“The Heart of a Leader”
Ken Blanchard
Honor Books, 1999
Many Christmases ago, I sent to each of my friends and business associates a not-so-expensive gift of quotes printed on special paper and mounted on a miniature lectern. Today, when I visit their offices or homes, the gift still stands proud in a corner, still speaking of eternal truths and inspiring lines for the day.
The business world is a vast land mass of business language – jargon, facts, figures, charts and tables. Thus, when you stumble upon an insight expressed in an inspired line, a point with unintended lyricism, or an everyday fact elevated to timeless truth – they serve as a refreshing oasis offering sparkling water.
An inspiring line relaxes the nerves, prompts the mind to open itself to realities beyond the workaday world, and readies the soul to commune with the Divine. And when that momentary trip or long journey is over, you again descend to the “world of reality” (although Plato will disagree with you, because he will insist that we are mere shadows or copies and reality is somewhere else).
That explains why we love quotes. To use 21st century language, it’s like a good cup of Starbucks or Figaro coffee perking up an otherwise humdrum existence. One of the latest additions is a package of 79 quotes from one who has earned the reputation as a motivational author and speaker – Ken Blanchard – with his book, “The Heart of a Leader.”
The book deals with many themes, as many topics as our multi-colored life needs – from occasional confidence at work to abiding faith; from team spirit to a profounder partnership; from simply relaxing to finding fulfillment in solitude; from the practice-makes-perfect principle to a lifelong commitment to learning; from “health is wealth” to health-is-better-than-wealth; from golf is life to “Game of Life First.”
On confidence building, for example, the book offers this memorable quote: “No one can make you inferior without your permission.” That comes from Eleanor Roosevelt, wife to powerful Franklin Delano Roosevelt, hinting that the spouse is no less mighty or confident. A companion quote should come from an American President whose life has become an inspiring example of finally ending in triumph after a long litany of failures: Abraham Lincoln. This could be his article of faith and formula for success: “It’s surprising how much you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” This should be liberating to many of us.
On team spirit, one quote speaks of the advantage of synergy, a quick retort to “Lone Rangers” out there: “None of us is as smart as all of us,” a quote from One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey. Mind you, it’s the manager talking, not the banana-eating cousin! And here’s a saying that’s needed by him who does not put his money where his mouth is: “Share the cash, then share the congratulations.” When your boss pats your back for bringing in millions of pesos in sales, tell him “talk is cheap.”
Workaholics, they say, are a modern-day phenomenon. This world is populated by driven people, moved by a timetable to become millionaires at a predetermined date, and made sicker by stress-related illnesses. The book has valuable quotes for the driven: “Take what you do seriously but yourself lightly.” This one liner from the book Mission Possible will do wonders to people who just can’t relax.
If that quote doesn’t do it, we should compare these people with “lower life forms” with this quote from Lily Tomlin: “The trouble being in the rat race is that even if you win the race, you’re still a rat.” Let’s be classical and quote Confucius for a change: “Choose the work you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
But, we have to work, you say. And thus the book has some ample lines for you about striving for perfection. Nothing wrong with that, actually. “Your game is as good as your practice.” Michael Jordan naturally agrees and all other champion athletes. And, if you fear losing your job, listen to this: “The only job security you have today is your commitment to continuous personal improvement.” Your present employer’s loss should be you prospective boss’s gain.
The book views career and work as part of the entire stream of life. There is no point breaking your back or your home for success. All through this book, that intangible quality called “faith” is actually palpable. It also emphasizes openness to vast possibilities. This quote says it best: “Life is what happens to you while you’re planning on doing something else,” according to Beatle John Lennon.
And finally, the book has something to say about golf. To the author, G.O.L.F. means “Game of Life First.” With 79 quotes, the sample quotes serve only as slices of life – aperitif, if you may. Before you know it, however, something emerges from reading the quotes and the brief explanations and anecdotes. The book, “The Heart of a Leader,” is actually telling us that the heart of the matter is – the heart. Feedback: dantemv@i-next.net.
