Saturday, May 30, 2009

Leadership Tips

  • Lead people.
  • Manage things.
  • Lead by example
  • A leader takes credit for success and shares it.
  • A leader takes responsibility for failure and keeps it.
  • Never delegate responsibility without authority.
  • Two people communicating ideas or exchanging comments is a discussion.
  • Three people make the discussion a meeting.
  • Four people make the meeting a committee.
  • Five or more people in a committee make it a mob.
  • A mob seeks consensus.
  • Consensus is sought so that everyone in the mob will share blame for failure without any one individual or group pointed out as the culprit.
  • Congress is a mob.
  • Never lead by consensus.
  • Never convene a committee meeting when a discussion will suffice.
  • All committee meetings must have a stated purpose and reach a logical conclusion or solve a problem.
  • Never lead by committee.
  • Conferences and Seminars are mega mob sessions where consultants teach management gurus how to milk bulls and where new corporate buzzwords are invented.
  • A consultant is someone who lives more than 50 miles away.
  • The most important person in an organization is the person who answers the phone for those in meetings.
  • Shit-Rolls-Down-Hill.
  • Every organization has at least one tumble bug (dung beetle) in it that can roll shit uphill and have it land in your lap regardless if you rolled it downhill or not.
  • When an employee comes to you with a problem you need to know about, that employee will generally know the solution. Ask for it.
  • Equality is a device used by lawyers to make money.
  • There is no such thing as equal outcome. Otherwise World War II would have ended in a stalemate.
  • Treat your employees Fairly. You cannot treat them equally because each person is an individual with unique qualifications, skills, experience, and circumstance.
  • Never surround yourself with “YES” men.
  • Someone will always be trying to brown-nose you, usually the “Yes” Men.
  • Bullshit artists abound. It’s easier than work.
  • Develop a reliable BS meter.
  • A leader will spend the majority of his or her time dealing with the 10% of the work force who are nothing but problems.
  • In the corporate world, 70% of the people make 30% of the money and 30% of the people make 70% of the money.
  • Remember that 50% of a job is showing up for work on time. 30% is dumb luck good or bad, 10% is using your skills and knowledge and 10% is actual work.
  • Each employee has a thousand different ways they use to screw the organization when they feel they’ve been wronged. One favorite method is to stop work and BS with others about your latest bad decision. Deduct one hour lost productivity per employee per day for a week and this is the cost. It’s covered in the Laws of Unintended Consequences
  • Proper-Prior-Planning-Prevents-Piss-Poor-Performance

To be continued ......

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I Stand Watch Here

This is a poem I wrote several years ago after I visited the traveling Vietnam Veteran's Wall when it came through town. The Wall was here for Memorial Day again this year, but I didn't visit it this time. No way!

I Stand Watch Here

Here's to the boys who made the noise
Whose names are on the wall.
Here's to the boys who died with poise
Whose names I can't recall.

Dread not comrade, have no fear
All is well, I stand watch here.
Dread not brother, shed no tears
All is well, I stand watch here.

- JCP