Archive | Leadership

Is goed genoeg ons ondergang?

By Rian Truter on April, Sunday 22 2012 in 2012, Education, Leadership, Life 12

‘n Skool vra my nou die dag om oor standaarde met hulle te kom praat. Makliker gesê as gedaan, want mense se begrip van wat goeie standaarde is verskil so baie van mekaar soos die Stormers en die Bulle. En tog speel beide rugby.

Om nie eens van skole te praat nie. Party dink goeie rugby is die standaard en ander slaan weer die tromme as hulle aan die staat se slaagvereistes voldoen.

Maar laat ek begin deur te vra: wie het al van Alexander the Good gehoor? Of van Henry die Middelste of van Gertjie die Tweede Beste? Ek is seker nie baie nie.

Maar van Alexander the Great en van Henry die 8ste weet ons almal.

Nou wat het Alexander met standaarde uit te waai? Net dit: as jy jou standaard op good instel, gaan dit net so niksseggend soos Alexander the Good wees. Goed is net nie meer goed genoeg as dit by die stel van standaarde kom nie.

Sannie op Bitterfontein se cupcakes kan goed wees en almal op die basaar kan vrek daaroor. Die vraag is of hulle dieselfde aftrek in Upington gaan kry? Of in Kaapstad en of Sanjeev in Deli dit sal ruil vir sy kerrie?

Indien wel; dan is haar cupcakes nie meer good nie maar great! Dan is Sannie se standaard nie meer local nie maar global… En dit is die standaard waaraan ons moet meet.

Jy kan nie (eerder mág nie!) pille, karre of vakansiehuise om die draai van my verhuur of verkoop en sê dat jy nie elke dag jou e-pos of sms’e lees nie! Nie as ek binne minute van Atilla Yurttas in Istanbul kan hoor in watter Hamam ek moet gaan bad nie. Dit is duidelik dat Atilla die Turk besig is om draaie om jou te hardloop.

Jim Collins het gesê dat goed die grootste vyand van great is. Volgens hom is dit dan ook die rede waarom baie dinge net goed bly en nooit uitsonderlik word nie, want dit is net baie makliker om vir goed te skik.

Miskien kan besighede, skole en kerke nog verskoon word as hul standaard net goed is, want almal beskik nie oor ’n MBA nie.

Onverskoonbaar, eintlik krimineel, as die standaard vir jou lewe net goed is. As jy eendag op die ouetehuis se stoep sit en fluister dat jy net ’n goeie lewe gehad het.

Net ’n goeie lewe? wil ek skree. Het jy dan die standaad vir die lewe heeltemal gemis? Strategies verkeerd gelees soos Malema.

Het jy vergeet van Covey se the law of abundance. Dat daar oorvloed in die lewe is. Genoeg vir almal om great te kan lewe.

Jy ken nie my lewe nie, hoor ek jou sê. Jy weet nie waardeur ek is nie.

Reg so my pel, maar miskien was dit net makliker om vir ‘n good life te settle?

Jý wat lees. Hoe lyk jou lewe? Net good?

Kom nou.

Skree Geronimo en vra: Alexander wie?

Don’t try to innovate for the future. Innovate for the present. – Peter Drucker

Excellence means when a man or a woman asks of himself more than others do. – Jose Ortega Y Gasset

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. – Henry Ward Beecher

Image: koratmember/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Kamp Staaldraad by die werk

By Rian Truter on February, Sunday 5 2012 in 2012, Education, Leadership 5

’n Mens kan by almal iets leer.

Selfs by die swakste en onkapabelste base.

Loutere snert! was my eerste reaksie as jong onderwyser op hierdie stelling. Eers later het ek besef jy leer by dié mense wat om nié te doen nie!

Gedurende die week vertel iemand my van sy kind wat so onsensitief deur ‘n baas behandel word. Amper onmenslik.

’n Mens sou nou dink dat ek teen hierdie tyd begrip vir base moet hê, maar as dit my kind was, sou ek dié baas ’n paar spreekwoordelike taai klappe gaan gee het!

Nie net omdat dit my kind sou wees nie, maar omdat iemand wat die baasbadge dra darem die 101-kursus van hoe om met mense te werk, moes geslaag het. Dit is darem die minimum vereiste wat van enige baas verwag kan word.

Maar helaas, miskien in ’n volmaakte wêreld!

