Archive for: June, 2009

RIP Michael Jackson

Battlestar Galactica: Razor movie full

buy Who Loves the Sun

 

Adam Resurrected psp

Boss of Bosses full movie

Like other people in the world I grew up with Michael Jackson’s music and still can’t stop listening to the tunes. I still remember the videos of me emulating Michael’s moves and doing (trying!) the moonwalk when I was 5 years old in my grandparents house. It seems it was only yesterday!

Michael was my first idol, I thought how cool is this guy having such a huge impact in the world…I want to be just like him.

download Baby on Board

Cadillac Man trailer

It sad to see the King of Pop go but on the other hand I’m glad that I was influenced by him.

Thank you Michael!

Leadership lessons from Abraham Lincoln

Lately I’ve been and it’s . I found these 8 leadership principles from Abraham Lincoln to be clear, concise and exemplary of of good leadership practice and thought I share them with you.

Lincoln on Leadership is an extraordinary treatise on leadership. Is demonstrates coherently and comprehensively how Abraham Lincoln sought to manage those who helped him preserve the United States through the perilous and agonizing years of the Civil War.

Shanghai Noon video

Consider the principles of Leadership that Lincoln spoke of and consistently used to govern is managerial conduct:

Cadillac Man release

Blues Brothers 2000 buy Girl Happy  

Advocate a VISION and continually reaffirm it

CIRCULATE among followers consistently

Build strong ALLIANCES

Search for INTELLIGENT assistants

The Sleeping Dictionary film

Encourage INNOVATION

PERSUADE rather than coerce

Giù la testa move

Influence people through STORIES

Be RESULTS oriented

The Holiday divx

10 Most common traits of bad leaders

The authors of a recent article from the Harvard Business Review analyzed a couple of study’s to find out .

As noted from the authors:

In one, we collected 360-degree feedback data on more than 450 Fortune 500 executives and then teased out the common characteristics of the 31 who were fired over the next three years. In the second, we analyzed 360-degree feedback data from more than 11,000 leaders and identified the 10% who were considered least effective.

If you don’t make others better, you’re not a leader

lakers celebrate championship

Are you making others better?

The NBA season is over and the .

The big talk is all about how Kobe Bryant finally got a ring without Shaquille O’Neal. But the story that is without a doubt the most important for leaders is Phil Jackson surpassing Red Auerbach as the coach with the most championships won and undeniably being .

I’ve from watching the Chicago Bulls teams of the 90’s with Michael Jordan.

Heck I started getting interested in this whole leadership thing when Michael Jordan came back from baseball and helped the Bulls to the best regular season ever and championship, so I’ve been curiously watching how Phil Jackson has continued to be a great coach by consistently by bringing out the best in his players.

After game 5 of the Finals, Phil Jackson was asked what he thought of Kobe Bryant’s growth as a leader. He recounted an interesting story of back when Kobe was 22 years old the Lakers lost a game, afterwards Phil sat down with Kobe to talk to him about his impact on the game and how him taking over/dominating the ball put the Lakers in a difficult position. After pointing out to Kobe how he could improve and could become co-captain, Kobe said he was ready to be captain but Phil said “Yeah, but others are not ready to follow you”.

You might have great skill and talent but if others are not willing to follow you’re not making a difference.

Early in his career Michael Jordan was criticized for being a great player but not making his teammates better, it was only when he started trusting his teammates that the Bulls started winning championships. He started noticing a difference in his career when his teammates where confident in themselves.

The word empower is commonly associated with making others better. Empowering others can be summed up this way:

Exemplary leaders make other people feel strong. They enable others to take ownership of and the responsibility for their group’s success by enhancing their competence and their confidence in their abilities, by listening to their ideas and acting upon them, by involving them in important decisions, and by acknowledging and giving credit for their contributions.

When Lakers players were asked about what they thought set Phil Jackson apart from other coaches the same idea always came up: he brings out the best in his players and empowers them to make the right decisions.

Phil Jackson brought out the best in Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant (big egos) by encouraging them to and in return they became leaders themselves.

So why is Phil Jackson the best coach ever then?

According to Kobe Bryant:

“It’s his ability to bring people together,” Bryant said when asked what makes Jackson such a great coach. “That’s the biggest thing that he does so well — he continues to coach the group, continues to coach unity and chemistry and togetherness. Because when you’re together, you can withstand adversity. If you’re not, you can easily break apart and become a team of individuals. That’s his biggest characteristic and what he does so well.”

Conclusion: focus on bringing out the best in others and you shall become a leader of leaders.

Innovation drives differentiation (video)

 

Innovation means change.

One of the challenges for big companies is how to ignite the passion for innovation in their organization and this requires is a HUGE change in thinking of how the typical organization is designed to work.

In his book , Marty Neumeier proposes 16 Levers of Change than we can use to jumpstart innovation in our organization. Some of these ideas are highlighted in this that I recommend you read.

Innovation drives differentiation and it all starts with culture, the premise of The Designful Company is .

I haven’t read the book but I’ve added it to my wish list and can’t wait to read it!

The video above was created by to highlight the key ideas from the book.

culture of innovation