Discover just why FC Barcelona is 'more than a club' in this video - surely the goal of every world class organisation?
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Initiative and Curiosity
Initiative and Curiosity are two values of Positive Leadership.
‘The right man is the one who seizes the moment.’ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
‘Cultivate the ability to make decisions and think alone. Desire to excel’ John Wooden
‘Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.’ Voltaire
Here are some reference materials which speak to these values:
Saturday, April 10, 2010
One Shining Moment
People have been wondering who sang One Shining Moment at the end of the 2010 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game. The honour went to Grammy award winner Jennifer Hudson.
Hudson, who is the first female to sing the song, joins an impressive cast of past singers who have recorded the song, including Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass.
“This is the biggest honour to be the first woman to record ‘One Shining Moment,’” Hudson said in a statement. “I am so excited to be singing such a great song behind the likes of Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass. The song inspires you. It moves you. It motivates you and helps you reach that goal and that dream.”
One Shining Moment is an inspirational song written by David Barrett about the Men’s College Basketball Championship (at the end of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament). One Shining Moment is traditionally played at the end of CBS Sports’ coverage of the championship game of the tournament. The song is played as the winning team’s players cut down the nets, to a montage of highlights from the tournament.
Barrett, a singer/songwriter from Michigan, wrote the song after seeing Larry Bird star for Indiana State in the 1979 NCAA tournament. In 1986, he passed the song along to high school friend Armen Keteyian, an investigative journalist for CBS Sports and, at that time, Sports Illustrated, who in turn passed it to CBS Sports Creative Director Doug Towey. However, Towey originally planned to debut the song not after a basketball game, but after a football game, Super Bowl XXI. It was to have been the postgame montage from that contest, but CBS ran past the expected airtime and had a primetime show to debut in the next time slot, so the montage was cancelled. CBS then asked Barrett for use of the song after the 1987 NCAA championship game, in which Indiana beat Syracuse. Towey decided to use "One Shining Moment" to close CBS' coverage of the Tournament. The positive public response led to it becoming an annual feature. It has been used to end CBS' coverage ever since.
The first verse is about inspiration and hard work. The second verse deals with adversity, accompanied by highlights of injured players and missed shots. The bridge includes lines such as "Feel the beat of your heart", often shown with players thumping their chests, and "Feel the wind in your face", with video of drives towards the basket.
Listen to Jennifer Hudson’s One Shining Moment rendition below:
Preparing for Peak Performance
Witnessing the commitment, focus, fortitude and performance of the world’s best athletes competing in the recent Winter Olympics and Paralympics was inspiring. Athletes train their minds and psyche as well as their bodies so they can be the best in the world. So what can the business world take away from sports psychology to apply to developing winning business strategies, particularly in a still challenging economic environment?
The field of sports psychology recognises that succeeding requires a holistic approach of mind, body and spirit. Controlling emotions and gaining self-confidence are as important as game strategy, muscle building and skill.
Here are some of the techniques used in sports psychology and examples of how these can be applied in a business setting:
Goal setting
Writing down a goal and referring to it daily re-enforces the goal so it’s more likely to be accomplished. Repeating it out loud daily and having it at the top of one’s mind engages the subconscious mind in finding ways to achieve the goal. Effective goal setting in sports as well as in a business context includes developing skills for achieving results, identifying target dates for attaining goals, identifying goal-achievement strategies, and regular evaluation of the goal. Goal setting, while a left-brain activity, is closely linked with right brain activities, such as emotions, patience, optimism and learning to overcome obstacles.
Visualisation
Imagination plays an important role in achieving a vision and realising one’s dreams. Visualising success through imagery is one of the techniques athletes use to get them into a state of peak performance. This puts the athlete into a relaxed state, enhances mental preparation and helps manage anxiety. An effective application of visualisation in business is with sales staff. Perhaps more than any other field, sales requires a strong positive mindset.
Positive thinking
Your inner dialogue affects self-confidence and your ability to deal constructively with obstacles. Creating a positive mindset requires positive thoughts and self-talk. This includes recognising negative or irrelevant thoughts, identifying the thoughts that are sabotaging, or envision failure and catastrophe, and replacing them with affirmative and positive thoughts. In a business environment, these techniques are as useful for managers trying to build confidence in a work-group, as they are for individuals. By focusing on progress already made, keeping feedback constructive and instilling confidence, a team or individual magnifies their chances of achieving their goals.
