening my accent with practice and coaching. However, when I get nervous, my accent tends to be dominant. Realizing this early in my career allowed me to work on it to ensure it didn’t impede my success.

The key to body language and posture is that to radiate presence, you have to radiate you are present. Have you ever watched someone say one thing in english with their words but their body language and posture was speaking a completely different language? Exactly. You words should match your body language.

Now that we know what communication is, how can we polish it to help with our EP. The author suggested 8 ways to polish our communication skills. The one that has served me well with executives is less can be more. A majority of executives like when you’re succinct and straight to the point. This apply to answers as well as questions. It works magic.

There is one principle that appearance underscores – your appearance should focus your audience on your professional competencies, not distract from them. One of the best advice I’ve received about appearance is to “dress to impress” this has served me well in my career. I’ve found that dressing like the executive or slightly better than the executive works well for me. I never want to dress down. The author describes it as it’s not how good you look, it’s how appropriate you look for your audience. Your appearance is part of your brand, so work on it to make the most of it.

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Executives Are People

I asked the CEO of a fast-growing startup in Silicon Valley his approach to selling to other Executives.

His response was simple: “Executives are people.”

How so?

Executives are busy.

Executives are overwhelmed with requests for their time.

Executives are under pressure to deliver results.

Executives are responsible for setting the vision and making the toughest decisions.

Knowing these truths, he approaches each interaction with an Executive with deep empathy and extensive preparation.

What does this look like?

Executives are busy and overwhelmed, so he streamlines his agenda to give them back some time.

Executives are under pressure to deliver results, so he is precise with how his solution can provide the results the Executive cares about the most.

Executives are responsible for making the toughest decisions, so he does everything in his power to show how his solution reduces risk for the Executive.

To establish credibility with the Executive, he aligns with their vision and priorities.

Speaking of priorities, how do you know the priorities that matter most?

Research.

In KPMG’s interview of over 1300 CEOs, the company identified three key priorities for CEOs in 2019: 1) Make digital a personal crusade 2) Navigate through geopolitical headwinds 3) Find the right balance between data and intuition.

PwC’s global CEO survey identified approaches to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and navigating fissures in policy frameworks as the underlying trends shaping the US CEO agenda for 2019.

Research from Workday identified six priorities CEOs care most about which are: 1) Finding growth 2) Taking on risk 3) Managing regulatory changes 4) Leveraging technology 5) Pursuing innovation 6) People and culture

Gartner also recently published their survey of 473 CEO and senior business executives. The top 11 business priorities are 1) Growth 2) IT related 3) Corporate (structural development) 4) Financial performance 5) Workforce management 6) Customer 7) Product improvements 8) Cost management 9) Efficiency and productivity 10) Innovation and 11) Risk management

While these publications are informative and help inform an approach, nothing replaces asking the Executives directly to articulate their priorities in their own words.

Anything else?

Communication style.

Tell me more.

Having the right communication style comes with experience and repetition. It’s a skill that can be developed, but it requires practice, practice, and more practice. Your choice of words matter. Your self-confidence matters. Your tone matters. Your cadence matters. Your body language matters.

Communication at its core is the successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings. If your ideas and feelings are not getting across then you’re not communicating.

Also, authenticity matters.

Why?

Savvy, and somewhat cynical Executives can detect inauthentic communication in less than one millisecond.

So, be yourself.

Being yourself is the foundation for building trust. And trust is the anchor for all business relationships that last for generations.

Thanks to John Aisien at BlueCedar for inspiring this article.

Hey, You Have A Cool Accent!

In Dr. Praya Agarwal’s article on Forbes, she cites research that shows it takes less than 30 seconds to linguistically profile a speaker, and make quick decisions on their ethnic origin, socio-economic class, and background. Additionally, we assign values such as pleasantness and prestige but also intelligence based on accents. In Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success, by Sylvia Ann, she found that executive presence rests of three pillars: gravitas, communication, and appearance. In the communication pillar, some of the executives she interviewed cited off-putting accents as an example of a verbal tic that undermines an individual’s ability to have superior speaking skills and ultimately, executive presence. Essentially, accents are part of our identity, whether good or bad.

