Mar 29, 2009

President Lula

Zakaria's interview with President Lula, was interesting for many reasons. Hear what Lula says about Obama's inauguration.

President Lula "I told my people, during my inauguration address - I do not have the right to make mistakes, I cannot afford to fail". I believe that God put Obama there for a reason - I told him that he cannot afford to fail."

Undoubtedly, Lula has come a long way since his days as a Machine Operator, in a factory. His comments regarding democracy, socialism and the role of emerging industrialized nations - were insightful and well presented. Undoubtedly, many will disagree with his position on U.S relations with Venezuela & Cuba - as well as the role which emerging nations should play, in global affairs.

Still, it's important to understand different perspectives of World Leaders, especially those from nations like Brazil.

Mar 15, 2009

The Key To Leading A Purposeful Life

The key is to help someone - anyone


analogy for church -


mentoriship


holding ones self accountable to somneone else, or some initiaitve


it's not about one goal or another - if so, what do you do when you've achieved the goal or you realize that there's no way you can accomplish the goal.




It's great to be goal oriented - but what happens when you hit the goal.




Tyler Perry said in a recent interview with Larry King, that he was depressed after buying his multi-million dollar studio - because he'd achieved a major goal - probalby much earlier than he had previously though he could (he's not yet 40 years old).




He's since set a new goal - to own a Television Network. (but check this - he wants to own a network which would ALWAYS provide uplifting programming, for others). That goal is tied to his childhood - a period of his life when he endured physical abuse from his father and probably didn't have too many people lifting hime up....

The Leadership Journal

Last month - I launched a new blog called "The Leadership Journal". It's been a long time in the making - I'm glad we're finally up and running.

Key Objectives: I created the Leadership Journal with one purpose in mind - to create a repository for the types of leadership training, insights and resources which could help improve the skills of aspiring leaders, anywhere in the world.

I am convinced that Truly Effective Leaders are made - not born. The quest to be a great leader is a never ending journey of continous learning. I'm hopeful that the Leadership Journal will be a good source of information for all leaders.

World Changer....

Are Your Truly A World Changer?

Are people better off because they know you? Do you think others have a more positive attitude, a more cheerful demeanor or a brighter outlook on life - in part, because they're associated with you? In Church this morning - I heard a song with these words - "People's life's should better because they know me". It set me thinking about what it really means to be a World Changer. Are we really leading purposeful lives?

We all live very busy lives - constantly juggling the urgent with the important. We often have to re-prioritize work items and deliverables as I try to accomplish my goals. Smart Companies are learning to reward employees not just for hitting agreed upon goals, but for doing so in a collaborative manner, non-destructive fashion.

During the course of my (admittedly) short career - I've been guilty of being too overbearing in some cases and overly deferential, in others. I'm learning to be assertive and express myself in a non-confrontational fashion.

Every day, we are presented with great opportunities to have a positive impact on others - simply by the way we present ourselves and the approach we take to dealing with challenges.
I try to look for the win-win - I hear you all saying that's much easier said than done. That's true - sometimes we do have to compromise or even give in, but even when that happens, we need to maintain a positive outlook.

I'm hoping this post will be a therapeutic one for me - I don't always project a positive attitude. I certainly can't categorically state that any of my colleagues are better off because they've worked with me, although I do hope so.

It's a fact that we're all affected by the environment in which we live, the words, actions and attitudes of those around us.

World Changers: The song reminded me that we all need to keep trying to have a positive impact on those around us. That way, we're sure to continue to change and affect people's lives - for the better......

Peace.

Mar 12, 2009

Captain Sully Sullenberger - "My Aircraft"

Taken from a blog post titled - "An incredible lesson in crisis managment"

From the interviews that he gave on 60 Minutes on February 8th to Katie Couric on CBS and on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 10th and 11th on Larry King Live on CNN, following is how did Captain Sully Sullenberger manage the crisis of his life and saved 155 lives!
Recognizing the Uniqueness of the Crisis:

“About 90 seconds after takeoff, I notice there were birds, filling the entire windscreen, from top to bottom, left to right, large birds, close, too close to avoid. I felt, heard and smelled the evidence of them going into the engines. I heard the noises. I felt the engine vibrations of the damage being done to the engines. And, I smelled what I described at the time, and I still would, as a burned bird smell being brought from the engine area into the conditioning system of the airplane...It was obvious to me from the very moment that we lost the thrust that this was a critical situation. Losing thrust on both engines, at a low speed, at a low altitude, over one of the most densely populated areas on the planet. Yes, I knew it was a very challenging situation.
The airplane stopped climbing and going forward, and began to rapidly slow down. That's when I knew I had to take control of the airplane. I put my hand on the side stick and I said, the protocol for the transfer of control, “My aircraft”, and the first officer Jeff (Skiles) immediately answered, “Your aircraft”. (With no engine power) you use the forward momentum to provide the air flow over the wings to provide the sufficient lift...I knew immediately that this, unlike every other flight I'd had for 42 years, was probably not going to end with the airplane undamaged on the runway.”

World Changer

Mar 4, 2009

Google's Toolbar Push

Back in January - Microsoft announced a deal with Dell - The deal indicated that, in February, Dell would start distributing Live Search on a majority of consumer and small business PCs that it ships globally. Live Search will be the default search engine in the browser, and the PCs will also include our Live Search-powered toolbar. Dell is the #1 PC provider in the U.S. and #2 worldwide. The agreement will give new Dell users, in over 20 countries around the world, the opportunity to experience Live Search over the three-year period of the agreement. I love Microsoft and I'm very happy about this announcement - I've always favored a more aggressive distribution strategy for Live Search, as a means of driving up revenue and global query share. I also use - and have written about Google, on a regular basis.

This morning - I noticed something on the Google home page which I hadn't seen before.













A really huge box, promoting the Google Toolbar. This - on a home page which Google has been very, very careful about keeping clean and uncluttered. Clearly, the goal is to win back all those Dell, HP & Lenovo users who are buying machines with Live Search toolbars & search functionality. Don't get me wrong - I know Google has periodically promoted it's toolbar through the home page, in the past. However, I don't recall the Toolbar download box being so large or so prominently positioned on the Google home page.

The challenge for Live Search is that, it' still not known as a Search Engine - query share sits at below 9% in the U.S, versus over 60% for Google. If I'm a Google user - and I buy a new machine, I'm still going to go to http://www.google.com/ to initiate my search. I'll be greeted by that massive stamp inviting me to download the tool bar. As far as I know, once a user downloads the toolbar, Google becomes the primary search engine on the machine and Live Search looses out.

No doubt, some smart folks have figured out how to address this issue - I'm simply pointing out my observation about how Google is aggressively promoting it's toolbar, even as MSFT aggressively signs distribution deals......