THE FUTURE LEADER: 9 SKILLS AND MINDSET TO SUCCEED IN THE NEXT DECADE

Will the leader of the next decade be that different than the leader of today? And if so, how? These were the two questions that Jacob sought out to explore in his ground breaking new book The Future Leader.
To answer these questions, Jacob personally interviewed over 140 CEOs globally from companies like Unilever, Audi, Mastercard, Best Buy, Oracle, Verizon, and many others. Jacob also teamed up with LinkedIn to survey almost 14,000 members around the world. This allowed for an accurate, global picture of leadership as well as a shocking comparison across seniority levels.
Unlike other leadership books which focus on current trends, this valuable resource is backed by extensive, never before seen research, direct quotes, and insights from the world's top business leaders.
The result? A range of insights and advice leaders can use now to prepare for the coming decade and beyond, including the fact that leaders around the world believe they are far better prepared for the future than they really are.
What are the top trends shaping the future of leadership? What are the greatest challenges that leaders must be prepared to overcome? What skills and mindsets must leaders of the future possess to be successful? What steps should one take to become a future ready leader? The Future Leader answers all of these questions and more.
Industries, markets, and businesses are changing more rapidly now than ever before. This means that over the next decade, our organizations will look fundamentally different than they do today. As a result, we need a new type of leader at the helm. Today's leaders must become tomorrow's leaders, and this book will show you how to do just that.
Success today doesn't guarantee success tomorrow. Only preparation can do that. Many leaders have already noticed the signs of the times. They understand the importance of preparing for disruption, but how do they do that? This book will ensure you're ready to guide your organization in an age of change. Are you ready to become The Future Leader?

REVIEW

"I applaud Jacob in assembling such a powerful and inclusive collection of voices for leaders around the world to learn from. Whether you're a current or future leader, this book is one that you should read and keep near you."

"Jacob Morgan's book offers a compelling look into the future of leadership--the challenges leaders will face and the mindsets and skills that will be needed to overcome them. Do you want to be a future ready leader? You need this book!"

Horst Schulze, Founder and CEO, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

"This book is different from mainstream leadership books because it is based upon global macroeconomics of life at work. It has real content. The practice of management quit working 30 years ago. This book makes a rare, badly needed, grand contribution to leadership, teams and human development."

Jim Clifton Chairman and CEO Gallup

"Jacob's book answers the most pressing questions on the future of leadership. Based on impressive research, this is the guidebook for the next generation of leaders around the world."
Paul Polman, Co-founder and Chair, IMAGINE and former CEO, Unilever

"I applaud Jacob in assembling such a powerful and inclusive collection of voices for leaders around the world to learn from. Whether you're a current or future leader, this book is one that you should read and keep near you."

Ajay Banga, CEO, Mastercard 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JACOB MORGAN is a bestselling author and one of the world's leading authorities on leadership, the future of work, and employee experience. He's a highly sought-after keynote speaker and advisor who has worked with organizations such as Microsoft, Disney, PwC, PepsiCo, MasterCard, IBM, and many others. As a professionally trained futurist, his insights are frequently featured in publications such as Forbes, Inc., The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and The Harvard Business Review. To learn more about Jacob, to get access to his content, or to work with him, visit TheFutureOrganization.com or email him directly: Jacob@thefutureorganization.com. 

SMART MOBILE MARKETING TIPS

Smartphones have fundamentally changed life as we know it. From a consumer standpoint, it’s hard to imagine life without a phone. Browsing social media, checking email, looking at gifts on Amazon, and consuming our favourite content on the go has become a regular part of our lives.

Now let’s look at the mobile situation from a business owner and marketer perspective. About 4.33 billion people are using the internet, and 3.7 billion of those people have smartphones. It’s clear that if we want to expand brand visibility and customer loyalty, we have to reach smartphone users across all platforms.

Mobile marketing, by definition, is the process of adapting your marketing strategy to meet the needs of mobile users. Today we are going to take a look at several tips that will help you improve your mobile marketing strategy in 2020. Our tips will cover your email marketing campaign, WordPress website, and social media channels.