My family journeyed from a village in Nigeria (Avu) to the United States (Texas) when I was fifteen years old. I immediately enrolled in high school with big dreams and a thick accent. Almost instantaneously, I became the punchline of many name-calling jokes, including the very degrading “African booty scratcher.” Maybe it was bullying, or perhaps it was just high school kids having fun; either way, it made me feel uneasy, unwelcome, and isolated.

One day, I shifted my perspective and made the conscious decision to fully embrace my accent and turn what many labeled as a disadvantage into an advantage. Luckily, my English Teacher acted as a mentor and assured me that with practice I could become as eloquent as a young Sidney Poitier (she thought we resembled each other). Her coaching helped me master my pace, tone, and cadence. These coaching exercises helped me find my voice and ensured I was not only heard but understood.

In my first sales job after college, one of my prospects was convinced I was calling from an “offshore” country during a cold call. My accent was the culprit, again. Granted, he was partly right; the monotony of the job probably caused my mind to wander off to the bustling streets of Lagos with suya in both hands. However, physically, I was definitely in the United States trying to make the almighty dollar. Let’s just say the sale never happened with that prospect.

Over the years, I’ve noticed my accent thickens during big presentations which could be distracting for the audience. So at the start of a big presentation, I often let the audience know that it is okay to interrupt me if my accent hinders their ability to understand me. By saying this, it diffuses tension for me and the audience; they empathize and become invested in my success. I call this reverse accent profiling. Is that a thing? It should be. #LoveAllAccents

So how do you empathize with someone with a thick accent at work?

Resist the desire to make fun of the accent, in private or in public. A mentor once told me when someone makes fun of you with the intent to demoralize and belittle you, what they’re actually doing is projecting their insecurities. Secure people are usually looking for opportunities to uplift others rather than make them feel insignificant.
Reach out and offer to coach and mentor the person. If you’re someone with an accent who thinks it is inhibiting your success, don’t be shy to ask for help. Reach out to colleagues, leaders in your community, senior management, or seek out professional coaching.
For those in leadership, encourage those with thick accents to speak in front of the team or group and provide ongoing feedback, coaching, and mentoring.
Highlight the person when they contribute ideas to team meetings. A brilliant African pharmacist I spoke to described how she would make a suggestion in a meeting but get little acknowledgment. A few minutes later in the same meeting, someone else would suggest her exact idea and get all the admonition and praise. This act happened multiple times until one day she got frustrated and responded to the individual that kept repeating her ideas “I might have said it with an accent, but that’s exactly what I just said.” It stopped happening.
Make a genuine attempt to understand the person with a thick accent, and meet them where they are. It’s fair to say we all have beautiful accents; if they can understand you, why not make an effort to understand them.
Realize that it’s not just an accent, it’s an asset. #MyAccentIsAnAsset

Special thanks to Jennifer Obiyo, AG Ukwa, Beth Fatusin, Emilia Lusia Fomuso, Ale Esposito, Jacob Alao, Stephen Ozoigbo, Garrett Mihelich, David Chau, for their inspiration and contribution.

Conversation With Chuka, Founder of Divercity.io

The representation of minorities in the tech industry is a topic that should be dear to any reasonable person’s heart. The stats are startling and requires attention and action. According to a 2014 report by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), 83.3% of Tech Executives are white, 1.9% are black, 3.1% Hispanic, and 10.5% Asian. The distribution is similar in Management; 76% are white, 4% are black, 4% are Hispanic, and 13% are Asian. Although these numbers are bleak, the opportunity that comes with workforce diversity is valued at almost $400B says CompTIA CEO, Todd Thibodeaux, as reported by techrepublic. Similar conclusions were reached by McKinsey & Company in 2015 and in 2016 by the Pearson Institute for International Economics, who both reported that “a company with more diverse representation in senior management will likely achieve greater profits.”

A minority tech CEO and Founder that sees the opportunity in diversity is Chuka, whose company, Divercity, was founded with the sole purpose of increasing the representation of minorities in the tech industry as well as other largely underrepresented industries. He approaches diversity from an objective standpoint, and believes there needs to be an intentional attack on diversity in the workplace for their to be a major effect. Chuka advises we shouldn’t rely on the overrepresented to fix the issue; rather, the minority needs to step up because if we don’t push for it, no one else would.