In ’n wêreldwye navorsingstudie deur Towers Watson is daar bevind dat minder as 30% van werkers voel dat hulle base opreg in hulle persoonlike welstand belangstel. In ander navorsing oor hierdie onderwerp is bevind dat werknemers wat gedurig deur hul base gekritiseer word ‘n 30% groter kans op hartsiektes het as die gelukkiges wat ’n baas het wat na hulle luister en wie hulle af en toe ’n bietjie lof toeswaai.

En dit is nie net komplimente wat saak maak nie. Dis meer as dit.

Werknemers wil weet dat hy/sy as persoon waardeer word. Dat dit wat hulle by die werk doen, waardeer word en dat dit bydra tot die groot geheel. En dat hul poging(s) raakgesien word.

Nou hoekom sukkel base dan so met hierdie eenvoudige vaardigheid?

Volgens Tony Schwartz is dit omdat ons nie die taal van positiewe emosies by die werkplek vlot kan praat nie. Heartfelt appreciation is a muscle we’ve not spent time building, or felt encouraged to build.

We’re more experienced at expressing negative emotions – reactively and defensively, and often without recognizing their corrosive impact on others until much later, if we do at all.

Nou as die baas nie omgee vir ander nie, waarom sal die werkers dan? Of omgee vir die maatskappy, skool of gesin? En voor ons kan sê Ghernobyl is ons kniediep in toksiese, emosionele afval.

Seth Godin meen dat omgee nie geld kos nie. Dit verg net inspanning. (miskien is dit die bestuur van die sogenaamde bottomline wat baie base se omgee stomp maak?)

Caring, it turns out, is a competitive advantage, and one that takes effort, not money.

Like most things that are worth doing, it’s not so easy at first and the one who cares isn’t going to get a standing ovation from those that are merely phoning in. I think it’s this lack of early positive feedback that makes caring in service businesses so rare.

As my kind vanjaar moes begin werk, sou ek gehoop het hy kry ‘n baas wat omgee en verstaan. Omdat hy/sy omgee, sou my kind as gevolg van sy /haar eerlike omgee gemotiveerd wees. Hy sou geborge voel en daarom sou hy vry kon wees om sy beste te lewer. En baie meer te gee as wat die salaristjek groot is.

Ek laat die laaste woord aan Leo Buscaglia oor:

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Wil base dan nie ook goeie base vir hul eie kinders hê nie?

Wonder net?

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are so confident while the intelligent are full of doubt. – Bertrand Russell

The best leaders talk with people, not at them. – Susan Scott

Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival. – Dalai Lama

Image: Michelle Meiklejohn/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Alles loop verkeerd … verkeerd!

By Rian Truter on January, Sunday 22 2012 in 2012, Leadership, Life 5

Ek is seker jy het ook al sulke dae beleef.

Dae wat jy glo iemand of iets het ‘n vendetta teen jou. Teen jou persoonlik, want dit voel of alles wat die gees kan gee dit nogal met groot genot en vreugde doen. Van die swembadpomp tot die huis se trip switch.

En dan lyk dit my of hulle dit beplan. In die geheim; ‘n sameswering om saam te breek of op te hou werk. So asof hulle jou wil spite en sê kyk nou hoe kom jy sonder ons klaar. Jy waardeer ons mos in elk geval nie! Ons ís mos net daar.

Donderdag was weer só ‘n dag in my lewe. Meer donder as dag. Alles wat kon breek, het. Weg was Toyota se klingel van alles loop reg. Amper meer soos Murphy se wet wat beweer dat as iets verkeerd kan loop, dit beslis sál.

Dit was toe ek amper ‘n paar goed uit frustrasie, en woede, ook op die totniet-lysie bygevoeg het, dat ek Havard Busines Review se raad vir presies sulke situasies onthou. Die raad is eintlik vir sakemanne bedoel, maar dit werk net so goed vir wasmasjiene, geysers en ander irritasies.

When the unexpected arrives at your door, do these three things:

Stop. If you feel pressured to make a decision, stop what you’re doing. Give yourself a chance to think before acting.

Assess your options. Don’t waste time wishing things were different. Think about the best outcome in the given situation, the information you have at hand, and the available resources. Then lay out your options.

