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This video news clip from somewhere in the southern US serves two purposes:
1) It’s just plain fun to watch, and
2) You can use it as a discussion starter for a dialog about strengths.
I came across the clip on YosemiteBlog and they found it on Kottke.org. Enjoy -
Companies and organizations have leaders, managers, administrators and a bunch of folks who are very skilled at the tactical sand and gravel of achieving the goals and meeting the mission.
There is an over-emphasis on the ideal of being a leader. Yes, they are out front, they set the pace and cast the vision. Without a leader human beings are destimed to wander aimlessly. But leaders aren’t the end all. They’re usually really bad at actually getting things done by themselves. And if everyone wants to lead . . .
Wally Bock wrote a very good post on the Mementor blog titled, “You Could be Management Material, If . . . ”
It reads like a page out a SimplyStrengths® or StrengthFinders® handbook. From the blog:
Do you enjoy having a say in the direction your team is going? That comes with the leadership job, but not everyone is comfortable being out front.
Do you enjoy helping other people succeed? That’s the core of a boss’s job. You have to be able to set aside your own ego and help the team and the team members do better.
Are you willing to talk to other people about their performance or behavior?It’s the part of the boss’s job that many people find stressful. If you’re willing, there are techniques that will help you do it more easily and effectively.
Are you willing to make decisions and take the consequences? That’s another thing that bosses do.
The full post has some surprising stats about the management and leadership aspirations of today’s work force.
One of the smartest things you can do is to offer a strengths assessment to your employees. I’d be more than happy to help them maximize their strengths, and your bottom line will be the better for it.
I happened across Seth Godin’s blog this morning.
Hadn’t been in a while and wanted to see what his incredible brain was up to. I’d thought of him because I intend to re-read THE DIP this weekend as I prepare for some changes in my consulting practice - but more about that in a few weeks.
Anyway - one of Seth’s recent entries he asked the question -
How often do you tweet instead of retweet? Invent rather than exploit?
His premise was an encouragement for people to step up and make things happen and the reference to Twitter worked well for me.
As I look at my TweetDeck log, there are a fair number of folks who never have anything of their own to say - unless they’re telling the world what they had for lunch or how much their feet hurt. When they do have something worth paying attention to, it’s a RT from someone else.
Zoom out and catch a wider view - everyone in the world can’t be leading or there’d be no one to follow, but for goodness sake we need more folks willing to stick their necks out, to take a chance, to suggest something different.
We all ReTweet. We all pass along something we’ve learned or experienced. The books I write are giant ReTweets of stuff I’ve learned from others, passed through my own filter and organized between covers. But, the real jewels come when someone says, does or thinks something that’s never been said, done or thought before.
Let me RT myself: RT @jimseybert - The real jewels come when someone says, does or thinks something that’s never been said, done or thought before.
My StrengthFinder themes are Ideator, Strategic, Future, Maximizer and Communication so I am inextricably drawn to new things - I can’t help it - and I am always on the lookout for people who can yank my leash into the future.
Are you one of them?
Something Cali Lewis mentioned on a recent GeekBrief episode flipped a switch in my brain and sent me off on a wild goose chase of ideation*.
See if this provokes any different thoughts for you.
Cali reported that Twitter was changing it’s basic question from “What are you doing?” to “What are you thinking about?”
THAT restarted a mind game I play with myself - Am I a human being or a human doing? Am I more about what I do, or more about who I am? Am I more effective when I focus on activities or ideas?
Thinking? Doing?
Seems that the DOING part comes from the left side of my brain and the THINKING part is managed more by the right side. Or is it the other way around? What would Dan Pink say?
Does the logical and linear left side actually control my THOUGHTS allowing the sensitive and aesthetic right side to play with activities?
Am I a Doer?
Am I a Thinker?
Do I think about doing?
What do I do when I think?
What do I think about doing?
Do I sometimes do without thinking?
Do I sometimes think without doing?
Can I think one thing and do another?
Can I do one thing while I think another?
What do you think I should do?
* Ideation is one of my StrengthFinder themes, if fact it’s my number one theme. People with this theme tend to enjoy the exercise of exploring ideas that might not go anywhere. They (we) generally cause others to shake their heads and walk away. If you come into contact with one of these people, they (we) are mostly harmless and when left to our own thoughts we can come up with some pretty interesting things.
In another good example of thinking differently, Alain de Botton offers an enjoyable 15-minute TED presentation on societal influences behind success and failure.
I don’t recall ever having heard anyone speak with humor about anxiety, envy, snobbery and losing.
Bottom line: Success comes from doing well what you do.
Sounds like Microsoft is going whole hog into the retail store concept. They’ve hired some top talent including the person responsible for choosing real estate locations for Apple stores.
Courtesy - Apple Insider
Reports are that the Microsoft outlets will be more about brand building than actual product sales, although a photo of a beta store shows plenty of product on shelves.
Question - Without getting into a Microsoft Bashing exercise (which would be easy):
What should Microsoft do to make these store different? What strategy should they employ to take advantage of their strengths? What new ideas could they exhibit that would compel people to visit their stores?
I once saw a Mac fan get down on his knees in front of the Apple store in San Francisco. Will people do that when the first Microsoft outlet opens its doors?
The Compass
Vanguard Press - June 2009
Jonathan Taylor’s wife and only daughter are involved in a violently fatal car crash at an intersection near their home and after two months of counseling Taylor decides to fill a backpack and head out on a journey of healing that begins in the Nevada desert. “[I] left suburbia for the desert [with] no illusions that I would ever return.”
Out of water and crawling across the scorching sand, Taylor is found on the precipice of death by a terminally ill psychologist living her final days taking photographs of the desert because that’s where her inner compass had led her. Brought back to life with water from her canteen, Taylor travels with his savior to the Adirondack mountains, where he meets the next “angel” who adds another measure of healing and enlists him as a companion on a trip to Europe, where he . . . you get the idea.
The Compass (Vanguard Press 2009) is a pleasant metaphor told in first person narrative with enough creativity to hold interest while not falling into an allegorical abyss. You get the feeling that Taylor’s travels could be a true story.
Taylor is living with the grief of a lost loved one, but the lessons taught by the people he meets could easily apply to loss of a job, a broken relationship or even a mid-life crisis.
The characters ever-so-sparingly weave biblical references into their conversation and there is one reference to prayer near the end. The lessons aren’t subtle or veiled, nor do they come across as “preachy.”
The Compass is also part of a multi-faceted self-help program including web sites, videos and personal coaching — chapter-by-chapter study notes are provided for readers wanting more help in finding their own bearings — and despite the obvious pop-psychology connection it’s a good read with a few jewels of thought provocation sprinkled throughout.
The Compass
Tammy Kling & John Spencer Ellis
Vanguard Press June 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59315-542-1
