IF YOU ARE A MAN: HERE ARE 20 THINGS YOU SHOULD DO BEFORE YOU TURN 40

I went for a colleague’s birthday outing few years back as he clocked the proverbial 40 years of age. I have heard people say ‘A fool at 40 is a fool forever’ and I suppose they meant that there are certain things you can’t fix anymore once you have gone past age 40 or simply put, there are certain things you ought to have done or stopped doing as you celebrate your 40 years on earth as a man.

Many believe that asides achy joints which are the main reasons we slow down as we get older, the brain part in charge of motion may also start a gradual downhill slide at age 40. New research also suggests that in middle age, even healthy people begin to lose some of the insulation in a motor-control part of the brain — at the same rate that their speed subtly slows. Dr. George Bartzokis, a neurologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who led the work, concluded that this explains why it is hard to be a world-class athlete after 40. So, in other words, if you want to be the Tiger Woods of this world, Usain Bolts, Christiano Ronaldos and the likes, you must have achieved that before you turn 40.

Now, here are 20 things I believe you should do as a man before you are 40, please note that this is not anywhere near comprehensive and the application of this list may vary from one man to another, But I think if you start with these 20 things, you might just be on the right track going into that dreaded middle age era of your life.

1. Have A Relationship With Your Creator: It doesn’t matter how you choose to communicate with the creator; by age 40, you should have a relationship with God in your own way, except if you are an atheist.
2. Have Healthy Respect For Creation: 40 is not the age where you should start learning about how to value other human beings, how to treat and respect them and how to take care and charge of the environment you live in. You ought to have done that way before.
3. Dump The Skinny Jeans: Except you are a performing artist or something close to that, please throw all your skinny jeans away no matter how fashionable they are, or simply give them to that your little brother of yours just entering the University.
4. Control Your Alcohol: People shouldn’t be bundling you home from a gig, or picking you up from the gutter the day after your friend’s daughter naming ceremony. At 40, you must be in control of yourself if you take alcohol.
5. Know The Purpose Of Money: By this time, you should know that man makes the money and not the other way round. So, If you still go around trying to oppress ‘homeboys’ and impress every chic in your neighbourhood because you have some money in your bank account, maybe you are not really 40 afterall.
6.  Know The Difference between Making Love and Fu**ing, And When Which One Is Appropriate: Thankfully, we are talking to adults here, who shouldn’t be lectured on how to give pleasure to their partners when necessary. So, please know the difference, if you don’t, ask your friends to teach you. Lol
7. Know Your Worth, Your Value And Your Non-Negotiables: Back in my village, they used to say “Whatever we will not agree to when we become wealthy, must be subtly rejected while not as wealthy” it simply means, at 40 people you must stand for something and people around you must know what you stand for. You can’t have a fickle mind at 40 and expect people to take you seriously.
8. Have A Firm Handshake: you know those CEO like handshakes? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Your grip must be firm and sure by the time you are 40 especially when your job makes you to formally or socially meet lot of people.
9. Have Appropriate Shoes: Please brother, just like the jeans, some shoes are not just meant for you when you are 40. Even if you have 2 pairs, let them be appropriate for whatever occasion.
10. Have Some Money Saved: Well, I know Nigeria is hard but if you have a job, please have some money saved for rainy days. Some unplanned health issues might arise, you might lose some old parents or grandparents; and I suppose if any of that happens, you don’t want to start running around like a headless chicken for ‘chicken change’ abi?
11. Have A Purpose Or Be On The Road To Finding One: Have you heard that when a man discovers the reason or the purpose for which he was born; that is when he starts living? If you haven’t before now, well you just read that. So by 40, you must have known why you are born, you must have discovered purpose and daily working at achieving it.
12. Visit Your Alma Mater: If you are reading this, then I’m so sure you went to a primary school at least. So, it is recommended that you walk on the nostalgic path again, meet your old teachers (if they are still there) take a look at your classroom and the bench that you used to sit, contribute something, be a role model or just relive your memories. You can do same with your secondary school and higher institution as well.
13. Apply For Your Dream Job: Don’t look back later in life with regret, wondering what could have been. So before you are 40; equip yourself and apply for the job you’ve always wanted. It may not lead to any dramatic career choice, but unless you give it a shot, you will never know.
14. Be A Mentor: There is no reason you should not have at least one person that you inspire; one young person looking up to you, while you provide direction.
15. You Can Still Find A Mentor: The good news is, as you are mentoring somebody, you can also still find another mentor of your own even at 40 as you’re never too old to learn from someone older than you. You can continue with the ones you have had from your twenties or simply look for a fresh one and add them up, but we all need some form of mentorship no matter the age.
16. Be Successful In Your Chosen Field: I don’t mean you must have had plenty money and build mansions in Lekki. But even if you are a carpenter, you must have mastered the art of carpentry to the extent that people will look up to you and respect you because of your work.
17. Get Married Mbok!: Except you are a monk, you are expected to have had your own family before you turn 40. Even though, some factors are militating against many of us in this part of the world. But please strive to start a family before 40 unless you plan NOT to have one at all.
18. Be Done Sowing Wild Oats: This is almost like the one directly above, but except that we all know a good number of married men still sowing their wild oats. Please, once you are 40, you shouldn’t be running after every Jennifer, Shade, Ijeoma and Aminat. Abeg, amend your ways!
19. Be Prepared For Retirement: You are 40 and the truth is you might not live up to another 40 years and if you do, the productive years are now considerably shorter. So, if you are not fully prepared for retirement by now, please start planning before you hit 40.
20. Do The NEEDFUL: Remember I said the application of this list may vary from one man to another, so my last advice is that you do whatever is needful for you to have a successful post-40 life. I hope I have been able to get across to you. See you soon.

