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The Disciplined Pursuit of Less - Greg McKeown

The Disciplined Pursuit of Less - Greg McKeown
by Greg McKeown | 10:00 AM August 8, 2012 Why don’t successful people and organizations automatically become very successful? One important explanation is due to what I call “the clarity paradox,” which can be summed up in four predictable phases: Phase 1: When we really have clarity of purpose, it leads to success. Curiously, and overstating the point in order to make it, success is a catalyst for failure. We can see this in companies that were once darlings of Wall Street, but later collapsed. Here’s a more personal example: For years, Enric Sala was a professor at the prestigious Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. What can we do to avoid the clarity paradox and continue our upward momentum? First, use more extreme criteria. By applying tougher criteria we can tap into our brain’s sophisticated search engine. Second, ask “What is essential?” Conducting a life audit. Third, beware of the endowment effect. Related:  phil5

davidstegall: The Four Leadership Traits of Highly Collaborative Leaders ht Collaboration taps in to a broader pool of ideas. It maximizes the talents and abilities of your people. An inclusive culture is more flexible and adaptable. People are highly motivated, work harder and are more creative. However, collaboration isn’t something you can put on. For it to work you have to believe in it. If a leader believes that everything rises and falls on their talent and ability, and resources are for their sole use, collaboration is DOA. Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese report in The Collaboration Imperative, that there are four leadership traits of highly collaborative leaders: They focus on authentic leadership and eschew passive aggressiveness. SnapNFind Indiegogo Project Losing things stinks and there are few gadgets that actually allow you to use your iPhone to recover something you've lost. That's why we we're excited to run across the StickNFind on crowdsourcing site Indiegogo. The StickNFind works by placing a small Bluetooth sticker onto a remote, pet's collar, or even your child's backpack. You can then use your iPhone or Android device to locate the item, causing it to vibrate and light up. The receiver is about the size of a quarter and pretty thin: StickNFind's app is pretty robust. The company seems to be onto something, they've got years of experience with Bluetooth technology and have already raised $300,000 with 29 days to go. To support the company check out their indiegogo page. Here's a pic of the StickNFind app in action: Don't Miss: REVIEW: A Must-Have iPhone Camera Accessory, The Olloclip >

Bad Service Can Be Good Business - Bill Taylor by Bill Taylor | 9:30 AM August 8, 2012 It’s hard not to be surprised by what you read in the newspapers these days, but a recent report in the New York Times left me downright floored. Richard Bove, a high-profile securities analyst who focuses on bank stocks, wrote a commentary that excoriated Wells Fargo for lousy service — so much so that he announced he’d moved his business to a different bank. But that same commentary praised Wells Fargo as a company and upgraded its stock to a buy! Bove’s basic argument? Fair enough, let’s rethink. But there is a method to the no-frills madness of CEO Michael O’Leary and his colleagues. You don’t have to like Ryanair to love its strategic confidence — and to understand why it treats customers the way it does. Not talking to customers certainly makes it hard for certain categories of customers, especially older users who aren’t adept at online interactions. But back to Richard Bove. I’m sorry, but I think this is backwards.

Stephen R. Covey » Blog Archive » The Leader Formula: The 4 things that make a good leader. Each week we will be asking Dr. Covey to comment on common questions. This week we ask: what makes a great leader? Q: What makes a great leader? A: My definition of leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves. Q: You often say that leadership is a choice not a position. A: Because of the definition I use for leadership, the ability to become such a leader is a choice that any person can make; any parent or grandparent, any teacher, any coach, any co-worker, and friend. “How many of you had someone in your life that communicated your worth and potential so clearly that it profoundly influenced your life?” Inevitably over half the people raise their hands. Q: Is there a formula for becoming such a leader? A: I believe there is a formula. The first is to inspire trust. The world is vastly different today and ever-changing.

