S blog | Unlimited Vacation Buzz in France and shoelessness at WriteThatname. This past week, our team was featured on 3 different French Television stations for our fairly unique policy of “unlimited vacation”… and also for the fact that we don’t all wear shoes in the office ;-) Unlimited vacation has been all the rage for the past few years, especially in high-tech startups. Below we’ll explore how we arrived at such a policy, and hear from other industry leaders that have opted for or against this kind of a policy. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think, and at the bottom of the post are also the three video segments (in French) and the team’s recent vacation pics!
As the only American (Brad, Community Manager) on WriteThat.name’s team, I must say that when I realized that all French professionals were entitled to 5 weeks of paid vacation, I had to ask myself… wow! But how does that work? In the US, if you’re lucky, you get 2 weeks or even 3 weeks paid vacation, but it’s not an entitlement and not regulated by the government (unlike France). The First Follower | WeLearnToday. We know a lot about leaders and there is plenty of literature out there about the qualities and skills of a leader, tips and secrets on how to become a successful leader.
But what about the leader’s followers? While leaders are known to be the initiators, the followers are known to be as responders, leaders drive to the finish line and followers have ‘to be pulled across the finish line’. I’ve always aspired to become a leader, influence others and improve things around me and I used to read a lot about leadership. Before I started my professional life, I even took leadership tests to see if I have some of these qualities and I made sure my answers would not imply me being a ‘follower’ by the end of the test. I soon realized that test are not going to help me to become a leader and the experience soon showed me that leaders around you are a much more valuable resource to learn from, but that’s another story.
“The old distinctions between leaders and followers are gone. Negotiation Conflict Styles or Profiles. Negotiation Styles Understanding the Five Negotiation Styles People often ask "which is the best negotiation style? " As with much management theory there is no single 'best' or 'right' approach. All five profiles of dealing with conflict are useful in different situations. Although we're capable of using all five, most of us tend to have one or two preferred negotiation conflict styles that we use unconsciously in most conflict situations. Why? Either because our preferred styles have worked for us in the past, or because of our temperament (nature) or because of our upbringing (nurture). So if you're involved in business negotiations, which negotiation styles are likely to reward you with the biggest profit prizes? Compete (I win - You lose) Competitive style negotiators pursue their own needs - yes, even when this means others suffer.
When to use? When you need to act or get results quickly. What's the Danger? Unchecked competition can leave business relationships in burning tatters. The Secrets Of Generation Flux. If Wes Anderson ever conjures up a hipster mad scientist, he'll look a lot like Aaron Levie, the cofounder and CEO of an Internet company called Box. Levie's a mess of jangly nerves, topped by a wild mop of hair that he frets as he talks. And, man, can Levie talk, with a motormouth for technology, venture capital, corporate strategy, business history, startup culture, economic forecasting, and on and on and on. He showed up late for our lunch in Manhattan's Tribeca, but not for lack of trying: He had actually run through the streets trying to arrive on time. "Fortunately, I have this," Levie told me, pulling out an inhaler. Levie is a dropout from the University of Southern California. Generation Flux is a term I coined several months ago, in a Fast Company cover story that explained how the dizzying velocity of change in our economy has made chaos the defining feature of modern business.
Generation Flux describes the people who will thrive best in this environment. Open Revolution. Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action. Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn ... then lead. David Logan: Tribal leadership. Stanley McChrystal: Ascultă, învață... apoi preia conducerea! Case study: Rentokil Initial | Hay Group - Worldwide. Leadership That Gets Results. 6 Leadership Styles, And When You Should Use Them.
You don’t need an MP3 player, a turntable, or a CD player to listen to Tristan Perich’s new album, Noise Patterns. All you need is a pair of headphones—"not earbuds," says the composer—and a willingness to hear music in noise. The 34-year-old Perich’s compositions push the border between white noise and electronic music, frequently straddling the two as if the static on your old television started emitting a strangely beautiful pattern of sound. But Perich doesn’t just compose music: His music is the instrument itself. He composes sound in code, carefully stringing together each 1 and 0 to transform numbers into a symphony. Perich, who studied math, music, and computer science at Columbia and received a masters from NYU's fabled hacking-meets-art Interactive Telecommunications Program, has spent the last dozen years of his life exploring the frontiers of one-bit sound, transforming those lines of 1s and 0s into a living art form.
A recorded excerpt from Noise Patterns. Benjamin Zander: The transformative power of classical music. Itay Talgam: Lead like the great conductors.