Collaboration. Businesses want it. Governments want it. Leaders frequently invoke the word whenever a formidable challenge emerges. What better way to serve customers, respond to threats, and deal nimbly with unexpected events (say, a worldwide pandemic) than to bring together different parts of an organization? Maybe you have found in your own experience, though, that the desire to collaborate does not always translate into positive results. In fact, all too many collaborative efforts fall apart because of a natural human tendency to be territorial. Understandably, people identify most strongly with the people they already know and work with on their…

Not a day goes by without someone telling me that they have an idea for the next big thing. Now, it could very well be that those people are right. But, nine times out of ten, they haven't done any research to actually determine if their idea is doable. Here are five questions founders ask themselves when deciding whether to move forward with a startup idea. 1. Has anyone done it before? I've spoken about this countless times, but before you write one line of code, do market research. Figure out if someone has done it before you. Were they…

Some people reach incredible heights in their careers because they happen to be the kind of creative genius who has the right idea at the right time. Most tech-whiz kids like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg fall into this bucket. But what if you're the kind of entrepreneur who wasn't lucky enough to think up the idea for Facebook in 2004 and is looking for a more step-by-step path to career greatness? Then you could do a lot worse than follow the example of Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. A lucky break and a fast climb Khosrowshahi started out…

Nigerian banks are heading for their best quarterly performance in six years as a return to more conventional economic policies and a sharp devaluationof the naira are expected to boost profits in the West African nation. Banking stocks are up 34% this quarter and headed for the best quarterly performance since 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The NGX10 index, which tracks the performance of the lenders on the Nigerian Exchange, is up 45% so far this year, extending its gain to 54% in the last 52 weeks. That compares with a 2.3% loss on the MSCI Emerging Markets…