"CEOs can't wait to read Sunny Bindra's articles every week."

Feb 24, 2008
Did we really not see it coming?

We didn’t see it coming. That is the horrified standard response to our post-election crisis from our chattering classes (also known as the drinking classes, the pontificating classes, and the not-our-fault classes). This response is uttered in aghast fashion, and reflects the speaker’s disgust at these dreadful goings-on. This response allows many scapegoats to appear: […]

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Feb 22, 2008
Be afraid of your customers – not your competitors

“Yes, you should wake up every morning terrified with your sheets drenched in sweat, but not because you’re afraid of our competitors. Be afraid of our customers, because those are the folks who have the money. Our competitors are never going to send us money.” Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com (Interviewed in Harvard Business Review, October […]

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Feb 17, 2008
Our flawed sense of identity caused this crisis

I listened to Amartya Sen lecturing many years ago, and knew I was in the presence of great wisdom. A decade later, he won the Nobel Prize for Economics. This Indian-born professor has also been the first non-white Master of Trinity College, Cambridge – a position that is regarded as the apogee of British academia. […]

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Feb 15, 2008
The roots of our anger lie within us, not outside.

“Anger is rooted in our lack of understanding of ourselves and of the causes, deep-seated as well as immediate, that brought about this unpleasant state of affairs. Anger is also rooted in desire, pride, agitation, and suspicion. The primary roots of our anger are in ourselves. Our environment and other people are only secondary. It […]

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Feb 10, 2008
Kenya’s biggest problem: its young men

In all the scenes of mayhem, chaos and looting we have observed over the past few weeks, one fact is inescapable. In virtually every case, the trouble-makers are young males. Older men, and women in general, have little interest in burning, harming, killing or general disorder. That is an affliction peculiar to the young male. […]

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Feb 08, 2008
Singing an anthem does not a nation make

“Our (society) is thrown open to the world, and we never expel a foreigner or prevent him from seeing or learning anything…we rely not upon management or trickery, but upon our own hearts and hands. We are called a democracy; for the administration is in the hands of the many and not the few. No […]

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Feb 03, 2008
Which hate-filled Kenya is this?

It is nearly five years since I started to write this column. And today, for the first time, I have nothing I want to write. Today, for the first time, I am staring at the blank white screen before me without anticipation, without ideas, without purpose. Indeed, an honest act would be to submit a […]

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Feb 01, 2008
It’s decision time. Let’s play big

“…one quality that leaders I admire have in common is knowing when to act decisively…Effective leadership inevitably means taking decisions – and often pretty tough ones at that. Good leaders have to have the drive and ambition to lead from the front. They don’t accept the necessity of always doing things the same way simply […]

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The Harpreet and Clement Affair: Some open letters

Dear Harpreet and Clement Ah, young love! The thrill, the joy, the agony. It was written in the stars, it was sung on the wind, it was meant to be. When romance is in the ascendant, nothing else seems to matter. Congratulations, youngsters. We can only wish you well. May your love blossom, mature and […]

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Jan 27, 2008
Foreign media a convenient bugbear?

Our post-elections crisis has been characterised by many types of intolerance, many of which have resulted in mayhem. But one particular type of strange provincialism is happening all the time, and passing without comment: our peculiar loathing of the international media. Many respected Kenyans have hurled vitriol at the foreign press and electronic media in […]

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Jan 25, 2008
Want to do more? Do it one thing at a time

“Many executives view multitasking as a necessity in the face of all the demands they juggle, but it actually undermines productivity. Distractions are costly: A temporary shift in attention from one task to another – stopping to answer an e-mail or take a phone call, for instance – increases the amount of time necessary to […]

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Jan 20, 2008
Why aren’t Kenyans killing each other in Diaspora?

A question: why are all those Kenyans in Diaspora not chasing each other with pangas? I’m being entirely serious. There are hundreds of thousands of Kenyans out there, in dozens of countries. They come from all tribes and all social classes. Some are very well educated, but many are not. They are not necessarily in […]

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Jan 18, 2008
Our leaders must get to grips with basic crisis management

“Companies increasingly accept that crises, in whatever form, are inevitable. While there is a variety of theories and opinions on how best to manage a crisis, some fundamentals are common. First, accurate information is essential. Any attempt to conceal relevant facts and to manipulate the situation ultimately backfires. Second, the company must react as quickly […]

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Jan 13, 2008
We will have to re-imagine Kenya