No one can make you inferior without your permission. – Eleanor Roosevelt
None of us is as smart as all of us. - One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey
It’s more important as a manager to be respected than to be popular – Everyone’s a Coach
Take what you do seriously but yourself lightly – Mission Possible
The trouble being in the rat race is that even if you win the race, you’re still a rat - Lily Tomlin
Life is what happens to you while you’re planning on doing something else – John Lennon
If you don’t seek perfection, you can never reach excellence – Everyone’s a Coach
Your game is as only good as your practice - … Coach
Choose the work you love and you will never have to work a day in your life – Confucius
The only job security you have today is your commitment to continuous personal improvement
Share the cash, then share the congratulations - Gung Ho! (talk is cheap) put your money where your mouth is)
It’s surprising how much you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit – Lincoln
Early in life, people give up their health to gain wealth … In later life, people give up some of their wealth to regain health! – One Minute Manager Balances Life and Work
Ducks quack. Eagles soar.
Take responsibility for making relationships work –
G.O.L.F. – Game of Life First. – Playing the Great Game of Golf
Walk your talk
Sunday, February 25, 2001
Sunday, February 18, 2001
Demystify thinking process and enjoy magical results
“Six Thinking Hats”
Edward de Bono
Back Bay Books
1999 updated edition
In a group meeting, you ask for information, and the members give you guesses or opinions. “Stick to the facts,” you insist, but someone jumps to conclusion, another justifies a certain course of action, and still another dishes out his interpretation of the facts.
Getting members of a group to think in one direction or focus on one problem is a field full of landmines where ideas are blown up beyond recognition. To shift the metaphor, managing group think is like negotiating a long-winding road without a map, and you end up in unexpected – if not undesirable -- places.
If you are lucky, you'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=lucky%20you">lucky, you get to your destination. But, you won’t ever know how you manage to get there.
We get lucky sometimes. We hit upon a big idea after a stormy brainstorming session. It’s a wonder then how the original idea survived, or even how an unexpected idea was born. We usually made a wish that there must be some science to the entire mysterious process. That way, we can replicate that amazing moment of creativity.
Enters Edward de Bono for a much-awaited answer, the name made famous by his own discovery or invention -- lateral thinking – the ideation process that gets away from getting deeper into one option and “laterally” moving toward other alternatives.
After his book on lateral thinking, De Bono offers us “six hats.” What?! Yes, if the revised and updated edition of “Six Thinking Hats” be believed, you need six hats in six colors.
De Bono points out that the reason we have difficulty thinking through a complex web of options is that Western thinking -- as designed 2,300 years ago by the “Gang of Three” (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle) -- is preoccupied with “what is” – using dialogues to arrive at what is right or wrong, concluding that the ultimate truth is concealed behind appearances, and creating boxes or categories.
There is a problem with such approaches, De Bono asserts, saying: “That (Greek and Western thinking) is a fine and useful system. But there is another whole aspect of thinking that is concerned with ‘what can be’ which involves constructive thinking, creative thinking and ‘designing a way forward’.”
De Bono, goes to the point: “A thinking system based on argument (hear ye, your Honors!) is excellent just as the front wheel of a car is excellent. But that is not sufficient.”
If this is the first time you are introduced to De Bono, the book brings you to an entirely new universe about thinking and about how to think. It’s revolutionary.
The author offers the “six hats,” so we go pick them up one by one:
When you wear the White Hat, you are neutral, and are concerned only with objective facts and figures.
When you don the Red Hat, you express your feeling, gut or intuition about a course of action.
The Black Hat makes you the devil’s advocate and, as you consider all the risks, you give a word of caution.
Then you are sunny in disposition and the idea is greeted with a positive note. You are wearing the Yellow Hat.
Green Hat, the symbol of vegetation and fertility, is what you wear when you want to generate creative ideas.
Thinking is a process, and you give it focus. You provide direction to the other “hats.” You are “thinking about thinking.” That’s when you wear the Blue hat. It is the color of the sky and -- since it is above everything else -- you see the big picture.
The six hats do not represent personality types, according to the author. In a group meeting, the leader would start off saying, “Let’s all wear our white hats” – a clear signal that the entire group would just dish out facts, no opinions or emotions. And then one hat is removed and another worn.
Isn’t this quite artificial? Yes, says De Bono, but that’s the whole point. When the thinking process is a game of hats, the exchange becomes open, spontaneous and fun. Does the book sound like a boring manual. No. On the contrary, it has some lyrical lines. It proves the point of one writer: If you concentrate on precision, you arrive at style. De Bono has style. Consider these: “Think of fire. Think of warmth.” He is referring to the Red Hat. When he refers to the yellow hat, he says: “Think of sunshine.”
