A leader’s pride can be the most limiting factor for his group’s success. A leader’s pride diminishes the willingness for other people to share ideas that have the potential to improve the bottom line.

Do you take all the credit for your group’s success? Do you realize and acknowledge that you might come up with the vision but it takes others to act on that vision and turn it into tangible results? Has is ever occurred to you that when you are out of your office for a whole week or month, customers may never know you were not at work, yet when a driver or another frontline worker is absent for a day, customers know it?

There is a traditional fable of a frog who saw two swans drinking water from the bank of the pond he was in. After admiring their beauty for a while his curiosity got the best of him. He asked them where they came from and they said from dry land. They explained that on dry land one could see different landscapes, people, animals and plants. The frog wanted to see that land. He asked the swans to hold a stick, one on each side and then he would bite the center of it—that way they could fly him around the dry land. The swans agreed.

After flying a round for a while, the swans and frog were noticed by two young girls who marveled at the whole idea of flying the frog around. Then one of the girls wondered who came up with the idea? The swans didn’t say anything because it wasn’t their idea, even though they are the one who implemented it. When the frog realized that the swans were about to leave before letting those girls know who came up with the idea, he opened his mouth and said, “I did!” And that did him in.

As leaders, we sometimes let pride affect who to listen to or what ideas to implement. That adversely affects working relationships and the bottom line.

Just ponder these few thoughts:
 

Some of life’s lessons are learned in unexpected ways and places. For six years, I wondered whether God had designated Laramie, Wyoming as a Winter Misery Endurance Site. I arrived in Laramie, Wyoming on the 10th of February, 1986. It was a cold winter morning. The temperature must have been below anyone’s survival level, or at least that is what I thought. Welcome to Wyoming!!! When I left Nairobi, Kenya on the 7th, the thermometer’s range was around the 100’s.

They told me in Wyoming that I should expect two seasons, the 4th of July and winter. Rodney, my friend, told me that snow could be expected during any month except July. The snow problem was always amplified by wind. The speed of the wind was phenomenal. There was no need for raking and bagging leaves in the fall. Wyoming winds blew them to Nebraska or Colorado!

I disliked the winter conditions of Wyoming and looked forward to the day I would leave. On the 6th of April, 1992, I started to work on an ecological project for Idaho Power Co., which generates its electricity mainly by use of water power. The main source of the water is snow. Indeed my very livelihood depended on snow. Soon, I joined the others at Idaho Power in praying for snow, especially given that there had been snow scarcity for about six years prior to my coming. The decorations of the Christmas tree that year were centered around one theme: Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
 

My family in July of 1986 in Laramie, Wyoming.
We made sure our daughter was well dressed in case it snowed.

The forest fires of 1993 covered the Treasure Valley, Idaho, with smoke, and the air was stifling. Migraine headaches became a problem, thus prompting me to wish for the Wyoming winds. If only we had some of the wind in Wyoming, I wouldn’t have migraine headaches.

I learned to appreciate and being thankful in any situation. Perhaps it is 8:00a.m on Monday or a rainy day that ruins fishing, shopping, or golfing plans. Maybe somebody else’s prayers are being answered by the conditions we think are making our lives uncomfortable. The list of things to be grateful for is endless in every situation.

Often, our attitude of gratitude is impaired by the fact that we focus on the “storms” in our lives. We only see the desert we are traveling through. However, there is always a rainbow behind the cloud and a stream in the desert. When we keep our eyes and hearts on the rainbow and the stream, we maintain an attitude of gratitude. We thank God despite the prevailing circumstance.

At times, the rainbows and streams seem not to be there at all. Actually, we just don’t see them. This is where family, friends, and associates help us.

No one can be ordered to have an attitude of gratitude. However, it is contagious. It can flow naturally from parents to children and from friends to friends. We can cultivate an attitude of gratitude by being thankful for the daily portion of fresh air, unpolluted water and three meals a day, shelter, freedom, health, jobs, opportunities to be creative, and chances to enrich the world with our uniqueness.

