Provocative statement, don’t you think? Before I expand, remember, choose your friends carefully. Who you hang out with, that’s who you’ll become. There are a lot of great life tips that I found in the book by Karen Williams. This one has had the biggest impact. I’ve extracted the important excerpts to make this post. “Walt Disney used to say, there are three kinds of people in this world: Well Poisoners, Lawn Movers, and Life Enhancers. Hang with the Life Enhancers.” 1. Well Poisoners “They’re the people who have something negative to say about everything. There’s no joy in their…
Leadership
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While reading The Takeaway by Pat and Karyn Williams, I came across a really good summary of what leadership is all about. I think these 7 ingredients are essential in an effective leader. Vision: Leadership is always about the future. Communication: Leaders have to spread their vision. The do that by communicating optimism, hope, inspiration, and motivation. People skills: Outstanding leaders care about others. Character: Honesty, integrity, respect, humility. Competence: Leaders are good at what they do, always working on improving their skills Boldness: Leaders have to make decisions. More harm is done by no decision, than a wrong decision.…
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How do you influence another person? How do you make him change? How do you get him out of this habit that’s killing you? It’s not easy. But there are good ways and bad ways of accomplishing the task. I found this out by reading a very good book on communication skills, Messages. I extracted what I found the most useful information. “Influencing others is an art that requires an understanding of the principles of change.” INEFFECTIVE WAYS Blaming, criticizing, or complaining.– your basic message is “you are bad or wrong.” Threats.– “do what I want, or else…” Pouting or…
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This is the best set of rules for self-leadership I have read. These are principles that will make you a better leader, a better person, and a better learner. Priceless. Lifelong learning. 1. Set goals for your life; not just for your job. What we think of as “meaning of life” goals affect your lifestyle outside of work too, and you get whole-life context, not just work-life, each feeding off the other. 2. Practice discretion constantly, and lead with the example of how your own good behavior does get great results. Otherwise, why should anyone follow you when you lead?…
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Another great piece as part of the Leadership Wired newsletter. Qualities independent of talent which, when practiced, add value to others and ourselves: Teachability The desire to listen, learn, and apply is not innate, but when cultivated, it aids the growth and development of a leader. Successful people view learning differently than those who are less successful. For successful leaders, learning is as necessary as breathing. They crave knowledge and seek it out through books, conferences, conversations, and evaluated experiences. The unsuccessful person is burdened by learning, and prefers to walk down familiar paths. Their distaste for learning stunts their…
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Great leadership article. I’ve extracted some excerpts. By nature, leaders are decision-makers. The more influential the leader, the more consequential their decisions will be. Leaders are out in front because they have proven their ability to choose the appropriate course of action when faced with big decisions. However, when a leader begins to rely solely on personal observation and intuition, that leader is headed for trouble. Even the wisest among us has a limited perspective, and we will miss important decision-making clues if we become entirely self-reliant. In this edition of LW, I am indebted to the brilliant thought of…
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The latest issue of ComputerWorld, Oct 2nd issue, has a very good section on leadership, Lessons In Leadership, where five top CIOs share their lessons learned. I am going to extract some great quotes I found. These quotes explain what leadership is in a practical way. Bette Walker, CIO of Delphi Corp”I remind my direct reports that if they’re not doing a good job of communicating, coaching and preparing materials in advance, change will take even longer.” David Rice, CIO of Siemens Medical Solutions USA”Sometimes the absolutely worst decision is to not make a decision. Being a leader means having…
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A good leader needs to have at least some charisma. What is charisma? I found a great definition of it while reading Win The Crowd. Charismatic people are: enthusiastic confident comfortable in their own skin unconcerned about what others think of them masters of their subject matter symbols of something others desire Be Unconcerned About What Others Think of YouThe key to charisma may lie in this advice. Do what seems right to you, and don’t waver when people present differing points of view. Stay true to who you are and what you believe in. People will often test you…
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What makes a good leader? I don’t think there is one answer to this question. There are different views on that. But there are some characteristics that a leader should have. The following sums it up nicely: “We want honest leaders, who are decisive, creative, optimistic and even courageous …. one of the most critical traits of a leader: humility. A humble leader listens to others. He or she values input from employees and is ready to hear the truth, even if it’s bad news. Humility is marked by an ability to admit mistakes.” ReferenceThe above quote is taken from…