culled from:  CHRIS BAMIDELE'S CORNER April 24, 2014 Christopher Bamidele

9 things more important than money by Jim Rohn

When starting any enterprise or business, we all know the value of having plenty of capital (money). But I bet we both know or at least have heard of people who started with no capital who went on to make fortunes. How? you may ask. I believe there are actually some things that are more valuable than capital that can lead to your entrepreneurial success. Let me give you the list.

1. Time: The time you set aside not to be wasted, not to be given away. Time you set aside to be invested in an enterprise that brings value to the marketplace with the hope of making a profit. Now we have capital time. How valuable is time? Time properly invested is worth a fortune. Time wasted can be devastation. Time invested can perform miracles, so you invest your time.

2. Desperation: I have a friend Lydia whose first major investment in her new enterprise was desperation. She said, “My kids are hungry, I have to make this work. If this doesn’t work, what will I do?” So she invested $1 in her enterprise selling a product she believed in. The $1 was to buy a few fliers so she could make a sale at retail, collect the money and then buy the product wholesale to deliver back to the customer.

My friend Bill Bailey went to Chicago as a teenager after he got out of high school. And the first job he got was as a night janitor. Someone said, “Bill, why would you settle for night janitor?” He said,“Malnutrition.” You work at whatever you can possibly get when you get hungry. You go to work somewhere—it doesn’t matter where it is. Years later, Bill is a recipient of the Horatio Alger award, rich and powerful and one of the great examples of lifestyle that I know. Desperation can be a powerful incentive when you say, I must.

3. Determination: Determination says I will. First Lydia said, “I must find a customer.” Desperation. Second, she said, “I will find someone before this first day is over.” Sure enough, she found someone. She said, “If it works once, it will work again.” But then the next person said, “No.” Now what must you invest?

4. Courage: If you’ve only got $1 and a lot of courage, I’m telling you, you’ve got a good future ahead of you. Humans can do the most incredible things no matter what happens. Haven’t we heard the stories? It’s humans. You can’t sell humans short. Courage in spite of, not because of, but in spite of circumstances. Now once Lydia has made three or four sales and gotten going, here’s what now takes over.

5. Ambition: “Wow! If I can sell three, I can sell 33. If I can sell 33, I can sell 103.” Lydia is now dazzled by her own dreams of the future.

6. Faith: Now she begins to believe she’s got a good product. This is probably a good company. And she then starts to believe in herself. Lydia, a single mother with two kids and no job. “My gosh, I’m going to pull it off!” Her self-esteem starts to soar. These are investments that are unmatched. Money can’t touch it. What if you had $1 million and no faith? You’d be poor. You wouldn’t be rich. Now here is the next one, the reason why she’s a millionaire today.

7. Ingenuity: Putting your brains to work. Probably up until now, you’ve put about 1/10 of your brainpower to work. What if you employed the other 9/10? You can’t believe what can happen. Humans can come up with the most intriguing things to do. Ingenuity. What’s ingenuity worth? A fortune. All you need is a $1 and plenty of ingenuity. Figuring out a way to make it work, make it work, make it work.