This book is a shaft of light that illuminates the mysterious process of thinking. When we are aware of how we think, that is the beginning of wisdom on how to harness thinking with magical results.
Edward de Bono
Back Bay Books
1999 updated edition
In a group meeting, you ask for information, and the members give you guesses or opinions. “Stick to the facts,” you insist, but someone jumps to conclusion, another justifies a certain course of action, and still another dishes out his interpretation of the facts.
Getting members of a group to think in one direction or focus on one problem is a field full of landmines where ideas are blown up beyond recognition. To shift the metaphor, managing group think is like negotiating a long-winding road without a map, and you end up in unexpected – if not undesirable -- places.
If you are lucky, you'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=lucky%20you">lucky, you get to your destination. But, you won’t ever know how you manage to get there.
We get lucky sometimes. We hit upon a big idea after a stormy brainstorming session. It’s a wonder then how the original idea survived, or even how an unexpected idea was born. We usually made a wish that there must be some science to the entire mysterious process. That way, we can replicate that amazing moment of creativity.
Enters Edward de Bono for a much-awaited answer, the name made famous by his own discovery or invention -- lateral thinking – the ideation process that gets away from getting deeper into one option and “laterally” moving toward other alternatives.
After his book on lateral thinking, De Bono offers us “six hats.” What?! Yes, if the revised and updated edition of “Six Thinking Hats” be believed, you need six hats in six colors.
De Bono points out that the reason we have difficulty thinking through a complex web of options is that Western thinking -- as designed 2,300 years ago by the “Gang of Three” (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle) -- is preoccupied with “what is” – using dialogues to arrive at what is right or wrong, concluding that the ultimate truth is concealed behind appearances, and creating boxes or categories.
There is a problem with such approaches, De Bono asserts, saying: “That (Greek and Western thinking) is a fine and useful system. But there is another whole aspect of thinking that is concerned with ‘what can be’ which involves constructive thinking, creative thinking and ‘designing a way forward’.”
De Bono, goes to the point: “A thinking system based on argument (hear ye, your Honors!) is excellent just as the front wheel of a car is excellent. But that is not sufficient.”
If this is the first time you are introduced to De Bono, the book brings you to an entirely new universe about thinking and about how to think. It’s revolutionary.
The author offers the “six hats,” so we go pick them up one by one:
When you wear the White Hat, you are neutral, and are concerned only with objective facts and figures.
When you don the Red Hat, you express your feeling, gut or intuition about a course of action.
The Black Hat makes you the devil’s advocate and, as you consider all the risks, you give a word of caution.
Then you are sunny in disposition and the idea is greeted with a positive note. You are wearing the Yellow Hat.
Green Hat, the symbol of vegetation and fertility, is what you wear when you want to generate creative ideas.
Thinking is a process, and you give it focus. You provide direction to the other “hats.” You are “thinking about thinking.” That’s when you wear the Blue hat. It is the color of the sky and -- since it is above everything else -- you see the big picture.
The six hats do not represent personality types, according to the author. In a group meeting, the leader would start off saying, “Let’s all wear our white hats” – a clear signal that the entire group would just dish out facts, no opinions or emotions. And then one hat is removed and another worn.
Isn’t this quite artificial? Yes, says De Bono, but that’s the whole point. When the thinking process is a game of hats, the exchange becomes open, spontaneous and fun. Does the book sound like a boring manual. No. On the contrary, it has some lyrical lines. It proves the point of one writer: If you concentrate on precision, you arrive at style. De Bono has style. Consider these: “Think of fire. Think of warmth.” He is referring to the Red Hat. When he refers to the yellow hat, he says: “Think of sunshine.”
This book is a shaft of light that illuminates the mysterious process of thinking. When we are aware of how we think, that is the beginning of wisdom on how to harness thinking with magical results.
Demystify thinking process and enjoy its magical results
“Six Thinking Hats”
Edward de Bono
Back Bay Books
1999 updated edition
In a group meeting, you ask for information and the members give you guesses or opinions. “Stick to the facts,” you insist, but someone jumps to conclusion, another justifies a certain course of action, and another dishes out his interpretation of the facts.
Getting members of a group to think in one direction or focus on one problem is a field full of landmines where ideas are blown up beyond recognition. To switch metaphors, managing group think is like negotiating a long-winding road without a map, and you end up in unexpected—if not undesirable—places.
