2012 “3D” Business Resolution

“New Year's Day is every man's birthday.” - Charles Lamb

Every year, the flowers look alike, but the people are different!

2011 ends with many memories, there’re business turnaround, but more gloomy economic headline, there’s humanity progress, also about political turmoil,  now it’s the time for the world to celebrate the new year, it’s also the time for individual and business to make resolution, the resolution is about the change, the human’s intention to make progress, for business, it’s about collective effort to achieve collective performance via the collective wisdom and leadership.

Here is the “3D” Business Resolution for Year of 2012:

1.    Determine the Progress need be Made:

Business resolution is about to make long-term and short-term strategy, it’s the set of choice to compete for the future, it develops the strength to conquer the competitor’s weakness,  it also presents the uniqueness to capture the niche market and business growth.

·        Culture Resolution:

What is culture, it’s the style and process to do the things at the organization, 70% of change management or other project management failed due to the culture inertia, culture is the attitude, culture is the brand, culture is also the prediction.

Culture should put at your new year resolution list. and 3D talent strategy is your new year focus, it  may start to ask the 3D questions to cultivate the modern business culture such as:

1) Customer-Centric Culture

2) Analytics-Based Culture

3) Open Leadership Culture

4) Diversity-Enhanced Culture

5) Learning-Enabled Culture

6) Capability-Driven Culture

7) De-Politicize Decision Making Culture

8) Innovation-Amplified Culture

(9) Risk-Awareness Culture

(10) Self-Managed Culture

·        Innovation Resolution

If creativity is ability to create novel value, then innovation is the management discipline to connect the dots and commercialize the creative ideas,  or to quote  Drucker- Innovation is the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.

Besides Innovation driven culture we listed above, the innovation resolution may also include the innovation agenda, the innovation process, the innovation capability and capacity, and innovation incentive system.

Let talent observe, question, associate, network and experiment, let business proactively embrace and encourage both incremental and disruptive innovation in the upcoming new year.

·        Technology Resolution

Technology makes modern business more agile and powerful, technology resolution means to run business via the right technology at the right time to serve the right customers, the technology resolution also means to run technology for business’s sake, to empower business via:

---3D Cloud & Mobile

--Social Computing

--Analytics Tools

--Other technology trends in 2012.

2.    Discipline with Three Principles

·        Think Big, Start Small:

 Business resolution could be the big strategy or well-defined milestones, the execution may just need start small, marshal the experience and cumulate the knowledge,  to make progress via the strong discipline, iterative communication, and continuous experiment.

·        Focus on High Priority Item

    Business resolution just like individual’s resolution, need focus and priority, maximize the performance by putting the right talent and resource into high-value projects or services, usually it can optimize the customer experience, improve products or solution and accelerate business growth.

·        Tailor Metrics to Drive Progress

We can only manage what we could measure, the metrics may not be listed at your resolution list, however, the effective metrics can stimulate the change culture, inspire innovation, help calculate the risks or count on opportunities, it’s thw science side of management, to complement its artistic nature, it’s also the scoreboard to present for the next year’s resolution.

3.    Delight Customers and Employees

 If the purpose of business is to create a customer (Drucker), then the purpose of business resolution is to delight customers, in order to delight customers, you may need engage employees first, help employees in pursuit of happiness, the employees may just take the extra mile to delight customers via the premium service and innovative initiatives.

Where is our new year destination:

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us”. -Hal Borland

Read More

The Parable of the Leadership at Time of Crisis

When the old man lost his horse, how could one have known that it would not be fortuitous?

We’ve been living in such an uncertain time, the radical digitization and overwhelming globalization, the hyper-competitive business environment, and human-induced climate change, as many of us know crisis is the combination word of “danger” and “opportunities” in Asian character, here we may explore an ancient parable to envision the leadership at the time of crisis.

1.   Be Optimistic at the Time of Crisis

There was a wise old man in a small town, one day, his horse ran away, in ancient times, the horse was a valuable asset, so his neighbors came over to comfort him, the wise man just shrugged, asked: “How do you know it won’t be a good thing?” A few weeks later, his horse came back and also brought back another strong horse. (to be continued at 2.)
The Story Insight: the horse came back because the wise man treated him and trained him very well, so he missed the owner and was smart enough to recognize the direction to come back. Leadership Takeaway: keep positive thinking at times of crisis, treat your employees well, and delight your customers, so even if they leave for some reason, in the long run, they may still become the champions of your business reputation.

