OK so I've "fixed" the template for all you IE users. (Well ok I didn't fix it, I just imported a new template and then customized it to look more or less like how it was before). Now I only have to make the text column a little bit wider....
I'll save that for another time.
Best,
-Jason
Sunday, February 25, 2007
No I am not Dead
Hi Everyone,
Sorry for being away for so long. I've been quite busy with work and everything else. Though I have started getting involved with the Philadelphia chapter of NAAAP (The National Association of Asian American Professionals). They seem like a really cool bunch, and the organization is probably bursting with opportunities for leadership, so we'll see how this goes!
In other news, I found out that Accenture (the company that I work for) has an entire mini-website dedicated to leadership. Long story short, it had quite a few reprinted articles from the Harvard Business Review which I spent a good chunk of the past few weeks (and at least 5-6 hours on this lazy freezing cold Sunday) to read.
So depending on how everything else goes we'll see if I can't get a few posts in by the end of today. If not, within the next few days.
So please stay tuned!!
-Jason
Sorry for being away for so long. I've been quite busy with work and everything else. Though I have started getting involved with the Philadelphia chapter of NAAAP (The National Association of Asian American Professionals). They seem like a really cool bunch, and the organization is probably bursting with opportunities for leadership, so we'll see how this goes!
In other news, I found out that Accenture (the company that I work for) has an entire mini-website dedicated to leadership. Long story short, it had quite a few reprinted articles from the Harvard Business Review which I spent a good chunk of the past few weeks (and at least 5-6 hours on this lazy freezing cold Sunday) to read.
So depending on how everything else goes we'll see if I can't get a few posts in by the end of today. If not, within the next few days.
So please stay tuned!!
-Jason
Monday, February 12, 2007
Mission Statements (II)
OK so I've been reading Ken Blanchard's (One Minute Manager) new book Leading at a Higher Level (He sent me an autographed copy so I had better read it cover to cover ^_^).
The book is actually broken up into essays / chapters that are written by a number of different people on his research team. But anyway, one section on writing mission statements is slightly different from what I wrote about before though more or less analogous.
Again it is broken up into three parts:
However, the WHY is something I totally agree with. Sometimes this can get muddled in with the what, but other times, especially with long lived organizations, you need a stronger why. (If your mission was to land a man on the moon, and you have already achieved this, why else should your organization exist?)
Anyway, much more reading to get through. Until next time!
-Jason
The book is actually broken up into essays / chapters that are written by a number of different people on his research team. But anyway, one section on writing mission statements is slightly different from what I wrote about before though more or less analogous.
Again it is broken up into three parts:
- Significant purpose - The why of the mission statement
- Picture of the future - The what of the mission statement
- Clear Values - Clear and ranked values direct the day to day running of your team
However, the WHY is something I totally agree with. Sometimes this can get muddled in with the what, but other times, especially with long lived organizations, you need a stronger why. (If your mission was to land a man on the moon, and you have already achieved this, why else should your organization exist?)
Anyway, much more reading to get through. Until next time!
-Jason
Internet Explorer Issues
Hi Everyone!
Just wanted to apologize for the blog not working for IE users.... (switch to Firefox) . But as you can see from Firefox, I've changed the template a little bit... and it broke in IE. I'll be trying to fix things back up, but in the mean time please be patient, Thank You!!! ^_^
-Jason
Just wanted to apologize for the blog not working for IE users.... (switch to Firefox) . But as you can see from Firefox, I've changed the template a little bit... and it broke in IE. I'll be trying to fix things back up, but in the mean time please be patient, Thank You!!! ^_^
-Jason
Saturday, February 03, 2007
"Scientific" Analysis of Leadership = Boring
-_-' alright, I'll probably get hate mail for this. But maybe someone can help straighten me out, and help me find this more useful. So a while ago I read through three or four books that explained some "scientific" studies on leadership.
Going through my notes, I'll pick on the "Multiple Linkage Model". I'll make this as brief as possible. A leader's effectiveness is driven by the leader's behavior, however there are many situational variables, such as corporate culture, that will influence the effectiveness of a leader's behavior. (Yelling and swearing at subordinates might work in the military, but will probably get you fired at your job). Similarly, intervening variables, such as subordinate's level of ability, available resources, natural disasters... can also influence results and effectiveness.
OK, my response to this "Duh!". Ok maybe I have a prejudice against this because it took the better part of a book to explain this in its original form (I see in my notebook where I drifted off to sleep with my handwriting becoming unrecognizable). I also just completed a Computer Based Training course on leadership where I sat through almost three hours of early 90's computer graphics that described four or five more theories of leadership.
I can't help but think, "How does this make me a better Young Leader?" Does anyone have any opinions about this? Is it better to think of leadership in the scientific (almost psychological) manner that you might read about in musty books? Or is it more reasonable to think about leadership from the basis of a few very basic principles and build up from there?