If you are lucky, you get to your destination. But, you won’t ever know how you managed to get there.
We get lucky sometimes. We hit upon a big idea after a stormy brainstorming session. It’s a wonder then how the original idea survived, or even how an unexpected idea was born. We usually made a wish that there must be some science to the entire mysterious process. That way, we can replicate that amazing moment of creativity.
Enters Edward de Bono for a much-awaited answer, the name made famous by his own discovery or invention—lateral thinking—the process that gets away from getting deeper into one option an “laterally” moving toward other alternatives.
After his book on lateral thinking, De Bono offers us “six hats.” What?! Yes, if the revised and updated edition of “Six Thinking Hats” is to be believed, you need six hats in six colors.
De Bono points out that the reason we have difficulty thinking through a complex web of options is that Western thinking—as designed 2,300 years ago by the Gang of Three (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle)—is pre-occupied with “what is.”
It uses dialogues to arrive at what is right or wrong, concluding that the ultimate truth is concealed behind appearances and creating boxes or categories.
There is a problem with such approaches, De Bono asserts, saying: “That (Greeks and Western thinking) is a fine and useful system. But there is another whole aspect of thinking that is concerned with ‘what can be,’ which involves constructing thinking, creative thinking and ‘designing a way forward’.”
De Bono, goes to the point: “a thinking system based on argument (hear ye, your Honors!) is excellent just as the front wheel of a car is excellent. But that is not sufficient.”
If this is the first time you are introduced to De Bono, the book brings you to an entirely new universe about thinking and about how to think. It’s revolutionary.
The author offers the “six hats,” so we go pick them up one by one:
When you wear the White Hat, you are neutral, and are concerned only with objective facts and figures.
When you don the Red Hat, you express your feeling, gut or intuition about a course of action.
The Black Hat makes you the devil’s advocate and, as you consider all the risks, you give a word of caution.
Then you are sunny in disposition note. You are wearing the Yellow Hat.
Green Hat, symbol of vegetation and fertility, is what you wear when you want to generate creative ideas.
Thinking is a process, and you give it focus. You provide direction to the other “hats.” You are “thinking about thinking. “That’s when you wear the Blue Hat. It is the color of the sky and—since it is above everything else—you see the big picture.
The six hats do not represent personality types, according to the author. In a group meeting, the leader would start off saying, “Let’s all wear our white hats”—a clear signal that the entire group would just dish out facts, no opinions or emotions. And then one hat is removed and another worn.
Isn’t this quite artificial? Yes, says De Bono, buy that’s the whole point. When the thinking process is a game of hats, the exchange becomes open, spontaneous and fun.
Does the book sound like a boring manual? No. On the contrary, it has some lyrical lines. It proves the point of one writer: If you concentrate on precision, you arrive at style. De Bono has style. Consider these: “Think of fire. Think of warmth.” He is referring to the Red Hat. When he refers to the yellow Hat, he says: “Think of sunshine.”
This book is a shaft of light that illuminates the mysterious process of thinking. When we are aware of how we think, that is the beginning of wisdom on how to harness thinking with magical results.
Edward de Bono
Back Bay Books
1999 updated edition
In a group meeting, you ask for information and the members give you guesses or opinions. “Stick to the facts,” you insist, but someone jumps to conclusion, another justifies a certain course of action, and another dishes out his interpretation of the facts.
Getting members of a group to think in one direction or focus on one problem is a field full of landmines where ideas are blown up beyond recognition. To switch metaphors, managing group think is like negotiating a long-winding road without a map, and you end up in unexpected—if not undesirable—places.
If you are lucky, you get to your destination. But, you won’t ever know how you managed to get there.
We get lucky sometimes. We hit upon a big idea after a stormy brainstorming session. It’s a wonder then how the original idea survived, or even how an unexpected idea was born. We usually made a wish that there must be some science to the entire mysterious process. That way, we can replicate that amazing moment of creativity.
Enters Edward de Bono for a much-awaited answer, the name made famous by his own discovery or invention—lateral thinking—the process that gets away from getting deeper into one option an “laterally” moving toward other alternatives.
After his book on lateral thinking, De Bono offers us “six hats.” What?! Yes, if the revised and updated edition of “Six Thinking Hats” is to be believed, you need six hats in six colors.
