The Rise of Real African Men

To be male is biological; to be a man is by choice.

One cannot choose to be born a man or woman but if one is born a man, there are certain attributes that are expected from men.

Some men don’t really care how they lead their lives. They live on the edge and their children have absolutely nothing positive they can learn from them.  However, in this day and age, the world and in particular Africa is crying out for the rare breed of men not men by biological definition to fix a lot of things going wrong.

My definition of real men is that they must be responsible, they must take charge, and they must lead and must be an inspiration to the young generation. These must be men of impact who when they arrive they offer solutions on how to make the world a better place, these are men who when they pass on they are missed, these are men who enrich the lives of those who come across them, these are men who don’t only say things but do positive things, whether in their homes, workplaces or wherever they are in the world.

For centuries men in Africa and also in some other parts of the world have used tradition as a weapon of oppression against women.

The real men I am talking about here are:

• Men who are not threatened by their wives because they are more intelligent than them.
• Men who are not threatened by their wives because they earn more money than them.
• Men who support their spouses to reach their fullest potential in their endeavors.
• Men who are dependable.
• Men who actually open doors for their spouse and other women in general without expecting a reward of some kind.

Africa is in dire need of a new generation of men who accept and embrace the notion that a woman has as much rights as men to go after their dreams without societal prejudice.

Our President in Zimbabwe, His Excellency, President Mugabe went against the grain and appointed Mrs. Joice Mujuru as the first woman Vice-President.

In South Africa, Former President Thabo Mbeki appointed Mrs. Phumzile Mlambo- Ngcuka as the first woman to hold the position of Deputy President from 2005 to 2008.  She was the highest ranking woman in the history of South Africa.

In Britain, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of Britain for quite some time and Britain prospered under her leadership for some time.

In America Condoleezza Rice was the first black Secretary of State and in her former position is now held by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In Germany, there is Chancellor Angela Merkel. Malawi has a female President Joyce Banda, Liberian President is Saleef Johnson. Austrialian Prime Minister is a woman, Julia Eileen Gillard and she is the first woman to hold such an office.

There are also powerful women CEO such as Alison Cooper of Imperial Tobacco Group in the USA, Mrs Grace Muradzikwa, Managing Director of NicozDiamond Insurance in Zimbabwe and others.

Don’t get me wrong here. These and other women who have made it to the top did not do so on the benevolence of their male counterparts, no, no, no. In fact they worked harder than their male counterparts in order to prove that they were as good as their counterparts. They were not handed those positions on silver plates. In some cases women have proved to be better managers than men.

Although some African Governments have made significant strides in supporting ambitious and capable women to progress up the ladders whether in politics or in the board rooms, more still needs to be done to remove gender prejudice.

We are now a long way from the days when our fore fathers would refuse to educate the girl child simply because she was a girl.

The real man knows that a child is a child and it really doesn’t matter whether that child is male or female and besides Children are a gift from God. And it refreshing to a child to know that they can receive all the support they need, to become whatever it is they would like to become.

If not for us, let’s do it for our children.

Failure is key to success

Drive and determination are necessary to turn one’s dream into reality. Now one asks themselves how can I turn my dreams into reality or rather what is the reason many people fail to achieve their dreams?

The reason so many people do not want to venture out, start their own businesses is because of FEAR of failure.

Fear is what causes some folks to remain in a job which they have had for the past 20 years. These folks know everything they need to know to start their own enterprise but no, no, no these folks will just not budge. Many people waste their time thinking they are too young to start something and when they are on the other side of life; they begin to think they are too old.

Fear is success enemy Number 1. Fear explains why millions of people accomplish very little in life. Fear prevents people from getting what they want from life.

For some it is failing exams, getting divorced, poverty, relocating to a new city or town, losing a job, losing a loved one, getting sick etc.

Worry is nothing more than fear that has been allowed to get out of hand. You can make more space for happiness by getting rid of those things that cause you anxiety. Action feeds and strengthens confidence; inaction in all forms feeds fear – waits, put off, postpone.

Action must precede action. That is the law of nature. Nothing starts itself.

Most fear today is psychological, worry, tension, embarrassment, panic and all stem from mismanaged negative imagination.

Even in the Bible in Joshua, it says one of the most unpleasant of human emotions is fear, that unfamiliar feeling of terror when we face persecution for standing up for what we believe in, when we confront disease and death, when we experience loneliness and loss. It is especially evident in our feelings about the future – whether it is uncertainties of a new day or week or year.

As an antidote of fear, we are urged to be strong and courageous as we face problems and difficulties, and we are to move into the future with confidence. 

Fear is the biggest reason why most people never get past complaining. And ironically, people complain about things they can change. For instance, we do not complain about gravity because there is nothing we can do about it.

Do you know that 99 percent of the things we fear actually never happen?

Think for a second. What could have happened if Bill Gates had let fear take control of him in 1976, when he launched Microsoft Corporation against a huge competitor or rather a market leader in the mold of IBM. It was considered impossible in the eyes of many, how could one imagine a small non-entity such as Microsoft face off an industry goliath such as IBM?

Bill Gates was the world’s richest person ten years running because he conquered his fears and became what he was destined to become.

Can you also imagine what former South African President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela had to go through in his 27 years as a political prisoner at Robben Island. The obstacles that these gentlemen had to overcome would have the majority of us give up.

That is why whenever you see success, that’s a signature of having gone through adversity.

The best known medicine to cure fear is action.

Fear is debilitating. Often we look back and wonder what it is that we were afraid of in the first place.

