Gosh, I owe the Federal Government a lot of money!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008
Principles and the Leader
Principles are mile posts that help to guide our conduct. They come from natural laws that are recognizable by all cultures. Principles have been around since the dawn of time. They are timeless and aren’t dependent on us making them a permanent part of our lives.
I believe a most of our problems in society come from the fact that many of our leaders don’t live principle-centered lives.
What are principles that are easily recognized? These are a few: Patience, Kindness, Tolerance, Integrity, Honesty, Encouragement, Empathy…
Principles should guide our conduct, and when they do, they are easily recognizable by others. When our leaders decide to reject principles in order to gain power, influence or money, the organizations they lead are in deep trouble.
Many times leaders attempt to put aside principles to get short-term gains. They believe by making speeches filled with empty promises they will gain the trust of others. This happens all the time in our organizations and results in the same mistakes repeated over and over. Having said that, we keep electing the same people to office over and over, don’t we? Where has this gotten us?
Albert Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them”. To solve the tough problems we need to look at our paradigms and habits and be willing to change them. Sometimes this means firing (not re-electing) our current leaders.
Do we really think we can just buy our way out of the current mess on Wall Street without fundamentally changing the way things work (paradigms and habits) and putting principled leaders in place? Can you or your organization really change things for the better without focusing on principles and rethinking your paradigms and habits? Do organizations really believe that layoffs alone change anything when their current broken paradigms and habits are left intact?
I have seen the results of unprincipled leadership, and the behaviors these “leaders” exhibit can have a profound, lasting, and negative influence on others. The sad part is these leaders believe they are part of the solution, however we know better. You can’t lead your way out of a problem that you don’t fully understand, and if you try to do it without principles the results are easily predicted. DISASTER!
Big problems cannot be solved by small people and small mindedness. Remember, principles aren’t values. The Mafia has values, but their practices certainly aren’t related to principles. As Stephen Covey say’s “Principles are the territory. Values are the map”.
I believe a most of our problems in society come from the fact that many of our leaders don’t live principle-centered lives.
What are principles that are easily recognized? These are a few: Patience, Kindness, Tolerance, Integrity, Honesty, Encouragement, Empathy…
Principles should guide our conduct, and when they do, they are easily recognizable by others. When our leaders decide to reject principles in order to gain power, influence or money, the organizations they lead are in deep trouble.
Many times leaders attempt to put aside principles to get short-term gains. They believe by making speeches filled with empty promises they will gain the trust of others. This happens all the time in our organizations and results in the same mistakes repeated over and over. Having said that, we keep electing the same people to office over and over, don’t we? Where has this gotten us?
Albert Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them”. To solve the tough problems we need to look at our paradigms and habits and be willing to change them. Sometimes this means firing (not re-electing) our current leaders.
Do we really think we can just buy our way out of the current mess on Wall Street without fundamentally changing the way things work (paradigms and habits) and putting principled leaders in place? Can you or your organization really change things for the better without focusing on principles and rethinking your paradigms and habits? Do organizations really believe that layoffs alone change anything when their current broken paradigms and habits are left intact?
I have seen the results of unprincipled leadership, and the behaviors these “leaders” exhibit can have a profound, lasting, and negative influence on others. The sad part is these leaders believe they are part of the solution, however we know better. You can’t lead your way out of a problem that you don’t fully understand, and if you try to do it without principles the results are easily predicted. DISASTER!
Big problems cannot be solved by small people and small mindedness. Remember, principles aren’t values. The Mafia has values, but their practices certainly aren’t related to principles. As Stephen Covey say’s “Principles are the territory. Values are the map”.
Friday, October 03, 2008
The Bailout is a Crime!
We are being ripped off. See the article below from John Dvorak (http://www.dvorak.org/blog)
Give the Public $600 Billion By John C. Dvorak
The administration talks a big game about economic stimulus packages and claims that the public is the winner when taxes are low or they are simply given a handout to spend. So take $600-plus billion and give each man, woman and child $2000 each. That will distribute all this money. A family of 5 would have a nice $10,000 nest egg for a down-payment or to rent a house and pay off their credit cards thus sending the money back into the system.
The trickle-down bail-out is designed to go to the same people who gave themselves huge salaries and ran these firms into the ground? It gets them off the hook. They can then slither out of town when they all should be tarred-and-feathered.
Why not let the public buy up the mortgages at these low-ball prices and move in? Why can’t that be arranged? Use the FHA to do it if the banks cannot. Why do the crooks get to re-buy the bad mortgages at the low price? So they can gouge later?
There has never been economic stimulus from the top down when the money is given to these weasels. These are people who will sell dollars and buy Euros, or horde the money or move to Switzerland to spend the money there. All of the CEO’s of these failed companies have offshore villas. The average Joe spends his money in the USA, not Europe. It stays in circulation. Good things happen.
According to the pro-bail-out “experts” the economy should have melted down on Tuesday hurling us into a depression. Instead the market went up. So how does that work?
Start looking at this bail-out and you start to see that it is an exit strategy for Paulsen and his friends at Goldman, Sachs. There was a need to rush it through before anyone discovered what it was all about.
No oversight, a finance Czar, more free reign than ever.
Exactly why is there such a rush? It’s like the sleazeball salesman telling feeble-minded customers that they MUST buy now. It just makes no sense.
Give the Public $600 Billion By John C. Dvorak
The administration talks a big game about economic stimulus packages and claims that the public is the winner when taxes are low or they are simply given a handout to spend. So take $600-plus billion and give each man, woman and child $2000 each. That will distribute all this money. A family of 5 would have a nice $10,000 nest egg for a down-payment or to rent a house and pay off their credit cards thus sending the money back into the system.