Move forward. Based on your new assessment, make a decision and commit. Even if the decision isn’t ideal, accept that it’s the best under the circumstances

Ek wens nou net as my volgende Donderdag aanbreek, ek darem verder as die eerste punt sal kom!

Moenie toelaat dat dit wat jy nié kan doen inmeng met wat jy wel kan doen nie. – John Wooden

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. – Mark Twain

Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves. – Queen Victoria

Image: www.funnycorner.net

Om uit te hou of te vou?

By Rian Truter on November, Thursday 10 2011 in 2011, Leadership, Life 1

Ek sit nou een oggend by die verkeerslig en wag dat dit moet groen word dat ek kan ry. Oor Radio-sonder-Mense trek Kenny Rodgers los met die baie bekende countryliedjie The Gambler: You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em…

Volgens my kaartspelervriende het hierdie lied se woorde, of moet ek eerder sê, raad, ikoonstatus onder pokerspelers bereik. ’n Mens moet glo weet wanneer om maar liewer jou hand neer te sit as om jou uit ’n swak posisie te probeer bluf.

Almal weet teen hierdie tyd al dat ek ’n groot Tom Peters dissipel is, en soos ek gereeld een keer ’n week doen, kyk ek weer wat het TP te sê. En soos die toeval dit wil hê, het hy presies baie, en in geen onduidelike taal nie, oor die wysheid van dié dobbelaar se raad te sê.

Ek haal hom direk aan en as jy skrikkerig is vir kragwoorde, moenie verder lees nie!

“… it all reminded me of a Very Sensible Saying that I think is pure, unmitigated crap, in fact the World’s Worse Advise: Know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. As I said … pure crap.

Forget “fold ‘em”. Drop it from your vocabulary. Excise it. Bury it. Stomp on its grave. If you care, really care, really really care about what you are pursuing, well, then, pursue-the-hell-out-of-it-untill-hell-freezes-over-and-then-some-and-then-some-more. And may the naysayers roast in hell or freeze in the Artic or bore themselves to death with the sound of their “statistically accurate” advice.

It’s a good fortnight to bring this up. I’ll bet the farm, my farm, or at least an acre thereof, that less than 1% of the 10,000 athletes in Beijing moved smoothly through their careers. I’ll bet virtually all had coaches who advised them hang it up, “career-ending” injuries, humiliations heaped upon humiliations, and so on. And on. And yet they persisted. And they’re in Beijing.

My anonymous visiting friend gave me The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company, by David Price. Consider this paragraph:

“One of the curious aspects of Pixar’s story is that each of the leaders was, by conventional standards, a failure at the time he came onto the scene. [Animator-superstar John] Lasseter landed his dream job at Disney out of college — and had just been fired from it. [Tech genius and founding CEO Ed] Catmull had done well-respected work as a graduate student in computer graphics, but had been turned down for a teaching position and ended up in what he felt was a dead-end software development job. Alvy Ray Smith, the company’s co-founder, had checked out of academia, got work at Xerox’s famous Palo Alto Research Center, and then abruptly found himself on the street. [Steve] Jobs had endured humiliation and pain as he was rejected by Apple Computer; overnight he had transformed from boy wonder of Silicon Valley to a roundly ridiculed has been …”

That is, shit happens. And if enough of it happens to you, then, if you are wise, you’ll fold ’em. And God (and I) will love you just as much as if you’d endured — but we won’t read about you in the history books.

Now if you do indeed “endure” — well, we probably won’t read about you either, because the odds indeed are long against you making it to that history book or Beijing. I readily admit that.

But if you really really, really care …

About computer animation. Or rowing. Or the shotput. Or those supercalifragilisticexpialidocious chocolate-chip cookies you bake. Or haiku. Or better ways to provide a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious customer experience.

If you really really really really really care … then there ain’t no time to fold ’em until your last breath is drawn — and even that’s too soon if you’ve bothered along the way to inflame others about your presumed Quixotic cause.

In the (doubtless not) immortal words of Tom Peters: “There’s a time to hold ’em and a time to keep on holdin’ ’em — if you really really really care.”

Miskien moet ek eerder in die toekoms na Marvin Gaye se ain’t no mountain high enough luister, voor ek my kaarte wil vou?

It is a shameful thing for the soul to faint while the body still perseveres. – Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. – Harriet Beecher Stowe

Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. – Josh Billings

Many say I am just one to try. I say I am one less to quit. – Diego Marchi

Image: Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Let’s make better mistakes!

