I am currently reading a book on exceptional leadership. What struck me as significant is the author’s contention, after surveying thousands of companies that:

a.) There is very significant improvement in the company if you can coach bad leaders into good ones. That means signfiicant payback if you can get a leader to be from the bottom 20% to improve to even just the bottom 40% percentile.

b.) There is no significant impact on the company by making good leaders slightly better. That means the effect on the company for leaders in the 30th to the 70th percentile is not significant.

c.) There is signfiicant impact on the company by turning very good leaders into exceptional ones. A leader in the top 5 percentile may have twice the results on a leader at the 20th percentile on the company’s performance .

If you noticed, Microsoft’s Chairman, Bill Gates ( and world’s richest man for ten years running) is undergoing a makeover — from somebody seen as an aloof, arrogant and introverted geek as recent as five years ago, to somebody who is a philanthropist more at ease with life, and with fatherhood, and who has lightened up and more friendly.

There is nothing new on this, except to stress the importance that even as a top exec or CEO, or more specially because you ARE CEO, it is very important that you are correctly perceived by the press, and your people, and you are able to inject the proper values and image that you would like your Read the rest of this entry »

This is a book by Thomas Watson Jr., IBMs CEO from 1956 to 1971, and son of TJ Watson, the founder. He wrote the book, which full title is “A Business and Its Beliefs: The Ideas that Helped Build IBM” in 1963.

According to the IBM biography,

” During his leadership, IBM grew from a medium-sized business to one of the dozen largest Read the rest of this entry »

I saw this excellent article in BusinessWeek wherein author Liz Ryan has written about a year ago. This is about what you feel is your role in corporate life, and what to do so that you can be the person who can be ‘counted’ on , and therefore will rise up the ranks. I am posting this again, and I quote some passages:

- Many managers think responsibility ends when they have tell someone else about a problem. Without action, talk is just a waste of breath .

- How often do we see businesspeople passing on information as if their role is to be a postal carrier, when what’s needed is not only Read the rest of this entry »

In one of the webboards, we got into talking as to what is the American dream. Then somebody came in and said what was the European dream. Being Asian, I talked a little bit about the Asian dream.

This might be too generalizing a bit, and hardly accurate, but the American dream is usually meant to be understood as having great wealth and power. The European dream is normally about self fulfillment, education and respect from peers. I am more Asian, and has always been made to believe that the Asian dream Read the rest of this entry »

An IT nerd is crossing the road when he meets a frog who tells him, ” If you kiss me, I’ll turn into a beautiful princess, stay with you for a week and do anything you want.”

The IT nerd smiles and puts the frog in his pocket. ” Did you hear me?” says the frog. ” I said I’ll do anything for a week.”

The nerd ignores it.

“Hey! What are you playing at?” it shoults. ” A beautiful princess? For a week? That’s irresistible.”

“Look”, says the nerd, ” I’m a computer expert. I haven’t got time for a girlfriend. But a talking frog - now that’s cool!”

Ocassionally, I come across gems that I read in books, or articles, or random observations, and I put it here. I got this over a year ago, and upon reading , find it as relevant as ever.

This 12 statements encapsulizes what I would think is the ideal environment for an ideal employee.

1. I know what is expected of me at work
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right
3. At work I have the opportunity Read the rest of this entry »

Since I have been blogging, I have also been reading more and more of other people’s blogs. While many blogs share experiences, and tips, I also noted that some people use the blog to ear out their frustrations.

I don’t mean to belittle the traumatic or sad experience that they did, but obviously I feel that there is no value to keep stirring up something that happened 10 years ago, or even 2 months ago.

I once went to a trip Read the rest of this entry »

Two months ago, I narrated a fable in which I asked after the story, based on their performance, Who is the More Valuable Employee? . I would like to relate this time a real life experience. My choice is obvious. What about yours?

I am a member of a country sports club. This club offers amongst others many amenities, facilities like basketball, tennis, bowling, swimming , gym, and others. Of course, in general, people go there to sweat off. It also features various different eating places. One of the dining place amazingly allows Read the rest of this entry »