Leadership Quotes

After you acquire knowledge and skill, aim to be a practitioner. Time for practice on the job or in life will still test your authenticity. Knowledge is one of the greatest sources of confidence, and you will need that confidence to do your work and demonstrate you know what you have been trained for.

~ Archibald Marwizi

You cannot bury someone with the Shereketa spirit for long. Even if they are thrown into problems, they will rise back up.

~ Archibald Marwizi

You are only as authentic as the substance you have inside you. Having others take your examinations or doing your assignments and projects is to reduce the level of authenticity of your qualification as well as your personal brand. Master your chosen area of study to the highest level and demonstrate that you have full knowledge as a specialist. Let the depth of your knowledge make you sought after and respected. Define yourself and be authentic.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Your life as an effective person must always have productivity surrounding all your efforts, there must be a sustained forward and upward trajectory in every area of your life. This is where the Shona Shereketa meets the Japanese Kaizen - you are moving and shaking past mediocrity on the basis of small but continuous improvements that will ultimately result in positive quality changes to your life.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Make sure your reading, studying or research are always adding value to the defined vision, mission, beliefs and values that form your unique personal brand.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Your growth and involvement must begin to show lasting footprints as you exude maximum effectiveness and significance. Your leadership influence must translate into a source of inspiration for your peers and those who look at you as a leader.

~ Archibald Marwizi

The question is what kind of stuff do you immerse your mind in? What kind of food does your brain feed on? What kind of exercise does it get and for what purpose? What do you spend time listening to? What thoughts do you entertain? All these are the processes that form the conveyor belt into your subconscious mind.

~ Archibald Marwizi

To succeed and create change, you must be willing to take the risk, with an understanding of a number of key elements. Please begin to understand that an entrepreneurial spirit is not only essential in business enterprise. We all have a business to run in our different areas of specialty. Your life is your business and your family is your business – you have multiple businesses.

~ Archibald Marwizi

An entrepreneurial spirit makes you someone who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business enterprise, talent or calling to become an agent of change.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Entrepreneurship is the process of discovering new ways of combining resources to create change – in whatever area of life.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Money might be a reward (by-product) but should not always be the only goal of your efforts and enterprise.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Dreams are difficult to measure if they remain wishes – crystallise them into measurable goals with specific targets and action plans. Goals/objectives are easier to measure when broken down into tasks with clear targets and deadlines.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Choices and decisions must be supported by your passion, resolve and a productive work ethic. If these meet opportunity - your success has finally come!

~ Archibald Marwizi

Learn from mistakes and set-backs (yours and other people’s), pick yourself up, make necessary changes and try again. I once came across a saying that went something like, “The wise learn from the mistakes made by fools!” So at some point we all have been fools, I suppose, since we all make mistakes.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Take your mission and yourself very seriously. Stick to your schedule and keep time. Cut expenditure of time and money from non-core activities and redirect to those that give more value to the pursuit of your purpose. Never embark on your work or a project without a plan, even if it’s just a mental plan. Use the old carpenter’s rule – “Measure twice and cut once.” Do not leave room for substandard results.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Seek to develop your skill and talent to a level of relevance. Create a platform to shine and make sure you are bringing a difference to the areas that require your expertise. A pastor who does not teach or pray for people, a football player always playing pool, a body builder who doesn’t eat but sleeps all day, a student who studies only towards examinations, a politician without a cause and a business without a customer service culture all have one thing in common – sooner or later they will all become irrelevant. Never miss the chance to practice the call of your mission, even if you are not getting paid for it.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Every effective person must be able to sell and teach, whether in private or to a group in public. This applies equally to skills and talents as it does to products and services.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Always remember that every word you say contains power and you must ask yourself a few questions about your words; Are these words true and kind? Are these words relevant and necessary? Are these words effective for intentions? Reflect on what your words carry, they are a life-changing container!

~ Archibald Marwizi

Be stimulated to become significant. This might be your back-slap moment. New-born babies born with weak signs of life are given a slap on the back to “stimulate” them. It is a knock to wake them up to the reality that they must now take charge. In this world, they have to do their own breathing and their own eating otherwise they will not survive. It’s the same in your adulthood and your quest for success, you must take charge because no one will wake up every day to do things for you and make a success out of a life of excuses and laziness.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Positioning yourself and effective branding should not be left to sports and movie stars. Your need a personal coach, manager or mentor otherwise your expertise, skills or talent will not go far. You might have what it takes but sometimes you lack strategy and some finer elements.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Your personal development is your personal responsibility. No one can study or acquire knowledge for you. There are things only you can do, to bring the change or the results you require to make progress in life.

~ Archibald Marwizi

If you want to excel in any endeavour you must pay attention to detail, know exactly what you want, have the detail on how you want it done and how you will get it done. You must realize the importance of definitions and love defining things in your life and about your life – Define your mission, define your problem, define your future, define your path and the finer details of your vision. Use your sense of imagination and creativity.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Your attitude should not settle for the average when you have what it takes to become the best. You excel by choice and you must be focused like a laser beam. Even the sun, powerful as it is, will not be able to burn a hole into a piece of paper until a magnifying glass is used to channel the power of its rays onto one spot. Focus your intellect and your knowledge to get excellent results.

