Philosophy of Achievement: You are Richer than you Think.

“Sam, I know where you live. I know the car you drive. I know your office. You are not a rich man. You cannot write such a great book then give the money to some charity instead of upgrading your life.” Those were words from a friend when I told him that I will be giving proceeds from every copy of The Guy Who Fired His Boss towards Cancer Care and Support work.

My friend’s definition of riches is not close to mine. I consider myself very rich. I have a great wife and children. I have life basics. I’m enjoying what I do. I have a few skills and capabilities that others would desire to have. I have fulfilling friendships and great networks. I’m in good health. I am rich.
If he meant that riches are measured in terms of money and other material possession then I don’t have much. But my life cannot be about accumulating more of these. It is ok to get some comfort and conveniences that these riches bring but they are never a measure of accomplishment and achievement.

I believe that the measure of success is how well one has used the skills, opportunities, health, finances, experiences, connections, talents, positions, relationships etc to make the lives of others better. This is regardless of your status or situation. That is my philosophy of achievement.


You don’t have to give up everything away. You don’t have to do something spectacular. You don’t have to die in front-line fighting for freedom of others. But you can do it in your day to day activities and routine in small measures. You don’t have to take over all the problems of the world – you are neither omnipresent nor omniscient. But you can do something about one or two problems in the world.


You can do it once or you can make it a lifelong endeavor. You can drop coins in the collection basket or you can set up a foundation. You can give now or you can leave all in your will. But all in all you can do something.

How to Get the Most out of Psychometric Tests

Many recruiting managers are turning more and more to psychometric testing in their pursuit of getting that one great new hire. This is driven by frustration of failure of conventional interviewing and a desire to be as scientific as possible in selection process.
What has been interesting is that the more the employers turn to psychometrics tests candidates are turning these tests into exams to be passed. Candidates have called us asking for coaching session on psychometric tests while some firms offer practice sessions for them.
The challenge for you as an employer then is to ensure that you get the right results from the tests rather than those that have been influence by a candidate who is keener to say what they hope you want to hear than being honest.

As a firm that uses psychometric tests in sales people selection we have learnt a few lessons that I’m happy to share.

A test is as good as what it seeks to measure. The user of psychometric test need to be clear what the test measures and whether what it measures is relevant to performance in the role. For example if a test measures whether someone is an introverted or extroverted you need to ask yourself whether these factors are essential for the role you are filling.

Secondly, you need to be sure that the test can validly pick out these factors. The simpler and straight forward a test is the more likely it is to be manipulated by the candidate. Great tests are expensive because they are costly to develop, administer, analyze and interpret. While there are many computerized systems to do the analysis in most cases the best interpretation is done by a human being.

Psychometric tests are great in giving an objective representation of a candidate. However, they should never be used alone to make a selection decision. No one can talk of a test that is 100% fool proof. But the administrator should have validated the test to a point where they can talk of their error margin and demonstrate whether that is acceptable. The conventional interviewing should seek to validate the outcomes of the psychometric tests.

When we test for various aspects of sales aptitude and sales behavior tendencies we use oral interview that is structured to validate the tests results. This greatly improves our success rate in hiring great candidates using these tests.

We have seen candidates who have all the right qualifications, credentials and demeanor come out weak in the tests. The decision then becomes whether to ignore the test results and go with the impressive resume. Some employers have opted for the resume. Most of them regret making this decision. Our suggestion then has been – ignore the test results only with good reasons.

My Life in Consulting

Many years ago I read somewhere that if you really want to be successful you must do that which you really love doing. The writer of the piece insisted that you should look for it till you find it. He went on to say that once you find it just do it even if no one is paying you to do it. 

As I grew older I figured out that if you did only that which you will enjoy doing without making money then you have a hobby and soon enough you may end up doing that which you don’t like to sustain it. To be really successful you require figuring out how you will make money from this passion of yours. I also discovered that I need to combine that which I love doing with what am good at. Passion combined with talent it is unstoppable. This then got me into the journey of finding out that one thing that I love doing( I can happily do for free), I am good at and can make a living from.

The Helping Business
Five years ago I got the answer………… HELPING. I love helping people. I’m good at helping people (sometimes to my detriment) but how can make a living out of helping people? I had to get people who had problems that I would enjoy helping people overcome and they would be willing to pay to be helped. To cut the story short I saw many business people who struggled to generate and grow sales. I saw sales people under pressure to perform but no know-how to do it. I saw managers struggling to get the right people to do the right job. I saw frustrated entrepreneurs caught up it traps of their dreams but minimal returns from their hard work. I felt for these people and there I knew how I could help. That explains how I got into the consulting business.

The best definition of consulting I have come across is the one that emphasizes that it is the business of helping people and organizations become more efficient and effective in pursuing and achieving their goals. This is the philosophy behind everything that I do as a consultant.

Not Effort, But Results
The end result of my engagement with my clients is leaving them better off than I found them. I want to see them making more sales and profits, having more efficient and effective organization, become more competitive, have happier and motivated people and develop highly professional people working with them.

That’s why whenever I am contracted by clients (people under my care) I make it clear to them that I don’t wanted to be engaged in the processes of writing papers, strategic plans and other initiatives that will not be implemented for whatever reason. Declaration of intentions has its place but I believe that the most important differentiator in life is not the plans and intentions but actions.

Whatever strategy we come up with we keep on asking the big question how can we make it simple and practical enough that the client will implement it. We are always seeking ways of dealing with the various obstacles that render many consulting engagements unfruitful. We create systems of monitoring the implementation of the strategies. We, politely but firmly, push our clients to act. All this is because we really want to see the fruits of our helping efforts. Of course we know the client is free to choose and take responsibility for the task at hand.

The most frustrating clients for us are those that are not action oriented. In the few years I have been in consulting business I describe the biggest reason why most consulting projects fail as lack of action. Our definition of action is strategic focused action towards realization of the intended goal. Many managers and business owners don’t take this kind of action. Instead they go through work motions without asking themselves where the activity will lead them. They are trapped by daily emergencies and petty emergencies that make them fail to take the right action. I believe that a semi good consulting engagement backed with strategic action will bear more fruits than a perfect one without strategic action.

Our highest rewards are the results our clients get. We consider it a failure if we do the job and not get results. That’s why we turn away from jobs that we cannot promise results for whatever reason. By focusing on results we feel happy that we do not take our clients money and leave them worse off than we found them.

As I have said we are in the business of helping our clients accomplish their goals. We don’t take the clients responsibility for their success.
In a nutshell that is my brief experience in helping business. I love it. I enjoy it. And it pays!