The trickle-down bail-out is designed to go to the same people who gave themselves huge salaries and ran these firms into the ground? It gets them off the hook. They can then slither out of town when they all should be tarred-and-feathered.
Why not let the public buy up the mortgages at these low-ball prices and move in? Why can’t that be arranged? Use the FHA to do it if the banks cannot. Why do the crooks get to re-buy the bad mortgages at the low price? So they can gouge later?
There has never been economic stimulus from the top down when the money is given to these weasels. These are people who will sell dollars and buy Euros, or horde the money or move to Switzerland to spend the money there. All of the CEO’s of these failed companies have offshore villas. The average Joe spends his money in the USA, not Europe. It stays in circulation. Good things happen.
According to the pro-bail-out “experts” the economy should have melted down on Tuesday hurling us into a depression. Instead the market went up. So how does that work?
Start looking at this bail-out and you start to see that it is an exit strategy for Paulsen and his friends at Goldman, Sachs. There was a need to rush it through before anyone discovered what it was all about.
No oversight, a finance Czar, more free reign than ever.
Exactly why is there such a rush? It’s like the sleazeball salesman telling feeble-minded customers that they MUST buy now. It just makes no sense.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Destructive Leadership Behaviors Are Killing Good Organizations
One bad leader can poison an organization. Have you seen the destructive behaviors listed below?
Here are some of the "bad leader" traits that I have witnessed.
Destructive leaders often...
treat people as things or objects
rarely arouse, engage or inspire
aren't good at fixing problems, but excel at assigning blame
are great delegators, but don't like to follow-up
don't trust people that aren't in their close knit group (sometimes their close knit group is them)
believe in a sense of order, as long as they define the order
are greedy (more power, success, money)
believe people are easily expendable (they often have a history of failed personal relationships, marriages, business relationships, etc.)
don't have many (if any) true friends and close business relationships
aren't trustworthy and don't usually trust others
don't possess a common code of decency that others can easily recognize
consistently put their needs above those of their followers
aren't satisfied with what they have (jealousy and envy often drive their behavior)
take advantage of others in a way that can be personally destructive
usually can't create or implement lasting beneficial change due to non-involvement, personal courage, and conviction
are unwilling to have a personal stake in outcomes
often have personalities traits that are out of sync with mainstream thinking (this can also be a positive leadership trait)
often possess an uncanny ability to have both a blind eye and a deaf ear when dealing with others
take personal credit for group accomplishments or the accomplishments of others
are deceptive or intellectually dishonest. They muddy the truth with distorted language or they change the subject to attack your beliefs
rarely give public praise to another
aren't specific or can't be pinned down regarding their position
often leave others asking them to clarify their remarks or explain their position (often a hopeless cause)
love to communicate via e-mail to avoid facing others
often don't understand that the big picture is sometimes just one of the snapshots
use politics to gain power in a way that is unethical, unnecessary, and unwelcome
are self-centered vs. organization centered
often leave their followers "hung out to dry"
say one thing while actively planning to do something different
are poor role models
often make important decisions based upon sketchy information, emotion, or something out of the latest trade journal
believe they are smarter than everybody else
don't like to debate or participate in brainstorming sessions (this is beneath them)
are as transparent as a sheet of glass
Be careful when dealing with these people. Many of them have great power and aren't afraid to use it. Remember, when dealing with them to put personal feelings aside and treat them as you would want to be treated. Bad leaders are inevitable, however we often have to work with them, and we often need their help.
Remember the Golden Rule!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Ten Words for Thoughtful Planning
It has been said that many new projects never flourish, they just fade away. This is a sign of a broken organization.
To help fix your organization in a small way, think about these ten things (I like the letter "S") to help you regain your planning focus:
______________________________
Strategy - Where are you going? Why do we need this? What is important?
Scrub - Scrub your data, scrub your processes, scrub your silos and across the silos to understand how things are managed and how work is accomplished.
Sort - Think about how work is done and who does it. Sort the work into distinct areas or functions. Plan for rework.
Scrutiny - Carefully review all information. E-mail isn't always your friend.
Sacrifice - Be willing to go to extraordinary lengths to have project success. Take your project's success personally.
Systems - Routines and processes for managing systems of things.
Strength - Focus on relationships. Focus on your strengths for each project.
Standards - Procedures that are followed. Continuous process improvement.
Stand - Be visible. Let the project members know where they are going and why. Lead!
Success - Define success for the project, and define success for your team.
To help fix your organization in a small way, think about these ten things (I like the letter "S") to help you regain your planning focus:
______________________________
Strategy - Where are you going? Why do we need this? What is important?
Scrub - Scrub your data, scrub your processes, scrub your silos and across the silos to understand how things are managed and how work is accomplished.
Sort - Think about how work is done and who does it. Sort the work into distinct areas or functions. Plan for rework.
Scrutiny - Carefully review all information. E-mail isn't always your friend.
Sacrifice - Be willing to go to extraordinary lengths to have project success. Take your project's success personally.
Systems - Routines and processes for managing systems of things.
Strength - Focus on relationships. Focus on your strengths for each project.
Standards - Procedures that are followed. Continuous process improvement.
Stand - Be visible. Let the project members know where they are going and why. Lead!
Success - Define success for the project, and define success for your team.
The Measure of a Project Manager
I like what the article below is saying, however a project manager would need time for the usual processes of Initiation, Planning, Executing, Monitoring/Controlling, Closing.
Project management by the numbers
Project management by the numbers