Leadership & Time Management

If there is one thing I believe any leader needs to manage appropriately it is time! Time is a huge competitive advantage. Be it learning and gathering skills; developing talent; managing and building teams; practicing, demonstrating and delivering success. Time is the only sustainable competitive advantage! I have argued with friends, colleagues and partners over numerous cups of coffee only to confirm my hypothesis.

Time can influence everything from where you studied, what you studied, how well you learnt, what you absorbed and what if all bounced off, where you worked, who you know and how well you know them. Infact I believe in the event we had infinite amount of time leadership would be unnecessary. Each one could just practice to perfection. The entire idea of strategizing based on hypothesis, prioritizing and succeeding would be lost in time.

I believe strong leaders are born (just luck!) and those that are made have prudent time management skills. Although I don’t disagree, “It is better to be lucky then to be good”… the lucky ones are wired to manage time to their advantage. For those mathematically inclined time is not a sufficient but a necessary ingredient for leadership.

Corporate Culture

Leadership Traits

The Investor's Emotional Bank Account

Years ago I read ‘7 habits of Highly Influential People’, and I believe they are truly timeless! Then this morning I came across an article in Business Week, How to Clean Up a Scandal. Like a good ole Proctoid I thought how about Tide, Gain, Cheer, Era, Dreft for the sensitive ones or may be even Mr. Clean for the really tough ones?

Anyway… our attention span is so short why does it even matter? Let’s just wait a bit. People will forget and things will get back to normal, of course in the short run the street will ignore us, our numbers will suffer but that just means a change of guard until memory fades. Why worry about the investor’s emotional bank account?

The most amazing thing was ‘house cleaning’ that the article talked about that went on as an after affect from the information fall out. How amazing! So the principle is I will dump the parasites from my house, if they go some place else that is not much of my concern? Now that’s a good lesson. Let’s put more gates and bars to trap the problem/parasites in the future and more than that when things go wrong let’s move them out.

Isn’t it time we thought of what has really caused the surge in scandals? Is there a systemic solution? Is this a societal problem?

Brands on Brain

As if we did not have enough metrics to juggle with, we can now start reporting biometric measures during brand equity scans.

Check out this article on Brain response to strong and weak brands. - From Media Post

On New Products: Creativity

Interesting article on Creativity, Marketing & Innovation - Marketing Daily

On New Products: Creativity

innovation and creativity -- Are distinction with a purpose; being relevant yet
different.

creation must be fresh and then filtered through unique points of view (brand equity).

Don't fear creativity. Embrace it, nourish it, and guide it along. Then watch what it does for your bottom line.

Collective Intellect

Transformation of Data -> Information -> Knowledge is a great thing but aren't they all after the same? In any case this turned up when I looked at all those sites that referred to my blog.

Putting blogs to work for Wall Street

My Thanks Giving Prayer for the corporate world!

Thank you for a mind without fear,
Thank you for the wisdom to choose the right people,
Thank you for my network of friends, colleagues and partners,
Thank you for the ability to rationally reason,
Thank you for constant motion and avoiding getting stuck in dead habits,
Thank you for a constant strife for perfection
Thank you for the ability to open the mind to new thoughts and action!

Inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s Geetangali.

Simplicity as a strategy

Mommy and Me - from FastCompany

Simplicity as a marketing strategy
Simplicity as a product development strategy

Coaches and CEOs

Very interesting article from FastCompany - Coach For A Day

Marketing insights

What We Talk About When We Talk About Brands from the New York Times

The race to create a 'SMART' Google

Context based search and a stretch to satisfy the lazy man/woman.

The race to create a 'smart' GoogleEverything you buy online says a little bit about you. And if all those bits get put into one big trove of data about you and your tastes? Marketer's heaven.

Fortune Magazine, November 20th, 2006.

The Female CEO ca. 2002

Interesting perspective on Women CEOs from FastCompany

The Female CEO ca. 2002

1. Toxic bosses still create unfriendly work environments.
2. Women's choices are limited: What'll it be? Geisha, bitch, or guy?
3. You can't have it all.
4. Women's new mission: Change the game.
5. Women work differently from men.

