Quotable Quotes: Advice To Live By
May 31, 2009 by Miki Saxon
Together, these five disparate thoughts pack enough wisdom to live from youth to old age and never go wrong
“Friendship is an undervalued resource. The consistent message of these studies is that friends make your life better.” –Karen A. Roberto, director of the center for gerontology at Virginia Tech (I wonder if all those friends at Facebook and Twitter count?)
“Never let your ego get so close to your positions that when your position goes, your ego goes with it.” –Admiral H. G. Rickover (I call it ego merge and it’s a definite no-no.)
“That’s what keeps life moving forward, focusing on what we can do, rather than getting caught up in what we can’t.” –Trisha Meili, The Central Park Jogger (Words of wisdom from a woman who knows.)
“Small Minds Talk About Others, Mediocre Minds Talk About Themselves, Great Minds Talk About Ideas.” –Eleanor Roosevelt (Which do you have?)
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” –John Milton, Paradise Lost (True when Milton wrote it and just as true now.)
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Seize Your Leadership Day: From, About And For Leaders
May 30, 2009 by Miki Saxon
You may not be a CEO, you can learn from from them and tweak the information to work for you.
First is an article written by Neeraj Bhargava, who co-founded India’s WNS Global Services and ended up CEO. It’s interesting because the focus his learning curve in an overheated market, how he hired an exceptional team and got out of their way.
Next is an interview with James J. Schiro, CEO of Zurich Financial Services (they didn’t crash and burn) focusing on what he’s learned, how he manages, how he uses social media and building the company’s culture.
CEOs jobs are safer than they’ve been in a long time. That’s right, their boards and investors are sticking with the devil they know and giving them time to succeed, instead of turning them like flapjacks.
My final offering is for all you road warriors (warrior wannabes) or just people who like to work away from the office. If you have an iPhone or Blackberry you can do all your Office applications on it. (Better you than me:)
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Robert Sutton On How To Be A Good Boss In Bad Times
May 29, 2009 by Miki Saxon
Do you subscribe to The McKinsey Quarterly? They have a great selection of topics depending on your interests. I mention this because you may have to register to read the following, but no worry, it’s free.
McKinsey has done a great interview with Stanford prof and management guru Robert Sutton, he of The No Asshole Rule fame.
In his McKinsey interview Sutton talks about how to be a “Good Boss in Bad Times.” The video is below or you can read the transcript if you prefer.
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Image credit: McKinsey Quarterly
Leadership’s Future: Some Of My Best Friends Are…
May 28, 2009 by Miki Saxon
In San Francisco the Black and White Ball is the fund-raising event of the season.
In hundreds of small town across the south it means separate proms for black and white kids.
The reason given by many white students and parents in Georgia when asked why, when the school is integrated and the kids hang out together, play sports and date, are their proms held on different nights—white on Friday, black on Saturday—is “It’s how it’s always been; it’s just a tradition.”
The proms aren’t put on by the school, but by the parents. They are held in the same place, but on different nights. White first, black second.
I wrote about another prom in Mississippi that did integrate, much to the rage of many white parents.
Whereas the kids in Charleston, Mississippi pushed successfully for a prom together (Paul Saltzman’s documentary of it, “Prom Night in Mississippi,” created a sensation at Sundance and will be shown on HBO in July.), the white kids in Montgomery County, Georgia used the ‘always been that way’ excuse.
But the black kids “questioned their white friends’ professed helplessness in the face of their parents’ prejudice (“You’re 18 years old! You’re old enough to smoke, drive, do whatever else you want to. Why aren’t you able to step up and say, ‘I want to have my senior prom with the people I’m graduating with?’ ”).
As one girl said, “I really don’t understand, because I’m thinking that these people love me and I love them, but I don’t know. Tonight’s a different story.”
Click here to see the kids and hear their own words.
To me, it seems like the hurried we go the behinder we get.
A sad definition of equality in the Twenty-first Century.
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Wordless Wednesday: How Do You Brainstorm?