Concentration
Being able to focus energy and awareness helps athletes maintain mental intensity and concentrate on doing their best. The ability to block distractions; whether from a crowd or other competitors is an important advantage for maintaining the steely mental discipline required for achieving peak performance. It also requires an ability to stay focused and to re-focus in spite of setbacks. (Such as the other team scoring.) In a business setting, applying this technique involves creating an environment that minimises distractions so that staff can concentrate on their work. It can also help you to focus on your goal despite downbeat news about the economy, or temporary setbacks in landing the latest contract, or job.
Purpose
Friday, April 09, 2010
What Drives Your Leadership Strategy?
How you lead is just as important as what you are doing. That underlying belief can make the difference between success and failure in a complex, changing world.
CEOs who understand the importance of a leadership strategy make explicit the kind of leadership they need to achieve the business strategy. To set their leadership strategy, they first examine the key drivers of the business for implications for leadership.
Key drivers are few in number and help you understand what is absolutely essential for the organisation to accomplish. They are not detailed strategies; instead, they are core decisions about what the organisation must do.
Key drivers can be identified by examining each business strategy or initiative and asking a few fundamental questions:
•Is this an organisational capability that is absolutely vital? Could something else be more essential in causing the vision/mission to happen?
•What is most important to competitive success and mission completion?
•Is this something that the organisation is positioned to do better than its competitors?
•Will doing this well translate directly into continued or future success?
•Would not doing this well cause the organisation to suffer?
Being explicit about what drives your business, and knowing how to create a leadership strategy that brings that to life is what separates companies in the same market.
Vision
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Leadership Means Acting as a Role Model
‘AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Scandal-hit Tiger Woods has failed to live up to expectations as a role model, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Billy Payne said on Wednesday.
In an unexpected departure from the southern reserve Payne usually displays at his pre-U.S. Masters news conferences, he said one of the world's most marketable sportsmen would be judged in the future by the sincerity of his efforts to change.
"Our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children," said Payne.
"It is not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here, it is the fact he disappointed all of us and more importantly our kids and our grand kids."
The disgraced Woods is returning to professional golf this week after a break of nearly five months, following startling revelations he had had a string of extra-marital affairs.
"Is there a way forward? I hope yes," Payne said. "I think yes. But certainly his future will never again be measured only by his performance against par but measured by the sincerity of his efforts to change.
"I hope he now realises that every kid he passes on the course wants his swing but would settle for his smile."
World number one Woods, whose golfing dominance has placed him in the pantheon of sporting greats since he turned professional in 1996, had his squeaky-clean image ripped apart after he crashed his car in the middle of the night in November.
In a highly anticipated news conference at Augusta on Monday, he took full responsibility for the marital infidelities which led to his fall from grace and he pledged to be more respectful of the game.
"He forgot in the process to remember that with fame and fortune comes responsibility, not invisibility," Payne said. "I hope he can come to understand that life's greatest rewards are reserved for those who bring joy to the lives of other people.
"We at Augusta hope and pray our great champion will begin his new life here tomorrow in a positive, hopeful and constructive manner but this time with a significant difference from the past."
Woods, a four-times champion at Augusta, is scheduled to tee off in the penultimate group in Thursday's opening round with fellow American Matt Kuchar and South Korean KJ Choi.’
Leadership is the Ability to Excel Under Pressure
Two years after being hailed a hero for successfully landing his stricken Boeing 777 at London’s Heathrow Airport, former British Airways Capt. Peter Burkill discusses in this new book and in this recent TV interview, the crash and the impact it had on his family.
This is a story which highlights why great leaders are those who are able to excel under pressure; the ultimate value in the Positive Leadership model.
This is a story which highlights why great leaders are those who are able to excel under pressure; the ultimate value in the Positive Leadership model.
The Perils of Leadership
It was October, 1937, and President Roosevelt was trying to convince Americans to focus on the frightening events in Europe and Asia, to understand that the United States could not wall itself off from the world and to recognise that the march of totalitarianism abroad was a mounting threat at home.