Focus on a Simple, Mobile-Responsive Site Design

When someone visits your website, are they greeted with a phone-friendly version of your site? If not, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to convert mobile users into subscribers and customers.

Your website design should change to match the screen of the mobile user. Due to small size and assorted shapes of phone screens, it’s essential that the text on your mobile-friendly website is larger than your desktop counterpart. Users should be able to read your home page without pinching and expanding their screen multiple times. Always use responsive themes on your WordPress site if you want to cater to both a desktop and a mobile audience. (Hint: you do!)

Now you’re going to want to look at your contact forms and the call-to-action (CTA) buttons you use on your site. Normally, users can use their mouse or touchpad to navigate to your form and click enter.

On a mobile device, there’s a little more precision involved. Consider increasing the size of your CTA buttons to encourage users to click-through, regardless of the device they are using. Additionally, keep your contact forms short and sweet to avoid form abandonment.

Improve Your Website Speed

The speed of your mobile site can have a tremendous impact on how many users bounce from your site. Research shows that 40 percent of people will leave your website from their phone if it takes longer than three seconds to load. After 10 seconds, you can expect around 97 people to hit the back button.

There are several ways to improve the speed of your website. Consider optimizing all of the images you upload to your site. Depending on the file size and type, you could slow your website down to a crawl if you’re not regularly checking and optimizing images on-site. As a general rule, try to keep all non-pillar images under 500KB.

Caching plugins will also help give your website a performance boost. When someone lands on your site, all of the resources need to come together to show the user your homepage. If more than one person is on the page for the first time, your site could slow down or crash. Caching resolves this problem because they create a “memory” of a page the first time it’s gathered. Afterward, all future users are shown the copied page. As changes are made, the master memory updates. This process reduces the amount of bandwidth used and can improve loading times for your mobile and desktop users.

Optimize Your Content for Voice Search

By now, we all know how important it is to have a good SEO strategy. If your traditional text keywords and phrases help you bring in traffic by improving your search ranking, stick with it!

However, adding voice search SEO to your existing strategy can help you draw in even more people that are interested in your products, services, or brand. It’s estimated that by the end of 2020, half of all searches will be spoken instead of typed. In other words, consumers are using devices like Amazon’s Echo or programs like Cortana for Windows to search and research companies.

When people search Google with a voice-activated device, they tend to say things a little differently than how they would type. For instance, someone looking for tips about building their email list might type “Build email list fast,” but someone using a smart speaker might say, “How can I grow my email marketing campaign?”

Understanding the nuance in language when deciding on voice search keywords to mix into your content can help you rise to the top of Google while pleasing your mobile users.

Fine-Tune Your Social Media Strategy

There are over 3 billion people on social media, and it’s hard to deny the influence mobile has on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. In fact, If you want to create a successful mobile marketing campaign, you have to think about the way you’re uploading content and engaging on these platforms.

For example, video content is viewed as highly shareable across all social media platforms. Consider taking some of your most shared blog content and repurposing them into a video series for your followers on YouTube or Facebook. Mobile users are more likely to share, comment, and like your update, if it’s quick, informative, and works on their device. A short video checks all three of these boxes.

Customer support is vital on your website, as well as your social media accounts. You’ll have mobile users direct messaging you on Instagram to ask a question about shipping, or when you’ll have an out of stock product available again.

Having a customer service representative working on your social media profiles can help you convert both desktop and mobile visitors that frequent your account.

Back to You

There are plenty of ways you can improve your mobile marketing campaign. The tips we went over today will help make your website, social media channels, and contact forms more mobile-friendly. As a result, you could see a significant increase in subscribers and traffic. Make sure you’re reviewing your Google Analytics reports over time and examine trends involving your mobile users.

Understanding their goals and pain points will help you build better products for your mobile users, but you need a strong foundation before you can get to that point. Now you’re ready to take the first steps towards mastering mobile marketing in 2020.