By Rian Truter on November, Sunday 6 2011 in 2011, Leadership, Life 3

It seems to me we live in a perfect world.

No one makes mistakes any more. Except me and the honorable Minister Fikile Mbalula. That is if we can believe the newspapers. In hindsight our president got it right when he assigned minister Mbalula his portfolio – Sport and Recreation. Maybe the minister’s mistake was that he concentrated too much on the recreation part of his portfolio?

But enough of politicians. It was Winston Churchill who once said a politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.

It is a well known fact that the only way to learn from your mistakes is to admit that you have made it. Real learning only start when you take responsibility for what happened and not blaming the universe and all the creatures in it.

Easier said than done, I can hear a lot of you mumbling. Admitting is a stupid thing to do. Wait till they catch you before your admit to failure.

It is sad but society only has recognition for winners. And winners do not make mistakes. Society regard mistakes as failure and shameful. In schools, families and at work we are taught to feel guilty about failure and to do whatever we can to avoid mistakes.

According to Scott Berkun, it is this sense of shame combined with the inevitability of setbacks when attempting difficult things that explains why many people give up on their goals. They are not prepared for the mistakes and failures they’ll face on their way to what they want.

If we are so afraid of failure, how are we then ever going to succeed?

Tom Peters, management guru, provide us with a possible answer: Failure = Normal = Good. Reward excellent failure. Punish mediocre success. Fail faster. Succeed sooner.

For those of you that have been entrusted to lead (including all parents and grandparents) you must keep in mind that people only learn from the mistakes they make. You must expect and encourage your employees, your kids, to take initiative and to make mistakes. Then only will they gain experience.

Remember that no expert marksman became a crack shot without wasting some ammunition!

So how can you curb the fear of failure in yourself and in those people you are entrusted to lead to success? Here are a few things to keep in mind when confronted with failure:

• Irresponsibility is not a mistake. It’s just plain stupid!

• The world is not a perfect place. It’s only on magazine covers that people seem to be without any blemishes.

• Failure is not always life threatening. It’s a quite normal happening in life. (Except when you work for the bomb-disposal squad.)

• It’s important to realize that you only fail when you try. If you do nothing you can’t fail. Only doers fail. The rest just fade away.

• Tell people about your own failures.

• Even the greatest people in life failed. Here are a few examples of very successful people who failed before they succeeded:

Harland David Sanders: Better known as Colonel Sanders (KFC) famous chicken recipe was rejected 1009 times before a restaurant accepted it.
Thomas Edison: Inventor of the light bulb. His teachers told him that he was too stupid to learn anything and was fired from his first two jobs.
Charles Schultz: Creator of the Peanuts comic strip had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook editor.
Elvis Presley: The king of rock. When he was still unknown a manager fired him after one performance and said to him: You ain’t going nowhere son. You ought to go back to driving a truck.
Michael Jordan: Some laud him as the best basketball player of all time, but he was cut from his high school basketball team. Luckily this failure did not stop him and he said: I have missed more than 9 000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

Failure is not only meant for the losers in life. Every one fails some or other time. Make peace with failure and move on. Or in the words of Tom Peters:

Fail. Forward. Fast!

Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed. – Robert Kiyosaki

I’ve learned that mistakes can often be as good a teacher as success. – Jack Welch

Greatness is not achieved by never falling but rising each time we fall. – Confucius

If you decide to run with the ball, just count on fumbling and getting the shit knocked out of you, but never forget how much fun it is just to be able to run with the ball. – Jimmy Buffett

Does installing fear help the medicine go down?

By Rian Truter on September, Sunday 18 2011 in 2011, Leadership 0

Which is the better motivator, the promise of rewards or the threat of punishment?

Iemand, eers gedink dit is ’n leier maar later het ek al hoe meer tot die besef gekom dat dit dalk ’n slagoffer is, vra bostaande vraag nou die dag op ’n internetforum.

Die regte antwoord is ewe belangrik vir leiers en volgelinge, want ek is daarvan oortuig dat alle leiers ook een of ander tyd met hierdie kwessie worstel. Veral as jy onder druk verkeer om ‘n taak af te handel of om jou verkoopspan die gegewe mylpaal te laat bereik.