2.   Be Paranoid at  the Time of Prosperity

The man’s neighbors came again to congratulate him for getting two horses, the wise man rolled his eyes and asked: How do you know it’s good luck? A man’s only son enjoyed riding the horse, one day, the new horse lost his temper, and the young man fell down from the horse and broke his legs.(To be continued at 3.)

Leadership Takeaway: keep cautious at the good times, “Only Paranoid Survive”, every opportunity is accompanied by risk, also, many times risk-taking can lead to opportunities.

3.   Be Insightful at the Time of Uncertainty

The neighbors came again to show their sympathy, the wise man looked out of the window, and uttered the word: How could you tell it will not be fortuitous? Months later, because of the conflict between the two countries, all young men in the town were sent out to the war, and many lost their lives; the wise man’s son could survive and stay with his father because of his broken legs, he could also learn from his father and grow as another wise man, they also worked together to help rebuild their communities.

Leadership Takeaway: Not only understand your current situation, but also be insightful for the macro-environment, and perceive the future circumstances, so that short-term frustration may not become a barrier to the long-term vision.

From this parable, we can learn: that leadership in times of crisis is transformational, open-minded, with paradoxical thinking, optimistic at bad times and paranoid at good times, insightful for the long term, and wise via both historical lessons and life experience.

Read More

Flying with Purpose: Aviation’s Three Hubs of Future

The technology, the internet, and the digitization make the world much more interconnected, interdependent than ever

It’s been more than a century since the Wright brothers flew their first airplane in Dec. 1903, the modern aviation industry has also been through numerous ups and down, the glamorous era, and painful downturn, the deregulation and competition, the over-taxed and the least profitability,  especially the last decade, from the natural disaster to human calamity, economic crisis to soaring fuel, not mention disruptive technology or customer complaining.

Airline emerged as one of the revolutionary industries in the human history earlier last century, and mature as one of the underdog legacy business now, we are re-imagining it, re-inventing it, most importantly, the digitization and globalization instill the bigger purpose into airline to connect the dots, not just as the transportation hub to connect the people and goods, but also as leadership hub to connect global economy and prosperity. 

1.     Economic Hub to Connect Modern Society

Airline is the economy barometer because it is the economy engine, as the third largest industry contributor to economy: airline suffers from downturn, emerges though discipline: Airline is also one of the biggest customers for energy consuming: damaged by high fuel price, but championed to experiment bio-fuel; Airline is the technology industry with the wings: disrupted by the latest tech such as web conference; but also grow via adopting the new trends such as mobile computing; Airline sparks our imagination to fly: it’s the fundamental for us to understand cosmology: from earth to moon, from galaxy to universe and from where we come from to where is our destination.

The airline eco-system directly impacts modern society economically, technologically, socially, environmentally and futuristically, and today’s airline should become such a pivotal hub to connect all modern science such as economy, technology, energy and cosmology., etc.

2.     Innovation Hub to Connect Future of Leadership

2011 is the safest year in aviation history, it could also mark the great milestone for airline to take the leadership position to protect citizens and tourists, and advocate world peace & harmony:

·         Pilots & Stewardship and all the aviation professionals should be our hero, they work relentlessly to build up such a great industry, though there’re outdated air traffic system, there’s complaining about the fees, or the myth of union culture, overall, the industry makes progress to support itself financially, also make huge contribution for the economy.

·         Customers are also the heroes: they may suffer from the delay or stuck in the middle-seat, sometimes travel just like our life journey, with ups and downs, a bit out-of-control,  but when you experience it via positive attitude and self-reflection, you may actually soothe  some frustration by understanding, the loyal customers still continue to fly, keep the industry flow, and hopefully grow in the future.

·         Airline is also in the leadership business: Conventional business sense may label customers as business customers or leisure customers, first-class or economic class; leadership wisdom may trace deeper about travel purpose: the adventure travel, or the spiritual exploration; the trip to see the unknowing or the visit to tie the relationship.,etc, airline may even team up with business or academic to develop the leadership of future.

3.     Culture Hub to Connect Diversified World

The technology, the internet, and the digitization make the world much more interconnected, interdependent than ever virtually, the airline is just such a privileged industry to connect the world physically, it’s a window of the world, to see through the natural scenes and man-made miracles, to appreciate the beauty and experience some sadness.