The nation, however, was not ready to hear it. After Roosevelt made his case in a high-profile speech in Chicago, a hotbed of isolationism, the public reacted harshly. Americans were far more concerned about the economy’s return to recession, and most believed the nation’s top foreign policy goal should be to avoid war.
“It’s a terrible thing,” FDR reflected a few days later, “to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead and find no one there.”
“It’s a terrible thing,” FDR reflected a few days later, “to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead and find no one there.”
Leadership, of course, does not operate in a vacuum. It is, as FDR and other presidents have learned, the flip side of what you might call “followership.” When it comes to unpopular causes, a president must not just pontificate but try to change minds, to convince a sceptical public to see things in a different light. Then, with or without the public behind him, a president must decide. It is what makes the job so lonely, yet so compelling.
Nor do Americans necessarily empathise with a president’s plight, for they seem to have a love-hate relationship with “leadership.” Conceptually, they seek the attribute in their elected officials. But, when a president bucks public opinion, they often chastise him for obstinacy rather than praise him for courage.
President George W. Bush sought to build a case for victory in Iraq but, when support sank, he ignored public opinion and sent more troops to Baghdad. He left office highly unpopular for lots of good reasons, but history may treat him more kindly on Iraq (especially if that nation continues making progress).
Bush’s father never got to serve two terms, his re-election sunk by, among other things, his decision to break his promise and support tax increases for the greater good of federal deficit cutting. Nor did Jimmy Carter, who had lots of valuable insights to offer in his infamous “malaise” speech but lacked a public willing to hear them as well as the skills to change public opinion over time.
The lack of willingness on the part of British political leaders to be explicit about how they plan to reduce Britain's national debt is in sharp contrast to the posture which President Obama was prepared to adopt in pushing for healthcare reform in the USA.
The lack of willingness on the part of British political leaders to be explicit about how they plan to reduce Britain's national debt is in sharp contrast to the posture which President Obama was prepared to adopt in pushing for healthcare reform in the USA.
Competence
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Heart Power is the Strength of Your Company
There's a wonderful biography of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at the Washington Post (When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi
).
). After the Green Bay Packers captured the first-ever Super Bowl, Maraniss writes, Coach Lombardi, as tough a coach as there was on the American sporting scene, found himself in high demand as a speaker to executive audiences, who wanted him to translate his principles for victory on the gridiron to success in work and life. In what became a recurring message to corporate America, he set out seven principles of competition and leadership, most of which you'd expect from the greatest football coach of all time. But his most important principle was also the most surprising: Love is more powerful than hate.
"The love I'm speaking of is loyalty, which is the greatest of loves," Lombardi told his audiences. "Teamwork, the love that one man has for another and that he respects the dignity of another...I am not speaking of detraction. You show me a man who belittles another and I will show you a man who is not a leader...Heart power is the strength of your company. Heart power is the strength of the Green Bay Packers. Heart power is the strength of America and hate power is the weakness of the world."
Hard Work
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Five signs that a CEO is too in love with himself
'How common is narcissism in chief executives? Are top bosses arrogant, pathological achievers who are desperate for admiration or are they just deservedly self-confident decision makers? Many politicians and bankers appear to be arrogant, self-important snobs. Did their narcissism, first manifest as self-confidence, actually help them to climb the greasy pole? Does the way we treat our chief executives turn their self-confidence into pathological narcissism? Could it be that we are the cause of the problem and not them?.......
So what is the bottom line? First, it’s not that difficult to spot narcissists at the top. Actually, it is very easy. Second, the line between healthy, self-aware self confidence and narcissism is a thin one. Third, perhaps we are to blame for accepting ever demanding narcissistic behaviour in our leaders just to have a quiet life. Fourth, buckle your belt when the narcissist is in charge. You may be lucky or not as you try to cling on to the roller-coaster.'
For the full article, see - http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/senior_executive/article7052280.ece
Determination and Energy
Simply Ask
Today we are going to give you a powerful tool that will help you get what you want in life - in just one word.
There's a very powerful, very effective tool you can use to get what you want in life. And, as simple as it is, most of us weren't taught to use it very well when we were growing up. In fact, some of us were taught not to use it at all, or only when absolutely necessary.