Some leaders believe that when they engage in installing fear into their subordinates, they are doing their job. That if you make the potential bad apples afraid, they will not turn into real bad apples and secondly, that if something does go wrong you can say that at least you were trying.

Seth Godin believes that fear can be used as a tactic, but it’s almost never the end goal of the exercise. The problem with using it as a tactic is that it’s so easy to do; organisations almost always forget the real point of the exercise.

The key to making fear work is to be realistic with the consequences. Nicole Sforza, from Incentive Magazine, recommends that the consequences have meaning and that you follow through with them. There must be a clear explanation of what is expected and once that is laid out and agreed to, fear must only be used when expectations is not met.

The opposite side to motivation by fear is that it leaves subordinates more drained than before. A student wrote in a college term paper that wanting to achieve a goal just to avoid losing what we have, is not a goal that can motivate for a long period. It does not offer any promise of forward motion or accomplishment.

Uit eie ondervinding het ek geleer dat mense verskillend reageer op die motivering-deur-vrees-taktiek. Diegene wat moet skrik, skrik glad nie. Hulle dink dat dit vir die ander mense bedoel is en dat hulle punt- in-die-wind is. Diegene wat reeds voldoen aan die vereistes, en vir wie hierdie taktiek nie bedoel is nie, skrik hulle in ’n ander bloedgroep in en begin verwoed pille kou en onwillekeurige spiertrekkings openbaar.

Om ’n suksesvolle organisasie of selfs ’n gesonde gesin te bou, is motivering deur vrees of straf nie die gewenste hulpmiddel nie. Vrees is ’n emosie en in ’n atmosfeer waar vrees heers, gaan mense net nie hulle optimale funksioneringsvlak bereik nie.

Mark Dowd skryf in die Guardian: … guilt and fear are very limited in their appeal and, more often than not, only induce a great desire to turn away and carry on as before.

It’s important to remember that motivation by fear is by far the easiest way to motivate. But it still verges upon intimidation. Motivation by fear always results in inner anger against the person using the fear tactics.

Wat is dan die oplossing?

Dowd glo dat mense gelei moet word om eienaarskap vir iets te aanvaar. Of dit nou ’n projek, aardverwarming of die jaarlikse gesinsvakansie is, almal moet inkoop daarin. Hy noem dit the notion of stewardship.

Hy glo ook dat die opregtheid en voorbeeld van ’n leier die beste uit volgelinge haal.

Dalk is die antwoord heel eenvoudiger as wat ons wil dink?

Die antwoord is miskien in die bekende spreekwoord woorde wek, maar voorbeelde trek te vinde?

Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing. – Albert Schweitzer

The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority. – Kenneth Blanchard

Leadership: the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Image: Pixomar (FreeDigitalImages)

For he’s a jolly good Fellow!

By Rian Truter on September, Thursday 8 2011 in 2011, Education, Leadership, Life 4

Ons bloed is Groen! Hier kom die Bokke!

Dit lyk my ons Minister van Sport, die agbare Fikile Mbalula, het ook Dale Carnegie se boek How to win friends and influence people gelees?

Klaarblyklik het daar sedert ek die boek gelees het ‘n hoofstuk bygekom. Naamlik: Hoe om in Afrikaans te vloek en vriende te maak.

Dat Afrikaans ‘n kragtige taal is, dit weet almal van ons wat dit van kindsbeen praat. En dat daar seker min tale in die wêreld is wat by Afrikaans kan kers vashou as dit by vloekwoorde kom!

Die heer Fikile het dit ook seker gesnap, want waarom anders sal hy ons Springbokke opdrag gee om hulle te moer? En hulle te bliksem?

Miskien wou hy hulle met Kill the Kiwi aanhits, maar het hom bedink en gedog die plakaat wat hy in die skare sien, was deel van sy toespraak. Of dalk het die jolige atmosfeer hom terug geneem na sy dae as ANC Jeugliga-voorsitter. Dit was nou voor onse Julius M.

Die skare was egter in hulle noppies, want hier praat die agbare minister, wat meegehelp het dat hulle geliefde bok nou ‘n laaste staanplek op die trui se mou gekry het, húlle taal. En boonop sterk woorde. Woorde wat hulle verstaan. For he’s a jolly good fellow …

Ek dink arme Bakkies Botha was totaal verward. Wat moet hy nou doen? Hulle bliksem of uitlos?