8. Heart and Soul: Money can’t buy heart and soul, and $1 million without heart and soul? You have no life. You are ineffective. Heart and soul is like the unseen magic that moves people—moves people to buy, moves people to make decisions, moves people to act, moves people to respond.

9. Personality: You’ve just got to spruce up and sharpen up your own personality, just develop it to where it is effective every day, no matter who you talk to—whether it is a child or a business person, a rich person or a poor person. A unique personality that is at home anywhere. My mentor Bill Bailey taught me, “You’ve got to learn to be just as comfortable, Mr. Rohn, whether it is in a little shack in Kentucky having a beer and watching the fights with Winfred, my old friend or in a Georgian mansion in Washington, DC as the Senator’s guest.”

And lastly, let’s not forget charisma and sophistication, charisma with a touch of humility. This entire list is more valuable than money. With $1 and the list I just gave you, the world is yours. It belongs to you, whatever piece of it you desire, whatever development you wish for your life. I’ve given you the secret. Capital. The kind of capital that is more valuable than money and that can secure your future and fortune. Remember that you lack not the resources.

Achieve breakthrough without hurting your loved ones

Thinking outside the box helps you to overcome hurdles and achieve breakthrough. Though it might take a while, carefully solve the puzzle and scale through the pediments of life and you won't hurt your loved ones.
LIFE is like FLUTE, it may have many Holes and Emptiness but if you work on it Carefully it can play BEAUTIFUL MELODIES.


You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night, it's raining heavily, when suddenly you pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for a bus:

1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing very well that

there could only be one passenger in your car?

Think before you continue reading... 

**********************************************

This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application.

1. You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first;
2. or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to ! pay him back.
3. However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.

The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer. Guess what was his answer?

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ****************

He simply answered:
"I would give the car keys to my Old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams."
Barriers have always been broken and Excellence or Success has always been achieved by those who dared believe that something INSIDE them is SUPERIOR to circumstances. Believe in yourself, weave in faith and God will find the thread by you thinking out of the box.
We have now seen that in every problem, there's a concealed solution locking itself underneath. Unlock, peruse, find and solve.

Let's reason together .........



Culled from: Naijapals.com

10 Good Traits and Characteristics of a Successful Manager

You have a business and you are interested in hiring a manager who will be able to assist you in growing that business from the ground up. When you put out an ad for this position, you receive hundreds of resumes. Even if you narrow this bunch down to just the people who seem most qualified for the job, you're going to have to do quite a few interviews to make sure that you select the manager who is going to be most capable of growing your business. How do you know who that person is?

Here are ten of the most important traits to look for in a manager for your business:

1. Self-Motivation. The person that you hire for the job has to be capable of doing the job without needing you to look over her shoulder all of the time. This individual needs to be capable of understanding the basic goals of the business and developing her own strategies for achieving those goals. She needs to be committed to putting her all into the job every day without the close supervision of a boss.
2. Great Customer Service Skills. No matter what type of business you are in, you can benefit from having a manager who is excellent in dealing with customers and clients. Ultimately this may not be a large percentage of the manager's job since the daily tasks of customer service will fall to other employees. However, when problems arise with customers, the manager is the one who has the potential to diffuse the situation or to exacerbate it. You want to hire a manager who is going to be capable of making even the most difficult customers happy so that you can retain customers and the business can grow.
3. Integrity and Trustworthiness. You want to hire a manager who is going to be someone that you think that you can trust. Of course, it's hard to tell this off the bat at an interview but asking the right questions can give you a general sense of the individual's basic integrity. By hiring someone that you believe is trustworthy, you will reduce the stress of placing the growth of your business in the hands of someone else.
4. Being a Team Player. The manager has to be someone who is committed to working with a team of people for the improvement of the whole business. This means that the manager isn't in the business solely for the selfish reasons of "getting ahead". Instead, he is interested in growing the business because it is going to be to his benefit as well as to the benefit of the other people working with him in the company. A manager is a middle-man who has to work with both the upper-level bosses and the lower-level employees so it's highly important that this person is really a team player.
5. Conflict-Resolution Abilities. Serving as this type of middle-man is also going to put the manager into the position of having to act as a liaison between people in the company. He will be the liaison between the lower-level and upper-level employees. He will also serve as the mediator for disputes between lower-level employees. In order to be able to do this position well, the manager that you hire is going to have to be capable of handling conflicts in the office place. He needs to be someone who can spot problems as they form and nip them in bud as well as someone who can deal with bigger conflicts when they do arise.
6. Knowledge of the industry. The manager is going to have to be someone who is capable of answering the questions of customers, clients and staff members. This means that she better know what she is talking about. Although you can certainly provide training in the industry to a good manager, the ideal person for the job is going to be someone who already has advanced or specialized experience in this industry. A thirst for more knowledge about the business is a plus.
7. Dependability. When it comes right down to it, you're going to need to have a manager that you can count on. A dependable manager is someone who always shows up to work on time, doesn't slack off on the job and is capable of being counted on to stay late when there are times at the office that require him to do so. You want to be able to ask this person to do something for you and know for sure that he is going to just go ahead and do it.
8. Ability to Remain Calm. The role of being a manager can be a tough position to be in. There is a lot of stress involved in the daily tasks of management. A number of problems will arise throughout the course of any given day and the manager is responsible for handling those things well. You want to hire a manager who is going to be able to remain calm more often than not. A calm manager will keep the entire office calm which will lead to increased productivity and a better workplace overall. This will ultimately grow your business.
9. Optimistic Attitude. You don't want a manager who is calm but indifferent. You want a manager who is going to approach each project and each work day with an optimistic attitude. You want a manager who will come in smiling and who will express genuinely good feelings about the work that she is doing with her team. This will help to keep morale in the business high which leads to satisfied employees, low turnover rates, higher rates of productivity and growth of the business.
10. Leadership Skills. Beyond all of the other things that you need to see in a manager, you need to immediately be able to see that he has strong leadership skills. He needs to be confident in his ability to lead a team. He needs to be a good public speaker, someone who can delegate tasks appropriately and a person that people will feel comfortable taking directions from. If you see these things in someone at an interview, it's a safe bet to guess that this person will probably make a good manager for your business.
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Credit: http://kathrynvercillo.hubpages.com/hub/10-Traits-of-a-Successful-Manager

