Loyalty

What would elicit such extreme loyalty as David's men? I sat in awe understanding the motivation of these men as they stole water over enemy lines simply to satisfy they thirst of their leader? Was it personal? Have they seen something 'out-of-this-world' in David's leadership skill? Was it his looks? Or charisma?

Read along 2 Samuel 22: 13 "During harvest time, three of the thirty chief men came down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. 15 David longed for water and said, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!" 16 So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. 17 "Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this!" he said. "Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?" And David would not drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty men."

Thoughts?

Talent vs Gift

I remember scripture words - "To whom much is given, much is expected."

Leaders Speed

John Maxwell is spot on. And I quote "the speed of the leader is the speed of the group. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Weak leaders produce weak organization and vice versa. If you want to grow your organization, grow your leaders'..

As a leader myself, I am now keen to apply this principle and grow even more my skills. So in applying this principle, I have decided to engage myself in the most punishing form of endurance sports - triathlon -all in the effort to inspire others to overcome challenges, roadblocks and obstacles in their life.

Pogo was right when he said " "we have found the eneny and he is us".

HABIT

I believe and agree with Steven Covey when he said and I quote "HABIT IS THE INTERSECTION OF KNOWLEDGE, SKILL AND DESIRE. (Knowledge=head=what to do, Skill=hand=how to do, Desire=heart=want to do).

Musings of a Frustrated Observer

I am re-posting here an editorial commentary I made on a newspaper publication.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sent to: miguel@pinoykasi.net on an article he wrote: "English and our Future" - Jan 23, 2003.

I find your article riveting.

Not only did you brought forward a thought provoking analysis. But also unravel scary thoughts - shedding light on possibilities of job insecurities (amongst locals) once China has developed her full potential and compete in the world market.

I have been living in *** as a resident manager of a large multinational company. Having observed how the local people work, learn and play, I can readily establish the pattern of success for most NIC (newly industrialized country) which to this day, still eludes our country.

In contrast, virtually every high tech magazine will you find ads featuring my adopted country as an attractive investment site - from PC world to the rapidly emerging Biotechnology.

I still cannot fathom why our local leaders in our country cannot even implement a simple foreign

Sustainable Integrated Green Farming

"BUY and CREATE ASSETS". This is my family theme kicked off this 2010.

And for me, I have toyed with the idea of "SIGF" meant to help drive farmland utilization in my hometown.

Here's some narrative:

Since the beginning of time, man tried to conquer nature. And every time, man failed and nature triumph. Man acqured wisdom and instead of fighting nature, he learned to co-exist and harness the power of nature.

Part environmental revolution, part societal and economic revolution, the integrated green farming allows man to tap on natures abundant provision, co exist with it and harness its abundant produce.

"SIGF" started as an idea to pave the way for OFW, retirees and small to medium businessmen in developing a sustainable business model. It involves an avenue for OFW, and retirees, to invest lump sump, and grow.

The model involves the following:
1. Finance arm. To manage the in and out of resource (money)
2. Operating arm. To manage the day to day and drive efficiency and effectiveness.
3. Marketing arm. To promote the product via sales forum, expo, on line and real time.

Honest to goodness model to augment income of my people. Thoughts welcome!

Reflections... reflections

As customary, Im back to my old self reflecting on the past 4 Decembers of my life. But before I outline, i would like to make a laundry list of the blessings I have received all these while.
- Decent house
- Family sedan
- Healthy kids
- Safe travel for my 1st son outside the country
- Secular job promotion handling global affairs
- Social duty of the highest order!

But unlike most reflections,what I would do now is to look back at my thoughts every december for the last 4 years and determine if there is any trend or pattern. Here they are:
1. Why is there a countdown service at the church? And does it matter?
2. On the importance of leaders behavior -both on and off work - seeing is believing.
3. Certainty in an uncertain time - of the turbulent 2008 that saw the demise and collapse of the biggest bank in history.
4. Social duty (2nd career) of the highest order - on this years assignment at our religious order!

Hmm, pretty decent accomplishment. Not without a help from my maker!!

Homestretch

Whew! It IS December 29. Two more days and its the end of a tumultous time period in the history of my working life. Consider this-

We lost as many as 25% of our department 'old timers' due to the 1Q 2009 recession. This alone resulted in roughly 1500 years of experience!

Imagine the wealth of wisdom that can be mined! Sadly there is no technology in the world today that can concisely summary, put into context or even make sense of all those years of experience.

If there is just a way for us to 'download' all those informations? Then we would not be condemned to repeat the mistakes made by our forefathers because we have learned from history.

Hmm, possible business idea? Takers anyone?

Leadership in Turbulent Times

DISPATCHES from the NEW WORLD of WORK
I Repeat Myself ...
Leading yourself in really weird times:

1. Be conscious in the Zen sense. Think about what you are doing more than usual. Think about how you project.

2. Meet daily, first thing, with your leadership team—to discuss whatever, check assumptions. Perhaps meet again late afternoon. Meetings max 30 minutes.

3. If you are a "big boss," use a private sounding board—check in daily.

4. Concoct scenarios by the bushel, test 'em, play with 'em, short-term, long-term, sane, insane.

5. MBWA. Wander. Sample attitudes. Visible but not frenzied.

6. Work the phones, chat up experts, customers, vendors. Seek enormous diversity of opinion.

7."Over"communicate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8. Exercise—encourage your leadership team to double up on their exercise.

9. Underscore "excellence in every transaction."

What Makes an Effective Executive!

Posting a Peter Drucker thought process on leadership:

Peter Drucker asked: "What Makes An Effective Executive."

- They asked, "What needs to be done?"
- They asked, "What's right for the enterprise?"
- They developed action plans.
- They took responsibility for decisions.
- They took responsibility for communicating.
- They were focused on opportunities rather than problems.
- They ran productive meetings.
- They thought and said "We" rather than "I."

13 Fatal Errors to be avoided for Leaders

Take it with a pinch of salt:
=============================
1.Failure to accept personal accountability
2.Failure to develop people
3.Trying to control results instead of influencing thinking
4.Join the wrong crowd
5.Manage everyone the same way
6.Forget the importance of Profit
7.Concentrate of problems rather than objectives
8.Be a buddy, not a boss
9.Fail to set standards
10.Fail to train people
11.Condone incompetence
12.Recognize only top performers
13.Try to manipulate people

Practical yet powerful!