Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Interesting Finds (oS edition) 2006/04/28

If you're into self-improvement, you should definitely check out John Richardson's new project. It's called "MBA On The Run" and it is a cool recipe for simultaneous mental and physical improvement.

What's it all about? It's about getting an MBA-like education by listening to powerful business books in audio format, combined with another activity. In John's case, that's running, hence the "MBA On The Run" name - you can substitute other activities in place of running if that doesn't work for you. With my travel schedule, mine's more likely to be hacked into an "MBA On The Fly" program, for example.

The core:

  • John will be listening to a series of management- and business-oriented audio books on his iPod over a period of time
  • He'll provide the list as it unfolds, write up a book review when each is done, and provide other links that can be useful for one pursuing an "MBAor" (or whatever you want to call it).

You can find out about how various points of light converged to create this vision in John's mind, here.

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Interesting Finds

"It's about results, not activity." ...I used to think that was a good code to live by but, at some level, it kinda bugged me."It's about results, not activity." This is a phrase I hear quite often -- in fact, it's a favorite mantra of many leaders I admire. I used to think that was a good code to live by but, at some level, it kinda bugged me. Thanks to "Measure of a Leader" by Aubrey C. Daniels and James E. Daniels, I know the truth.

I've been waiting for a long flight so I could read this book, and got my chance last week on a trip to New York last week. According to the foreword, this book is the culmination of about 30 years of learning and experience, and I found it to be an insightful look at leadership techniques and measurement. The philosophy is similar to that of "servant leadership" that is all the rage. Consider one of the major models presented in the book:

"You are a leader only if you have followers. While this seems obvious, its implications are not. It suggests that the focus of any study of leadership should be on the relationship between the leader and the followers, not just on the leader..."

"Our model posits four criteria of the followers' behavior that define leadership:

  1. Followers deliver discretionary behavior directed toward the leaders goals;
  2. Followers make sacrifices for the leader's cause;
  3. Followers tend to reinforce or correct others so that they also conform to the leader's teachings and example;
  4. Followers set guidelines for their own personal behavior based on their perceived estimate of that which the leader would approve or disapprove."

The book goes into a lot of detail about each of these areas, then goes on to provide specific techniques to increase your ability as a leader by setting the right example, evangelizing your vision, creating organizational norms that reinforce the behaviors that drive toward your goals, etc.

By now you may be saying, "Yeah -- whatever. That sounds like about half the management books I've ever read." Well, I'm happy to report there's a lot of new stuff to be found here. For example, there are some excellent techniques to measure and track your leadership effectiveness, and provide a basis for improvement. There's also a rich collection of advice to help creat more meaning and connection in your followers' work.

But what really brings it together are the examples and stories illustrating the principles and techniques. This approach not only makes this book a fun read (it could easily have been as boring as a stock prospectus), it helped me envision how I could personally apply these to my own life.

There is a great discussion about the leader-to-follower impact when you reward for the right kinds of activity, even if they don't yield "results" (though one could argue that organizational and individual learning are a type of result).

Net, net? Leaders get results by inspiring the right kind of activity in their followers. In other words: It's about results and activity.

If you're in a leadership position, and want to improve the state of your art, check this one out.

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A captivating read

I've been reading "Conspiracy of Fools" by Kurt Eichenwald and I can't believe how much of a page turner I've found it to be. If you're not familiar with the book, it's a novelization of the events that surrounded the Enron scandal - beginning in the early days of Enron (before it was called Enron, in fact) and taking you through the entire saga.

The relevant facts and historical are all there -- Eichenwald is an investigative reporter with the New York Times -- and the color and context that's been added around these facts provides a strong feel for what it must've been like during the highs and lows of this scandal.

Even though we all know how it ends, I find this to be a book filled with a sort of suspense and intrigue. And, I find it fascinating (and a bit disconcerting) how Ken Lay and others seemed to start out with good intentions, have lots of good data and advice right there in front of them, but still managed to come to the wrong conclusion. There are a lot of lessons in here for people living in the corporate world.

A captivating read. Highly recommended.

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Done Four

At my son's Boy Scout meeting the other day, I was reminded that there are three "anchors" in scouting: duty to self, duty to God, and duty to others. The boys are encouraged to do at least one thing to benefit each area every day.

This is a good way to view various areas of responsibility and it reminded me to keep balance in my life. Each day for the next 6 weeks or so, I will consciously pursue one "hard target" for each of four main areas of responsibility: self, family, work, and community. For me:

  • Self involves self-development activities such as exercise, prayer or meditation, writing, learning new skills, and things like that.
  • Family involves doing something to improve my home and family life, improving some aspect of my relationship with my wife and kids, etc.
  • Work involves taking concrete action toward one of my work objectives, building relationships with people I work with, and other things to help my company achieve its mission.
  • Community includes involvement in church activities, my work with the Boy Scouts, and doing things to help others.

Some of these areas may be difficult some days - I imagine I'll be challenged to come up with concrete actions for Family on my upcoming business trip to Europe, for example. I won't stress out, though - this gets back to my earlier post on Intention: I'll approach each day with sincere intent to do something good in each of these areas, then that intention will create the opportunities to do so.

One other qualifier on this - try not to look for simple, "check box" kinds of activities. Instead, try to identify an action that can bring positive forward progress toward a better life for you in each areas.

In my case, I think a focus on conscious completion of at least one substantive action in each of these areas over the next six weeks will be a good thing. Who knows- it may just become a habit!

What about you - what are your anchors? As you think about what you want to do each day, decide on one thing you can do in each of your anchor areas, write it down, and make it happen.

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Read Rosa's Round Up

Rosa's done a wonderful job (and doesn't she always?) of touring the blogs of her community and provided a great snapshot of what's going on.  Check it out (and thanks for the nod regarding my post titles, Rosa).

While you're over there, join in on the Managing With Aloha Jumpstart program she's been doing this year.  It is a great way to get the zen of her wonderful book - and to get a better feeling of connectedness with her community.  She started this in January, but it's never too late to jump in!

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