An orchestra conductor faces the ultimate leadership challenge: creating perfect harmony without saying a word. In this charming talk, Itay Talgam demonstrates the unique styles of six great 20th-century conductors, illustrating crucial lessons for all leaders.
Leadership
Weekly Recommendations
First off, my apologies for missing out on the weekly posts past couple of weeks. Exams/work/partying got the best of me.
Here are my top picks for the week ending Sunday, 21/06:
- Seth Godin lists a few goals/principles everyone should aspire to live by – You Matter
- Nate on It Starts With Us shares his thoughts on gaining trust/respect from your colleagues – 12 Simple Ways To Impress People At Work
- Health.com reports that people with a greater sense of purpose live longer. Surprise surprise – Have Purpose In Life? You Might Live Longer
- The folks at Focus list some back-to-basics rules for management – 101 Common Sense Rules For Leaders
- Chris on The Art Of Nonconformity imparts some useful wisdom on the idea of sufficiency – Sufficiency
- Though personally not too big on ideas of frugality, Ann on Get Rich Slowly mentions some worth looking at – The Wisdom Of My Father
Enjoy.
Leadership lessons from Cricket Captains, by Kazim Abidi
Kazim Abidi is an entrepreneur, sportsman and a good friend who has just started contributing to this blog.
When we talk of cricket we talk of those big strides a fast bowler takes, the graceful stroke play of a batsman, the horizontal dive of a fielder, wizardry of a spinner and numerous other things that take place on the field. To a cricket lover it is poetry-in-motion. Close matches bring about the excitement, which is so unique because it’s a game with lots of gaps that allows you to think, ponder, discuss strategies, make changes etc. In this excitement we often forget the role a captain plays.
I think about my team HKU where I play my Saturday league cricket. It’s quite a mixture of English, Australian, Pakistani and Indian players. We didn’t do well for two seasons until we got Phil Glenwright, a player who has passed his prime, as our captain. The internal politics disappeared, the level of commitment from each individual soared. The team became a cohesive unit where an average player performed at parity with the stars. The captain’s confidence in each one of us and his appreciation for trivial things meant the world to us. We finished second in the league last year and are playing in the finals for the title this year. Continue reading
Leadership, Uncluttering, and Your Worst Enemy…
Another week has gone by, and with another week comes another interesting list of posts that you should check out in your spare time.
Here are 5 articles worth reading for the week ending Sunday, 19/04.
- Ten Top Tips for the Innovative Leader – Stepcase Lifehack
- 5 Tiny Steps to Quit Being Such a Jerk – Zen Habits
- Seven benefits of uncluttering – Unclutterer
- 7 Timeless Thoughts on Taking Responsibility for Your Life – The Positivity Blog
- Social Proof: The Worst Enemy That Lives in Your Head – Stepcase Lifehack
Enjoy.
Tribes by Seth Godin
One of the best books I’ve read on leadership, change and innovation. Here’s an excerpt:
“Every tribe is different. Every leader is different. The very nature of leadership is that you are not doing what’s been done before. If you were, you’d be following, not leading. All I can hope for is that you’ll make a choice. Every leader I’ve ever met has made the choice, and they’ve been glad they did.
“You can choose to lead, or not. You can choose to have faith, or not. You can choose to contribute to the tribe, or not. Are there thousands of reasons why you, of all people, aren’t the right one to lead? Why you don’t have the resources or the authority or the genes or the momentum to lead? Probably. So what? You still get to make the choice. Once you choose to lead, you’ll be under huge pressure to reconsider your choice, to compromise, to give up. Of course, you will. That’s the world’s job: to get you to be quiet and follow. The status quo is the status quo for a reason.”
Mush Panjwani 