I thought someone said, empty mind is a devil's workshop. Well, its empty, its definitely not a workshop and neither is the devil in sight.
RD's gotten quite a bit into the mind and there's excitement in the heart but no outlet to let it fly. The thought of all that can be done occurs but doesn't inspire. Its a good thing its not cloudy and windy outside. That would have been too bad for a guy writing his blog in office hours wishing he was with a YAK in Tibet sipping a drink looking into the brazen nothingness of the golden landscape over-looking a mountain lake. Ahh now, thats a beautiful thought. Add to that a night, a smoke, bon fire.. something to eat and a clear blue sky with a million stars and I'd be willing to never wake up again.
Hopefully, I wouldn't think what to do then! eh?
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Statisticians are sexy - Hal Varian
Every major company in the world has installed data warehouses that store huge amounts of data. The data is widely available, what's scarce is the real talent to sift through it, find actionable items, and communicate what the data is telling you. That's where you need statisticians and data analysts -- I think those are really important jobs in the next decade.
Google's Hal Varian recently quoted in the New York Times
Warren Buffet quote: "You don't know who is wearing a bathing suit until the tide goes out."
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Thoughts on Leadership - Mike Mears
Competence. Integrity. The ability to see the big picture. There are undoubtedly many qualities that make a leader great. And a lot of these traits have been identified and documented through years of research on the topic.
But what good is knowledge when you don't have a way to implement it?
After all, CLOs can't exactly go around handing out a list of 100 desirable traits and telling leaders to get busy. This was a problem that Mike Mears, former chief of human capital for the CIA and current learning consultant and author, struggled with for years.
"I started gathering data on about 8,000 bosses in the CIA and in other places over a 16-year period," he explained. "I would have employees rate them so I could get a handle on what the 'leadership coefficient' was. I collected about 60 attributes for great leaders and 60 attributes of horrible leaders, but then I kept thinking, 'This is a completely useless list..' So I kept thinking about it and I found that I could align every one of those leadership attributes just under two things."
The "two things" were actually just two sides of the same coin: trust. A great leader is trustworthy himself and can trust others.
"So, for example, being trustworthy: Obviously that involves integrity, that's competence. To trust others includes things like delegating: When you delegate to me, you're showing you trust me," Mears said.
On the flip side, bosses typically are labeled ineffective when they are perceived as autocrats or micromanagers - both of which would imply that they have a hard time trusting others - or when they're believed to be "buddy bosses" - those who are smiley and talkative but provide little oversight and often don't challenge employees, ultimately resulting in them being considered untrustworthy.
"Think about the worst boss you ever had and the best boss, jot down those traits under those two categories, add some, and, by golly, you've captured 90 percent of what leadership's all about," Mears said.
With these qualities boiled down into two main categories, Mears offered a few tips for becoming a better leader:
1. Be aware of yourself and others.
"I guess the first rule is: Do no harm as a boss," Mears said. "Make sure that you're not inadvertently inflicting social pain on people. It really does require setting up some feedback systems to make sure you know what the troops are really thinking, how you're coming across, where you should pull back."
2. Create an inclusive work environment.
"Another part is simply to establish safety with people. As long as they don't feel safe in your presence, you can't move to the next step and establish trust," Mears said. "And if you can't establish trust, you'll never get to the next step, which is establishing clarity about expectations, rules of the road, how much risk they can take and so forth. All the great things we do in adult education and training apply to leadership: Get the cold class warmed up!"
3. Encourage participation in meetings and presentations.
"Don't lecture," Mears said. "Get employees to participate so they have insight that they gain about the subject matter."
But what good is knowledge when you don't have a way to implement it?
After all, CLOs can't exactly go around handing out a list of 100 desirable traits and telling leaders to get busy. This was a problem that Mike Mears, former chief of human capital for the CIA and current learning consultant and author, struggled with for years.
"I started gathering data on about 8,000 bosses in the CIA and in other places over a 16-year period," he explained. "I would have employees rate them so I could get a handle on what the 'leadership coefficient' was. I collected about 60 attributes for great leaders and 60 attributes of horrible leaders, but then I kept thinking, 'This is a completely useless list..' So I kept thinking about it and I found that I could align every one of those leadership attributes just under two things."
The "two things" were actually just two sides of the same coin: trust. A great leader is trustworthy himself and can trust others.
"So, for example, being trustworthy: Obviously that involves integrity, that's competence. To trust others includes things like delegating: When you delegate to me, you're showing you trust me," Mears said.
On the flip side, bosses typically are labeled ineffective when they are perceived as autocrats or micromanagers - both of which would imply that they have a hard time trusting others - or when they're believed to be "buddy bosses" - those who are smiley and talkative but provide little oversight and often don't challenge employees, ultimately resulting in them being considered untrustworthy.
"Think about the worst boss you ever had and the best boss, jot down those traits under those two categories, add some, and, by golly, you've captured 90 percent of what leadership's all about," Mears said.