What is this simple, powerful tool? Simply ask. That's it. Ask. Ask for what you want. Now, we don't mean whine, and we don't mean you should expect a handout or someone to do your work for you - those things simply make you less than you can be. What we do mean is learn to ask very specifically and very courteously for what you want. Ask in a way that both helps you define and achieve the end results you desire.
When you ask for help, create value for the person you are asking. Can you help him or her first? What's in it for them if they do help you? Money? A good feeling? Being part of a purpose that will help many others? Paint a picture for them of how helping you will benefit them. Finally, ask, with the expectation and belief that you will get what you want - and keep on asking until you do.
You may not continue to ask the same person and you may have to ask in different ways, but if you refuse to accept "no" for an answer, you increase your chances of eventually ending up with a "yes."
There's a very powerful, very effective tool you can use to get what you want in life. And, as simple as it is, most of us weren't taught to use it very well when we were growing up. In fact, some of us were taught not to use it at all, or only when absolutely necessary.
What is this simple, powerful tool? Simply ask. That's it. Ask. Ask for what you want. Now, we don't mean whine, and we don't mean you should expect a handout or someone to do your work for you - those things simply make you less than you can be. What we do mean is learn to ask very specifically and very courteously for what you want. Ask in a way that both helps you define and achieve the end results you desire.
When you ask for help, create value for the person you are asking. Can you help him or her first? What's in it for them if they do help you? Money? A good feeling? Being part of a purpose that will help many others? Paint a picture for them of how helping you will benefit them. Finally, ask, with the expectation and belief that you will get what you want - and keep on asking until you do.
You may not continue to ask the same person and you may have to ask in different ways, but if you refuse to accept "no" for an answer, you increase your chances of eventually ending up with a "yes."
Honesty and Responsibility
Monday, April 05, 2010
Where Are You As A Leader When the Going Gets Tough?
'Q. Was becoming a manager an easy transition for you at first?
A. I’ve always been very positive and confident, and I guess that goes back a long way. I’m highly competitive, but I’m also very relaxed with people, and that combination makes people feel quite happy to be part of my team.
I can talk about changing things for the better, even if I don’t know what it is we’re going to change. I’ll just say we’re going over there somewhere. And I don’t quite know what that looks like, but it’s going to be fantastic. And on the way we’ll love what we’re doing, have some laughs and a few beers, and it’s going to be O.K.
And I’m going to make you really happy that I turned up and sat next to you, and we went on this journey together. And that’s always worked. It goes back to sport.
Q. Talk about that.
A. Good teams are easy. But if you’ve been a captain of bad teams and you’ve had to find a way of making the team believe in itself and have a hunger to do something — which involves a lot of sacrifice and pain and training and fitness and all that stuff — that’s a lot harder. And I’ve done a fair amount of that.
That whole notion of getting beaten up and actually losing a lot and still having the vision and the confidence out front is a huge part of leadership. It’s a belief, a conviction and confidence in the future prospects of what you’re trying to do, and just keeping the flag flying no matter what’s going on around you.
I learned that by captaining bad teams. When you’re getting beaten by 60 points on a rugby field and everyone’s walking around with broken noses, it’s really hard. But you learn that you either fail or you find a way of dealing with it. And everyone’s different, so you have to know people. I think having a sense of self-awareness is very important, like how you impact each of the people you’re with differently.
Q. Can you elaborate on that?
A. The whole thing about staying alive on a rugby field is about reliance on the guys around you. Each one of those people on a rugby team responds differently because it’s physically dangerous as a game. It has a tension in the changing room before you go out to play that’s not like any other sport, and I’ve played lots, because it is almost like going into battle. There’s a chance you’re going to break your neck or have a very bad injury.
You need to gel with them as a team, but each one responds individually. So it’s about seeing the world on their terms and then dealing with them on their terms, not yours.
I think you’re born with some of this as well. I’m very sensitive to how people are thinking and feeling at any given moment. That’s really helpful in business, because you pick things up very fast. You take notes on what works and what doesn’t. And then you say, hey, that worked pretty well. And you just do it again.'
For the full interview, please go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/business/04corner.html?pagewanted=1&ref=business
For the full interview, please go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/business/04corner.html?pagewanted=1&ref=business
Passion and Attitude
Passion and Attitude are two values of Positive Leadership.