Aviation can sow the culture seeds: influence the world via promoting the positive thinking and deeds; Aviation can build up the footprint to cultivate diversity leadership and bridge cultural difference, aviation can also harvest via the prosperous business activities and global trading.

It’s time for airline to inspire business via its unique underdog leadership, it’s the time for us all to get united to make the better world.

Read More

2012 IT Tea Leaf Reading: The Year of Wisdom

The sustainability is no longer just for corporate social responsibility, the energy efficiency now is both the bottom line and new gold for IT and business as a whole.

Only a few days away from the new year, many crystal balls are spinning, colorful magic hats are throwing, and some are eating out their fortune cookies, we, also start shaking up our tea leaf, the leaf danced around and shaped into the silver elephant: her ears like the big question marks, her legs like pillars of knowledge hall, her trunks stretch out the myth., etc. Could it symbolize 2012  be the year of wisdom, for individual, for technology, for business and for humanity? Or the year of strength: the power for overcoming obstacle and the magic for creative disruption, to framework more agile, open and intelligent businesses and society?

Technology brings up many revolutionary and evolutionary progress to advance human society, may Year of 2012 be the year of wisdom via the following ten transformative trends spit out from big elephant’s trunk:

1. Compete for Uniqueness

If business philosophy of 20^th century is more about competing for win or the best, then the more digitized, interconnected era of 21^st century is about competing for uniqueness; the businesses are facing unprecedented uncertainties, accelerated changes and hyper-competitive global competitions, winning needs a purpose, growth needs a vision.

Competing for uniqueness means to build up the business strategy to amplify your purpose and reflect your vision through the latest technology and talent people. The uniqueness could mean the enchanting customer service, the niche marketing player or the innovation powerhouse., etc.  

Technology becomes the competitive edge to help business recognize the future trend, re-imagine the possible new business potential, build up the process strength and re-invent new products or services.  

2. Value-Creating IT Leadership

There are many great insight and brainstorms about future of IT leadership, future is here, the monolithic heavyweight IT need be transformed into more mosaic style lightweight digital technology such as cloud/mobile/social, from the cost center to value center; the IT leadership would follow the same theme: from command-control to more open and collaborative;  CIO need transform from infrastructure manager to value creator, the business strategist, the culture influencer, the revenue seeker, the cost optimizer, the innovator and the producer.

The value-creating IT leadership push by purpose, pull via the long-term vision, lead though the value and discipline, to manage IT as business, and to value IT as game changer.

3. Cloud Keep Flowing

Cloud should be fine in the coming new year, keep flowing, keep growing and keep maturing; to unleash its full potential: from SAAS to IAAS, from PAAS to BPAAS (Business Process as a Service); public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud has the leverage power; community cloud, industry cloud, the key point is to make cloud more customized fit, to grow the cloud-ecosystem via the standardization, customer protection, and the right governance & measurement.

“Doing More with Less” is the new mantra for IT in the new year: Cloud also provides business opportunity to re-imagine enterprise architecture, IT service/delivery model;  fast delivery, easy to provision, from CapEx to OpEx, cloud is not just for cost-cutting, more about for value adding.

4. Data Keep Growing

Data is like a little mustard seed, now grows into the tallest tree, we are transforming from era of information scarcity into the age of information abundance; Big data grows into the strongest trunk at the information tree; becomes the umbrella of opportunities and also brings some shadow of risks; the advanced analytics will help grab the chance and the next generation of security & GRC will help clear the shadows.

Now data also turns to be the 80% of business asset, data life cycle management need be mastered to gain insight of business effectiveness, and win the foresight of future business, the data analytics will also help amplify customers’ voice, and catch up the wisdom of crowd.

The new wave of analytics tools will be more agile, easy to use, fast to deploy, better to visualize and with widespread adoption rate.

5.   Mobile Keep Stretching

 The mobile computing is beyond talking about smart phone or tablet, It’s about  the internet of things, the smart devices connect and flow with cloud, and sharpen & grow with data, it’s about mobile applications & infrastructure to provide customers  convenience for shopping and payment, it also about IT providing choices for employees to work remotely, access the right information at the right time to make the right decision .

Mobility is the new life style for people to communicate with the extended border of  business, and collaborate or compete from anywhere at anytime. Though it takes years to mature, mobile is stretching its muscles for its strength.