I am sure you have all heard of a place in the U.S. called The Silicon Valley. This is a place where new ideas and businesses are spawned, there really is nowhere else quite like it; not for the balmy climate, not for the energy, not for the confluence of really bright people, money, advice, marketing and successes that everybody know about.

There is also nowhere like it for failures, but I will come to that in a minute.

The absolute secret to Silicon Valley success is failure. Silicon Valley was not built on the spires of earlier successes but on the rubble of earlier failures……. The companies that grew large and then collapsed in a spectacular way and then a bunch of little start-ups colonized their old offices.

Again and again and again in the Valley, the place works because people there know how to fail.

Never fear that which does not exist,

FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real.

Just do it.

The Pull Him Down (P.H.D) Syndrome

In Africa, the most dangerous diseases is no longer H.I.V./Aids and Malaria but it's what is now commonly referred to as The Pull Him Down (P.H.D) Syndrome.

The majority of our people have perfected the Art of pulling each other down. Instead of celebrating each other's success, they shoot at those going up the ladder of life. For the sake of confidentiality, I will not mention any names of people. I would like to share with you an example of one of the richest people in Zimbabwe my country of birth. This guy was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he came from one of the humblest of backgrounds but through hard work and shrewdness he built an empire which has become the envy of many.

Instead of fellow country folk celebrating this guy's success, they dig at him. He is labelled a crook. I have heard people say, "How did he acquire all that wealth when we are suffering ? He is a thief". Besides the fact that there is no evidence suggesting that the guy in question stole in order to establish his empire, he is still referred to as a thief, a crook or even mafia.

It is surprising to note that in this day and age, most of our people still hold the belief that only whites are entitled to be rich (this statement must not be misconstrued) because they never question where any successful white businessperson acquired their wealth from, they take it for granted that all whites acquire their wealth legitimately. According to them it is taboo for their fellow black folk to be so wealthy unless they are engaged in deceitful and crooked activities. What a pity.

However, the most overlooked fact, is that some of our people who have become successful business people are where they are because they have and continue to work very hard. Those who have succeeded in business have realized that the most powerful way to shape their lives is to get themselves to take massive action towards their desired goals. It's not what they do once in a while or when they feel like, that shapes their lives, but it's what they do consistently. These are the kind of people who think success, not failure, they think BIG and make successful action habitual until it becomes second nature to act in a desired way and above all they take RISKS.

It is only in Africa where successful business people are persecuted for being rich. African Governments and African entrepreneurs need to learn to co-operate more and do away with mistrust. This will lead to the creation of more economic opportunities that will lead to employment creation.

 Let us change the way we think and treat each other as fellow Africans. Together, we can change our continent.  

Gabbage In, Gabbage Out

I am quite sure that we are all aware of the gadget called a computer. A computer does not think and it cannot transform itself like us human beings. A computer only takes in information that we input into it.

In today's modern world we are bombarded with news from the eNCA's (South Africa),CNN's, BBC's, France24's among others. However, have you noticed an interesting thing about news networks ?

If you take time to listen and watch them for 12 hours, you will agree with me that 99 percent of what they show us is negative. They want to show us cities that have been swept away by hurricanes, they only report on companies that have lost billions of dollars on Wall Street, they tell us how unemployment is risingand of late when they tell you how bad the recession is in the U.S. and Greece's austerity challenges, one would be forgiven to think it's impossible to run a business let alone a successful one for that matter.

Companies in the U.S. and Europe are reporting profits in billions of dollars. I posed this to a friend who is in media and his answer was that, "Don't you know that bad news sells".

There are some people who watch and listen too much to the news networks to the extent that they will not go against what was said on TV, that is why they are so afraid of venturing out and starting that businessthat could change not only their lives but the world and make it a better place. Most folks will tell you that they will start a business once everything is equal. Well I have got bad news for such folks because everything will never be equal.

What is important is for you to guard against what you read and watch because what you attract in your life is determined by what you have inside. And the quality of your life determines the quality of your decisions and the quality of your actions determine the quality of the result.

You cannot grow inside and remain static outside, no no, it just can't happen. When you grow everything around you grows. Until you change inside, nothing around you grows. So you can only grow inside because of the quality of information that is inside. Read empowering books, watch TV programmes which challenge you to raise the bar.

It does not matter whether there is a recession or not.

Do you know that that most big and successful businesses were started in a recession ??

In the United States, Federal Express Corporation began it's operations on 17 April 1973 as Federal Express, a nod to the Federal Reserve with whom Founder Frederick W.Smith had hoped to get a contract. He didn't but the company went on to deliver 186 packages to 25 cities on it's first night of operations now manages more than 7,5 million shipments everyday.

Microsoft Corporation wasn't always the jaw-dropping enterprise it is today. In 1975, when it was created by Harvard University dropout Bill Gates and his friend Paul Allen, Microsoft was just a little company in Albiquerque' N.M. It dealt in rudimentary computing languages and began it's climb to business stardom with the success of MS-DOS, which it sold and marketed to IBM Corporation and then IBM clones. Today the company is estimated to earn in excess of $100 billion in revenues per year and has branched out into new technology areas.

CNN might be a news giant now but in recession-plagued 1980, it was a little known station called The Cable News Network. It revolutionized how people receive information when it premiered as the first 24-hour all-news channel. Today 1,5 billion people across the globe watch CNN.

Do you see what I am talking about now ? Everything starts from the inside, it does not matter what the outside looks like.