Attitude is determined by how we respond to experiences. It is how you react to incidents, not the incidents themselves that determines our attitude. We have basically little control, if any over natural forces like tornados, earthquakes, floods, disasters, illness and pain. What really matters is our internal response systems. How we respond to these calamities is something each individual can control.

Life is difficult at times and easy at other times. Tranquility depends on how we respond to difficult times. Relying on ancient wisdom, Cicero, in the year 45 B.C. said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but it is the parent of all others.”
 

If results are important to you, then
Dr Vincent Muli Kituku is the speaker/trainer for your group.
Call (208) 376-8724, or email Vincent directly at Vincent@kituku.com
 

Space is limited. Don’t wait. This is one of our most popular seminars and we are happy to partner with the Boise Metro Chamber of commerce.

What if you have the best products or services, but no one knows about them? What if you have limited or no capital for advertising your business? What if you want your business to remain profitable in any economy? Lack of marketing is the most effective way to go out of business. Creative marketing is the key to growing your business. This workshop will provide participants with practical steps on marketing with zero or a minimal budget.
 

Are you blessed with a pillow? Is it the right kind of a pillow that meets your sleeping expectations? Do you have a back-up pillow should you decide to turn or lay on your back in the middle of the night? Are your pressure points resting on a pillow that provides assurance that they will function tomorrow?

Until recently a pillow, to me was a bedding item whose main purpose was, and still remains, to keep someone’s head in a raised position at night. If a pillow is not available you can use your hand!

You sleep on your side? No problem. Firm Synthetic is the pillow for you, a “firm, fiber fill pillow” that “gives you supreme support.” For back or stomach sleepers, Medium Down is what you need. The description says, “Be cradled in the feathery support of plush down.” Then there is Firm Down for “side sleepers who desire both support and the luxurious feel of down filling.” The last, but not least entrée is the U-shaped neck pillow. The attraction for this is, “Relax pressure points for a night of well deserved rest with this neck support pillow.
 

Matu ma mukondo--Solanum leaves is what we used to wash our dishes. Those leaves were the ultimate grease buster.

Before the luxury of choosing the kind of pillow, for any sleeping position I unconsciously lay my body, was introduced to me, I paid close attention to what had replaced the only two bars of soap I grew up knowing about.

I reserve the right to not attempt listing the numerous detergents we use to wash our clothes. If you live in the USA or any industrial nation for that matter, chances are that your main challenge is to purchase a detergent based on your desires but not because it’s the only choice.

Here is my morning routine. I start with a facial soap followed by Before Shave Cream. When I toss the disposable razor blade, the next step is applying After Save Cream before smearing the whole face with a facial lotion (a Mary Kay Beauty Product) my wife tells me it’s for keeping my face looking youthful!

Then the hair has its own shampoo and conditioner. The various shampoos come in different containers at Costco and so are the many types of body lotions. The toes have two chemicals for keeping fungi controlled.

The sole has lotion for maintaining its softness. Spare me the agony of explaining what each of this assortments do. One piece of wisdom a married man learns is to, “do what you are told by your wife and use what she gives you.”

Those pillows brought a lump in my throat. A bed made of ropes and mattress of cow’s hide can and does make a night long. Some Saturdays were dedicated to eradicating ticks from a bed-resembling structure. Going to high school meant having a mattress of a three inch thickness that we used on a foldable bed whose front part lifted a bit—thus making a portion of the mattress substitute pillow.

Just look at the extras in your life and you can’t help but say, “God I deeply thank you for your goodness.”
 

Read Dr. Kituku’s newest articles online at: www.kituku.com, Idahopress.com, Casper Star Tribune Idahostatesman.com, Argus Observer, Business IQ, Post Register, Idaho Catholic Register, Idaho Press Tribune, Idaho Senior Citizen News, and Presentations Magazine.

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