Leaders and followers

"Follow the leader, leader, leader! Follow the leader!" Nu m-am apucat de cantat, nu am nici cea mai mica inclinatie artistica spre acest domeniu. Si de mimat, nu am invat inca. Vroiam sa scriu despre leadership si am ales sa incep cu versurile celor de la Soca Boys. Va mai amintiti aceasta melodie, care a ocupat prima pozitie in topuri in urma cu cativa ani?

De ce trebuie sa existe un leader si ceilalti sa-l urmeze? Oare oamenii se impart in doua categorii: leaderii si adeptii liderilor. Adica ori esti leader, ori follower? Tin sa contrazic abordarea asta si astfel vin cu o noua idee. Aceea ca toti oamenii pot fi leaderi. Indiferent cine esti, "daca respiri oxigen, atunci esti un leader" dupa cum spunea Robert Sharma.

Liderii au viziuni indraznete, au orizonturi largi. Ei se ghideaza dupa un crez pe care il imprima si celorlati din jur.

Ei sunt cei care fac diferenta. Isi asuma responsabilitati pentru actiune lor si cel mai important... actioneaza. Teama de esec si riscul nu-i sperie. "Riscul cel mai mare este sa nu-ti asumi nici un risc".

Este cel mai comod sa nu actionam, sa nu luam decizii importante, sa ne eschivam, sa nu imbratisam schimbarea pentru ca astfel evitam esecul. Nu vom esua dar nici nu vom reusi in viata. Vom fi feriti in zona noastra de confort, insa cum ramane cu implinirea? Si uitam esentialul, acela ca esecul este doar un mijloc spre reusita.

In urma unui sondaj facut de INS pe tema sanselor de reusita a companiilor nou-infiintate in Romania, se pare ca 34% dau faliment in primul an. Un procent destul de mare care ne poate face sa renuntam in a mai intreprinde ceva nou. Ok... dar ce pierdem acum din vedere? Anume ca 66% reusesc! De ce sa nu privim partea plina a paharului?

Afirmam ca leaderii actioneaza. Intr-adevar, sunt genul de persoane care nu amana pe maine ceea ce pot face azi. Un vechi proverb chinezesc, care mai nou este des folosit in marketing, spunea "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now". Asta spune totul despre felul in care noi oamenii amanam. "De maine...." voi incepe un program de alimentatie echilibrat, de maine voi renunta la fumat, de maine voi dedica mai mult timp familiei, de maine voi invata o limba straina... Da, "de maine" numai de azi nu. De ce nu "din acest moment"? Timpul nostru pe acest pamant este limitat si arata putina compasiune fata de cei care amana.

Actionand, liderii isi lasa amprenta asupra acestei vieti. Fac ceva bun si util in viata. La sfarsitul acesteia pot spune multumiti ca nu au trait degeaba ci din contra si-au indeplinit misiunea pe acest pamant.

Leader-ul este un "people-person", are incredere in oameni, ii ajuta, pune mare pret pe relatiile astfel create. Leader este acela care cultiva in oameni dorinta de a fi iubiti, de a se simti speciali. Si nu o face din ipocrizie sau avand un scop anume, ci pentru ca isi iubeste semenii si ii pasa cu adevarat de societatea in care traieste si mediul care il inconjoara.

Cati din asa-zisii lideri ai sferei politice si economice romanesti se pot numi cu adevarat "leaderi"? Intrebare al carui raspuns ne face sa ne confruntam cu realitatea dura a zilelor noastre. Uff...

( Listen to this: http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/Self-Development/Instructional/Extraordinary-Leadership/18168 )

Power Talk!

Power talk is a belief that a motivational speech can change minds and shape new behaviors, attitudes, beliefs. My favourite speaker is Tony Robbins. I assume you all read or listened to at least one of his books or seminars. I consider him a guru of personal development. I mentioned him here because he once said something that I totally agree with. And this is what we are going to talk about here.

He discovered the "discipline of CANI" meaning constant and never-ending improvement. Well, that's a passionate subject. He draws a parallel between this concept and TQM (Total Quality Management). That I found to be the most interesting part.
Quality is synonymous with "superior" or "excellence", either in business or personal life.
He mentions Edward Deming, one of the world's leader of Quality Management with great impact on japanese and american industries. His philosophy concentrates on continual improvements. Deming believed in education and employee self-improvement. He encouraged businesses to invest in their human capital, their most important resource, to improve the value of the individual.

As companies tries to continuously improve due to increased competition and more demanding market conditions, we, as human can do the same thing. How? By never letting a day pass without a small improvement to yourself. It doesn't matter what is it about, it may be a new food recipe, or a new fitness exercise you find efficient, or an ideea you found interesting in a book and you can aply in real life.

You can always find something to work at, something that needs improvement. You can't be perfect. You can improve the way you breath, the quality of your voice, your power of persuation, your public speaking aptitude. You can improve your relationship with your partener, with your friends, with your family. You can improve the way you look by exercising, by maintaining a proper eating habit, by trying a new hair cut. Examples are many. I'm sure you have something to improve.