~ Archibald Marwizi

No matter how much I care for you I cannot grow for you, you have to do your own growing – it’s your personal responsibility. Make a plan on how you will get the skills and experience required to become a practitioner of note in your area of choice.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Do not lose focus because of small wins or temporary set-backs. You can only score if you keep your eyes on the ball and be certain of where you want to place it even if you are not in physical sight of the goal. Visualise the dream but never take your eyes off the dynamic plan of action.

~ Archibald Marwizi

You must be willing to be disciplined as well as make personal sacrifices. It takes discipline to go through rigorous training and study programs. You need a coach or coaches and sometimes mates to help you stick to your planned program in execution of your responsibilities. To be excellent and effective, the non-essentials must give up time and space in your life – some sacrifices have to be made. Work hard and work smart.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Even if you are counted amongst the best, you will slip into mediocrity by remaining comfortable being the worst of the best. You might be relevant, but because your level of effectiveness is in the bottom tier and your impact minimal – you will soon become obscure as your relevance begins to wear off.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Shift from mediocrity to excellence. Mediocrity and Excellence are like jealous suitors fighting for a partner and competing to please him/her, to the extent they do all they can to reproduce in sets of twins. Mediocrity gives birth to Irrelevance and Obscurity, whilst Excellence breeds Relevance and Significance. These sets of twins cannot inhabit the same life, only one compatible pair can co-exist.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Review and question what you already know or have. In most ball sports and games, you confirm whether you have scored by checking whether the ball has gone into the goal or hit its target. So evaluation of results means that you must look at your goal to see if the ball has hit its target. Look at your educational aspirations or dreams and say “am I on track to meet my 2020 PhD target?

~ Archibald Marwizi

Make adjustments and improvements to enhance the effectiveness of meetings or surpassing of your target. Learn to define, quantify and be specific about what, how and when you want to succeed in each area of your life.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Shereketa” is a Shona word ordinarily meaning to fidget, to be restless, and to show discomfort. Whilst this word has largely been used negatively, the Shereketa principle channels it into a different dimension to be used positively for success. Shereketa re–defined refers to deliberate movements, actions and adjustments inspired by the calling to excellence & success, driven by a conviction against and a growing discomfort with mediocrity. The movements and actions take place in two realms - the inner spirit/convictions of your heart and the outer execution platforms of your physical and material world (Shereketa within and Shereketa without).

~ Archibald Marwizi

Deliberately and purposefully schedule meetings with yourself. These are the most important meetings in the life of one who intends to make their success deliberate. During these meeting you do much of the quality and honest communication with yourself. This is besides the conversations you are always carrying on with yourself in your own head or audibly. That doesn’t mean you are crazy, we all do it and we just need to improve the quality and positivity of those conversations.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Be disciplined enough to choose your network and be willing to sacrifice the circles that reduce your effectiveness and make you unproductive.

~ Archibald Marwizi

You are in obscurity when you are still needed but no one cares a lot what you say or think, or even where you are working from. You have no voice or presence that makes you relevant. Grow your voice.

~ Archibald Marwizi

The biblical preacher talks about the poor man’s wisdom that saved a city but he was immediately forgotten. A poverty of ideas, contributions, uniqueness or influence, will overshadow the visibility of good potential. Keep those ideas flowing and you will not be forgotten.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Some people are known, they have the platform and presence, but still remain irrelevant. They know you and what you do, but they don’t need you or your offering. I see too many people with a platform but without substance, again this is not sustainable. Lack of substance can only relegate your talent or skill towards the league of the mediocre, if at all you become much by superficial branding then you will become the best of the worst. You don't have what it takes but you depend on your ability to sell substandard offerings to the market. It will not last for long, but quickly become irrelevant.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Understand that every ‘voice’ has the spirit to influence. Watch your tone, accent, volume and speed. Be careful that you don’t sound angry or argumentative whenever driving an important point. Equally important, is not sounding serious or sounding playful when the message being conveyed needs to be taken seriously.

~ Archibald Marwizi

The obvious signs of a brand gone wrong are the levels of negative headlines it consistently attracts. People talking about you for all the negative and wrong reasons. You begin to shoot yourself in the foot and you have become your own enemy. The gospel about you should be good enough to create relevance and significance - or rather to confirm that.

~ Archibald Marwizi

You must learn to accept that humans make mistakes, but when the same issue is repeated over and over without corrective strategies to plug the holes, then you must expect negative impact on your definition of success. It is normal to make a mistake, but learn, face the consequences, get back up and march on. If you want to be different or stand out as a brand, then your actions, habits, behaviours and decisions must reflect that 'you care about what people think or say about you.

~ Archibald Marwizi

Be punctual, it shows your respect for other people.

~ Archibald Marwizi