'A great leader’s courage to fulfil his vision comes from passion, not position.’ John Maxwell
‘Our attitude toward life determines life’s attitude towards us.’ Earl Nightingale
Here are some reference materials which speak to these values:
Sunday, April 04, 2010
The Truth About Grit
In 1869, Francis Galton published “Hereditary Genius,” his landmark investigation into the factors underlying achievement. Galton’s method was straightforward: he gathered as much information as possible on dozens of men with “very high reputations,” including poets, politicians, and scientists. That’s when Galton noticed something rather surprising: success wasn’t simply a matter of intelligence or talent. Instead, Galton concluded that eminent achievement was only possible when “ability combined with zeal and the capacity for hard labour.”
Lewis Terman, the inventor of the Stanford-Binet IQ test, came to a similar conclusion. He spent decades following a large sample of “gifted” students, searching for evidence that his measurement of intelligence was linked to real world success. While the most accomplished men did have slightly higher scores, Terman also found that other traits, such as “perseverance,” were much more pertinent. Terman concluded that one of the most fundamental tasks of modern psychology was to figure out why intelligence is not a more important part of achievement: “Why this is so, and what circumstances affect the fruition of human talent, are questions of such transcendent importance that they should be investigated by every method that promises the slightest reduction of our present ignorance.”
Unfortunately, in the decades following Terman’s declaration, little progress was made on the subject. Because intelligence was so easy to measure - the IQ test could be given to schoolchildren, and often took less than an hour - it continued to dominate research on individual achievement.
However, in recent years, psychologists have come up with a term to describe this mental trait: grit.
Although the idea itself isn’t new - “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration,” Thomas Edison famously remarked - the researchers are quick to point out that grit isn’t simply about the willingness to work hard. Instead, it’s about setting a specific long-term goal and doing whatever it takes until the goal has been reached. It’s always much easier to give up, but people with grit can keep going.
While stories of grit have long been associated with self-help manuals and life coaches - Samuel Smiles, the author of the influential Victorian text “Self-Help” preached the virtue of perseverance - these new scientific studies rely on new techniques for reliably measuring grit in individuals. As a result, they’re able to compare the relative importance of grit, intelligence, and innate talent when it comes to determining lifetime achievement. Although this field of study is only a few years old, it’s already made important progress toward identifying the mental traits that allow some people to accomplish their goals, while others struggle and quit. Grit, it turns out, is an essential (and often overlooked) component of success.
For more on this fascinating subject, see - http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/08/02/the_truth_about_grit/?page=full
Integrity and Character
Saturday, April 03, 2010
The Benefits of Being Positive
Over the years much research has been carried out on the positive effects of being positive and the negative effects of being negative. The research is clear. It really does pay to be positive and the benefits include enhanced health and longevity, happiness, career advancement, athletic performance and team building. Being positive is not just a nice way to live. It’s the way to live. In this spirit here are 11 benefits of being positive:
1. Positive people live longer - In a study of nuns, those that regularly expressed positive emotions lived on average 10 years longer. (The Nun Study)
2. Positive work environments outperform negative work environments. (Daniel Goleman)
3. Positive, optimistic sales people sell more than pessimistic sales people. (Martin Seligman)
4. Positive leaders are able to make better decisions under pressure. (Heartmath.org)
5. Marriages are much more likely to succeed when the couple experiences a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions whereas when the ratio approaches 1 to 1, marriages are more likely to end in divorce. (John Gottman)
6. Positive people who regularly express positive emotions are more resilient when facing stress, challenges and adversity. (Several Studies)
7. Positive people are able to maintain a broader perspective and see the big picture which helps them identify solutions where as negative people maintain a narrower perspective and tend to focus on problems. (Barbara Fredrickson)
8. Positive thoughts and emotions counter the negative effects of stress. For example, you can't be thankful and stressed at the same time. (Several Studies)
9. Positive emotions such as gratitude and appreciation help athletes perform at a higher level. (Heartmath.org)
10. Positive people have more friends which is a key factor of happiness and longevity. (Robert D. Putnam)
11. Positive and popular leaders are more likely to garner the support of others and achieve greater success in the workplace. (Several Studies)
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