Top 10 Qualities That Make A Great Leader

Having a great idea, and assembling a team to bring that concept to life is the first step in creating a successful business venture. While finding a new and unique idea is rare enough; the ability to successfully execute this idea is what separates the dreamers from the entrepreneurs. However you see yourself, whatever your age may be, as soon as you make that exciting first hire, you have taken the first steps in becoming a powerful leader. When money is tight, stress levels are high, and the visions of instant success don’t happen like you thought, it’s easy to let those emotions get to you, and thereby your team. Take a breath, calm yourself down, and remind yourself of the leader you are and would like to become. Here are some key qualities that every good leader should possess, and learn to emphasize.

Honesty

Whatever ethical plane you hold yourself to, when you are responsible for a team of people, its important to raise the bar even higher. Your business and its employees are a reflection of yourself, and if you make honest and ethical behavior a key value, your team will follow suit.

 Promote a healthy interoffice lifestyle, and encourage your team to live up to these standards. By emphasizing these standards, and displaying them yourself, you will hopefully influence the office environment into a friendly and helpful workspace.

Ability to Delegate

Finessing your brand vision is essential to creating an organized and efficient business, but if you don’t learn to trust your team with that vision, you might never progress to the next stage. Its important to remember that trusting your team with your idea is a sign of strength, not weakness. Delegating tasks to the appropriate departments is one of the most important skills you can develop as your business grows. The emails and tasks will begin to pile up, and the more you stretch yourself thin, the lower the quality of your work will become, and the less you will produce.

The key to delegation is identifying the strengths of your team, and capitalizing on them. Find out what each team member enjoys doing most. Chances are if they find that task more enjoyable, they will likely put more thought and effort behind it. This will not only prove to your team that you trust and believe in them, but will also free up your time to focus on the higher level tasks, that should not be delegated. It’s a fine balance, but one that will have a huge impact on the productivity of your business.

Communication

Knowing what you want accomplished may seem clear in your head, but if you try to explain it to someone else and are met with a blank expression, you know there is a problem. If this has been your experience, then you may want to focus on honing your communication skills. Being able to clearly and succinctly describe what you want done is extremely important. If you can’t relate your vision to your team, you won’t all be working towards the same goal.

Training new members and creating a productive work environment all depend on healthy lines of communication. Whether that stems from an open door policy to your office, or making it a point to talk to your staff on a daily basis, making yourself available to discuss interoffice issues is vital. Your team will learn to trust and depend on you, and will be less hesitant to work harder.