Ek hoop Minister Fikile gaan opdraf as ons manne sy opdrag letterlik opneem en ons met 13 man moet speel. Want dit wil lyk dat as hy praat, luister hulle.

Die minister moes dieselfde woordeskat tydens personeelsessies gebruik het, want na die SA Sporttoekennings in Sun City vanjaar, het sy personeel blykbaar ‘n hotelkamer wat R60 000 per nag kos se versiering eiehandig verander. Maar hulle sê dis kwaadwillige liegstories.

Ek hoop dit was Minister Mbalula se laaste spanpraatjie aan enige sportspan – behalwe aan ons boksers. Hulle het dit nodig, want hulle word gewoonlik net gemoer.

Ek wil aanbeveel dat die minister die betrokke hoofstuk weer, maar met meer aandag, gaan deurlees. Êrens mis hy ‘n belangrike sinsnede. Die een wat sê dat die mooiste woorde in ‘n vreemde taal asseblief en dankie is.

Om in enige taal die vloek- en kragwoorde te gebruik, maak van vreemdelinge nog nie jou vriende nie. Hulle wonder eerder oor jou.

Ons land en kinders het rolmodelle nodig. Mense vir wie ons ons nie hoef te skaam nie. Mense soos Nelson Mandela wat die hele Suid-Afrika verenig het sonder om enige negatiewe woord te uiter. Hy wat die Springbokke en hul ondersteuners tot die wen van die Web Ellistrofee gemotiveer het deur net hul geliefde groen trui te dra.

Daar is oorgenoeg mense in ons land wat wil moer en bliksem, maar ek dog dit is presies van hulle wat ons ontslae wil raak. Ons is eerder op soek na mense wat bereid is om die ander wang te draai. Suid-Afrikaners wat mekaar se hande wil vat in plaas van hul hande vir mekaar vuis te maak.

Skuus, meneer die Minister! Ek weet rugby is ‘n kontaksport, en volgens Div nie ballet nie, maar ons wil nie alles moer en bliksem nie. Ons het genoeg daarvan gehad. Kyk hoe lyk ons pragtige land van al die gemoer en gebliksem!

For he’s a jolly good fellow … maar ons sê nie almal só nie!

Alle praat in hierdie treurige, bitter, bont, begrafnisland is politiek – of dit nou fluisterpraat, kakpraat, wind- of spoeg- of sáámpraat is. – Breyten Breytenbach

The most terrifying words in the English language is: I’m from the goverment and I’m here to help. – Ronald Reagan

Apple every day – The Steve Jobs way!

By Rian Truter on August, Wednesday 31 2011 in 2011, Leadership 1

Daar is al baie oor Steve Jobs gesê en dat daar nog baie oor hom gesê gaan word, is so seker soos dat daar binnekort ’n nuwer weergawe van die iPad sal verskyn.

Dit is egter nie net Steve Jobs se uittrede as CEO van Apple wat my interesseer nie, maar ook sy leierseienskappe. Wat is dit wat hy het wat gemaak het dat Apple vandag een van die grootste maatskappye in die wêreld is en boonop miljoene fanatiese aanhangers het?

I scrutinised the web and printed media and made the following shortlist of what made Steve so successful:

Steve Jobs may not be the greatest technologist or engineer of his generation. But he is perhaps the greatest user of technology to ever live.
He is able to see a company from the outside, rather than inside as most managers do.
Steve trusted his instinct. Some may call it vision. That required an ability to think first and foremost as someone who lives with technology rather than produces it. And he was willing to gamble based on that instinct.
He was Apples’ biggest fan. If you listen to Steve’s legendary presentations over the years, he comes across not as the creator of a product so much as its very first fan.
Steve has a great eye for talent and the bigger picture. He taught his organization to develop a product for the second or third generation rather than a once off.

Apple was onder Steve nie altyd die maklikste plek om jou brood te verdien nie. Mense wat hom ken en ook die binnewerke van Apple beleef het, beskryf Jobs so toeganklik soos ’n junkyard dog.

Onder Steve Jobs se leierskap was Apple a brutal and unforgiving place, where accountability is strictly enforced, desicions are swift, and communication is attriculated clearly from the top.