De Bono points out that the reason we have difficulty thinking through a complex web of options is that Western thinking—as designed 2,300 years ago by the Gang of Three (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle)—is pre-occupied with “what is.”
It uses dialogues to arrive at what is right or wrong, concluding that the ultimate truth is concealed behind appearances and creating boxes or categories.
There is a problem with such approaches, De Bono asserts, saying: “That (Greeks and Western thinking) is a fine and useful system. But there is another whole aspect of thinking that is concerned with ‘what can be,’ which involves constructing thinking, creative thinking and ‘designing a way forward’.”
De Bono, goes to the point: “a thinking system based on argument (hear ye, your Honors!) is excellent just as the front wheel of a car is excellent. But that is not sufficient.”
If this is the first time you are introduced to De Bono, the book brings you to an entirely new universe about thinking and about how to think. It’s revolutionary.
The author offers the “six hats,” so we go pick them up one by one:
When you wear the White Hat, you are neutral, and are concerned only with objective facts and figures.
When you don the Red Hat, you express your feeling, gut or intuition about a course of action.
The Black Hat makes you the devil’s advocate and, as you consider all the risks, you give a word of caution.
Then you are sunny in disposition note. You are wearing the Yellow Hat.
Green Hat, symbol of vegetation and fertility, is what you wear when you want to generate creative ideas.
Thinking is a process, and you give it focus. You provide direction to the other “hats.” You are “thinking about thinking. “That’s when you wear the Blue Hat. It is the color of the sky and—since it is above everything else—you see the big picture.
The six hats do not represent personality types, according to the author. In a group meeting, the leader would start off saying, “Let’s all wear our white hats”—a clear signal that the entire group would just dish out facts, no opinions or emotions. And then one hat is removed and another worn.
Isn’t this quite artificial? Yes, says De Bono, buy that’s the whole point. When the thinking process is a game of hats, the exchange becomes open, spontaneous and fun.
Does the book sound like a boring manual? No. On the contrary, it has some lyrical lines. It proves the point of one writer: If you concentrate on precision, you arrive at style. De Bono has style. Consider these: “Think of fire. Think of warmth.” He is referring to the Red Hat. When he refers to the yellow Hat, he says: “Think of sunshine.”
This book is a shaft of light that illuminates the mysterious process of thinking. When we are aware of how we think, that is the beginning of wisdom on how to harness thinking with magical results.
Sunday, February 11, 2001
The best way to win is to make your foe's strength redundant
“Corporate Aikido”
Robert Pino
McGraw Hill, 1999
Humankind, throughout the centuries, has been pre-occupied with the thought on how best to win or – at the very least – survive. Even before Charles Darwin theorized on the “survival of the fittest,” men and women from ancient to modern history have had to fight to survive.
The obsession to win pumps up our adrenaline. Henry “Red” Sanders puts it best (in words sometimes attributed to Vince Lombardi): “Sure, winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”
Viewed on a grand scale, men go to war to secure the survival or supremacy of their village or country, and they come home greeted by the jubilant cheers of a hero-worshipping people.
Such a culture of war and war drums, of soldiers and generals has also influenced the world of business. How many times have you attended a sales conference where event managers produce a show where the firm’s commandos fire upon and blow up to smithereens the logos or products of competitors?
What about a product launch where battle cries of “kill,” “annihilate,” and “pulverize” dominate the entire auditorium – out to banish the villain-competitor into oblivion? The more blood thirsty the salesmen, the better. The sharper the killer instinct'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=killer%20instinct">killer instinct, the more desirable.
The problem with this approach, according to Robert Pino, author of “Corporate Aikido,” is that it saps the energy of antagonists – or competitors. At best, either one scores a partial win, while the other licks his wounds and plans for the next bloodletting.
The problem is people mistake fighting for winning. Pino advises companies to use the aikido-based strategy to “realize their strategic intention and to deepen further the core ideology of the company.”
The author uses Aikido, a martial art known to avoid a “force vs. force” approach, as an extended metaphor in advancing his theory of “winning without fighting.” He points out: “Aikido is focused on absolute victory and on the continuous improvement of oneself.”
Obviously trained in the martial art, Pino debunks the belief that the “defensive art would not be of much help in a real fight.” He ascribes doubts about its effectiveness on the “complexity and difficulty of the defensive techniques.”