The follow through article is just as interesting Where Are the Women?

Note to CMO

Found a reference to it on the ANA blog...
Note to CMO is a very interesting Blog

Managing disagreement

I hate to say this but I judge people. Well how else would I be able to pick the right team? I judge them based on various behaviors, managing disagreements is a critical one of them. I have always believed ‘we are the experiences we have had’. To that extent we mimic behaviors we have seen from our leaders, our parents, our role models, mentors, coaches, etc. I call it ‘The leader as a diamond’ phenomenon.

As individuals rise through the corporate ladder, they are subjected to the cutting, polishing, measurements that transform the individual into a diamond, a tough strong, sharp leader. Some are too weak and break apart, some have imperfections, some are unfortunately are with the wrong craftsman or the wrong environment and some just don’t have the right stuff, to be a leaders. All disagreements in some form of a placid, laid back life of a rock.

The disagreements shape the future and at the very end it’s the light that the diamond reflects that matters most. Not something it generates but it borrows from around it.

The Expert on Experts

Another interesting one from FC - The Expert on Experts

Through the grape vine

Organizations thrive based on personal connections; you want to get Rob your buddy in IT to do something or wait in the queue for days. You need to get the purchase order cleared for a vendor sooner than usual call Jane in finance. Organizations where informal channels are clearer with fewer hurdles strewn around than the formal ones are often more efficient and productive. An organizational culture of informal channels needs a people who know each other well and over long periods of time, additionally the structures need the support from appropriate reward systems for establishing and fostering such networks.

It’s not without risks for informal communication channels. It gets rough when the grape vine starts to evolve into the official channel. By our very nature we develop compensating behaviors to make life easy and grape vines can be funny. Communication is a complicated process particularly because we say what we mean but interpret it based on our background. I have always believed that communication through the grape vine is analogous to translating a proverb through an automated language translator into another language and then taking the translation and translating it back into the original language.

http://translate.google.com/
Where there is a will there is a way
donde hay voluntad de a hay una manera

donde hay voluntad de a hay una manera
where there is will of a is a way

Respect in the work place

I have often seen RESPECT as an element of the leadership model at corporations. Yet there are many who feel like they are treated like four year old kids. For those without little kids at home, you may not be able to relate to the amount of coaxing and cajoling parents do to their kids to “pick up toys after play”, “sleep on time”, “brush before you sleep”, “shower before you sleep”, “make your bed”, “finish your homework”, etc.

It is not unusual to walk into a work environment and experience the same! This is an extension of micro management but in its own right a matter of basic human RESPECT.

As a human and an associate in a work place, we bring a certain amount of discipline to the work place. It is our background, our ethics and our personality that establish a credibility that we expect coworkers and The Boss to recognize and respect.

When assigned a task The Boss should not need to check every so often if it’s done or not? How far along? Responsibility and authority are like the hand and glove, being given responsibility is being awarded the respect to handle the issue or business challenge. With the responsibility comes the authority to get things done, The Boss, the colleagues/coworkers need to understand and accept this authority. It would be calling “Mommy!” if one has to go to The Boss to get the team to play along on every little thing!

EVERY LEADERSHIP MODEL NEEDS TO INCLUDE RESPECT FOR THE INDIVIDUAL. Each and every individual needs to understand what RESPECT really means!

Keeping America Competitive

Interesting article on US Competitiveness - Business Week

Driving Growth In Consumer Goods

Driving Growth In Consumer Goods
McKinsey Quarterly

Marketing - Play maker guide

The Elements of Influence By Alan Kelley

Playmaker's Forum

Data is the New Oil

A very intersting post on the ANA blog by Clive Humby of Dunn Humby

Data is the New Oil

Good Principles, Great Principals

Who else but Jim Collins - Good Principles, Great Principals
only on Fast Company.