How great leaders inspire action

One of my favorite talks from TED by Simon Sinek.

Simple, effective and insightful.

Carson's Law

Learnt something new about modern day innovation.

Carson's Law (by Curtis Carlson, the C.E.O. of SRI International, in Silicon Valley) states:

“In a world where so many people now have access to education and cheap tools of innovation, innovation that happens from the bottom up tends to be chaotic but smart. Innovation that happens from the top down tends to be orderly but dumb.”

As a result, says Carlson, the sweet spot for innovation today is “moving down,” closer to the people, not up, because all the people together are smarter than anyone alone and all the people now have the tools to invent and collaborate.

My 2 cents:
Modern day leadership is all about creating a conducive environment where the bottoms up innovations are encouraged and validated real time.

thoughts?

Seth Godin on Leadership

"Say what you believe, see who follows."

Inspiring!

Exclusive interview with Seth Godin from GiANT Impact on Vimeo.

Five levels of Leadership

"Five levels of Leadership", Quoting John Maxwell

I couldn't have agreed more. All Managers start at level 1. The picture above outlines what it takes to make a transition from being a good Manager to be a good Leader.

thoughts?

Which software development methodology is right for you?

Over the past few months, I have interacted with many IT leaders in various agile forums. Irrespective of the process maturity in their respective organizations, I have always seen a pattern in all such discussions, which invariably leads to the question "What software development methodology is right for me?"

If we have interacted, you would know my response already...

To me, this is NOT the most important question you should be asking. Before you call any agile consultant, Kanban specialist or a RUP expert (?!$!), I would recommend you find answers to the following questions

1. What are my business objectives?
2. Does my current software development methodology encourage behavior aligned to my business objectives?
3. If not, can it (existing software development methodology) be optimized to align with my business objectives?
4. If yes, Which practices from other software development methodologies can integrated with my existing methodology?

If not, (Must you change to a new software development methodology)

• Which behavioral changes you would like to see in your work force?
• Which software development methodologies encourage such behavior?

Any software development methodology should be looked as a means to an end (achieving your business goals). In my experience, the the most common mistakes IT leaders do, it to incorrectly assume that adoption of a new software methodology is the end in itself. That is a recipe for disaster.

Thoughts? Experiences?

Rules of Thumb - 52 truths for winning at business without losing your self

Rules of Thumb (by Alan M. Webber) was my cerebral diet for the weekend. The book outlines 52 practical advices on how to win at business without losing your self. Alan's approach of putting his points across by relating to past experiences is easy to read and easier to connect.

Here are rules, I could relate easily:
#3 - Ask the last question first
#5 - Change is a math formula. Change happens when 'Cost of maintaining Status Quo is greater than the Risk of Change'
#10 - A good question beats a good answer. Asking questions can be dangerous; Not asking them can be fatal
#12 - The difference between a crisis and an opportunity is when you learn about it
#17 - Entrepreneurs choose serendipity over efficiency
#29 - Words matter
#30 - The likeliest sources of great ideas are in the most unlikely places
#32 - Content isn't the king; Context is
#35 - Loyalty is a two way street - Arnold "Red" Auerbach - Coach, The Boston Celtics
#41 - If you want to be a real leader; First get real about Leadership
#43 - Don't confuse Credential with Talent. Hire for Attitude; Train for skill
#45 - Failure isn't failing; Failure is failing to try
#51 - Take your work seriously; yourself 'Not so much'
#52 - Stay Alert! There are teachers everywhere

Recommended reading..

Where Cynics Dare

I read an interesting post on organizational change management by Biju Bhaskar.. adding my 2c..

Many a times, while implementing organizational changes, we overlook the role of cynics. To me, having a cynic (who is equally passionate against the change) in the team helps in the following ways:
1. you get advanced warning on possible failure points
2. You get real time results on the change management process (i.e if you can help the cynic understand the merits of the change during the process..then you are on right track)

But then, the key is to create a conducive environment where even the cyncis 'dare' to stand-up for whatever they believe in. I would rather have bunch of highly opinionated people against the change, over having a set of people who don't have an opinion at all.