So you have a title. Or an office. Or money. So what? Just because you’re wearing cowboy boots doesn’t mean you can ride a horse.

Most animals don’t like having a light shone in their eyes. But that’s ok, because most animals can’t hurt you. Not so an elephant. If you irritate an elephant, you risk being squashed. So don’t do it. Same goes in business. Most people/companies you encounter can’t respond to your irritating ways. But some can. Better…

Do you feel you don’t know where you’re going? Not sure where to turn? What to do next? Are you lost? Not a great place to be, but there is good news. The lost are hard to find. Which means you have no competition. No competition gives you the space to make a profit. Profit…

A (white) rhino is born, eats grass, poos grass, makes babies, eats more grass, poos more grass, and dies. That’s it. That’s the life of a rhino. If you’re not careful, that will be your life too. Are you living the life of a rhino?

Sometimes you’ll take the wrong path in life. Maybe you do a deal with the Gupta’s, and before long you realise they’re crooks. You’ve already taken a few steps down the wrong path. Don’t hesitate: Turn around, go back. The more steps you take, the harder it gets. Even worse, after taking too many steps,…

If you want to start your own business, then you have to get comfortable with breaking the rules. The rules were made by people that had a certain picture of the world. They created boundaries to keep that picture. Employees move within the boundaries. If you have a different picture in your head, the only…

For most painful situations in business, the best course is to gently extract yourself from the problem (HR issues, shareholder disputes, client troubles). Better be gentle than risk explosion due to ege. But sometimes gentle is not the way. Sometimes you have to put aside your fear of the consequences and rip off the plaster….

Startup life can sometimes be akin to being stranded in the woods with no food. To survive you need to eat roots. Roots are not nice, but to survive you gotta do what you gotta do. The trouble comes when you see a face, juicy dassie. The excitement of eating real meat rather than roots…

Most times in startup-land, there is no space for second place.  It’s winner takes all.  You HAVE to come first, otherwise you fail. So don’t settle.  Win. There can be only one.

Your chances of ending up with what you want — say, the lady with the amazing smile or that rocket scientist job in NASA , or that CEO role — dramatically increase if you make the first move. Don’t wait for the Universe to come to you. Put yourself out there early, aim high. Frequently. That’s how you get…

In startup world, the race is mostly binary. There is only space for one winner. That means you have to win, or you have nothing to show for your blood, sweat and tears. The good news is that victory is not purely a function of “who is best.” It’s mostly a question of survival. You…

An entrepreneur, by nature, has a short attention span. Give 100% energy, but if no result then move on. That works most of the time, but some situations require more perseverance. Be it board room matters, or cleaning up a mess, or closing a deal. You can’t avoid some fights. You have to keep at…