Throughout this thin book (161 pages), the author describes in detail Aikido as it applies to a winning strategy. “Those who look for victory by destroying the opponent are usually disappointed. Making the strength of your opponent redundant and controlling him is more effective,” he asserts.
He cites the cases of Dell Computer and Starbucks. Dell had no chance to lock horns with IBM, Apple, DEC or Compaq in building up an authorized dealer network, and so it used direct mail successfully. Starbucks avoided head-on competition with big restaurants and decided to introduce a new “coffee culture” giving customers “a sense of wonder and romance in the midst of their harried lives.” Read about how Nike use aikido strategy against Adidas and Puma.
Pino mentions aikido when other marketing gurus call the strategy “finding a niche,” or “surpetition,” i.e., above the competition. In the same vein, military strategists talk about winning a battle without firing a single shot.
The book’s discussion on winning is not confined to marketing or war; it is training and preparing the body, soul and spirit of the corporation for victory. The authors cites cases of collaboration, not competition, that was the key to the phenomenal success of a number of companies.
If that’s the case, is competition a thing of the past? “Competition forms an important part of the external environment,” concedes the author. “But it is never the most important driving force behind the company’s activities.”
To the author, the most important thing is competing with oneself, muck like the defensive art of aikido. He brings you, the reader, through three parts of the book – the “ai” (coordination and harmony), the “ki” (mental energy or spirit), and the “do” (the method or way), with real life applications in the marketplace.
The good thing about real martial arts training, like in aikido, is the insistence of the Senseis – aikido master – for students to look inward, achieve balance of body and spirit, and seek victory where no one loses. We have been accustomed to “zero-sum” games where one wins and the other loses. At the onset of the new millennium, it is time to march to “a different drum,” where cooperation, not competition, is life’s prevailing principle.
Robert Pino
McGraw Hill, 1999
Humankind, throughout the centuries, has been pre-occupied with the thought on how best to win or – at the very least – survive. Even before Charles Darwin theorized on the “survival of the fittest,” men and women from ancient to modern history have had to fight to survive.
The obsession to win pumps up our adrenaline. Henry “Red” Sanders puts it best (in words sometimes attributed to Vince Lombardi): “Sure, winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”
Viewed on a grand scale, men go to war to secure the survival or supremacy of their village or country, and they come home greeted by the jubilant cheers of a hero-worshipping people.
Such a culture of war and war drums, of soldiers and generals has also influenced the world of business. How many times have you attended a sales conference where event managers produce a show where the firm’s commandos fire upon and blow up to smithereens the logos or products of competitors?
What about a product launch where battle cries of “kill,” “annihilate,” and “pulverize” dominate the entire auditorium – out to banish the villain-competitor into oblivion? The more blood thirsty the salesmen, the better. The sharper the killer instinct'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=killer%20instinct">killer instinct, the more desirable.
The problem with this approach, according to Robert Pino, author of “Corporate Aikido,” is that it saps the energy of antagonists – or competitors. At best, either one scores a partial win, while the other licks his wounds and plans for the next bloodletting.
The problem is people mistake fighting for winning. Pino advises companies to use the aikido-based strategy to “realize their strategic intention and to deepen further the core ideology of the company.”
The author uses Aikido, a martial art known to avoid a “force vs. force” approach, as an extended metaphor in advancing his theory of “winning without fighting.” He points out: “Aikido is focused on absolute victory and on the continuous improvement of oneself.”
Obviously trained in the martial art, Pino debunks the belief that the “defensive art would not be of much help in a real fight.” He ascribes doubts about its effectiveness on the “complexity and difficulty of the defensive techniques.”
Throughout this thin book (161 pages), the author describes in detail Aikido as it applies to a winning strategy. “Those who look for victory by destroying the opponent are usually disappointed. Making the strength of your opponent redundant and controlling him is more effective,” he asserts.
He cites the cases of Dell Computer and Starbucks. Dell had no chance to lock horns with IBM, Apple, DEC or Compaq in building up an authorized dealer network, and so it used direct mail successfully. Starbucks avoided head-on competition with big restaurants and decided to introduce a new “coffee culture” giving customers “a sense of wonder and romance in the midst of their harried lives.” Read about how Nike use aikido strategy against Adidas and Puma.
Pino mentions aikido when other marketing gurus call the strategy “finding a niche,” or “surpetition,” i.e., above the competition. In the same vein, military strategists talk about winning a battle without firing a single shot.