We spent some time going through the F.I.V.E questions, below are the highlights:

Tell us about your background and the early inspirations in your career

I moved to the United States from Nigeria in 2000 and studied Economics at the University of Texas, Arlington. After graduating, I got a job as an Analyst at an analytics company in Dallas. Earlier in my career, I had no idea that being black meant anything in the US and was oblivious to race. I was the only black person at the company and felt there was a higher standard for me. One of my supervisors would watch constantly over my shoulder and drill me about my work. It was a tough working environment. [Interestingly, according to a 2017 study from Kapor Center for Social Impact and Harris Poll, unfair treatment in the workplace is the single largest driver of turnover in the tech industry.] It was no coincidence that a few weeks later, the supervisors called me into their offices and said they have to let me go. I eventually understood the color of my skin and me standing out was different and uncomfortable. Following that experience, I applied and got a job at Deloitte. After a few years, I decided to go back to school and attended MIT, where I obtained my MBA. Following the MBA, I worked at Yahoo, where I ran Business Development Operations for a few years and later joined Ubisoft as the first Analytics Manager. Having also subsequently ran analytics teams at Warner Bros and Unity, I often felt lonely always being the minority and wanted to do something significant about it. This drive led me to build a platform to connect companies with minority professionals. In 2016, my co-founders and I conceived the idea of Divercity. It was that moment I committed to being part of the solution. My goal was to make it easy for minority aspirants to connect with each other for mentorship, knowledge sharing, and recruitment. I’ve been bootstrapped since then and have a team of 10 people across Los Angeles, San Francisco, Lagos, Europe and Australia.

2. What surprised you the most about your journey so far?

As a company in the pre-seed stage, what has surprised me the most is the difficulty in raising capital as a black entrepreneur. The standards are higher and there is a lower level of risk tolerance. It’s an even harder sell when I pitch to black VCs. It may be environmental or racial, but I think it’s a combination of both. The fact is there is a small number of Black VCs, which means there’s an over subscription which means they get a higher number of inquiries from Black founders so they are super selective. You may not even get the gift of a No. This is when you get a response with saying No or check back later. Most times, it’s silence. What keeps me going and excited is that we are trying to solve a problem that is real and relatable. The solution is a necessity, and with necessity comes conviction. The solution will eventually emerge, with or without funding. The timing is good for us, as we’ve been getting a lot of support. With movements such as #TimesUp, #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, #OscarsSoWhite, and other societal awareness, we believe the timing is good for us.

3. What is your unfair advantage?

We’ve built a job marketplace from scratch with diversity and inclusion at the forefront. Right now, a lot of the platforms don’t have that in place – Linkedin, Angellist, etc. In our platform, we encourage you to self identify ethnically and genderly. We are encouraging people to trust us with that information because we can use it to connect them to the right company. Our team is nimble and agile but we are made up of minorities and underrepresented, so we understand the problem firsthand and we have the skillset to build a solution. Even for Diversity and Inclusion Leaders, they can use our platform for better targeting and get faster results. No more trying to travel to career fairs and conferences with hefty entree fees and not to mention, the time spent traveling and travel expenses that can quickly add up. Our main customers are companies looking to increase diversity.

4. What’s been the most pivotal sacrifice so far and what advice do you have for others?

Well, my dad would be the first to let you know that the reason I am not married is because of my startup. Building a company from scratch takes a lot of time and money and more money. I do intend to settle down. I want to have a sense of purpose rather than live a traditional life. If I can have both, amen to that. I feel like I am living my purpose now, and I realize it’s a journey. There are milestones that I reflect on like a successful launch, scale, brand affinity, exit, etc. My main source of joy is being able to facilitate opportunities for people through our platform, advice, funding, and just helping them chart their part towards their own purpose. My hope and dream is to be remembered for having tackled the diversity and inclusion issue and paved the way for aspiring minority entrepreneurs. My biggest fear is that it would take a long time to materialize, and I am not a patient person by nature. Failure is not an option.

My advice is to have resilience and grit. You’ve probably heard some crazy stat that 9 out of 10 entrepreneurs fail. But what you don’t hear is that 9 out of 10 entrepreneurs give up. It’s one thing to pivot, change, or exit, it’s another thing to just give up. There’s a difference between something failing and something taking a while and you making amends to get to your goal. Make sure you’re solving a real problem and I recommend people do something centered around their passion.

