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December 31, 2006
Ram Charan's Eight Secrets for Executive Leadership
I just finished reading Ram Charan's article from his forthcoming book, "Know-How: The Eight Skills that Separate People who Perform from Those Who Don't". This article from Optimize Magazine gives leaders from all sectors (non-profit, public corporations, and service organizations like education) an interesting and worthwhile model for building leadership. Charan has written numerous articles and books and I find them all to be very useful and practical.
Can't wait to read the entire book when it comes out. His work is well worth your time.
Posted by chitch at 5:13 AM | Comments (0)
December 24, 2006
I swear by Apollo...
Bruna Martinuzzi from Bluepoint Leadership Development (a leadership consulting group spun off from the Tom Peters Group, writes a 17 point summary of some wise actions that all of us as leaders would be better off reviewing and acting upon it.
There are other articles below Bruna's, but I found hers especially poignant.
Posted by chitch at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2006
Do You Follow Me?
Jack McCall, one of PEP's finest teachers and friends, remarked during his conversation with 65 principals in PEP's Leadership Program for Experienced Principals, started off his conversation with the assertion that he is nutty about principals. One of his key points is that principals are principal TEACHERS. He strongly urged principals to spend your time with teachers.
This was a terrific combination with Mike Rutherford's (another PEP alumni) session the previous day on leveraging leadership time by working with teachers. Both of them noted that the more time you spend with those who get the work done, the better the quality and quantity of the work.
Mike called it a leverage point. Jack said that education was not filling a pail, it was setting their hair on fire with the thirst for learning.
Jack's other comment was that every decision a leader makes leaves a footprint.
Jack had an engaging way of making sure that we got the message-he kept asking "Do you follow me? Does that make sense to you?
Yeah, Jack and Mike-you both make terrific sense. Thanks for reminding us of the key points.
Posted by chitch at 4:24 PM | Comments (1)
December 16, 2006
Building and Cultivating Your Network of Mentors
Barry Zweibel (from GottaGettaCoach) wrote this short article on how to build and cultivate your network of mentors in the Wall Street Journal's Career Journal.com.
Chris
Posted by chitch at 11:01 AM | Comments (1)
December 10, 2006
Blogs I Pay Attention To
Now that I am paying a bit more attention to different blogs, I thought it would be some use to share which blogs I read regularly and what each blog's focus is.
David Maister: Maister (pronounced May-ster) is the preeminent expert on professional service firms.
Tom Peters: Tom (same guy who wrote In Search of Excellence 25 years ago) is another professional service firm expert whom I find as a terrific bookend to Peter Drucker (he has said that he doesn't like the comparison but...). In my view, Drucker outlines "WHAT" excellent executives do, Peters outlines "HOW" to do it. Peters is irreverent, smart-alecky, and consistently spot on.
Bob Sutton: Sutton is a relatively new expert for me to follow. He has written several books on organizational dynamics and innovation. His blog focuses on design. I'm coming to better understand how designing (rather than "structuring"-semantics matter) programs and services helps people to use them more effectively.
Michael Hyatt: Mr. Hyatt is a sometimes blogger. He is the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and writes From Where I Sit. It's intended for an internal audience, but this gentleman is INCREDIBLY transparent and gives a tremendous perspective.
Guy Kawasaki: Kawasaki is a former Apple employee (I think he headed up the Macintosh Product team), who has gone solo-his thoughts on design and work make me think.
Merlin Mann: Merlin's blog is one that focuses on individual productivity. It has a Mac bias on some of his postings but the ideas help me tremendously.
These are the folks that make me think. Check them out.
And PLEASE send me some ideas on some other thought leaders.
Posted by chitch at 10:25 AM | Comments (4)
December 6, 2006
Google Alerts
I've been using Google Alerts for about 3 months now. I learned about them from Dr. Jim Johnson at the UNC Kenan Flagler Business School. Essentially, you have Google serve as a research assistant for you to learn the latest information on your clients, opportunities, specialized topics, colleagues/competitors/partners, and your organization or school.
Keith Ferrazzi notes how easy it is to use:
It's very simple to use.
Just go to http://www.google.com/alerts.
Enter the name you want alerts for.
Select how often you want the alerts.
Enter your e-mail address, and you're done.
I'm exploring ways to use it-Ferrazzi suggests that you use it when something great happens for a client, mentor, or friend it's good to ping them with a congratulatory call or e-mail immediately after it happens.
What are some ways you can see using Google Alerts?
Posted by chitch at 4:34 PM | Comments (1)
December 3, 2006
Delegation Mop Up
One of the blogs I regularly read is Barry Zweibel's Blog "Gotta Get a Coach". Barry is a business coach out of Chicago and we did some work together in our previous lives. I find Barry to be consistently thought provoking and helpful, in fact, I've modeled some of how he does his blog to The Executive Edge.
His 11/25/06 Post on Delegation Mop Up is a good reminder on thinking through things when you delegate.
Enjoy.
Posted by chitch at 9:21 AM | Comments (0)