The book’s discussion on winning is not confined to marketing or war; it is training and preparing the body, soul and spirit of the corporation for victory. The authors cites cases of collaboration, not competition, that was the key to the phenomenal success of a number of companies.
If that’s the case, is competition a thing of the past? “Competition forms an important part of the external environment,” concedes the author. “But it is never the most important driving force behind the company’s activities.”
To the author, the most important thing is competing with oneself, muck like the defensive art of aikido. He brings you, the reader, through three parts of the book – the “ai” (coordination and harmony), the “ki” (mental energy or spirit), and the “do” (the method or way), with real life applications in the marketplace.
The good thing about real martial arts training, like in aikido, is the insistence of the Senseis – aikido master – for students to look inward, achieve balance of body and spirit, and seek victory where no one loses. We have been accustomed to “zero-sum” games where one wins and the other loses. At the onset of the new millennium, it is time to march to “a different drum,” where cooperation, not competition, is life’s prevailing principle.
Sunday, February 04, 2001
Advice to new CEOs: Seize the moment
“Right from the Start”
Dan Ciampa and Michael Watkins
Harvard Business School Press
You are a newly-appointed chief executive officer (CEO) or chief operating officer (COO) of a renowned or new corporation. Or, to be attuned to the post-Edsa II times, you have just been designated head of a huge government bureaucracy or corporation.
As you begin re-arranging the furniture, following your takeover of a post vacated by one retired or fired, how will you begin?
If you heed the advice of the book, “Right from the Start,” you will seize the moment and keep the momentum throughout your tour of duty. Again, to be fashionable, taking off from former Philippine President Ramos and current President Macapagal-Arroyo, you should “hit the ground running.”
This book is about hitting the ground running. From “securing early wins” to “building credibility,” from quickly creating the “center of gravity” to building “islands of excellence,” and from “mapping the new political landscape” to “coalition-building” the book dishes out sound advice.
And since it is shorn of embellishments, stripped of a load of theories, and free from the burden of over-analysis – it can truly be a handbook for any newly anointed chief executive who should be “taking charge.”
The book begins with Hugh, a newly hired President and COO of a private firm, hired by a board of directors who wanted to “shakes things up” and to lead the firm decisively from a lackluster performance in the market toward a bigger share in a growing market.
Hugh, confident of his goals and abilities, proceeded to “fulfill the mandate” of the board, initially jacked up sales, but soon ran head-on with the manufacturing head and the compensation committee chairman. Before he could say “resignation,” he was fired.
The authors are quick to comment that Hugh, while competent, failed to manage the transition, created enemies, and ran smack into some values the corporation holds dear. The book says that a leader riding the transition must have both a “cultural lens” and a “political lens” through which he views the organization he heads to avoid pitfalls that prove to be the undoing of executives like Hugh.
Essentially, the book offers the reader-leader three elements to empower him as the newly appointed executive and who should, therefore, deliver quick results: create momentum, use enabling technologies and managing oneself.
The section on “creating momentum” should serve to jump start'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=jump%20start">jump start his leadership role, which includes valuable tips on beginning with the doables – scoring early victories – with pilot project.
The discussion of identifying the right “center of gravity” – the pivotal decision from where the executive takes his initial shots – is instructive. The “center” gives him focus. To paraphrase an ancient saying, this tip proves once again the statement, “Give me a ground to stand on and I will move the world!” -- or words to that effect.
And as the new CEO or COO moves, he must be resolute, the book points out, quoting U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke who, when he was negotiating the 1996 Bosnian peace talks, said that he was “firm on goals, flexible on means.”
While the new leader moves fast -- much like the ice skater who must keep on moving lest the ice below him crushes – he must also build his political base. “His early wins should help attract political support,” says the book, clarifying though that “political management” is not necessary being “political.”
The newly-anointed leader is also in a unique position where he is “learning” and “doing” at the same time. Through tables and charts, the book indicates how these two parallel actions are achieved simultaneously.
The leader must also engaged in “vision selling” – energizing his second level leaders to accept and commit to his own vision of the organization.
The section on coalition building is a must-read for leaders in transition. Pitfalls, like mines in minefield, abound in the organizational bureaucracy. While there is a coalition in his favor, there would probably be a “blocking coalition.”