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice you’ve received that continue to be a source of inspiration in good times and challenging times?

There are two that stand out. The first is by Winston Churchill – “Never give up.”

The second is from my Dad. He said whenever I drive to make sure I drive for the people around me. Pay attention and be aware of their mistakes. Learn from other drivers around you. Driving is not one dimensional. Most times, you’re usually not the only person on the road. You’re a better driver when you pay attention to other drivers. It ensures you are safe, careful, and observant, not just for yourself but for people around. When I apply that thinking to anything I do, I tend to get success.

4 Actionable Seller Insights from “Competing Against Luck”

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, then you don’t know what you are doing.” W. Edwards Deming

Some book titles simply give away the content of the book which often impedes our motivation to read the book in its entirety. This book title is not that. Competing Against Luck: the story of innovation and customer choice was a recommendation from a colleague that I admire who spends his time working with some of the most innovative startups in Silicon Valley. I asked him to recommend a book to me so I could learn how startups innovate, and this was one of his recommendations. I used to think innovations were mostly by luck, but after reading this book, I’ve come to appreciate the fact that many of the best innovations emerged out of a process.

The author, Clayton Christensen, introduces the concept of Jobs to be done (JTBD) theory. The JTBD theory explains that “we all have jobs we need to do that arise in our day-to-day lives and when we do, we hire products or services to get these jobs done.” As an innovator or company, “you have to understand the job the customer is trying to do in a specific circumstance.” The author goes on to define a “job” as the “progress that a person is trying to make in a particular circumstance.”

I read most books through the lens of an Account Manager. My goal is to extract insights that I can apply in my daily sales motion, and share them with you. Below are my four takeaways:

Understand the job your customer is hiring you to do as a salesperson. Have you ever paused to get clarity on why your customer is hiring you as a salesperson, not your company or product, but you, the salesperson? Are they hiring you because you would ask the right questions? Are they hiring you because they want to negotiate a complicated deal with you? Are they hiring you because they have issues that only you can address? Are they hiring you because they know you would introduce them to someone else in your company? Maybe they are hiring you for all of the above or maybe they have no choice since they are in your territory. 🙂 This book has changed my perspective on why customers hire me as a salesperson. The more clarity I have, the more I can help the customer make progress towards completing the job. If there is a misalignment in the requirements of the job, it would most likely be a frustrating experience for me and the customer.

Understand what “progress” means for your customer, from their perspective. This point is closely related to the one above. If a job is progress that a person is trying to make in a particular circumstance, gaining agreement on what progress means for you and your customer would only ensure a successful outcome. According to the author, “you’re selling progress, not products.”

Competing against inertia is often your biggest competitor. It may be easy to think the incumbent or a disruptive new provider is your competitor, which may be the case. However, what if your true competitor was “doing nothing?” How would that change your approach? In the book, Netflix’s CEO, Reed Hastings, was asked about one of his competitors. His response was brilliant. He said “we compete with everything you do to relax. We compete with video games. We compete with drinking a bottle of wine. That’s a particularly tough one! We compete with other video networks. Playing board games.” As a salesperson, it’s important to have clarity on whom you’re truly competing against and the job to be done. One parallel a salesperson can draw from companies that successfully enter markets that seem closed or commoditized is that “they do it by aligning with an important job that none of the established players has prioritized.” The best salespeople I’ve had the opportunity to learn from usually focus their energy on educating decision makers on important jobs that they didn’t know were possible and aligned their solution as an accelerator for progress.

Measure the metrics that are important to your customer. The author reminds us that what gets measured, gets done. He went on to share the example of how Amazon measures when orders are delivered, not when they are shipped. It makes sense because when I order anything online, I don’t care when it’s shipped, all I care about is when it is delivered. As a salesperson, focus on the metrics that are a priority for your customer. If you find ways to optimize these metrics for your customer, the result should positively impact the metrics you care about such as revenue, profitability and customer lifetime value.

