Leadership

What do you want to be remembered for?

Posted by on Mar 11, 2008 in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life | 0 comments

I’m sure that you’ve noticed by now that I am a big fan of Guy Kawasaki. I really like his practical, let’s get it done attitude. His Art of the Start book is one of the best business books around.Read it!The last chapter of Guy’s book is on being a Mensch or “What do you want to be remembered for?” You can find a Guy’s post on this here and Joe McCarthy’s counter point here. Guy also contributes to Entrepreneur Magazine and in the March 2008 edition he writes about the same topic.Here are his 5 ways:

    • Help people who cannot help you. A mensch helps people who cannot ever return the favor. He doesn’t care if the recipient is rich, famous, or powerful. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t help rich, famous, or powerful people (indeed, they may need the most help), but you shouldn’t help only rich, famous, and powerful people.
    • Help without the expectation of return. A mensch helps people without the expectation of return–at least in this life. What’s the payoff? Not that there has to be a payoff, but the payoff is the pure satisfaction of helping others. Nothing more, nothing less.
    • Help many people. Menschdom is a numbers game: you should help many people, so you don’t hide your generosity under a bushel. (Of course, not even a mensch can help everyone. To try to do so would mean failing to help anyone.)
    • Do the right thing the right way. A mensch always does the right thing the right way. She would never cop an attitude like, “We’re not as bad as Enron.” There is a bright, clear line between right and wrong, and a mensch never crosses that line.
    • Pay back society. A mensch realizes that he’s blessed. For example, entrepreneurs are blessed with vision and passion plus the ability to recruit, raise money, and change the world. These blessings come with the obligation to pay back society. The baseline is that we owe something to society–we’re not a doing a favor by paying back society.

      It’s the end of your life…what do you want to be remembered for?[amtap book:isbn=1591840562]

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      100 Ways to Succeed and Make Money

      Posted by on Feb 8, 2008 in Business, Entrepreneurship, Leadership | 0 comments

      Tom Peters is always interesting and unconventional. I found his 100 ways to succeed and make money and interesting read. It’s similar to Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” .Here are some of my favorites:

      • Number #3: Write thank you notes.
      • Number #4: Make the difficult call NOW!
      • Number #6: Make today count — legacy. Similar to my principle of making each moment count.
      • Number #14: Read (and act on) these 3 books. You’ll have to read the manifesto to find out.
      • Number #17: He/She who has the Best Story wins!
      • Number #23: Design means you.
      • Number #29: Get the story! – everyone is important and has a story.
      • Number #33: Out-read ’em.
      • Number #47: Just drill – drill more wells than the next guy.

      This is from the first 50 found on ChangeThis.com. I’ll list my favorites from the rest next…

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      Elon Musk’s Tesla ousts co-founder Eberhard

      Posted by on Dec 6, 2007 in Green Energy, Leadership, South Africa, Technology | 0 comments

      Jeff Nolan posted on the ousting of Tesla’s co-founder Eberhard. The San Jose Mercury broke the news. Here is the Tesla Motors press release, and the rumors on the Tesla Motors Club forum. In a previous post I mentioned that Elon Musk is the main investor and chairman of Tesla Motors. I want one, these cars are very cool and green…Dec 10, 2007 update: Here is another post from Good Morning Silicon Valley and also from the good people @ All Things Digital.

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      Patrick Lencioni – The three signs of a Miserable job

      Posted by on Oct 4, 2007 in Business, HCM, Leadership | 2 comments

      Pat said that this was the first time that he will give this keynote on his new book: “The Three signs of a Miserable Job.” He is also the author of “The 5 dysfunctions of a team”.I think work is under-focused on in our lives. Work is thought of that other thing we do. Popular TV shows don’t show people working. People on Dirty Jobs seem happy with their jobs. This is amazing because they have bad jobs. CEO, execs, football players are unhappy. Is your job fulfilling? Misery at work is universal – clock watching, Sunday night blues, ahhh I have to go to work tomorrow.People need to be reminded more than being instructed. – Samuel JacksonThe 3 signs of a Miserable job

      1. Anonymity – All humans have a need to be known. If we feel anonymous we don’t feel appreciated. Managers should care about their people. We have to life coach the people who work for us. Why aren’t we all doing it? We’re too busy. Interest needs to be genuine. [The handouts read, accountability instead of anonymity — funny…]
      2. Irrelevance – You make a difference in some one else’s life. As managers tell people how they make a difference.
      3. Immeasurement – Measure for themselves why they’re doing what they are doing. Salespeople like their jobs because they know where they stand. We all have a need to measure. This is what I do, and this is how well I’m doing.

      Someday I what to retire. Don’t wait until you retire to start your ministry. The way you treat your people will influence the people around them. Management is ministry!Pat’s final comment: Work becomes a great source of fulfillment and ministry.[amtap book:isbn=0787995312]

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      Andy Stanley – The most powerful man in the room

      Posted by on Oct 4, 2007 in Business, Leadership | 0 comments

      [Note: ok I couldn’t do the real live blogging thing. The WiFi connection wasn’t strong enough, sorry…]Andy Stanley started off with a confession – I’m nervous talking @ Catalyst. He said, “We are like peers. You guys are like the leaders. What am I going to talk about next year?”Then he started his talk on “the most powerful man in the room”.If God trusted you with leadership — you wield power (we like to use the word influence). Our words have power. Whether you like it or not — you have power as a leader. How do we use it to honor God? Double-edged sword of power. Regulation is not the solution to control power. Same problem in churches. Always work in teams. Follow we, instead of follow me. Not the solution.What do you do when it dawns on you that you are the most powerful person in the room?This is the moment in the life of a leader that makes or breaks us and shapes our character. It says so much about your confidence in God. You have no idea how God wants to use you. Your fear of power (abuses you’ve seen) may be what God wants to use. God wants to entrust even more to you. Biography – read story of Moses. I (Moses) don’t want to be in a position of power — maybe God wants to use you.John 13: 1-7, 12-17, so he got up from the meal, and he wrapped a towel around his waist.What’s your first move when you become a powerful person? Jesus sheds his symbol of authority his robe. Jesus disciples were stunned by his humility. Jesus sheds all his authority (his robe is the symbol) and became a humble servant.What do you do if it dawns on you you’re the most powerful? Jesus just gave as an example. Your first line of respond is to shed symbols of authority and show humility.Don’t leverage your power for your own sake, but for the sake of the other people (in the room). Look for opportunities to leverage your power for the other people in the room. If you don’t apply this principle it shows your weakness. Jesus didn’t do it. [Note: Later in the day Rick Warren said a similar thing: He leverages his fame and influence to give people (the poor) influence who don’t have any.]George Washington story – he surrender his power. If he decides not to be King he would be the greatest person in the world. Supreme example of a leader that can be trusted with power — he gave it up.Legacy of your leadership will be to decide: I’m not greater than my Master and Saviour. He leveraged His power for the benefit of the others (disciples) in the room. We should do the same.

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      Catalyst 2007 – Convergence of next generation leaders

      Posted by on Oct 2, 2007 in Blogging, Business, Leadership | 0 comments

      I’ll be attending the Catalyst 2007 conference at the Arena in Gwinnett County, just North of Atlanta, Oct 4-5, 2007. This conference usually draws over 10,000 people and is aimed at sharing leadership insights with young, upcoming leaders. It’s a great event with an impressive list of speakers including:

      My plan is to do some live blogging for the first time. Let’s see what happens. Hope to see you there.

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