The road is not easy, the authors say. “Leadership is never easy. This is never truer than when a new leader enters an organization from the outside and must change its culture in fundamental ways. Regardless of how carefully one prepares for such a task, there are bound to be unexpected twists and turns on the road.” We cannot disagree.
And for the new centurions in government, the generals who now have the plum posts at the top, and yuppies on their way there – this book is as useful as a road map'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=road%20map">road map. No matter how long-winding the road, no matter how obstacles spring up once in a while, no matter how corporate ambuscades are staged – you will survive your first one hundred days if you seize the moment and sustain the momentum. After all, you are at the driver’s seat – a job you know best.
Dan Ciampa and Michael Watkins
Harvard Business School Press
You are a newly-appointed chief executive officer (CEO) or chief operating officer (COO) of a renowned or new corporation. Or, to be attuned to the post-Edsa II times, you have just been designated head of a huge government bureaucracy or corporation.
As you begin re-arranging the furniture, following your takeover of a post vacated by one retired or fired, how will you begin?
If you heed the advice of the book, “Right from the Start,” you will seize the moment and keep the momentum throughout your tour of duty. Again, to be fashionable, taking off from former Philippine President Ramos and current President Macapagal-Arroyo, you should “hit the ground running.”
This book is about hitting the ground running. From “securing early wins” to “building credibility,” from quickly creating the “center of gravity” to building “islands of excellence,” and from “mapping the new political landscape” to “coalition-building” the book dishes out sound advice.
And since it is shorn of embellishments, stripped of a load of theories, and free from the burden of over-analysis – it can truly be a handbook for any newly anointed chief executive who should be “taking charge.”
The book begins with Hugh, a newly hired President and COO of a private firm, hired by a board of directors who wanted to “shakes things up” and to lead the firm decisively from a lackluster performance in the market toward a bigger share in a growing market.
Hugh, confident of his goals and abilities, proceeded to “fulfill the mandate” of the board, initially jacked up sales, but soon ran head-on with the manufacturing head and the compensation committee chairman. Before he could say “resignation,” he was fired.
The authors are quick to comment that Hugh, while competent, failed to manage the transition, created enemies, and ran smack into some values the corporation holds dear. The book says that a leader riding the transition must have both a “cultural lens” and a “political lens” through which he views the organization he heads to avoid pitfalls that prove to be the undoing of executives like Hugh.
Essentially, the book offers the reader-leader three elements to empower him as the newly appointed executive and who should, therefore, deliver quick results: create momentum, use enabling technologies and managing oneself.
The section on “creating momentum” should serve to jump start'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=jump%20start">jump start his leadership role, which includes valuable tips on beginning with the doables – scoring early victories – with pilot project.
The discussion of identifying the right “center of gravity” – the pivotal decision from where the executive takes his initial shots – is instructive. The “center” gives him focus. To paraphrase an ancient saying, this tip proves once again the statement, “Give me a ground to stand on and I will move the world!” -- or words to that effect.
And as the new CEO or COO moves, he must be resolute, the book points out, quoting U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke who, when he was negotiating the 1996 Bosnian peace talks, said that he was “firm on goals, flexible on means.”
While the new leader moves fast -- much like the ice skater who must keep on moving lest the ice below him crushes – he must also build his political base. “His early wins should help attract political support,” says the book, clarifying though that “political management” is not necessary being “political.”
The newly-anointed leader is also in a unique position where he is “learning” and “doing” at the same time. Through tables and charts, the book indicates how these two parallel actions are achieved simultaneously.
The leader must also engaged in “vision selling” – energizing his second level leaders to accept and commit to his own vision of the organization.
The section on coalition building is a must-read for leaders in transition. Pitfalls, like mines in minefield, abound in the organizational bureaucracy. While there is a coalition in his favor, there would probably be a “blocking coalition.”
The road is not easy, the authors say. “Leadership is never easy. This is never truer than when a new leader enters an organization from the outside and must change its culture in fundamental ways. Regardless of how carefully one prepares for such a task, there are bound to be unexpected twists and turns on the road.” We cannot disagree.
And for the new centurions in government, the generals who now have the plum posts at the top, and yuppies on their way there – this book is as useful as a road map'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=road%20map">road map. No matter how long-winding the road, no matter how obstacles spring up once in a while, no matter how corporate ambuscades are staged – you will survive your first one hundred days if you seize the moment and sustain the momentum. After all, you are at the driver’s seat – a job you know best.
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