HOW TO ATTRACT TERRIFIC PEOPLE

I remember asking my Dad, when I was 16, how I could become charming. I must admit that my motives were hormonally inspired at the time, but what he said to me has effected my life and relationships ever since.

He looked at me and said, " Son, you become charming by making another person feel better about themselves when they are in your company." What wisdom!

With my Dad's wisdom ringing in my ears I offer you a few suggestions on how to do just that- make someone feel better about themselves when in your company.

* Be alert for any chance to praise another.
* Be fun to be with.
* Be genuinely concerned about what's going on in the life of the other.
* Suspend your agenda in the interest of the other's.
* Encourage and affirm your friend at every opportunity.
* Listen twice as much as you talk.
* Give genuine compliments, frequently.
* Accept the person as they are and not as you want them to be.
* Ask questions and listen to their answers. There is a difference between prying and being interested.
* Be enthusiastic.
* Be a friend without conditions.

There is nothing more flattering or rare than the undivided attention of another.

It is more important to be interested than interesting.

- by Mike Moore

CREATE AND SUSTAIN GREAT RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS

What is the most effective way to create and sustain great relationships with others? It's The 100/0 Principle: You take full responsibility (the 100) for the relationship, expecting nothing (the 0) in return.

Implementing The 100/0 Principle is not natural for most of us. It takes real commitment to the relationship and a good dose of self-discipline to think, act and give 100 percent.

The 100/0 Principle applies to those people in your life where the relationships are too important to react automatically or judgmentally. Each of us must determine the relationships to which this principle should apply. For most of us, it applies to work associates, customers, suppliers, family and friends.

STEP 1—Determine what you can do to make the relationship work… then do it. Demonstrate respect and kindness to the other person, whether he/she deserves it or not.

STEP 2—Do not expect anything in return. Zero, zip, nada.

STEP 3—Do not allow anything the other person says or does (no matter how annoying!) to affect you. In other words, don't take the bait.

STEP 4—Be persistent with your graciousness and kindness. Often we give up too soon, especially when others don't respond in kind. Remember to expect nothing in return.

At times (usually few), the relationship can remain challenging, even toxic, despite your 100 percent commitment and self-discipline. When this occurs, you need to avoid being the "Knower" and shift to being the "Learner." Avoid Knower statements/thoughts like "that won't work," "I'm right, you are wrong," "I know it and you don't," "I'll teach you," "that's just the way it is," "I need to tell you what I know," etc.

Instead use Learner statements/thoughts like "Let me find out what is going on and try to understand the situation," "I could be wrong," "I wonder if there is anything of value here," "I wonder if…" etc. In other words, as a Learner, be curious!

Principle Paradox

This may strike you as strange, but here's the paradox: When you take authentic responsibility for a relationship, more often than not the other person quickly chooses to take responsibility as well. Consequently, the 100/0 relationship quickly transforms into something approaching 100/100. When that occurs, true breakthroughs happen for the individuals involved, their teams, their organizations and their families.

NETWORKING FOR FUN AND PROFIT

There's an old saying that "it's who you know that counts,"
and for better or worse, it's often true.
Yes, there is a cynical aspect to the phrase, referring to
favouritism that is unfortunate. More often, however, people
get the referral or the promotion precisely because (in a
positive sense) of "who they know." Knowing and liking
someone does make a difference.
When it comes to networking, however, I've noticed two
unfortunate patterns that are generally NOT helpful:
First is the person (to be honest, it's usually a male) who
views networking as some strange contest to see who can
trade the most business cards in the shortest period of
time. There's a frantic, shallow energy that is a huge turn-
off. Their quick handshake, exaggerated smile and exchange
of business cards is usually a waste of time.
The second is the person who attends networking functions
but fails to connect in a meaningful way. Often they spend
the entire time chatting with a friend, and leave without
meeting anyone new, or making any lasting impressions.
Effective networking means connecting with people in an
honest, sincere way that says you would like to help them if
you can, and would appreciate the other person's support in
exchange.
Get to know people. Call them up, go to lunch, and if
appropriate, certainly exchange business cards! But what
you're looking for is a relationship. Get to know a few
people well, rather than collecting dozens of cards from
strangers. Follow-up with a phone call to touch base. And
for goodness sake, if you can, be sure to send some business
to the other person. Nothing will grow your own referral
business like the gratitude of people who have benefited
from your genuine support.