If you have additional insights that resonated with you, please share them with me on twitter @ozisco or email ozisco @ gmail.com

3 Actionable Insights From “How To Become A Rainmaker”

“Learning is repetition”. These are the words from the Head of Sales of a $6 billion software company. This was his answer after I asked why he reads so many business books. He went on to explain that although these books may tackle similar themes, he still enjoys reading them because by repeatedly exposing himself to the different, and sometimes, conflicting perspectives of the authors, he can gain a deeper understanding of the concepts in the books. Inspired by the words of this sales leader, I’m introducing a new series where I plan to share three actionable insights from a book I’m reading every month.

To kick things off, my book for October 2018 is “How to become a Rainmaker: The rules for getting and keeping customers and clients” by Jeffrey J. Fox. The publisher describes the book as “a winning handbook filled with short, pithy advice that will raise some eyebrows and, no doubt, some income levels as readers follow the suggestions to make it rain.” The book is only 165 pages long which means you could read it in about four hours if you average 1½ minutes per page or in less than 2 hours if you listen to it at 2X speed on Audible.

This book has a lot of insights, and below are three that resonated with me the most:

1. Find a “point system” that works for you: In Chapter XXXVII, the author encourages salespeople to use a point system every day. He breaks down the point system into four parts:

1 point for getting a lead, a referral, an introduction to a decision maker
2 points for getting an appointment to meet the decision maker
3 points for meeting the decision maker face-to-face
4 points for getting a commitment to a close or an action that leads to a close

The goal is to get 4 points every day in any combination. If you do this consistently, you will not run out of prospects, you will have a full pipeline, and you will always be making rain. I like the practicality of this because it doesn’t take much effort to get started doing it and seeing the results. Also, don’t wait till the last day of the week to try to get 20 points.

I added my variation to the point system by color coding my calendar:

Green is meeting with clients and decision makers
Orange is internal meeting
Purple is internal training
Light purple is personal development time

My goal is to have more green in my calendar every week. If I’m spending more time with clients, it means I’m helping them solve their challenges, which means I’m making it rain, which means my pasture is going to be very green. Whether you are in sales or not, define what “green” looks like to you and do more of it every week.
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2. Welcome customer objections: In Chapter XV, the author explains that “rainmakers turn customer objections into customer objectives.” The play on words is brilliant. Let’s see how the dictionary defines objections and objectives.

Objection: an expression or feeling of disapproval or opposition; a reason for disagreeing.
Objective: a thing aimed at or sought; a goal.

When you examine both definitions closely, you realize a subtle relationship. For you to achieve any goal, you are bound to face opposition. Understanding this relationship as a salesperson should get you excited to hear your customer objections. These objections mean that they are trying to achieve a goal and they need your help to remove the oppositions in their way. One question the author encourages us to ask if a sale is not made is “what else may be prohibiting us from moving ahead?” If you’re a salesperson asking for a deal, this question works. If you’re an entrepreneur asking for funding, this question works. If you’re the president of a non-profit asking for a significant donation, this question also works. Give it a try this week.

3. Dress to impress for success: In Chapter XLV, the author advises us to “be the best-dressed person you will meet today.” It’s a simple but powerful concept. According to the author, “Rainmakers do not dress down, nor do they necessarily dress up. They dress better than the customer they will meet that day.” In Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach where T-Shirts, shorts, and sandals are the norm for Founders and Technologists, it’s easy to dress to impress without much effort. One way I’ve been able to differentiate my style is to wear a fitted blazer with matching pocket square over my customer’s branded T-Shirts, which my customers love because it makes it seem like I am part of their team, which I am. Even in intense negotiating situations, having their T-Shirt on makes it look like I’m on their side, which I am. I also like to remind my customers that I technically work for them, but my employer’s name appears on my paycheck. 🙂

One experience that reaffirmed that wearing my customer’s T-shirt to meet with them is the right thing to do was an encounter I had at the airport in San Francisco on my way to negotiate a deal. A stranger approached me and asked if I worked at the company on my T-shirt. I said technically Yes, and we had a good laugh. He then shared some feedback with me about my customer’s product. I jotted down the feedback and shared them with my customer when I met with them. The Executive in the meeting was appreciative of this feedback, and it helped me gain trust and respect with the rest of her leadership team. Oh yea, the Executive signed the deal. 😉

I highly recommend this book as it may remind you of concepts you may have forgotten and introduce you to other concepts that may improve your sales motion…and help you become a rainmaker.