In baie organisasies sou bostaande korporatiewe kultuur reglynig bots met wat van ‘n leier verwag word: geloofwaardigheid, bedagsaamheid, sensitiwiteit, nederigheid asook ’n goeie dosis kreatiwiteit, intelligensie en ’n strategiese brein soos Napoleon.

Maar hoe het Steve dit dan reggekry om net met die helfte van bogenoemde eienskappe te oorleef? Kenners beweer dat mense hom sy gebreke vergeef het, want wat hy aan takt en sensitiwiteit ontbreek het, het hy opgemaak met sy ongelooflike en helder visie vir dít wat hy vir Apple wou hê.

Die vertrek van Steve Jobs laat Applewerknemers en -aanhangers met ’n bekommernis oor die pad wat vir hulle geliefde produk wag, want met Steve besig om aan die appel te kou, kon hulle rustig slaap … en wag vir nog ’n WOW-produk!

Miskien is dit gepas om Steve die laaste woord te laat inkry (party sal sê, soos gewoonlik): Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.

Nog ‘n paar aanhalings van Steve Jobs:

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.

I want to put a ding in the universe.

We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Source:

Cliff Kuang: FastCompany

Joe Nocera: New York Times

Image: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot

How to create White Space

By Rian Truter on August, Wednesday 17 2011 in 2011, Leadership 2

When I hear the term Visionary Leader a picture of a person perched/sitting on a hilltop sprung to mind. And this imaginary person is not sitting around idly but is diligently peering into the distance. To the faraway horizon, to the future …

This is what all leaders do. Not all the time, but leaders have to schedule time to climb the proverbial hill and to go and see what is happening on the horizon. Maybe you will see the trouble or the solution coming. Before it unexpectedly hits you between the eyes.

Yet, the demands of leader’s jobs don’t allow them that luxury. Let alone the space to actually stop and think.

Sabina Nawaz wrote in an article, This Space Intentionally Left White, that leaders are hired for their intellectual horsepower. But in the midst of the hustle and bustle of their job, there is little space to breathe.

And breathe they must. For when you breathe you start to think. Perhaps when somebody tells you to take a deep breath, they are actually telling you to start thinking!

Nawaz recommends that the leaders she coaches have to schedule a time during their busy week for doing nothing but thinking and to pay attention to what emerges in the absence of the noise of their normal activities.

She calls this the creation of white space.

To do precisely that, is difficult. Allowing for white space in our lives goes against our normal way of doing things. But according to Nawaz white space gives us the opportunity to think beyond our current problems and issues.

She recommends that to be successful at creating white space, leaders must be intentional about setting up some quiet time. The following is her four prerequisites to succeed in creating your personal white space:

Set aside a specific time in the week. Block out that time in your schedule.
Turn off the noise. Don’t answer telephones or emails.
Experiment until you find the right format for you. Journal, walk, meditate or go climb the hill.
Keep your white space dates. You need to practise perspective.

All of us have heard of the sacrifices leaders made for their career or work. How they have missed their children’s birthdays and how they operate under tight timelines and competitive pressures. But most of them don’t make time to make their minds wander. To climb the hill …

Creating white space in your busy schedule lets you hear and think in a new way.

Source: HBR Network, Sabina Nawaz, This Space Intentionally Left White, July 1, 2011

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it. – Henry Ford

If you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big. – Donald Trump

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking. – George S. Patton

Image: Apple/’s Eyes Studio

Deel jou kennis!

By Rian Truter on August, Sunday 7 2011 in 2011, Leadership 2

Tom Peters

Tom Peters is nie iemand wat skroom om sy sê te sê nie. Hy glo ook daaraan dat kennis gedeel moet word almal sterker en beter te maak. Op soek na die WOW!

Soos gewoonlik beveel hy sterk aan dat ons hierdie stukkie moet steel en ons eie maak! Hierdie keer die skoenmaatskappy, Zappos, se 10 Korporatiewe Waardes:

Deliver “WOW!” through service.
Embrace and drive change.
Create fun and a little weirdness.
Be adventurous, creative and open-minded.
Pursue growth and learning.
Build open and honest relationships with communication.
Build a positive team and family spirit.
Do more with less.
Be passionate and determined.
Be humble. (The Korn/Ferry Institute Mag, Q2:2010)

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business. – Henry Ford

Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. – Oscar Wilde

Image: Allison Shirreffs

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