Sense of Humor

If your website crashes, you lose that major client, or your funding dries up, guiding your team through the process without panicking is as challenging as it is important. Morale is linked to productivity, and it’s your job as the team leader to instill a positive energy. That’s where your sense of humor will finally pay off. Encourage your team to laugh at the mistakes instead of crying. If you are constantly learning to find the humor in the struggles, your work environment will become a happy and healthy space, where your employees look forward to working in, rather than dreading it. Make it a point to crack jokes with your team and encourage personal discussions of weekend plans and trips. It’s these short breaks from the task at hand that help keep productivity levels high and morale even higher.

Confidence

There may be days where the future of your brand is worrisome and things aren’t going according to plan. This is true with any business, large or small, and the most important thing is not to panic. Part of your job as a leader is to put out fires and maintain the team morale. Keep up your confidence level, and assure everyone that setbacks are natural and the important thing is to focus on the larger goal. As the leader, by staying calm and confident, you will help keep the team feeling the same. Remember, your team will take cues from you, so if you exude a level of calm damage control, your team will pick up on that feeling. The key objective is to keep everyone working and moving ahead.

Commitment

If you expect your team to work hard and produce quality content, you’re going to need to lead by example. There is no greater motivation than seeing the boss down in the trenches working alongside everyone else, showing that hard work is being done on every level. By proving your commitment to the brand and your role, you will not only earn the respect of your team, but will also instill that same hardworking energy among your staff. It’s important to show your commitment not only to the work at hand, but also to your promises. If you pledged to host a holiday party, or uphold summer Fridays, keep your word. You want to create a reputation for not just working hard, but also be known as a fair leader. Once you have gained the respect of your team, they are more likely to deliver the peak amount of quality work possible.

Positive Attitude

You want to keep your team motivated towards the continued success of the company, and keep the energy levels up. Whether that means providing snacks, coffee, relationship advice, or even just an occasional beer in the office, remember that everyone on your team is a person. Keep the office mood a fine balance between productivity and playfulness.

Creativity

If your team is feeling happy and upbeat, chances are they won’t mind staying that extra hour to finish a report, or devoting their best work to the brand.

Some decisions will not always be so clear-cut. You may be forced at times to deviate from your set course and make an on the fly decision. This is where your creativity will prove to be vital. It is during these critical situations that your team will look to you for guidance and you may be forced to make a quick decision. As a leader, its important to learn to think outside the box and to choose which of two bad choices is the best option. Don’t immediately choose the first or easiest possibility; sometimes its best to give these issues some thought, and even turn to your team for guidance. By utilizing all possible options before making a rash decision, you can typically reach the end conclusion you were aiming for.

Intuition

When leading a team through uncharted waters, there is no roadmap on what to do. Everything is uncertain, and the higher the risk, the higher the pressure. That is where your natural intuition has to kick in. Guiding your team through the process of your day-to-day tasks can be honed down to a science. But when something unexpected occurs, or you are thrown into a new scenario, your team will look to you for guidance. Drawing on past experience is a good reflex, as is reaching out to your mentors for support. Eventually though, the tough decisions will be up to you to decide and you will need to depend on your gut instinct for answers. Learning to trust yourself is as important as your team learning to trust you.

Ability to Inspire

Creating a business often involves a bit of forecasting. Especially in the beginning stages of a startup, inspiring your team to see the vision of the successes to come is vital. Make your team feel invested in the accomplishments of the company. Whether everyone owns a piece of equity, or you operate on a bonus system, generating enthusiasm for the hard work you are all putting in is so important. Being able to inspire your team is great for focusing on the future goals, but it is also important for the current issues. When you are all mired deep in work, morale is low, and energy levels are fading, recognize that everyone needs a break now and then. Acknowledge the work that everyone has dedicated and commend the team on each of their efforts. It is your job to keep spirits up, and that begins with an appreciation for the hard work.

Credit: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/top-10-qualities-that-make-a-great-leader/ 

Inventor of AK-47 rifle Mikhail Kalashnikov dies at 94

CREDIT: http://on.rt.com/5uw0bo

The inventor of the iconic AK-47 assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died at the age of 94. His ingenuity earned him widespread admiration, but his legacy became more controversial when his weapons were used in some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts.

"Mikhail Kalashnikov's entire life is a shining example of dedication to serving your country," said a statement from Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed "deep condolences" over the death of the engineer.

Kalashnikov who continued working well into his nineties, had been suffering from heart and intestinal problems, and on November 17 was admitted into intensive care in Izhevsk in central Russia - where the plant that produces the eponymous rifles is located. The official cause of death will be revealed following a mandatory autopsy.