6.   Social Keep Soaring

The social computing and enterprise 2.0 technology keep soaring, reach the sky to meet cloud, the next generation of business, some call it social business start fledgling: it means pyramidal organization structure becomes flatter;  it means command-control leadership becomes more open, it means static project team becomes more dynamic, it also means, now, talent can grow, without too much limit: you can break through the career ceilings, you may also go cross the functional silos more seamlessly.  

Social computing makes business not only more agile, but also wiser, more collaborative working environment via gamification mechanism allows business to incubate the next generation of talent strategy and pipeline, to collect the innovative ideas or feedback via the crowd-sourcing and collective wisdom.

7.   BYOD is a new Fashion

The BYOD (Bring you own device) fashions are crafted via the convergence of IT consumerization and enterprise IT, more IT organizations are supporting it to improve staff productivity, and implement cost optimization,  Though security and governance are the big barrier to overcome, BYOD might be here for staying.

The BYOD trend empowered with DIY (Do IT Yourself) culture may also decentralize part of IT “chore” to the business, so IT now can more focus on the core service & application portfolio, the customer communication and risk management.

                                                      

8.   Technology Frugality

The IT mantra of The Doing More with Less”  is the new trend of technology frugality: from cloud to social, from infrastructure to application, all IT projects are for business’s sake,  IT cost optimization structure and business process management will be enhanced by embracing the latest technology trend and price model.

From Technology frugality to innovation frugality,  the leverage point is to maximize the business growth via the right technology through the right talent to serve the right customer at the right time with the right cost.

9.   Green is New Gold

The sustainability is no longer just for corporate social responsibility, the energy efficiency now is both the bottom line and new gold for IT and business as a whole.

From virtualization to cloud, the more digitized enterprise can explore green IT via the latest technology, the module design and the right analytics tools & metrics.

10.    Hybrid “Word” at Hybrid World

   The vivid hybrid words become the creative vocabularies in such a wonderful hybrid world:

        IT’s new attitude:                Boldacious (Bold + Audacious)

        IT’s new mindset:               Creatology (Creativity + Technology)

        IT’s new reality:                  Simplex (Complex problem via the simple solution)

        IT’s new threat:                   Hackivist + SpamDexing

        IT’s new partner:                 Coopetitor (cooperative + competitor)

        IT’s new purpose:               Betterness + Manyness

       

 Well, we may just like the six blind men touch the big elephant, each one of us only capture the piece of truth , so many times, no matter it’s tea leaf or crystal ball, we maybe seeing, can not perceiving, hearing, but can not understanding.  However, let’s wish the collective wisdom could help provide the clairvoyant insight for the upcoming new year, and may 2012 become the year of wisdom.

Read More

The Spirit of Christmas: The Pursuit of Happiness

“What is Christmas?  It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future.  It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.”  ~Agnes M. Pahro

Have Yourself Merry Little Christmas

Though at warm California, we are not experiencing the white Christmas with tree top glistening, the chilly weather, the quiet street reminds us Christmas is right here, you can smell it in the air, touch it through the wind:

Christmas is about the time for love and giving, to nourish your mind and cherish the peace.  Christmas is the day & season we re-charge our energy, rejuvenate our childhood, re-imagine our dream, re-kindle our passion, and rejoice our spirit.

“Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveler, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!”  ~Charles Dickens

May Dedicated Businesses Taste a Bit Christmas Joy

“The Christmas season has come to mean the period when the public plays Santa Claus to the merchants”  ~John Andrew Holmes

Holiday season is also the big deal for many consumer-centric businesses & industries such as retailers, transportation, hospitality., etc, it’s the time for business to delight customers, connect the world and win back the profit; May the joy of Christmas boost the business, may the business stimulate the economy engine, and may the warm up economy cheer up more happy faces beyond holiday season.

If Thanksgiving is the time to get united, than Christmas is the day to pursue happiness for all of us:

“May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love.”
~Ada V. Hendricks

Read More

Creativity Manifesto

Creativity is a Beautiful Phenomenon!

Creativity is the Ability to Create Novel Value, Creative Mind is defined as Originator;

All humans are born with Raw Creativity Ability, but not all Creativities are Created equal;

Creativity needs a Problem, and Creative Person needs a Purpose;

Creativity is infused with an Inner Cohesion, and comes from a Vision of Uniqueness;

Creative Person’s Spirit and Soul Dance with Passion and Imagination;             

Creativity has many Dimensions, with Multi-faceted Truth & Myth and Manifold Knowledge;

Creativity Muscle needs to be Strengthened, and Creativity Excellence needs to be Cultivated;

Creativity adds Signature or Aesthetic that Elevates Passion to Purpose and Fancy to Enchantment;

Creativity needs Encouragement as Food, and Conflict to Spark it;

Creativity is Wings of our Mind, Creative Destruction could be  New Year's Guiding Style!                     

