DCO Weekend Reader - 11/7/08
The web is a vast repository of opinions, commentary and occasionally, wisdom. Here’s a selection of the best articles I read over the past week.
If you would like to recommend an article, blog or book, please leave a comment with your suggestion. Weekend Reader is a regular feature here at DCO, and you can read past Weekend Readers here.
What a historic week for our country. I am not a politcial pundit and I do not intend to introduce politics as a topic of discussion on this blog. That said, I agree with certain observations that at least some part of Obama’s victory was tied to hope, inspiration and the promise of change. We all know delivering on promises is the hard part, but I’m proud of my country voting for excellence, even if it is just the promise of excellence.
The fact is nothing can prepare you for the job of President, so all we are left with is to vote for the person who brings what we each feel are the best tools for the job. Each candidate clearly had impressive qualifications and no one can definitively say why any one person voted the way they did. I do think it says something about our country’s thirst for authentic leadership and inspiration that Obama prevailed. His challenge now is delivering on that inspiration, and as one of the Weekend Reader articles below outlines, Americans are more and more impatient when it comes to our leaders. Let’s hope he gets the chance, and the time, to deliver.
For my own little piece of inspiration it seemed appropriate to turn to two of my personal heroes, Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; two men who played no small part in allowing this election to happen and dedicated their lives to equality, harmony, and justice. There is no end to the inspiration that can be found in their speeches and writings, but I settled on the final sentence from Lincoln’s second inaugural address, inscribed on the North wall of the Lincoln Memorial. Hopefully, the nation can stop looking back on our past sins and dedicate ourselves to building a better future:
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
Personal Excellence & Leadership
- In years gone past, I had one of those annoying friends that kept reminding me “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Blah, blah, blah. What’s that got to do with where we’re drinking Friday night? Turns out, he was right. Way right!
- At least for me, this was the must read of the week: How to prepare for your next Leadership job now. Other than the first few years of my career spent as a computer programmer (and being darn good at it I might add), I’ve been a generalist most of my business career. Great fun in that I’ve been able to do a lot of different jobs, but never got the feeling that I had become an expert in any of them. Add that into a smidgen of low self-esteem lingering over from childhood, and that sense of presence, authority and empowerment were often missing from my leadership repetoire. A couple years ago I made the concious decision that I was too old and (excuse my immodesty) too good to think that way anymore and I’ve made great strides in this area. That was a long pre-amble to say that I found this post quite useful and recommend it whether you have the same issues or not.
- A practical guide for developing leaders. More of a checklist than a guide, but if you’re looking for Cliff Notes in this area, this post might fill the bill. Ranges from Pre-supervisory to Officer.
- Being Nice as a leadership development goal. Don’t snicker, I happen to believe this is an important point and a topic that deserves more consideration. As the author points out (and I heartily agree with):
Personable is good as is decency. But what I want on my team is nice people. This doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to be passionate about their beliefs or shy away from conflict. It means they are nice. Nice to each other and nice to Customers. I know that if I want a culture of collegiality, of interaction, of nice; I, as the leader must be a role model of nice.
When I am nicer, I build teams, communicate, develop others, coach, and influence more effectively - all important behaviors for me as a leader.
Entrepreneurship
- Just one link this week for Entrepreneurship, but if this is why you are here, then head to this site immediately: LearnVC. LearnVC’s tagline is “your guide to raising capital” and if that is your goal then there is a ton of good information on the site. They even categorize the site into experience level: New Entrepreneurs, Seasoned Entrepreneurs (for a refresher), Future Investors, and Students. The site follows the model of linking out to content at the expense of developing it’s own, but the content it links to appears to be great stuff. You won’t find a ton of links on the site, but the ones that are there are good. Definitely worth checking out if you’re in this space.
Thought-Provokers
- Chris Brogan hits the mark again on a short post that starts out sounding like it’s going to be about customer’s shortening attention span (old news) and ends up giving us all a proper wake up call (news you should be listening to).
- How many times have you sent an E-Mail to the person in the office next to you? Here’s advice you already know, but should never grow old.
Tips, Tricks & Resources
- Some practical tips on overcoming fear, especially in the context of public speaking.
- No deep content here, but 10 quick tips on raising your profile. You may find a gem or two that you hadn’t thought of.
- Stressed out? Not enough hours in the day? Need a break? Here’s 6 ways to s t r e t c h time.
- Passion as a competitive advantage in the job search.
One For Fun
I have long thought that the combination of accelerating lifestyles along with an increasingly sophisticated American palate would give rise to online personal cooking services. I have watched fresh food “to go” spring up in my grocery store, but any of the local or online services I became aware of seemed to quickly go out of business. I haven’t tried this company yet, but Chris Brogan just reviewed an online service called Personal Chef to Go.
Two gourmet chefs deliver frozen complete dinners to your door. Put the food in the microwave and the rolls in the oven and voila, a gourmet dinner. Offering selections within singles, couples on the go, and family favorites, I do plan on checking this service out in the future. Chris’ review included a breakdown of pricing, which for the food he got came out to around $12/person/serving. (If anyone actually orders from this I would love to hear your comments). The food prepared to be healthy and a one week’s order (for singles) consists of 8 meals, three of which are salads.
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