Monday, March 22, 2010

Leadership Quotes

Another interesting information sharing from Robin Sharma..


Leadership Quotes
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." - Picasso
"The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were." - John F. Kennedy
"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well." 
- Martin Luther King Jr.


Robinsharma

Powerful Leadership Tactics

Tactic #1 Engineer Experiences

In a world where connectivity and technology have turned the foreign into the familiar and people can choose from an endless selection at every corner, leaders have to bring more to the table. One way to bring more is to be an engineer of experiences. Turn everyday occurrences into memorable moments. Take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. Use your resources to build out and build up situations. Add on extra at every angle. Move away from a generic approach and customize and personalize the everyday. Make it your mission to engineer adventures, moments, and memoirs.

Tactic #2 Fire Up your Innovator

"Innovation." It's the word on the street. Innovating, inventing and creating are the rising stars.

Successful leaders have fantastic analytical minds. It's one of their vital attributes. They must be able to problem solve. However, sometimes problem solving is a direct barrier to innovating. When innovation is called for, moving out of a problem solving mindset into an innovative mindset starts with how you proposition yourself. Rather than asking "what's the problem or what's the solution?" try asking yourself, "what do I want to create here?"
Tactic #3 Leaders Go First

If there is a deficiency in your personal or professional life the best way to have more is to initiate more. If you are disappointed by the lack of human connection, initiate more connection. If there is a lack of imagination, invite imagination by modeling it. If you want more understanding, be more understanding. If team camaraderie is falling short, initiate acts of good-fellowship. Leaders go first. They don't wait. They take the lead and initiate.

Tactic #4 Comic Relief. It's serious business

A study conducted at Canadian financial institutions reported that top performing organizations had managers who employed humor. Harvard Business Review featured an article called "Transforming A Conservative Company - One Laugh at a Time," by Katherine Hudson, the president and CEO of Brady Corporation. The article describes how Brady "has made fun an integral part of its corporate culture, not as an end in itself, but for serious business reasons." Scientific research shows that laughter increases productivity, those who laugh out loud are more creative at problem solving, and those who laugh are healthier and miss work less often.

Consider your work culture. Would you say serious business is balanced with light heartedness and fun? Is laughter a part of progress? What can you do to lighten and liven things up? Seriously.

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