Read More

Three Levels of Happiness

“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”     ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

The summer season seems to be the right time to pursue the meaning of HAPPINESS, what is happiness? Is it a SILLY question? Actually “silly” comes from the old English word "seilig" and its literal definition is "to be blessed, happy, healthy and prosperous." 

Does that mean SILLY = HAPPY? Or WISDOM = HAPPINESS? Is happiness light as a smile or heavy like a mountain? Is happiness tiny as a raindrop or deep as the sea?

From Wikipedia, “Happiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy, there’re so many elegant quotes and variety of approaches striving to define happiness biologically, psychologically, philosophically, religiously.” Here we’d like to classify it into three levels of happiness.

1. Level One: The Moment of Happiness-Smell the Flower 

“Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.“                  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

•  Smell the Flower: Each one of us experiences the happy moment: the avid readers digest a masterpiece of book, the party animals plunge themselves into the holiday gathering; the kids enjoy their favorite toys; the elders recall their wonderful life; It’s also the moment we smell the flower, or the time you cheer up others.

 “Joy is a flower that blooms when you do.”  ~Author Unknown

Smile Face:  Life is like tea, sometimes a bit bitter, but it’s such a joyful moment to taste a cup of ice tea at burning Summer day, the moment of happiness touches our feeling, soothe our skin, to form a smiling face as by-product.

The happy moments make us appreciate the life biologically and psychologically though sometimes we wish it lasts longer.

2.  Level Two: The Journey of Happiness-Plant the Garden

"Happiness is not always measured in smiles." Anonymous 

The higher level of happiness is deeper than a skin level smile if life is a journey, then, the pursuit of happiness is like to:

• Plant a Garden: 
  

 “A happy thought is like a seed that sows positivity for all to reap”    Miriam Muhammad

No matter this secret garden is our childhood wondering, career path or spiritual journey, It takes energy, focus, resource and dedication to growing, not only need follow the heart, but also should touch the mind.

“Happiness springs immediately from the mind."  Benjamin Franklin 

• Draw a Circle and Color it:

Life is also like to draw a circle and choose your favorite colors to fill it ,  you can choose the size and colors, happiness is about the choices, the passion, the adjustment, and the dynamic.

• The Height of Happiness

"Happiness makes Up in Height for What It Lacks in Length.” Robert Lee Fros

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid, with the largest and most fundamental levels of needs at the bottom, and the need for self-actualization at the top.

The happiness journey will also shape up the higher level of self-actualization psychologically and philosophically,  like a river, keep flowing, it’s the direction, not the destination; it’s the experience, not a goal; it’s a progress, not hedonism; it focuses on the future, not just stick to the present.

"Happiness is a matter of one's most ordinary and everyday mode of consciousness being busy and lively and unconcerned with self."  ~Iris Murdoch

3. Level Three: The Harmony of Happiness—Inspire the World

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”  ~Mahatma Gandhi

• Maximize Universal Happiness:

At this level of happiness, we may not just plant our own garden, we sow the imagination seeds to the bigger land, to inspire the universal human happiness:  the happiness is purpose, courage, inspiration; the happiness is freedom, justice, and equality,  the happiness is deep as the sea, high as a mountain, when Martin Luther King delivered the “I have a dream” speech, or John F Kennedy declared the “Go to Moon” mission, they were inspiring the great level of human happiness philosophically and spiritually, they change the world.  

• Delight the Soul: Every now and then, when the world sits just right, a gentle breath of heaven, fills my soul with delight...~Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott, A Breath of Heaven

Read More

What a Wonderful Hybrid World

Physical world is converging with virtual space; machine thinking is converging with human intelligence, working environment  

Holiday season is the time for blessing and prediction! There’re quite many interesting lyrics written to predict the future recently: from the future of economy to future of technology, from future of retailer to future of airline, from future of food to future of life style, people all over the world are brainstorming the future together,  real life and virtual space are crafting the synergy to perceive the wonderful world.

 What a wonderful hybrid world! The future is here, it’s beyond the holiday lullaby :

Physical world is converging with virtual space; machine thinking is converging with human intelligence, working environment  is converging with personal life style; hard-science STEM discipline is converging with soft science.

