Leadership: An Essential Skill

I recently stumbled upon a video of Steve Jobs and his team talking about how to hire, manage and lead people. Steve Jobs says the greatest people do not need to be managed they can be self managed.  Once they know how to do something they can find other ways to do the job and get it done. Steve then goes on to talking about hiring people.  He explains that he wanted to hire brilliant people that knew technology but weren't necessarily professionals in the field. Steve and his team wanted to hire people that got excited about the Mac computer, they wanted the interviewees eyes to light up when they saw the computers. One of the most interesting things Steve mentions in this video is when he hired a professional manager for Apple. He said it didn't work at all. Steve says they knew how to manage but they didn't know how to do anything. He says he wanted a manager that they could actually learn something from. Steve says great managers are hard working employees that don...

Today I watched a very inspiring Ted Talk by Drew Dudley about everyday leadership. Drew starts off by asking the audience by a raise of hands "who believes that they are a leader?" Not many people raised their hands and Drew explained that most people now a days won't raise their hand because they do not want to seem cocky or arrogant. Drew then says " We have all changed someone’s life — usually without even realizing it." He believes that everyone one is a leader because of everyday acts of improving each other's lives.  Throughout the Ted Talk Drew tells his " lollipop moment" story about a time he did an everyday act to become a leader. At Drew's last day at college a girl are up to him and said "I remember the first time I met you" and proceeded to tell him the time she met him four years earlier. It was the girls first day at school with her parents and she was very nervous about going and  wasn't sure if...

Today I took a quiz on What's Your Leadership Style? The quiz was only about 15 questions which took about five minutes to complete. The questions asked you as if you were the boss at your own work place. I tried to base my questions off my last job as a shift-leader at a mini-golf course. This was my result... Result: Steward Stewards are the rocks of organizations. They’re dependable, loyal and helpful, and they provide a stabilizing and calming force for their employees. They value rules, process and cooperation. They believe that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and they move only as fast as the whole chain will allow. And they take care to help those who struggle. Working for Stewards offers the chance to be part of a well-oiled machine. It offers security, consistency and cohesion. It may not offer great opportunities for individual glory or an adrenaline rush, but it does provide great opportunities for team success. Stewards can often be found in mi...

After seeing Regan's recent post about astrology signs in the work place I decided to give it a try to see my outcome. I have never been a huge believer in horoscopes or readings of the future and what not but I am willing to give it a go just out of curiosity.  My zodiac sign is a Gemini and heres what my results came out to be... The Gemini Boss May 22-June 21 Strengths:  lively, communicative, interesting Weaknesses:  distracted, superficial, nervous Interactive Style:  forward, adaptable, logical Most Geminis are not comfortable giving orders or running an organization day to day. They are basically the types who enjoy being part of a team and sharing experiences on an equal level. Thus, although they are quite capable of taking on the work involved in being bosses, they are not born leaders themselves and would much prefer to hang back and let things run on their own. Gemini bosses are very good at delegating authority, relying on a few capable employees to o...

I recently watched a TED Talk by Simon Sinek called "Start with why: How great leaders inspire action." This Ted Talk was a very inspiring video to watch especially the part where Simon talks about how Apple sells products. Simon explains that the why, how and what tell how some organizations or leader inspire others. Everyone knows what they do, but not many know what their purpose is, the why part. Simon mentions inspired leaders or organizations start with the why and work their way to the what. This is how Apple, a superior organization sells their products and why so many people buy them. Many other organizations start with what their product is and end with why you should buy this product. Simon ends this TED Talk with "People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it." This is a very powerful quote because I think that it relates to people that look up to leaders. People look up to someone not for what they do but, why they do it. This was a great TED...

Today I took a very interesting test. My mentor Josh suggested I take the Value of Time Calculator. He said it was a real eye opener for him so I decided to give it a try. The test asks you a series of questions like how much would you have to get paid in order to do a part time job one day a week and how long would you wait in line for to get a $100 give card etc. It was a very straight forward test and only took a few minutes to get my results! After taking the test these were my results... The value of an hour of your free time is $10. This means you should be willing to spend a free hour working on a neutral job (on top of your current work schedule) if you were offered this amount of money to do so. By the same token, this sum is how much you might pay to gain an additional hour of free time. We calculated this figure by finding the median of four of your answers: You said that you'd need $10 to take on an hour of additional work per week, which implies you value your...