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. Saint Francis of Assisi’s famous prayer is widely quoted and cherished. Its sentiment is […]

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Jan 11, 2008
A real leader exists for the good of his people. Period

“If we must have leaders, let us seek ethical leaders; those who seek the greatest good of their followers. The followers must on the other hand undertake to suffer the consequences of seeking, together with their leaders, the ultimate good, the greatest good. …How sad, then, that we are surrounded by such weak leaders; people […]

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Jan 06, 2008
Let Kenya’s leaders spend tonight in a slum

So many bad things have happened in Kenya over the past few days that we are numb with disbelief. But more than anything else, I am overcome by feelings of deep shame. Shame that my countrymen are capable of such inhuman and unconscionable acts against each other. And shame that people at the top of […]

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Jan 04, 2008
Corporate space is about more than just economics

“Each and every day, we unwittingly cage (and enrage) ourselves with old-fashioned thinking rooted in a bygone Industrial Era. Behind the modern corporate veil lurks old fashioned “hierarchical planning”: those Dilbertian cubicles where we partition ourselves from one another and where space is reduced to its leanest and meanest economic essentials. With time, any sentient […]

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Jan 02, 2008
Time to return to fundamental human values

Where did my country go? Just a few days ago I lived in a seemingly vibrant country that was going somewhere. A country that was attracting the attention and investment of the entire globe. A country that seemed set to resolve its differences through a properly conducted, peaceful ballot. Today I find myself in a […]

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Dec 30, 2007
Let us know ourselves in 2008

The elections are done. It is now time to stop asking what your leaders can do for you, and start asking what you can do for yourself. For that is how development and progress actually happen: by one’s own efforts. But there is a very important step we must take before we rush to action. […]

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Dec 23, 2007
Time to vote wisely

All the hullabaloo is nearly over. It’s time for the day of reckoning on 27th December, in the only place that matters: the voting booth. The right to vote is the fundamental tenet of democracy. None of us should take it lightly. It is one of the most important powers granted to you by your […]

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Dec 21, 2007
The great CEO is actually a teacher

“Think back for a moment to your school days. Remember the best teacher you ever had, the one who seemed to know everything about his or her field and had something all the other teachers lacked: the ability to boil down the complex ideas of a discipline – whether it was psychology, economics or chemistry […]

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Dec 16, 2007
Needed: An election-proof country

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for the elections to be done with. Regardless of who wins what, this campaign has not done the country any favours. We have all conducted ourselves very badly. Campaigns seem to bring out the worst in us. Who gains from elections? Certainly, the people who peddle […]

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Dec 14, 2007
Sun Tzu’s 5 fatal leadership flaws

“There are five character flaws that are dangerous for a general. If he is reckless, his men can be killed. If he is cowardly, his army can be captured. If he is short-tempered, he will react in anger. If he is self-important, he can be deceived. If he is attached to his men, he will […]

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Dec 09, 2007
Crown Your Customer – Book Signing

I will be signing copies of Crown Your Customer at Books First, Nakumatt Ukay on Tuesday 11 December from 7.00 – 9.00 pm. Muthoni Garland will also be in attendance, signing Tracking The Scent Of My Mother.

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Time to say goodbye to the ‘Mkokoteni’ economy

When I was a student in London, there was a particular Kenyan T-shirt that I would wear with great pride. It depicted a cartoon of a man pulling a ‘mkokoteni’ cart. This T-shirt reminded me of my roots, and of the idiosyncrasies of the country from which I had emerged. I told my fellow students […]

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Dec 07, 2007
Lesson in capitalism from ‘The Godfather’

Scene from The Godfather: To set the scene, Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino), the don’s war-hero son who was not ordained to enter the family business, nonetheless finds himself tapped to avenge the attempted assassination of his father (played by Marlon Brando). His mission is to shoot Sollozzo, who engineered the gunning down of […]

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Dec 02, 2007
A family business that’s 4 centuries old

How long do family businesses last? Most make it to the second generation, and then the problems start. Once the visionary founder has handed over the reins to his son/daughter/nephew/brother, an inflection point occurs. What happens in that second generation decides whether the business has a future. Either the company makes necessary changes and undertakes […]

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Nov 30, 2007
Thinking deeply about strategy

“Where is (success) coming from? It’s coming from having, within a company, difficult-to-replicate and usually intangible resources. Things that can generate and sustain competitive success – things like reputation, a good customer group, network externalities, experienced and competent people performing your processes. …we know that companies get good at something by doing it. Now that […]

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