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The Boring Trait Google Looks For in Its Leaders

November 5, 2014 /

A really interesting article about leadership turned up in my Facebook stream. It’s The Boring Trait Google Looks For in Its Leaders.

The prototypical leader is a hero: gives the rousing speech, inspires the troops, and shows up at the last minute to save the day. At least that’s how leaders are portrayed. but that’s not at all what Google discovered as their most important qualities.

At Google, they’re obsessive about looking at data to determine what makes employees successful and what they found in the numbers was surprising. The most important character trait of a leader is one that you’re more likely to associate with a dull person than a dynamic leader: predictability

The article says “Autonomy is the key to employee happiness and outsized performance” which is interesting. Autonomy is one of the factors that Dan Pink mentions as essential in modern motivation (see links below).

I like the summary:

Great leadership is never about being a dramatic hero. It’s just not about you. Instead it’s about providing support to your team by being willing to be seen as boring and predictable.

Provide information they need, work from their perspective, cultivate their performance by offering them the oxygen to succeed. Then they’ll have the breathing room and self-determination to shine.

Read about motivation:
Motivation, Drive and Dan Pink
Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation

A wake-up call. What matters in YOUR life?

September 26, 2014 /

This is an interesting story about how his daughter’s list made him change his worklife. My quote below is from The Independent.

While at the top of world finance, Mohamed El-Erian juggled £1.2trn of investments and wrestled with the knottiest economic problems. But it has now emerged his greatest dilemma arose from asking his daughter to brush her teeth.

When the Oxbridge-educated economist stepped down last year as the chief executive of the PIMCO investment fund, one of the largest on the planet, rumour was rife that he had fallen out with its founder Bill Gross. But Mr El-Erian yesterday revealed one main reason for leaving his high-pressured post was a mundane conversation with his then 10-year-old daughter about brushing her teeth which led to her writing him a note listing the 22 important events in her life he had missed due to work.

In an interview with Worth magazine, he said: “About a year ago, I asked my daughter several times to do something – brush her teeth I think it was – with no success. I reminded her that it was not so long ago that she would have immediately responded.

“She asked me to wait a minute, went to her room and came back with a piece of paper. It was a list that she had compiled of her important events and activities that I had missed due to work commitments. Talk about a wake-up call.”

He continued: “I felt awful and got defensive: I had a good excuse for each missed event! Travel, important meetings, an urgent phone call, sudden to-dos. But it dawned on me that I was missing an infinitely more important point.

“As much as I could rationalise it… my work-life balance had gotten way out of whack, and the imbalance was hurting my very special relationship with my daughter. I was not making nearly enough time for her.”

Are you doing what matters most in your life?

Worth: Father and daughter reunion
Mashable: Daughter’s List of 22 Big Moments He Missed Prompted Pimco CEO to Quit
The Independent: Mohamed El-Erian reveals daughter’s talk led to PIMCO exit

The value triangle

September 22, 2014 /

The value triangle has three corners — fast, great and cheap.

  • Fast, because sometimes you value getting something quickly.
  • Great, because sometimes you value getting something of high quality.
  • Cheap, because sometimes you value getting something for a low prize.

Inexperienced customers often demand to get all three corners of the triangle, but this isn’t possible. You can only get two of them. Because something always got to give.

Some will tell their customers that they can provide all three, but this is more often than not a scam to get someone to buy something — often just once, because this isn’t exactly a model for repeat business.

When someone buys something based on the promise that it will be fast, great and cheap, they’re really setting themselves up for disappointment. Ultimately, they have themselves to blame for being naive.

If someone wants something great and fast, price has to come up.

If someone wants something great and cheap, deadlines must be generous.

If someone wants something fast and cheap, quality standards must be lowered.

Customers who refuse to face the value triangle will probably protest and blame you, but that doesn’t make them right. You’ll probably loose them as customers, but as they believe they can hurt you by “taking their business elsewhere”, you know the actual truth: Their business was never any good to begin with and they’re actually doing you a favour by choosing to hassle one of your competitors instead.

Source: Doktor Spinn

Giving up old dreams allow new ones to soar

July 13, 2014 /

After a really bad accident Janine couldn’t walk so she decided she should learn to fly. It’s an amazing and impressive story.

Cross-country skier Janine Shepherd hoped for an Olympic medal — until she was hit by a truck during a training bike ride. She shares a powerful story about the human potential for recovery. Her message: you are not your body, and giving up old dreams can allow new ones to soar. Doctors didn’t expect her to recover. But she not only learned to walk again — she learned to fly.

Video: A broken body isn’t a broken person

You can watch her presentation below or on YouTube A broken body isn’t a broken person.

The Four Agreements

July 4, 2014 /

Be impeccable with your word.

Speak with integrity.
Say only what you mean.
Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.
Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Don’t take anything personally.

Nothing others do is because of you.
What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream.
When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

Don’t make assumptions.

Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want.
Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama.
With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

Always do your best.

Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick.
Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

Surround yourself with the right people

May 11, 2014 /

It does matter who you have around yourself.

Surround yourself with people who make you happy. People who make you laugh, who help you when you’re in need. People who genuinely care. They are the ones worth keeping in your life. Everyone else is just passing through.

Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself.
Edmund Lee

Listening matters!

March 5, 2014 /

Conscious listening is important, especially in conversations. Paying full and undivided attention to the person you’re talking with makes a huge difference.

In our louder and louder world, says sound expert Julian Treasure, “We are losing our listening.” In this short, fascinating talk, Treasure shares five ways to re-tune your ears for conscious listening — to other people and the world around you.

Julian’s fifth way of listening is an acronym worth remembering:
R as in Receive.
A as in Appreciate.
S as in Summarize.
A as in Ask.

Video: Julian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better

Watch the video below or at TED: Julian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better

#blogg100

How to Write a Professional Bio For Social Media

February 22, 2014 /

A question that both clients and I myself wrestle with is how to best write bios for social media. In some social media, like Twitter, there are restrictions and limited space while others offer “unlimited” space. Either way, it’s all about capturing the readers and get your message through. You need a hook and to tell the readers what’s in it for them.

When talking about how to write bios I mention three things you need to get across: what you deliver, your skills and something about yourself.

A professional bio on a social network is an introduction – a foot in the door so your potential audience can evaluate you and decide if you’re worth their time.

That’s a brilliant summary. Read about six rules for a foolproof bio in the excellent post over at Buffer: How to Write a Professional Bio For Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook & Google+. There are some really great comments too.

Credit: I found the Buffer-post through How to write a professional bio for Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+ which is a re-post of the Buffer-post.

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