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You will make a difference. Don’t worry about that.

November 13, 2011 in Leadership with 3 Comments

I just finished watching a 50 minute talk from General Mark Welsh that he gave Nov 1, 2011. You can find it here. Normally, I would just tweet the link, but I wanted to comment on it so I have a reference to my thoughts.  Those that know me, know I am not a military type person.  Several times in my adult career I have seriously debated becoming law enforcement, working for the Coast Guard, being a paramedic, or entering the military.  If I was younger and General Mark Welsh gave this talk to a room I was in, and he or someone like him was leading me, I’d have signed up right away full stop.   if I am able to develop half of his leadership skills (based on his talk) before I retire I will feel like I accomplished something from a leadership perspective.

It is well worth watching the entire talk.  General Welsh has such presence.  I felt like I right there in the room when he spoke.  My current mentor told me that presence is one of the qualities any leader must have.  General Welsh has presence.  While I enjoyed the entire talk, the parts that really registered for me, I describe below, but for most you can stop reading.  I just encourage you to take the time to watch the entire talk.

Making a difference.

These people made a difference. Everybody I just talked about is making a difference, and you will too.  Don’t worry about that.

He flat out says ‘you will make a difference and don’t worry about that.’  Do you work for or with people that will say that about others with that level of confidence in their staff?  He even says not to worry about it, as if it is a done deal, and he believes it.

Expectations.

He speaks about 4 expectations that all the students must meet, credibility, attention to detail, be ready to make decisions, and be committed.  He speaks about each one of these and gives very real examples of how it has applied to individuals that have been where the students are, allowing the inference it will apply to them.

Leadership is a gift.

In the completion of his talk before given a toast to a fallen friend, he makes two statements that really registered with me.

Leadership is a gift. It’s given by those who follow.  But you have to be worthy of it.

 

If you are still saying this place sucks, leave, we don’t need you, we don’t want you, don’t have time for you.

For me, this was one of if not the best talks on leadership I have ever watched or been present.

Linchpin

March 13, 2010 in Leadership with 3 Comments

Linchpin by Seth Godin was a really good book and was released at the perfect time in my life and career.

Linchpin discusses many topics including how it is necessary for individuals to exert emotional labour while at work, the need to stand out and be indispensable, how our brains are wired to naturally resist becoming a linchpin.  How management, history, and school has taught us to follow the rules, work hard and you will be rewarded and why this no longer will ensure a happy and prosperous future.   These and other concepts are tied together very well, and give the reader a new perspective.

For some it will drastically change their perspective on work and their interactions with others in all areas of their life.  For others that are already on their way to becoming a linchpin, it will provide guidance and ideas for growth and improvement.

While I believe that many industries will and do resist the ‘Linchpin way of thinking’ due to historical concepts of what worked in the past, eventually it will take hold in all industries.  It has to, and this becomes more and more obvious as you read the book.  The previous and in some cases current ways of running businesses, working with customers, and fellow employees are no longer viable.  Clear real world examples are given as well as science to back up the concepts and ideas presented.

Although the entire book was excellent, two sections that ‘registered’ with me on a very intimate level were More cowbell and Honest signals in every day life. More cowbells is something that I have realized my mother taught me growing up.  Basically, if you are going to do something then do it.  Don’t do it half way, or partially, do it.  Honest signals in every day life discusses concepts such as micro-expressions and the basic idea that we as humans naturally detect who is honest and sincere and who is not and we react accordingly.  The non-verbal communication registers with us much more than what is said.

A few of my favourite quotes:

When your people do what they do because they love it, it works. Even if they’re not as technically adept as the competition.

The reason start-ups almost always defeat large companies in the rush to market is simple: start-ups have fewer people to coordinate, less thrashing, and more linchpins per square foot.

It is okay to have someone you work for, someone who watches over you, someone who pays you. But the moment you treat that person like a boss, like someone in charge of your movements and your output, you are a cog, not an artist.

People are not going to follow you because you order them to …. Linchpins don’t need authority. It’s not part of the deal. Authority matters only in the factory, not your world.

People follow because they want to, not because you can order them to.

The linchpin is able to invent a future, fall in love with it, live in it — and then abandon it on a moments notice.

Management, entrepreneur, leader, worker, mother, father, or spouse there is a message for everyone.  All in all this book is about growth.  Learning to become a linchpin while respecting the needs and concerns of others.

In addition, here are some great quick videos, where people speak about Linchpins.

Authorized to shutdown the data center, update

January 13, 2010 in Leadership, Security, Surveillance with 0 Comments

I posted a couple weeks ago about operators monitoring systems and discovering a serious exploit in progress and determining what to do if no one was available to make a call such as shutting down a service.  What metrics are in place such as length of time, number of phone calls, seriousness of incident, that allow an individual to make a call that might affect the business confidently.  My example was one where it was discovered that a hacker was slowly siphoning off account information at a financial institution. I don’t know what this particular institutions procedures were, but turns out my fictional example happened.  Not surprised as it is a valid scenario in todays world, but thought it was worth commenting.

The future belongs to people who take initiative

January 4, 2010 in Leadership with 0 Comments

sethGodin1Seth Godin was interviewed by Nora Young on Spark.  The interview can be found here.  The part of the talk where Seth describes how many of us were never trained to take initiative but to follow instructions and how that impacts us in our work made a lot of sense to me.  My favourite part was the section on emotional labour, the act of connecting to another human being and making a change even if it is not easy for you to do it in that moment.

A good talk for anyone in a leadership position.