1.Hybrid Workforce

      Social business is perceived as the future of business, what is the essential of social business? It’s the hybrid, networked, extended modern working environment, the social computing technology enables the more seamless virtual platform,  enhance the physical organization structure, empower workforce sharing the thoughts and ideas, engage customers and partners to voice the concerns and feedback, and encourage the broader conversation and interaction with its business eco-system and social value chain.

                                                                                                            

What a wonderful hybrid workforce: from diversified leadership to dynamic talents, social business cultivates the distinctive capability to adapt to changes, and inspire the innovations.

2. Hybrid Cloud

 Cloud future is not cloudy! From public cloud to private cloud, from community cloud to all things connected, hybrid cloud is the better choice for many organizations to embrace the cloud base solution.

Hybrid cloud has the agility for business to provision faster, go to market rapidly, transform CAPEX into OPEX, also leverage the security and governance concerns.

3. Hybrid Energy

The future of energy is the hot topic all over the world, energy crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing the whole human society, the question about what are the most promising alternative energy attracts thousands of comments, biofuel, solar,  nature gas or wind mill., etc, shall we let a thousand energy flower blossom?

What a wonderful world with those hybrid energy solution! The future is already  here, airlines powered by hybrid fuel, the hybrid car becomes the new fashion, the criteria of promising clean energy is: the technological maturity, the demand of commercial customer or consumer, the scalability and availability of supply chain.

To add a bit noise for holiday season, here is the holy Grail of hybrid world:

Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle all the way,
Let our mind fly, let business thrive,
let 3-D cloud flow, let 3D talent grow,
 let our environment green, let water clean,
Let kids smile, let fresh idea jumpstart,
What a wonderful better world!

Read More

3”D” Talent Strategy

The goal of qualified education needs to nurture and develop the raw talent with diversity, dynamic, distinction and discipline.

Modern business is facing unprecedented challenges than ever: the hyper-competitive economical environment, the multi-polar global landscape, the transformative digital technology, the more selective, technology-savvy customers, and multi-generational & multi-cultural workforce, talent management is strategic imperative for any visionary business to compete for growth, to brand with differentiation, to advance with meaningful social value, and to change the world with the secret formula.

Too many organizations still dismiss talent management as a short-term, tactical human resource rather than an integral part of a long-term business strategy and scientific management discipline, the contemporary talent strategy and management need embrace and proactively adapt to the changes, from talent sourcing to talent development & retention, hopefully the next 3D dimensions of talent strategy can help shape the collectively competitive mindset and optimized talent management process.  

                                         

1. Diversified Leadership

It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races. ~Mark Twain

The homogenous command & control style leadership may no longer fit in heterogeneous working environment,  the serendipity of leadership effectiveness are the power of influence,  best practice of persuasion, the collection of wisdom, and synthetic combination of key elements.

Diversified leadership is beyond gender, race or age, we could list more than 20+ different diversity parameters, the essential of diversified leadership is about leading with unique style and competitive accent.  

•  Leading style: The talent leader has her or his own influential style: the pioneer, the thought leadership, the experimenter, the practitioner based on their learning and thinking style, character, experience and cognition, the multi-tier leadership team should always complement the diversified skills, for decision making, action and execution.

• “Underdog” Leadership: Like those underdog companies or industries, underdog leadership is all about the humanity meeting with humility, self-confidence meeting with self-depreciation, wisdom meeting with humor, inspiration meeting with frustration, such as:

-Introvert Leaders: compared to their outgoing peers, introvert may not so much “look” like a leader, however, the strength of introvert leader are observing, thinking before doing, leading from behind sometimes is more effective than always leading at front.

-Multi-culture Leaders: the citizen-by-birth leaders may take basic civic right for granted, however, the citizen-by-choice leaders usually spent decade to gain the right such as liability and responsibility by hardworking, compliance, learning and embracing the culture indefatigably , they could always see things through the extended lens, inspire innovative initiative via different angle.

-Leaders breaking through ceilings: Compared to the leaders born with silver spoon, or always facing blue sky, the leaders who can or have to break through the ceilings (glass ceiling, bamboo ceiling, cement ceiling., etc) are more purpose driven, with in-depth strength, symbolize the new hope for the equal workplace and better world, also convey the variety of opinions and enhance the business governance. 

