Upgrade your skills.

There is one point in leadership and life that is extremely crucial in staying competitive in the global human capital marketplace: YOUR SKILLS. As we live in this highly competitive time with huge amounts of human knowledge capital, skills, and brain capital (most of it unfortunately ends up in cemeteries without any purposeful use), that is now available from all the corners in the world within a mouse click; we as leaders need to constantly…

upgrade your skills

Upgrading skills should become our daily habit and a life-long journey.  Peace.

High Performance Leadership

Today I received a recognition letter and certificate for completing the High Performance Leadership Program by Toastmasters International. The letter says:

Dear Toastmaster Viramo,

Congratulations on achieving the Leadership Excellence Award. Earning this award is a great accomplishment. Not every Toastmaster has the drive and dedication necessary to achieve this award.

Today, more than ever, our world needs strong, confident leaders. By completing a project using the High Performance Leadership program, you have demonstarted outstanding leadership skills. You are, indeed, an effective leader and a dedicated Toastmaster.

In your role as leader, you have shown that good leadership skills help to improve self-confidence and, by fostering understanding between people, aid in enhancing human relations.

I am privileged to recognize you with the Leadership Excellence award. Your outstandning achievement will serve as an inspiration to all Toastmasters.

Sincerely,

Nancy Langton, Director

Naturally it feels awesome to be recognized from the TMI head office for my personal achievement in such a formal way; it even feels better having achieved another goal and milestone of becoming a better speaker and leader. My own committment for myself is very strong:-). 

Toastmasters International educational system is wrapped tightly around on the deepest need of the human nature: the need for recognition. When you enter a Toastmasters Club anywhere in the world, you will be greeted by friendly fellow Toastmasters, and you will be continously supported along your journey  of becoming better speaker and leader, by the local, national and the international Toastmasters community. There are so many things corporations and businesses can learn from the VOLUNTEER organizations such as Toastmasters International. Respect!

The one thing you need to know

Thriving in today’s everchanging marketplace requires a new skill. It is not so much the drive, not the IQ type of intelligence, not necessarily even innovation, but FOCUS [pronounced in Austria FUK:US] - the kind of focus that both; filters out the trash in our lives and concentrates on the really essential.

After reading the awesome book by Marcus Buckingham: “First, break all the rules” many times, I recently finished another book by him: “The one thing you need to know.” This book consists of cool stories which are all building the logic towards into what is the real “one thing you need to know“.

The first story is oddly not about what you would perhaps expect it to be; it is about what it takes to have a happy marriage. I don’t want to spoil the impact for you and will reveal just the conclusion of a happy marriage to be with

Find the most generous explanation for each other’s behavior and believe it.

So quite alike what they say in the “Secret”. Believe it and be it! So, when a couple succeeds in doing this, they will also succeed with a long and happy marriage :-). I am testing this conclusion with my wife (we have a total of ~12 years together) and we do agree that it makes all the sense

Leadership

In Buckinghams book the one thing you need to know about leading is this:

Capitalize on the universal. Great leaders rally people to a better future.

I especially like the second sentance. Great leaders rally people to a better future. For me it means, that as leaders we should provide meaning to our employees (and to ourselves naturally). So, discovering what is really universal to us and capitalizing on it. The staff really needs clarity on

1) Who do we serve? —so what do we exist for?

2) What is our core strength? —together and as individuals

3) What is our core score? —what are we best at?
4) What actions can we take today? —to take us where we want to go…

Management

The one thing you need to know about managing according to Buckingham is this:

Great managers discover what is unique about each person and capitalize on it.

I love it! But frist of all we should make that discovery on ourselves! Only then do we understand what it takes and can help others discover their strengths and uniquenesses… and capitalize on it. When you are the boss, you should know some unique characteristics of your stuff, especially these ones:

1) Strengths
2) Weaknesses
3) Triggers
4) Style of learning

I fully agree. If you know these and are using them and applying them and rallying them towards achieving the companys vision and mission, I bet you are well of.

Individual Success

Towards the end Buckingham states; whether you are a leader or a manager, you still are an individual person and need to find your own path to sustained individual success. It is this thread that finally leads Buckingham to the one thing you need to know:

Discover what you don’t like doing and stop doing it.

This is the core point of the whole book. Disappointed? You dont have to be, take it to your advice and read the book. It is really good. Think about it, how many people just spend time doing something that we dont like doing? When you look at businesses, shops, hotels, barber shops, whatever, you will find everywhere people that dont like what the are doing. But they are doing it anyway…To summarize, only focusing on your strengths is not enough. You will also need to find out your weaknesses (what you don’t like doing) and figure out a way to avoid doing it. The challenge is probably in the details. It will, in many cases, be harder to do than it seems. But when you think about it, it does make sense.

All in all, this book is easy-reading for anyone interested in his/her core strengths and potential and putting it to dance. I hope this short review encourages you to read the book…

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this book.

Creativity

A while ago my brother-in-law, who was doing an assignment for the University of Texas, asked me of my opinion about creativity…here are my answers to his questions…

What is creativity?
Creativity is a state of mind.

How would you define it?
Creativity is releashing one’s full potential, and doing things that you are good at.

How does a person become creative?
Hang around with kids, drive home different ways every time, try different things, try different sports, go to the opera, theatre, brainstorm, start writing things down in the night, read bios of creative people, study your
subconcious mind, hang around with gays, punks, homeless, CEOs, africans, latinos,….

What jobs would you consider are creative?
Everything and anything, where you are empowered and have the authority to be creative, there are no limits to any position specifically. Well, you cannot be so creative when you are a doctor doing heart surgery…

How do you know if someone is creative?
She is doing things she is good at, she is producing results, she is producing value to the customer and shareholders, she is unique, she is ready to try contionusly new things and ideas, and also to fail.

What is innovation? How would you define it?
Innovation is a new idea, a new thing that has not existed in that form before. It can be completely new, or it can be an existing idea brought to the next level (see computers). Best business ideas are mostly innovative ideas. In todays world, there are copycats to any innovative idea within few minutes/hours/days.

What do you think it means to be gifted?
We, people, are results of a) our genes and b) our childhood experiences. You can be intelligent ie. have high IQ (genes) but it doesnt mean you will automatically become successfull in life, especially if you have had miserable/bad childhood experiences. We all have the inner power (our subconcious mind) and can decide whether we want to be successfull in life, or not. And we all define success somewhat differentely. Success for me, is not the same, as success to you. So being gifted is a mixture of IQ (intelligency quotent), SQ (social quotent), EQ (emotional quotent), and CQ (change quotent);Daniel Coleman

How do you know if someone is gifted?
S/he has a talent on what s/he does. She is better in what she does than everybody else.

Are these ideas similar to what others from your culture would think? 
No. People in Europe incl. the current school system are not focusing on strengths and finding talent.
It is focusing on getting everyone through at mediocore, punishing failures, and not rewarding successes.