The #1 Career Mistake Capable People Make How to Execute a Turnaround Sometimes things go horribly wrong. You lose your mojo. You find yourself in a slump. You miss your number. It feels like the end. It’s not the end. One: Control Your Thoughts The first thing to do when you need to turn things around is to control your own thoughts and beliefs. What you tell yourself when you need a turnaround is critical. The most important thought that you need to control is your belief that a turnaround is possible, especially if you are in leadership. Be positive and hopeful. Two: Get Back to Fundamentals Most of the time when you need a turnaround, it’s because you have in some way failed to execute the fundamentals. It’s difficult to implement something new under the best of circumstances. Don’t think new. Three: Create a Sense of Urgency and Mission It’s important to create a sense of urgency without creating a sense of panic. By laying out the path forward, you provide a vision of how the turnaround will be achieved. Urgency and mission provide the path. Questions

How Good Are Your Leadership Skills? - Leadership Training from MindTools What's your key area for improvement? © iStockphoto/hidesy Who do you consider to be a good leader? Maybe it's a politician, a famous businessperson, or a religious figure. Or maybe it's someone you know personally – like your boss, a teacher, or a friend. You can find people in leadership roles almost everywhere you look. However, simply having the responsibilities of a leader doesn't necessarily make a person an effective leader. So, how can you do this? You can start by analyzing your performance in specific areas of leadership. How Good Are Your Leadership Skills? Instructions For each statement, click the button in the column that best describes you. Your last quiz results are shown. You last completed this quiz on , at . Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 still need to be answered! There are many leadership skills and competencies that, when combined and applied, go toward making you an effective leader. Personal Characteristics (Questions 2, 8) Key Points

19 Brilliant Business Lessons From Moneyball Managing and Motivating Employees in Their Twenties - Michael Fertik - The Conversation by Michael Fertik | 3:10 PM January 19, 2011 I’ve been lucky to work with some awesome employees in their twenties. While that formative decade is long and dynamic for each person; in a companion post I’ve offered some observations on the differences between Generation Z and Generation After-Lehman; there are some consistencies in how best to manage and motivate excellent twenty-somethings. Younger people are especially hungry both to learn and to receive affirmation that they are doing a good job. I’ve found the best ones are generally much more motivated by incremental education and acknowledgement than they are by a modest bump in salary. The best managers of younger employees are people who would otherwise love teaching for a living. Really excellent managers of really excellent young people also set up regular teaching sessions for them on different parts of the business. Here are some other good ways to motivate and teach young employees: Ask frequent questions.

kolb's learning styles, experiential learning theory, kolb's learning styles inventory and diagram We have some very exciting plans for Businessballs. Later this month, we will be launching a new visual identity, refreshing the design of the site and adding lots of new functionality to enhance your learning experience. Phase 2 will include badges, learning plans linked to accredited competency frameworks, wikis (for collaborative content development) and new content from international thought leaders and academics. The site will continue to follow our ethos of free work and life learning, and the redevelopment and ongoing management will be delivered by our partner Accipio. If you are interested in contributing content or your view on where we should take businessballs next, please email ask@businessballs.com. David Kolb's learning styles model and experiential learning theory (ELT) Having developed the model over many years prior, David Kolb published his learning styles model in 1984. Accordingly - especially if you are working with young people - use systems and methods with care.

Forrester’s top 15 emerging technologies How can big data and smart analytics tools ignite growth for your company? Find out at DataBeat, May 19-20 in San Francisco, from top data scientists, analysts, investors, and entrepreneurs. Register now and save $200! Research firm Forrester understands that everyone who’s been listening with even one ear knows that mobile, social, cloud, and data are big freight trains of change that are crashing through old business models and old business practices. But let’s face it: That train is in the station. Also see: Forrester’s top 10 mobile trends for 2013 Analyst Bryan Hopkins gave us a peek into what Forrester thinks is next, and much of it builds on those four horseman of disruptive change. Here they are, in four groups: End user computing technologies Next-generation devices and UIs New sensors and new user interfaces. Sensors and remote computing technologies Smart products Thing that can sense, react, and communicate. Process data management technologies

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