2.  Dynamic Workforce

I always think change is important in a character. The most dynamic choices that you can make for a character are always the best ones.    -Peter Sarsgaard

Talent is the most competitive asset in modern business, either agile business or smart enterprise, dynamic workforce will enable the change, engrained with energy and envision the future growth :

• Adapt to Changes:

Dynamic talent adapt to changes based on 12 Ds below:

             - Dedicate to learn and grow with Discipline

             - Develop multi-capability via Diligence

             - Delight customer with Devote service

             - Decisive based on both Data and intuition

              -Differentiate personal brand via Dependable Contribution

              -Deploy further possibility via Diversified thinking & Experiment

Under-Educated vs. Over-Educated:

 Modern talent just needs to be educated right, education could be the best thing happened in individual’s life today, however, the education coin also has two sides: 

Education instills us the certain level of  knowledge & discipline, it can become the key to turn on the career door,  but, if you won’t continue to learn and grow, the knowledge and the education credential will become the outdated ornament to only boost ego, and even turns to be the invisible barrier to stop you from rebooting the career, expand the horizon or re-charging the energy.

The college-dropout entrepreneurs’ inspiring stories tell us, compared to imagination, dynamic or motivation, education may not always be the secret source for success.

3. Distinct Capability

Distinction is the consequence, never the object of a great mind. –Washington Allston

The organization’s collective capability differentiates themselves from competitors strategically, with diversified leadership and dynamic workforce, modern business can cultivate top performer’s distinctive capability such as: 

• Innovation Capability

Talent empowered organizations embed the multiplier mindset and best practices into their strategies, processes, operations and governance, talent multiplication moves from a key competitive mindset to an important and distinctive source of competitive advantage-Innovation capability: 

The collective thought and wisdom like light bulb, spark the creativity and shine up the working place, it becomes the new normal for people to exercise the new way of thinking and doing, and transformational digital technologies such as mobile/social/cloud provide the unprecedented opportunities to let our mind fly, unify like-minded strangers, and solve the bigger challenges via collective intelligence.

The social business or networked enterprise has extended its border, more interconnect with the customers, partners and industry-ecosystem, their innovation capability is not only increasing their own productivity, but also revitalizing the expanded value chain.

• Analytics Capability

The smart business is also more fact-based or data driven, analytics capability becomes the strategic priority, with the forward-looking leadership sponsorship and right-educated talent, the organization can build up the powerful analytics framework, take advantage of next generation of analytics tools, to manage multi-facet analytics process, both for top-line growth and bottom line improvement, and modern talent management is one of the focal point analytics can make the true difference.

Like workforce talent management, modern education system, from K12 to college education, may also not be enough  to instill the limited, standardized knowledge to the diversified students, and produce the quantitative talent commodity, the goal of qualified education needs to nurture and develop the raw talent with diversity, dynamic, distinction and discipline.

Read More

IT at Cutting-Edge, CIO leads as a Bridge

The modern organization is like the mini-city, with its own sophistication: the silo functions, the sea of data, and the pool of talents. 

For us not so far away from San Francisco, once a while visiting could be both entertaining and educational: running out of suburb’s fresh air, blue sky’s simplicity, diving into urbanized sophistication and cultural quintessential.

Not to mention, the other unforgettable scene: Golden Gate Bridge—the most beautiful bridge in the world. Though you may not walk it through at every visit, surely, there are always opportunities to watch it over from different angles, see it edge out of the fog or stretch up to the cloud, it becomes the landmark, the symbol, the spirit of city: the openness, the brightness, the style, and the strength, it reflects and enhances the natural beauty of San Francisco Bay.

The modern organization is like the mini-city, with its own sophistication: the silo functions, the sea of data, and the pool of talents.  To envision the organizational view of purpose, the synergy, and harmony, it may need the effective leadership as a bridge to re-energize the spirit of our working environment, re-imagine the wonder of the business world and re-kindle the passion of work. With cutting edge technology as a silver lining, can CIO lead as such a very bridge?

Bridge the Business and Technology: Modern digital technology is beyond the utility (the water or electricity) of the city, it’s also the brain and heart of the business, the strategic IT leadership bridges the silo functions, overflowing data ocean and over-specialized talent pools via effective communication. As Drucker pointed out: the spirit of the organization comes from the top, the effective leadership will help bridge multi-generational, multicultural workforce into the same conversation, bridge the invisible culture into more visible, measurable performance results via the open platform, it also bridges the business and technology through the lens of social value, the common customer language, sustainability, and the unique brand reputation.