CREATING MEETING AGENDA THAT WORKS FOR YOU

Do you spend time planning your meeting agenda? This is an important step because it will make it easier to lead the discussion and will allow people to contribute effectively. As you think through each conversation topic, ask yourself:

1.   What is the desired outcome?

2.   How much time will you need?

3.   What input do you need from the group?

4.   What is the best process to follow that allows the group to work through the discussion?

5.   What information do the participants need to prepare?

6.   Who should lead the conversation?

You can use the answers to these questions to introduce each topic in the meeting so that the participants know where they're going and how they're going to get there. 

“When you go to meetings or auditions and you fail to prepare, prepare to fail. It's simple but true.” -Paula Abdul

WHAT ABOUT TODAY

On Valentine's Day, it is said that love is in the air; some are so full of it, but others like me are still trying to analyse whether there's a fragrance. Much like Jodin, I am looking for the spark. You should have seen our office today, it was back-to-back delivery, from perfumes, to roses, cakes, jewellery, chocolate, and a little bird even told me someone received some shiny metal in a small box.

Whether you are team single pringle, relationship, situationship, tied the knot or belong to the “they are the one rushing us” like me, love is for everybody on Valentine's Day. Neither the young nor old, unemployed or managing director are left out of the love train. Valentine's Day is one of the most remarkable dates in the calendar where everyone – from airlines, to beauty spas, restaurants, cinemas, hotels, recreation centres, mobile and internet service providers and even insurance companies (this one shock me) – has some special deal or package for lovebirds. All of these activities are more about money than love, and it is money, not romance that makes the economy go round. 

In spite of the slow growth of the economy, Nigerians continue to show that when it comes to love, there are always sufficient funds. According to Picodi, a global e-commerce site, more than 83% of Nigerians said they enjoy Valentine's Day yearly and last year, over 2.5 million online transactions were traced to the annual celebration. The MasterCard Love Index, an index that measures sentimental spending during the Valentine Day Period for 2016-2018 revealed that transaction count on sentimental spending increased by 20% in Africa and the Middle East over the period, but overall spend increased by 10%. The Index further revealed that most spenders plan ahead and shop in the days leading to February.
We know from history that Valentine's Day originated from a Western Christian used to honour one or two early saints named feast day Valentus, but since that is no fun and creates no jobs, some smart people re-branded the day and it is now recognized as a significant cultural and commercial celebration of love and romance around the world.

Another fun fact, men spent more than women but whether the spending is split 70:30 or 95:5, is not our business to answer. Since we're at this bus stop, it may be good to quickly stress it for some of my ladies at the back that we can do better and avoid singlet this year. While we're working on getting our men that 2020 Lexus LC or Patek Philippe watch, we can start from simple gadgets like PS4, iWatch or the Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 90 speakers. Should you need emergency redemption, try checking out some of these gadgets on AltMall, our self-service online shopping mall allows you to purchase and pay on credit.
Beyond the big brands, several SMEs are now taking their slice of the market through curated deals and exotic packages. At the top of the benefactors are stores (online and offline), entertainment and food industries. From travel agencies who design pocket-friendly destination packages to hotels, restaurants to boutiques, these days, almost anything tangible or intangible can be gifted. There is also the case of telecommunication companies who make so much money from the video calls and text messages as there is a sharp rise in prices. According to Proshare, the top purchases for the season are perfumes, chocolates, cards, fashion wears and hair.

If you don't have a Valentine on Valentine's day don't be sad.... a lot of people don't become women on International Women's Day.