F# Major

L earn The Leadership Skills The Pros Use is an article by Rajaan Bey. As always, I bold marked the points which appealed me. A good leader is a blessing and a seriously rare commodity these days. Are you wondering what the best skills for the best leaders are ? Are you aware of what it takes, or perhaps you already know ? Leaders exhibit humility and a willingness to keep learning . This article is sure to demonstrate a few things that you might not have quite put into practice . No one is able to read your mind. Clearly communicate what you expect in all aspects of the job and let your employees know they are free to come to you if they have any questions . That way, if staff members don’t understand your instructions, they won’t hesitate to come to you and ask for advice . Being decisive can better your Leadership skills . Since you’re the leader, many decisions may come down to you . You need to mediate between your employees if they have different vi...

Some wonderful personal lessons on leading. As always, the parts which struck me the most have been marked in bold. The ultimate lesson here for is that it is not hard to make an organisation fit for human beings , to paraphrase Gary Hamel. But we'll probably continue to groan with the malaise of bad management and poor leadership because their values and judgement make it all seem ok. D avid Rosenblatt of 1stdibs, on Teamwork at the Top   FEB . 22, 2014 This interview with David Rosenblatt , chief executive of 1stdibs, an online marketplace for high-end goods including art, antiques, jewelry and furniture, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant . Q. Were you in leadership roles early on ? A. I was president of my class and co-president of my debating society in high school . But leadership was never my goal. I studied liberal arts, and majored in East Asian studies in college . My fathe...

Would You Recognize an Exceptional Performer If You Saw One or are you focused on the sycophants? http://feedly.com/e/w4hzRUJd

As I often ask, how many of these qualities do you see in your boss(es)? Probably none... T he Five Qualities of Remarkable Bosses   Consistently do these five things and the results you want from your employees--and your business--will follow . Getty Images Remarkable bosses aren’t great on paper . Great bosses are remarkable based on their actions . Results are everything—but not the results you might think . Consistently do these five things and everything else follows . You and your business benefit greatly . More importantly, so do your employees . 1 . Develop  every  employee.  Sure, you canput your primary focus on reaching targets, achieving results, and accomplishing concrete goals—but do that and you put your leadership cart before your achievement horse . Without great employees, no amount of focus on goals and targets will ever pay off . Employees can only achieve what they are capable...

Loved the part about eating the fish with drumrolls. MeFi: anti-pasta and autarky http://feedly.com/e/N7mGKaB4

The most important question http://feedly.com/e/xXGhNe9B

Geoffrey James wrote an article in Inc.com called 10 Things Employees Want More Than a Raise. Here they are (the italics are mine [or reflect my thoughts], to highlight what's important to me). 1 . To feel proud. When asked what they do for a living, employees want to boast rather than apologize . They want the people they meet to be at least a little impressed, even if it's only because the employee has taken on a job that's generally thankless . [ But if we're in the news for the wrong reasons, this becomes tough. ] 2. To be treated fairly . While almost everyone realizes that life isn't fair, employees don't want the boss to make life more unfair than it already is .  Employees hate favoritism [ but i see a lot of it in my place of work ].  They expect the perks and promotions to go to the people who work hard, not the people who kiss butt . 3. To respect the boss . Employees want respect from the boss, of course, but just as strong is ...

Nothing You Get Will Ever Make You Happy http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SourcesOfInsight/~3/_Wr0GrL4LpI/

Came across an art icle by Deepa Nair saying how India is using psychometric evaluation for people in senior management positions. It's a good start and one I hope gains more traction globally. It takes much more than academic qualifications to run any organisation. A good sense of EQ is perhaps more important than IQ today and good leaders (i.e. talent) can make all the difference. I'd rather work with somebody who understood people and treated them fairly rather than a super-qualified, emotionally tuneless, self-centred, self-absorbed person. Alas, plenty of those around these days, it seems.

Selfie City: a Visualization-Centric Analysis of Online Self-Portraits http://feeds.infosthetics.com/~r/infosthetics/~3/2Ybc9LSjOEA/selfie_city_a_visualization-centric_analysis_of_self-portraits.html

10 Anger Management Lessons No One Should Miss http://feedly.com/e/1REcfRnI

Doing what gets rewarded http://feedly.com/e/tVnaKS5g

INSEAD Knowledge B reaking Bad Leadership Habits   Jean-Francois Manzoni, INSEAD Professor of Management Practice, The Shell Chaired Professor of Human Resources and Organisational Development | February 14, 2014 Leaders have to learn and practice new management techniques to overcome the habits that could be holding them back . In two articles, I examine the obstacles, and later, the factors that can help senior executives overcome them . We have known for a long time that leaders need to continue to learn throughout their careers . About 50 years ago, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, argued that “leadership and learning are indispensable to each other” .   And about 40 years ago, Alvin Toffler became famous by saying that tomorrow's illiterate will not be the one who can't read; he or she will be the one who has not learned how to learn . This has b...

