Posts Tagged ‘Leadership’


Jack Welsh’s “Lebensweisheit” : The 10 Leadership Principles


Saturday, August 8th, 2009
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I read an interesting, short article that Peter Isackson wrote for the Intercultural Insights Group, he brought up the simple yet profound leadership principles that Jack Welsh developed in his time as CEO at GE. Are they as relevant today as they were when he wrote them?

*1.* There is only one way ˆ the straight way. It sets the tone of the
organization.

*2.* Be open to the best of what everyone, everywhere, has to offer;
transfer learning across your organization.
*3.* Get the right people in the right jobs ˆ it is more important than
developing a strategy.
*4.* An informal atmosphere is a competitive advantage.
*5.* Make sure everybody counts and everybody knows they count.
*6.* Legitimate self-confidence is a winner ˆ the true test of
self-confidence is the courage to be open.
*7.* Business has to be fun ˆ celebrations energise an organisation.
*8.* Never underestimate the other guy.

*9.* Understand where real value is added and put your best people there.
*10.* Know when to meddle and when to let go ˆ this is pure instinct.

I think that #4 is a point that would be debatable in Europe and Asia – what do you think, is the business trend toward informality or do these societies still want the hierarchic distance?
And, the notion of having fun [#7] when working as a prerequisite to working creatively and energetically still has not penetrated the minds of the many of the older kinds of organizations, but I think that without fun, why would people want to do their best work for a company?

When I present to foreign companies, and I mention that in the US, having fun is often a goal, I frequently get dismissive looks and comments that this is not something serious and as such isn’t important. Too bad, for as long as the notion of fun is still considered frivolous, it won’t happen.

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Conversation with the CEO of Silicon Valley’s coolest little plug-in – CoolIris


Tuesday, December 30th, 2008



cooliris logo 150x150 Conversation with the CEO of Silicon Valley’s coolest little plug in CoolIris

 

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Soujanya Bhumkar,  CEO and Co-founder of the coolest browser add-on around – CoolIris!

 

On February 25, 2009, at the law offices of Cooley Godward in Palo Alto, he and other inspiring entrepreneurs will tell us about their start ups and what it takes to make them successful. Stay tuned for more details.

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Silicon Valley Executive Quotes – Can you guess the nationality?


Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
Image by via Flickr

Here are some quotes from the book, They Made It!; they were made by French, Indian, Chinese, German, Iranian, Israeli and Saudi executives. Is it possible to guess where people come from by the way they speak, or by their views on life and their careers?

 

a)

“As we say in Silicon Valley, you have to learn not to drink your own Cool Aid.”

 

“If you combine the skills, the mindset, the culture with the financial contribution, you can accomplish great things with relatively few resources.”

b)

 

“Life and management are about conflict .When you become a CEO, the key to being successful is actually to pick up what’s the right decision, not to be right.”

c)

 

“Success is like anti-oxidants. It doesn’t make any difference in life, except that you feel healthy.”

“The biggest thing is- you have to have the passion to follow your dream and you have to have the determination to convert that into something tangible.”

d)

 

“This is one of the very few locations in the world [Silicon Valley], where all the pieces of the puzzle are here and successful people manage to put this puzzle together.”

e)

 

“My passion in life, if you will, is to simply build better products.”

If you think you can identify the writers’ original nationality, write me a your guesses and I’ll let you know if you are right:)

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