A public funeral will be organized by the regional administration, in consultation with surviving relatives, though no date has been named so far.

Patriot, genius, villain?

For most of his life, Kalashnikov, who was famous for his frugal lifestyle, was feted as a straightforward hero.

The self-taught peasant turned tank mechanic who never finished high school, but achieved a remarkable and lasting feat of engineering while still in his twenties.

He was forever asked if he regretted engineering the weapon that probably killed more than any other in the last fifty years.

"I invented it for the protection of the Motherland. I have no regrets and bear no responsibility for how politicians have used it," he told them.

Senior Sergeant Mikhail Kalashnikov as he designed his AK-47 assault rifle. (RIA Novosti)

On a few occasions, when in a more reflective mood, the usually forceful Kalashnikov wondered what might have been.

"I'm proud of my invention, but I'm sad that it is used by terrorists," he said once.

"I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work – for example a lawnmower."

Indeed, at his museum in Izhevsk, where he spent most of his life working at the factory that was eventually named after him, there is an ingenious mechanical lawnmower Kalashnikov invented to more easily take care of the lawn at his country house.

It’s not what he will be remembered for.

Considering his age and circumstances, it was hardly surprising that Kalashnikov felt he could best serve his country by creating weapons.

Born in 1919, Mikhail was the seventeenth child of well-off peasants. When he was eleven, during Joseph Stalin’s collectivization campaign his parents had their land confiscated, and the whole family was exiled to Siberia (a fact rarely mentioned in fawning Soviet-era biographies).

As the country began to mobilize ahead of a war that seemed inevitable, but was as yet undeclared, Kalashnikov chose to go into a tank brigade.

His aptitude for engineering was immediately apparent.

He was allowed to create several modifications – a tank shot counter, a running time meter – that were to be adopted for the whole Red Army, and made him famous. He was destined to go on an engineering course, when Operation Barbarossa intervened.

Mikhail Kalashnikov.(Reuters)

Kalashnikov’s own career as a tank commander was cut short in the first few months of the conflict on the Eastern Front, when an explosive shell ripped open his shoulder.

Kalashnikov says the germ of the idea came to him as he recuperated in hospital.

But the invention of the AK-47 was not a Eureka moment, but a trial-and-error process of modifications and improvements undertaken by a team over six years.

While for propaganda purposes Kalashnikov’s invention was presented as a radically new development, it was based on several principles that had already been seen in British, Russian and Italian weapons to which the inventor had easy access as he drew up his blueprints.

AK-47 

Weight: 3.47 kg 

Length: 880 mm 

Cyclic rate of fire: 600 rounds per minute 

Price: Between $15 in some post-war African states and up to $1,000 at height of regional conflicts. Official prices somewhere in the middle. 

Total quantity produced: approximately 100 million.

Its main precursor was the German StG 44, the first truly effective automatic weapon of World War II.

But at the same time, Kalashnikov’s masterstroke was to combine the mechanisms of previous weapons to create something with a completely new function.

AK-47 is not a weapon designed for accuracy tests at the firing range. It is a weapon for firefights at close quarters, in harsh Russian conditions.

It can be assembled by a person with no military training, is fired by simply pointing at a target, and it can be easily looked after without a cleaning kit. It does not jam by itself (due to the generous allowances between moving parts, which also explain its mediocre accuracy at range) and it does not stop functioning in any weather conditions.

The AK-47 fulfilled its design brief to perfection, even though there is no way Kalashnikov could have known who it would be used by in the end. More than 60 years after its invention, it remains the world's most ubiquitous weapon.

CREDIT

IDEAS CAN COME FOR ANYWHERE

I was doing an interview recently when, not for the first or last time, I was momentarily stumped by a question. There is an expectation for interviewees to have an instant answer to whatever they are asked, but often this simply isn't the case.

You need a moment to think when questioned on a new topic, and during this interlude bright ideas can sometimes arrive. Interviews are a good time to question your beliefs and think about what you really believe in; it's a bit like sitting on a psychiatrist's couch. 

The same goes if you are having a good chat with a friend, as opposed to an interview. By challenging each other in conversation, you can get to the root of issues and develop new plans.

A journalist once asked me in an interview if I'd ever thought of going into the rail business. I replied that it could be a good idea. The next thing I knew there was a headline in the Sunday Telegraph saying: “Branson to go into trains.” So at that point I needed to go and build a team! Virgin Trains has now been running for 16 years and counting.

Where do good ideas usually strike you?

Richard Branson

Founder at Virgin Group