With these qualities boiled down into two main categories, Mears offered a few tips for becoming a better leader:
1. Be aware of yourself and others.
"I guess the first rule is: Do no harm as a boss," Mears said. "Make sure that you're not inadvertently inflicting social pain on people. It really does require setting up some feedback systems to make sure you know what the troops are really thinking, how you're coming across, where you should pull back."
2. Create an inclusive work environment.
"Another part is simply to establish safety with people. As long as they don't feel safe in your presence, you can't move to the next step and establish trust," Mears said. "And if you can't establish trust, you'll never get to the next step, which is establishing clarity about expectations, rules of the road, how much risk they can take and so forth. All the great things we do in adult education and training apply to leadership: Get the cold class warmed up!"
3. Encourage participation in meetings and presentations.
"Don't lecture," Mears said. "Get employees to participate so they have insight that they gain about the subject matter."
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
God or Father or God-father
Some random thoughts I came across..
-----------------------------------------
- Um, if you don't want me to crash and kill us both, don't talk to me too much - Heard at work.
- Fate doesn't involve the forcing of your will, but the allowance of the flow of everyday events - Came across in some blog.
- People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war, or before an election - Otto Von Bismarck.
- A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough - An epitaph for Alexander the Great by unknown.
Meanwhile, I was about to delete another mind-numbing forward when I found this in it: Maybe life is not the party that we were expecting, but in the mean time, we're here and we can still make the most of it..
You never know what you gonna find, even in things you presume as trash!
Why husbands avoid answers and direct confrontation!
Women folk, please take this as nothing but some passing humor instead of banking on it to harass men.
WIFE: 'What would you do if I died? Would you get married again?
HUSBAND: 'Definitely not!
WIFE: 'Why not? Don't you like being married?'
HUSBAND: 'Of course I do.
WIFE: 'Then why wouldn't you remarry?
HUSBAND: 'Okay, okay, I'd get married again.'
WIFE: 'You would?'
HUSBAND: .......?
WIFE: 'Would you live in our house?'
HUSBAND: 'Sure, it's a great house.'
WIFE: 'Would you let her drive my car?'
HUSBAND: 'Probably, it is almost new.'
WIFE: 'Would you replace my pictures with hers?'
HUSBAND: 'That would seem like the proper thing to do.'
WIFE: 'Would you give her my jewelry?'
HUSBAND: 'No, I'm sure she'd want her own.'
WIFE: 'Would she wear my shoes'
HUSBAND: 'No, her size is 6.'
WIFE: -- silence -
HUSBAND: 'shit
WIFE: 'What would you do if I died? Would you get married again?
HUSBAND: 'Definitely not!
WIFE: 'Why not? Don't you like being married?'
HUSBAND: 'Of course I do.
WIFE: 'Then why wouldn't you remarry?
HUSBAND: 'Okay, okay, I'd get married again.'
WIFE: 'You would?'
HUSBAND: .......?
WIFE: 'Would you live in our house?'
HUSBAND: 'Sure, it's a great house.'
WIFE: 'Would you let her drive my car?'
HUSBAND: 'Probably, it is almost new.'
WIFE: 'Would you replace my pictures with hers?'
HUSBAND: 'That would seem like the proper thing to do.'
WIFE: 'Would you give her my jewelry?'
HUSBAND: 'No, I'm sure she'd want her own.'
WIFE: 'Would she wear my shoes'
HUSBAND: 'No, her size is 6.'
WIFE: -- silence -
HUSBAND: 'shit
Monday, September 14, 2009
How hard it is, sometimes, to trust the evidence of one’s senses! How reluctantly the mind consents to reality - Norman Douglas
As usual, a friend sent me this story, very revealing..
---------------------------------------------------------
This guy had been on a long flight. The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign on the airplane flashed on: "Fasten your seat belts."
Then, after a while, a calm voice said, "We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened."
As he looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive… Later, the voice of the announcer said, "We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time.
The turbulence is still ahead of us." And then the storm broke. The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines.
Lightening lit up the darkening skies and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean. One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash.
The man confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him. He said, "As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed. Some were praying.
The future seemed ominous and many were wondering if they would make it through the storm. And then, I suddenly saw a girl to whom the storm meant nothing. She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat and was reading a book. Everything within her small world was calm and orderly.
Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her world. When the plane was being buffeted by the terrible storm, when it lurched this way and that, as it rose and fell with frightening severity, when all the adults were scared half to death, that marvelous child was completely composed and unafraid."
The man could hardly believe his eyes. It was not surprising therefore, that when the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers were hurrying to disembark, he lingered to speak to the girl whom he had watched for such a long time.
Having commented about the storm and behaviour of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid.
The sweet child replied,
"Sir, my Dad is the pilot and he is taking me home."
---------------------------------------------------------
This guy had been on a long flight. The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign on the airplane flashed on: "Fasten your seat belts."
Then, after a while, a calm voice said, "We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened."
As he looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive… Later, the voice of the announcer said, "We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time.
The turbulence is still ahead of us." And then the storm broke. The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines.
Lightening lit up the darkening skies and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean. One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash.
The man confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him. He said, "As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed. Some were praying.