May 27, 2009 by Miki Saxon
See why Twitter = TMI
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Ducks In A Row: Do You Want Busy Or Productive?
May 26, 2009 by Miki Saxon
A senior manager I work with is having high turnover because he’s rewarding and promoting those who are busy instead of those who are productive.
He’s concerned when his people aren’t busy. He believes that if they have they aren’t working they must be slacking or are under-utilized in their position and gives no thought to their productivity.
In a comment Jim Gordon said, “In school, people are taught to do WORK and not to be productive (well, they don’t say “don’t be productive,” but rather “stay busy”). The problem is that of conforming to peoples’ constant need to stay busy. Often “work” is seen as productivity – if you are one who is productive and you aren’t busy, people consider that to be counter-productive. So the tragic upshot of this perception is that you have to put forth equivalent “work” alongside them. The result is a lot of work and a little production.”
A manager who focuses on ‘busy’ instead of ‘productive’ will not only alienate her best experienced people, but also drive away her most promising new talent who, like Jim Gordon, do know the difference.
Always being busy may be visually impressive, but it lacks substance and leaves people exhausted.
Productivity drives success, both the company’s and the manager’s, but it’s also necessary for individual self esteem—it’s what gives people satisfaction in a job well done and energizes them.
So the choice is yours.
Do you want your people productive, excited, up for the challenge or busy, bored and polishing their resumes?
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Memorial Day 3109
May 25, 2009 by Miki Saxon
I had a thought this morning and asked Jim Gordon, who draws mY generation, the Sunday comic on my other blog, to draw my thoughts for today.
He did a great job; I only wish I believed that it would happen sooner.
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Image credit: MAPpingCompanySuccess.com
Quotable Quotes: About Questions
May 24, 2009 by Miki Saxon
I love questions. Questions are the stuff of life, especially if you’re a ‘why‘ person like me.
Answers are fine, but questions take you further; they’re all about creativity, innovation and the unknown. Questions are the road to the future.
“The first people had questions and they were free. The second people had answers, and they became enslaved.” –Wind Eagle, American Indian Chief (Questions take you further than answers. Hat tip to Slacker Manager for this quote.)
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” -–Galileo (See that; it’s about the questions.)
“I am not young enough to know everything.” –Oscar Wilde (Isn’t that great? Under 25 (give or take) and you don’t need questions.)
“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” –Ellen Parr (More questions. Questions are curiosity in action.)
Do you have a favorite question quote? Please take a moment and share it with us.
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Seize Your Leadership Day: Long-term Resources
May 23, 2009 by Miki Saxon
It’s a holiday weekend and I assume (hope) that you have better things to do than sit around reading a bunch of stuff on the Net.
So the links I’ve found for you are made to bookmark; they’re ongoing resources for you to explore as the mood and time moves you.
First is a cool site from Stanford Graduate School of Business with videos, such as the one on Jeff Raikes, head of the Gates Foundation, and a large selection of other topics.
Next is a favorite from Business Week’ Innovation and Design. It comes out weekly with great stories; for example, did you know that McDonald’s Chicago HQ is the greenest building on the planet?
Finally, also from BW is the new Business Exchange, an online community “to access the most
relevant content for you, filtered by like-minded business professionals.”
Have a terrific holiday and stay safe; I don’t know what I’d do without you.
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Leaders, Leaders Everywhere, But Which Ones Should You Follow?
May 22, 2009 by Miki Saxon
Oh goody. Another CEO study. I haven’t seen the study, but David Brooks (NY Times) gives an overview (whatever you do, don’t miss the comments), while Dan McCarthy (Great Leadership laments the fascination with such studies.
I pretty much ignore them, except for their amusement value—sort of like all the food studies that tell us which food that was recommended last year will kill us this year.
Speaking of which, I wish someone would do a study like that on CEOs.
A ranking of CEOs who were lauded for x amount of time before they crashed and burned for the same traits that were their supposed strengths.
And a corollary ranking of all the pundits, gurus and executive coaches who did the lauding and how many have come forward to apologize for mistaking hubris for competence.
Of course, that would be a very long list.
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