Came across this wonderful, thought-provoking article by Ian Read, Chairman and CEO of Pfizer, on Linkedin copied in its entirety below . The italics in the first para are mine as it contains advice useful for all of us. February 19, 2014 Reputation, built on our past, shapes our present and future . A good reputation can open many doors; a bad reputation can close many more . A good reputation generates respect. A bad reputation breeds suspicion . Few things in one’s professional life are as important as building and protecting a good reputation . It determines recommendations we receive, or not, for jobs and work of all kinds . It helps define our place in our chosen field and in the organizations where we work . It’s central to any assistance or consideration we might seek when we find ourselves in a difficult situation . The same is true for your company, no matter how big or small . Consider, for example, that if you need a plumber, you’re far more l...

Leadership Lessons From the Best Executives http://feedly.com/e/4zL3FU-I

Late November 2013, I was in Sedona, AZ, with my extended family. A beautiful place, like most of Arizona. So, naturally, when I read about the Sedona Method , my natural impulse to associate different things together came to life but I'm not sure how to do it in this case. :) There is an inspiring story behind the Sedona Method: " It’s the story of how Lester Levenson created the Sedona Method to save his own life. In the article, You Mean Anything is Possible , by Dr. Pamela Gerloff writes about Lester Levenson.   At 42, Levenson, a physicist and successful entrepreneur, was sent home from the hospital, diagnosed with a heart condition, and told that he had only a few months to live.  He was warned that he was so weak that even attempting to tie his own shoes would be enough exertion to potentially drop dead. According to Lester Created the Sedona Method to Save His Own Life , Lester went back to the lab within himself to seek some answers.  He found th...

OECD places Pakistan among fragile states went a recent story in the Dawn in February 2014. The report, Fragile States 2013: Resource Flows and Trends in a Shifting World , says Pakistan and six other countries were rated ‘high-risk’ and ‘non-cooperative jurisdictions’ by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), The OECD always has interesting reports and this one is no exception. But here 's a critical analysis by Seth Kaplan that makes useful supplementary reading. " The OECD definition depends too much on Western ideological conceptions of how states ought to work, and ignores inconvenient (to Western mindsets) factors such as identity and history—despite ample evidence from across the world that these latter factors are crucial." " The International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding ’s New Deal shows a much better understanding of what causes fragility, probably because it better reflects the opinions of fragile states and not just the ...

Google Takes Aim At Russia's Anti-Gay Law With Latest 'Doodle' http://feedly.com/e/Z-VNZud8

"Do you choose to do something that is wrong in order to benefit yourself, even if no one will ever know , or do you choose to do the right thing?" More ...

Check out Randy Conley's article, Ten Signs You are Conducting Leadership Malpractice , and see how many signs do you note in your workplace...probably far too many than there really should be. Randy says "Leaders are in a position of trust and we should use our influence for the betterment of our team members, not for their harm." Whither good leadership?

Arcadia's So Red the Rose (1985) was a brilliant album with a bunch of stellar musicians - Sting, Grace Jones, Herbie Hancock, and the incredible bass of Mark Egan. Here's a look at 33 years of Duran Duran http://www.metafilter.com/136288/Taking-Over-Planet-Earth

Mark Shead provides an important five point perspective by which one can judge those in leadership positions. How well do the people who lead your organisation rate?Start asking the right questions! Five Most Important Leadership Traits

Stephen Warrilow has a wonderful blog post on toxic leadership - the abuse of power and its destructiveness here . Does your organisation suffer from toxic leadership? Why has bad leadership become so common despite so much information available to people in such positions on how to avoid such things? From the blog: " Synopsis : Toxic leadership is a growing - and costly - phenomenon. Yet individual and organizations can stop the insidious spread of toxicity, by understanding why we are seduced by the false promises of toxic leaders, and by setting up organizational defence mechanisms to counter the spread of toxicity. This author has some excellent suggestions"