Authorized to shutdown the data center

December 22, 2009 in Leadership, Security, Surveillance with 1 Comment

theBorderKissAndCrySladeEmergShutdown2The picture on the right is taken from a Canadian television series called “The Border“.  It follows a team of Canadian customs agents saving Canada from threats.  In this particular episode called “Kiss and Cry“, Slade who is their technical wizard agent discovers that the Chinese secret service has installed a trojan in their system allowing them to monitor their activities.  Upon investigation, discovery of the trojan, and a quick assessment of the risk, he immediately initiates a system wide shutdown of all services.  Given the sensitivity of data they have in their systems, the type of data their systems have access to,  and the nature of their business it was the right call, however I found it interesting that Slade made it.

Although this is a fictional television series, this scene got me thinking about my clients.  I can not think of any client large or small that is prepared for or has a single staff member onsite that could authorize a system wide shutdown quickly.  As an example, let’s take a large financial institution.  One of the technical staff is doing some routine system checks and discovers that every time a customer logs into their bank accounts, the customers login and password information along with other helpful data such as birth date and postal code is transmitted externally to a range of servers.  Being a large financial institution there is presently a new customer login average of one per second.  What should she do?  Should she shutdown all customer access immediately?  Should she investigate?  If she investigates, how long should she investigate for?  Can she get hold of someone who can authorize the shutdown?  What if that person is unavailable?  Can she make the call to shutdown services then?  It is obviously critical.  Should she keep trying others?  If so for how long?  If from discovery through investigation to authorization it takes 10 minutes, that is 600 client compromises in this scenario.

What is important is that the staff clearly understand what they can and can not do in any situation.  They need to feel comfortable they have done the right thing and will not be punished for doing what they ‘perceive’ as the right thing.  In the scenario above, if you asked your employees what they would do in this scenario, do you know what they would answer?  Would they be comfortable answering the questions above and more importantly would the business be comfortable with the answers and the risks associated with those responses?

I know many business people that would indicate this is fictional or ‘far fetched’.  While I would have agreed to some degree a few years ago, I wouldn’t today.  What I would suggest is that they go to a recent technical (not business) security conference or ask your technical team or consultants about latest research into threats and vulnerabilities and their availability.  Don’t ask the vendors (or at least be careful), they are trying to sell you results and are never as advanced as the bad guys.  Also keep in mind that even research is behind.  There are many malicious pieces of software that are ‘underground’, but you don’t need to look there.  Just look at some of the available off the shelf tools available for purchase.

Is your business realistically aware of the current threats to its data?  Are the risk assessments accurate?  Do you have the appropriately qualified staff and procedures in place to deal with current threats and do they have the appropriate authorization to make the necessary calls in the event of an emergency or unexpected event?  Is the business comfortable and accepting of the risk exposure associated with these decisions?

What matters now

December 14, 2009 in Leadership with 0 Comments

whatMattersNowSeth Godin put together eBook entitled “What Matters Now”.  So far I have only read the first 30 pages.  He contacted a bunch of individuals and asked them to write a page expressing their thoughts and feelings on the future.  Several of the individuals are people I follow on a regular basis.  So far it has been a great read, especially this time of year.   If you are still interested, I’d suggest reading Seth’s blog entry or Michael Hyatt’s posts.  Both are much better writers than I and will do it the justice it deserves.  You can also download the eBook from links in their posts.

Derailed by Tim Irwin

December 3, 2009 in Leadership with 0 Comments

derailedI was recently given via Michael Hyatt at Thomas Nelson Publishing a copy of the book Derailed.  The book was written by Tim Irwin.  In the book, Tim discusses what he feels are the reasons why leaders fail as leaders and gives insight into how to avoid these situations.

The first part of the book profiles 6 CEOs of major companies that failed as leaders.   Each leader is analyzed and what Tim feels are their weaknesses and the reasons why they were asked to resign from their position.  While one can argue that the opinions are subjective (and they are), I found his rational to be sounds and made sense.  Regardless of the subjectivity, anyone can learn from the mistakes of these profiled individuals and help themselves be a better leader.  I found myself identifying with the character flaws of these individuals.  I have seen them in many people I have worked with and even myself at times.

The rest of the book discusses the derailment process.  Finally, based on the profiles and the derailment process, Tim Irwin identifies and discusses five lessons that can be learned by anyone in a leadership role and ways to implement these lessons and keep yourself ‘in check’ as a leader.

I found Derailed extremely valuable for myself.  It was well worth the time to read and would suggest it to really anyone that interacts with other people at work.  Although the book profiles CEOs of large organizations, it is very applicable to anyone, even those not in an ‘official’ leadership position.

Leadership isn’t about you

November 18, 2009 in Leadership with 0 Comments

A great leadership post by Marshall Goldsmith in Harvard business blog.  It is a very simple concept, but one that many leaders and companies forget.

Lead like the great conductors

October 30, 2009 in Leadership with 0 Comments

itayTalgam1

Great TED presentation on leadership using music conducting of orchestras as examples of what to do and what not to do.  Itay Talgam is excellent, funny and entertaining.

Being overconfident as a leader

October 15, 2009 in Leadership with 0 Comments

punchAndPerry

A post I really enjoyed by Michael Hyatt.  In it he discusses the necessity of humility as a leader and how too much information can be a bad thing which is completely opposite of how I function.

Overconfidence is “the disease of experts.” They think think they know more than they actually do know. In fact, they make mistakes precisely because they have knowledge. This is what happened on Wall Street. This is what also happened with Hooker.”

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