You can always learn new and usefull things to make your life better. At the end of the day make a balance and ask yourself "Did I learn anything today to make myself a better person?" "Did I do something to increase the quality of my relationships?" "Did I take some kind of action to benefit from in the future?"

Well if you didn't, then there is a problem. Because, as Tony Robbins said, you either develop or retrogress / decline. There is no such thing as staying constant because people, companies, tehnology are permanently evolving and progressing. In this society the only constant is change.

Improve constantly and forever! Make small, gradual improvements everyday!

Have faith in yourself

How can people succed in life if they don't have faith in themself, in their inner forces? It must be really hard. It's like an intimate relationship. It can't work if there are doubts regarding eachother. It won't last until those doubts are eliminated.

It worries me the huge number of people who suffer from the "inferiority complex" syndrome. It sounds like a medical term and to some extent it is. It's like a disease. It's like a bad flu which keeps you in bed and inhibits you from going to work. Instead, this syndrome keeps you from living an extraordinary life and inhits you from fulfilling your dreams.

Pause for a moment and think of those people beating cancer, fighting AIDS. They are real examples of strenght. Many of them didn't even realise how strong they were until faced with the disease. And YOU are strong. It's just you don't know yet how strong you are.

As any other disease, in order to cure it, we must find its roots. Psyhologists advise us to make a serious inner analysis in order to find out where this feeling comes from. It may be a certain event in your childhood, it may be the consequences of your actions, or any other emotional distress. Maybe another people made you feel insecure, voluntary or not. Maybe life have hit you hard.

Whatever the difficulties may be, you can get over them. Why? Because we were born winners. It's our choice if we chose not to be. Our life depends entirely on us. Stop blaming others or the destiny cause you have the power to shape your life.

Have faith in possitive thinking. Don't understimate the power of possitive thinking. Beleive that you can fight anything and begin action.

I once saw a movie. It's called "The Secret". I found it difficult to watch it untill the end because they repet over and over again the same stuff. But, it has a very usefull basic idea. It stipulates that the secret of life is the "Law of attraction" meaning that we attract all those things that happen to us. It's somehow connected to possitive thinking. "Thoughts become things". That's what I recommend it to you. (You can watch a part of it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b1GKGWJbE8&feature=related )

How many of you compare yourself with others and after feel disapointed? It's good to have a role model, somebody you look up to. But many of us confuse that with imitating. You can't succed in imitating because we are unique persons and that uniqueness makes up special.

There will always be a better person than us in some field. You will never sing like Mariah Carey, nor look like Angelina Jolie, nor have Bill Gates' money. Should we feel inferior? No way. You may not look like Angelina, but you may be a great mum, a great wife. You may not have the financial power of Bill Gates, but you may have an outstanding career right before you, you may have skills and compenteces and knowledge. You may not be as popular as Mariah, but you may be loved and appreciated by your collegues, friends and relatives. Think about that.

Those special features that we may call inferiority in just one word, are features that make us unique. Nobody's perfect. We can only improve constantly!

Develop your own "mission statement"

I will begin this very first post by asking you a question: "Is there a single person in this entire world who didn't inquire about the purpose of his or her life?" Well, I guess not.

We are rational human beings in a knowledge-based society. It's our duty to wonder, to analyse, to find answers. Discovering our purpose in life is like a moral duty we own to ourselves. The complete knowledge requires knowing the purpose. How can we truly know what life is, not knowing what is it for.

So, I propose the following thing. Take the example of the legal persons. They come into being due to a purpose. Nobody creates a business without a reason, whatever that may be, profit or non-profit. All campanies should have, which most big companies have, meaning a "mission statement".

You are probably accustomed with the term, but for those who aren't I will explain. The mission statement is a brief statement of an organization showing its reason for existance, its purpose and what it hopes to achive in the future. For example, Walt Disney's purpose is "to make people happy."

Why us, as natural person, shouldn't have our own mission statement? Start developing one step-by-step by answering the questions:

1 What are our opportunities or needs to exist for? This helps you think about the true sense of your life. You were born with a reason. Find it!

2. What are we doing to accomplish those needs or to take advantage of the opportunities? This develops a sense of doing, it pushes you to take action. Do!

3. Which principles, moral values guide our life? It requires you to match your identity with your behavior. Probably the most important thing. Let your possitive values guide you through life!

After lots of consideration I came to the conclusion that my purpose in life is... in a word: HAPPINESS. Happiness means to me achiving high-quality standards in all areas of my life: emotional, spiritual, mental, physical, private and career. It means making a difference in this world to my own benefit and to others'.

Happy are those who can easily give a meaning to their lifes. Happy are those who found a sense of peace, a balance in their life.

So, I'm curious, what's YOUR purpose in life?