The future seemed ominous and many were wondering if they would make it through the storm. And then, I suddenly saw a girl to whom the storm meant nothing. She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat and was reading a book. Everything within her small world was calm and orderly.
Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her world. When the plane was being buffeted by the terrible storm, when it lurched this way and that, as it rose and fell with frightening severity, when all the adults were scared half to death, that marvelous child was completely composed and unafraid."
The man could hardly believe his eyes. It was not surprising therefore, that when the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers were hurrying to disembark, he lingered to speak to the girl whom he had watched for such a long time.
Having commented about the storm and behaviour of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid.
The sweet child replied,
"Sir, my Dad is the pilot and he is taking me home."
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Learnings from an article by Robert Kaplan
- Fullfilment doesn't come from clearing hurdles others have set for you, it comes from clearing the ones you set for yourself.
- I have seen many people stall their careers by playing it safe.
- One measure of character is the degree to which you put your colleagues' and companies interest before your own.
- Being a leader also means expressing unpopular views and speaking up.
- Doing the right thing is a reward in itself, psychologically in the short term and professionally in the long run.
- Managing your career is 100% your responsibility and no-one else is going to do it for you.
- It is very difficult to succeed if you do not excel at the central task which is central to your chosen enterprise.
- Many people don't know what their passions are or are so focused on the views of their peers that they drift into the wrong career.
- Identifying critical tasks helps you determine how to spend your time and develop your skills.
- Spending most of the time fighting fires becomes an easy habit instead of finding out the most important things and working on them. (Comment-Prioritizing the right things with a clear definition of what is important to succeed is very important).
- Most outstanding CEO's and leaders value emerging executives who assert themselves out of genuine concern for what is best for the company.
- Every rewarding career will bring ups and downs, bad days and bad weeks, bad months and setbacks and discouraging situations.
- Wound is all the more painful when it is self-inflicted.
- Theres nothing anyone can do to prevent you from reaching your true potential. Challenge is to identify your dreams, develop the skills to get there and exhibit charecter and leadership. Then you need to have courage to periodically reassess, make adjustments and pursue a course that reflects who you truly are.
Glass half empty or half full?
The law of flotation was not discovered by contemplating the sinking of things, but by contemplating the floating of things which floated naturally and then intelligently asking why they did so. - Thomas Troward
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Stop wiggling your tongues
What great learnings lie ahead.. hard to tell, if you think you know it all.
A friend of mine sent this to me:
--------------------------------
The Arizona Republic reported this story (so I'm assuming this story really is true!):
"As Terry Mikel was speeding toward Tucson, he passed a car, an unmarked Arizona Highway Patrol car. The officer pulled Terry over. When Terry explained that he was late for a class he was teaching at the University of Arizona, the officer took pity on him and let him off with a warning. Before he went back to his car he said, `Slow down and drive safe.'
"Terry felt obligated to correct him. `Excuse me, Sir, but it should be "Slow down and drive safely. You said, "Drive safe."'
"The officer walked back to his car and wrote him a $72 speeding ticket."
We can't do it, can we? We just can't seem to keep our mouths shut! Looking back, we know we shouldn't have said a word, but at the time we felt so compelled to speak.
Maybe you didn't get a ticket as a result, but you've done something just as foolish, haven't you? Maybe even this morning, before reading this message. Maybe even before leaving your house!
That's not an excuse, incidentally, to let our tongues run wild. Rather, it's a challenge. As hard as it may be to control our tongues, it is essential that we strive to do just that. We stand to lose more than $72 if we fail to do so.
"As Terry Mikel was speeding toward Tucson, he passed a car, an unmarked Arizona Highway Patrol car. The officer pulled Terry over. When Terry explained that he was late for a class he was teaching at the University of Arizona, the officer took pity on him and let him off with a warning. Before he went back to his car he said, `Slow down and drive safe.'
"Terry felt obligated to correct him. `Excuse me, Sir, but it should be "Slow down and drive safely. You said, "Drive safe."'
"The officer walked back to his car and wrote him a $72 speeding ticket."
We can't do it, can we? We just can't seem to keep our mouths shut! Looking back, we know we shouldn't have said a word, but at the time we felt so compelled to speak.
Maybe you didn't get a ticket as a result, but you've done something just as foolish, haven't you? Maybe even this morning, before reading this message. Maybe even before leaving your house!
That's not an excuse, incidentally, to let our tongues run wild. Rather, it's a challenge. As hard as it may be to control our tongues, it is essential that we strive to do just that. We stand to lose more than $72 if we fail to do so.
---------------------------------
"Power can be taken, but not given. The process of taking, is empowerment in itself.”
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Learnings in August
While its pretty much a known fact., personal learnings I find are much more powerful and lasting.
You cannot force your will on anyone. Period.
---------------------------------------------
In the meanwhile, a friend suggests watching the movie Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn. One of the lines, he says, goes like this "The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong. Now, I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing the blind, deaf stone alone with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head."
Now thats powerful I say. Looking forward to watching the movie and listening to the OST.
---------------------------------------------
Also, I can't believe I came across this during the course of my work: "Time and tide waits for no man"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)