I would think that people are so incredible complex that it would be more effective to think about leadership from the ground up. Comments welcome and appreciated! Thank You!!
-Jason
Going through my notes, I'll pick on the "Multiple Linkage Model". I'll make this as brief as possible. A leader's effectiveness is driven by the leader's behavior, however there are many situational variables, such as corporate culture, that will influence the effectiveness of a leader's behavior. (Yelling and swearing at subordinates might work in the military, but will probably get you fired at your job). Similarly, intervening variables, such as subordinate's level of ability, available resources, natural disasters... can also influence results and effectiveness.
OK, my response to this "Duh!". Ok maybe I have a prejudice against this because it took the better part of a book to explain this in its original form (I see in my notebook where I drifted off to sleep with my handwriting becoming unrecognizable). I also just completed a Computer Based Training course on leadership where I sat through almost three hours of early 90's computer graphics that described four or five more theories of leadership.
I can't help but think, "How does this make me a better Young Leader?" Does anyone have any opinions about this? Is it better to think of leadership in the scientific (almost psychological) manner that you might read about in musty books? Or is it more reasonable to think about leadership from the basis of a few very basic principles and build up from there?
I would think that people are so incredible complex that it would be more effective to think about leadership from the ground up. Comments welcome and appreciated! Thank You!!
-Jason
You Can't "Motivate" Anyone
Some of you might be reading this and think to yourself.... "WTF! isn't that the point of leadership?" To this I must say "Yes and No". Let's step back a minute and I will explain.
I've talked about Good to Great a few times already. But I think it's worth mentioning "The Three Circles". Essentially, in order to find what you (and your organization) can be truly "Great" at you need to find the intersection of "What you can be the best at; What drives your economic engine; and What you are deeply passionate about". This makes sense. Suppose you are the best at doing something, but you don't really care for it... it wouldn't make sense for you to pursue this, because your heart would not be in it (no matter how much everyone else in your life may try to cajole or guilt you into doing it). Similarly, if you know doing something will make you filthy rich (lets say playing professional basketball), but you're like me and can't make a layup if your life depended on it... this again probably shouldn't be one of your goals.
Now I've also been listening to Tony Robbins in the car on my otherwise long and boring commutes to and from work everyday. I went through his "goal setting workshop" in which he focused much less on the actual goals (you could set whatever goals you wanted) and much more on asking "What your reasons that you absolutely must achieve these goals?" He went to explain how critical the Why's were for you to avoid "setting and forgetting" them.
Now going back to the beginning. Why can't you motivate anyone? The simple reason is that if these people don't have any passion to share your goals or they can't think good reasons for them to follow you, they won't. No matter how much yelling and screaming (Steve Balmer) you make, you can't "motivate" people. But the converse is also true. If people have the passion to share your goals and have lots of good reasons to follow you, they will. Even if you are low keep and mild mannered!
So you have to learn that you can't "motivate" anyone, only discover their passions, and give them good enough reasons that show how these match up with your goals. Then they will motivate themselves.
Think about this one, it's tough to get your head around, but well worth it! Until next time.
-Jason
I've talked about Good to Great a few times already. But I think it's worth mentioning "The Three Circles". Essentially, in order to find what you (and your organization) can be truly "Great" at you need to find the intersection of "What you can be the best at; What drives your economic engine; and What you are deeply passionate about". This makes sense. Suppose you are the best at doing something, but you don't really care for it... it wouldn't make sense for you to pursue this, because your heart would not be in it (no matter how much everyone else in your life may try to cajole or guilt you into doing it). Similarly, if you know doing something will make you filthy rich (lets say playing professional basketball), but you're like me and can't make a layup if your life depended on it... this again probably shouldn't be one of your goals.
Now I've also been listening to Tony Robbins in the car on my otherwise long and boring commutes to and from work everyday. I went through his "goal setting workshop" in which he focused much less on the actual goals (you could set whatever goals you wanted) and much more on asking "What your reasons that you absolutely must achieve these goals?" He went to explain how critical the Why's were for you to avoid "setting and forgetting" them.
Now going back to the beginning. Why can't you motivate anyone? The simple reason is that if these people don't have any passion to share your goals or they can't think good reasons for them to follow you, they won't. No matter how much yelling and screaming (Steve Balmer) you make, you can't "motivate" people. But the converse is also true. If people have the passion to share your goals and have lots of good reasons to follow you, they will. Even if you are low keep and mild mannered!
So you have to learn that you can't "motivate" anyone, only discover their passions, and give them good enough reasons that show how these match up with your goals. Then they will motivate themselves.
Think about this one, it's tough to get your head around, but well worth it! Until next time.
-Jason
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