Bridge Data and Insight: Instead of facing the Pacific Ocean, modern businesses are now facing the Ocean of Big Data, the effective IT leadership need bridge the big opportunities and potential risks, the focus and the distraction, also bridge the gap between exponential growing data with insufficient analytic talent. The purpose of IT leadership bridge is also to transform data into information, from information into knowledge, then capturing the wisdom to evoke the further imagination, pull collective wisdom together, blueprint and build up the smarter business and better world.

Bridge the Organization & the Digital Ecosystem: The modern digital technology such as social and cloud not only empower talent to step out of their own comfort zone, to become the thought leaders or domain expert, but also enable business to think beyond their shareholders, it bridges the business with its community such as bigger city or the full ecosystem more seamlessly, the technology and effective leadership can also bridge up the platform to exchange the wisdom, update the policy, enforce the governance, to influence the industry and the whole ecosystem positively. If the purpose of business is to create a customer, now the customer is also including fellow citizens to benefit from the business’s prosperity or the world citizens to embrace humanity.

Bridge Today and Future: What is the future? No matter it’s a social business, smarter city or developing planet, future is about connectivity, intelligence, sustainability, and cultural understanding & collaboration. Fashion fades away, technology trend will keep emerging and last, to bridge today’s uncertainty into tomorrow’s conscious progress & advancement, to bridge today’s control-driven corporate culture into tomorrow’s trust-based, self-management team; to bridge pyramidal hierarchy into more flatter, agile business structure and to bridge the multi-channel communication ways. From DIY (Do It Yourself ) to BYOD (Bring your own Device) business perspective, the latest technology such as mobile/social is bringing enterprise technology with the consumerization of IT, customers need to be tailored with personalized service & solution, future is already here!

Bridge Yin & Yang: From Wikipedia "yin and yang," is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. This ancient philosophy well reflects the world we live in economically, socially, politically and environmentally. Modern business and technology are crafting a more democratic framework to create the synergy from Yin and Yang: to embrace and advocate the diversified leadership, to respect, appreciate and complement our cognitive difference such as human attitude, action, culture, and wisdom, and to lead through influence.

Golden Gate Bridge, one of the seven wonders of the world, unify our aesthetic standard, shining as the man-made miracle; Modern leadership, like such a legendary bridge, can broaden our vision about human potential and possibility, and brighten our common future via wisdom and openness.

Read More

Seven Quotes to Unite The Spirit of Thanksgiving

Time is flying, Thanksgiving is coming again, it’s not just the day for family reunion, it’s also the season to unite our humanity and humility.

1.   Appreciate the Mother Nature

For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;       
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The nature beauty we see everyday, we may take it granted, it’s the time to thanks creator for these daily miracle, life is beautiful!

2.   Thanksgiving is about Uniting Humanity

Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all ages and all faiths. At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings. ~J. Robert Moskin

2011 is the year of change, from Arab Spring to OWS movement, we feel the hope, also the pain, Thanksgiving is the time to sooth the anger and unify the difference, by working together, human society can make the progress as a whole.

3.   Thanksgiving is time to Convey Humility

"The only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice." -Meister Eckhart

Saying “thank you” is beyond courtesy, it’s the culture and attitude, sometimes we all need a bit appreciation, at the same time, don’t forget to appreciate others.

4.   Time to review the heart of courage & power of persistence

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving."

 -H.U.Westermayer

Most of us maybe already very familiar with Pilgrim’s story, it’s the root of Thanksgiving and it’s the spirit of America: Native citizens and naturalized citizens learn and support each other, it’s the time to review the heart of courage, the power of persistence and spirit of sharing.

5.   It’s all about Preparing

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence

No matter it’s thanksgiving meal or trip, the joy starts from preparation, and no matter which journey we are in  our life, preparation is the key, it’s the secret source for your thanksgiving banquet. As a nation, it’s time for us to prepare together for the future.

6.   Thanksgiving is time for Self-Reflection at Positive Way

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. - Charles Dickens

Though there’s day and night, ebb and flow, up and down, each one of us may still have a lot to thanks for, the economy may still be uncertain, life is still full of frustration, thanksgiving is the time to think positively, be grateful, take the good we discover now.  

7.   Thanksgiving is about Connection

Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life... a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year - and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God. ~Ray Stannard Baker (David Grayson)

  Thanksgiving is the time to reunion, recharging, re-imagining and revitalizing, it's the season not only for food, but also for thinking. 

Read More