Performance Controller

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results"...WC Print

Eric Schmidt, became CEO of Google in 2001, His watch in the decade saw the Google initial public offering in 2004 with stock skyrocketing from its $85 offering price to $600 by 2007. GOOG’s five-year return was 228.50%.

in the Huffington Post in her article updated: 12-24-09 01:46 PM Grace Kiser goes on to say”

The 2000s certainly seem like a ghastly decade. The era’s already fabled financial debacles — among them, Enron’s bankruptcy, the burst of the tech bubble, the collapse of a number of financial and lending institutions, and Madoff’s ponzi scheme — can inspire a certain cynicism about the merits and promise of business and entrepreneurship.

But at decade’s end, we didn’t want to forget about the companies and leaders that excelled during the boom and largely weathered the downturn.

We looked at a select group of elite CEOs from a wide range of industries, and plucked out who we think demonstrated the most exceptional leadership over the past ten years. Though our analysis is admittedly subjective, we also considered stock prices — a five-year return, to be specific. And because last year’s financial crisis has battered so many stocks, we also considered softer factors such as long-term vision, brand building, and what each CEO had to contend with when they took the helm.

I do recommended to take a look at the US CEO’s nominations in Grace Kiser’s Huffington Post article. It is a great reference with a summary of the achievements of business leaders nominated. People like Michael Dell, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison plus many more are featured.

There is a poll to vote on too if you want to participate

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/24/best-ceos-of-the-decade-p_n_403032.html

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For a few years I have been routinely updating a collection of Humour for all Occasions with material my friends send to me.

Last week I received this story from Ineke Williams in Australia.

You may have seen it. It has been republished quite a bit.

Given we lead in a certain ways, the twist gives something think on to motivate.

My noble stand in sharing it on PerformanceController, is to stimulate alternative thinking on how to build winning teams. Far-fetched and unrealistic, maybe? The real truth is, I just like the story!!!

It starts and ends with a question,

Would you have made same choice?

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In the competency stakes there are several stages to achieving mastery. To understand this is to understand your value and what you must do to maintain it. As you become more capable the ground will likely shift as you realize what it means.

Consider the cobbler starting as an apprentice. When he begins his indentures, even the smallest task needs someone to teach him the skills. He is understandably quite unaware of how to even approach competency, let alone what it may look like.

You might say he is unconsciously incompetent. But his next stage, not surprisingly, is being conscious of his incompetence as he accepts, on faith, what his mentor and teachers say he still needs to know.

Once he develops skills he moves to an unconscious state once again as he makes it. But it still takes time and effort for it to sink in that he is is actually there. Consciousness does not return until the next emancipating stage clicks in, which may well be the point that sees him graduating as a qualified craftsman.

But what of the final stage to achieve mastery?

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Former IBM head Thomas J. Watson Jr, is listed as one of Time Magazines 100 most influential people of the 20th century.He lead one of the worlds best selling machines.from 1952 to 1971, In this 30 second voice clip he says that service is something most companies forget. Listen  for yourself in this item recorded in 1993 the year he died. it says so much about what makes for success.

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Thomas Watson Sr, his father, joined IBM in 1915 the year after his first son was born. His regime began with a concept that the company would grow by THINKING as he said:

“We must study through reading, listening, discussing, observing and thinking. We must not neglect any one of those ways. The trouble with most of us is that we fall down on the latter – THINKING — because it’s hard work.

I found it quite interesting when I listen to the 1993 dated clip of his son who had headed up one of the worlds largest and most successful selling companies and his father who built it from less than 300 people  after he joined it from NCR in 1915.

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Performance management generally focuses on organizations and improvement and needs serious experience and  focus. But here is something that places youth in the chair. The question is, with so called YGEN attitudes today, how can anyone seriously suggest development can be done by young people?

Well Clare Hanbury does and this is what she says:

With our help, young people, can help solve society’s health & social justice issues,

We are now living in an amazing transitional time with a generation with new ideas and an extraordinary ability to multi task. These can doers are trail blazers with a disregard for expertise and a heightened sense of personal power. They  believe theirs is the only way and they are ready to do the work

To get results we must join youth where they abd asked how close they are to the problems they are trying to solve.

In this talk Clare  makes compelling points with real life examples that give young people the power of the pen and encourages them with respect and connected listening to keep them close and involved in getting solutions. Here is the link to her talk.

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Do’s and don’ts of business etc., are copied around the web by many as they share their finds. Here is one such resource.

Why Intelligent People Fail by psychologist, Robert Sternberg is worth bookmarking to use as a check list when you are planning your next failure. 

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With communication in web mode much more, is body language changing or becoming less important?

Body language as we know it, forms the major part of all effective communication. A test is, we rarely close a significant deal or change something complex as a team without at least one or two face to face meetings.

In Asia, as with many other parts, where English is a second language, I find to listen by also watching body language  brings greater success. When I fail to do this or I’m ambiguous with mine, sadly I am misunderstood and fail miserably. I found this too with raising my kids.

With so  many of us are now working and influencing things remotely, the opportunity for real face time is less practical. I am interested in views and experiences of people who can still remain effective and what actually works for them now?

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This man is brilliant at making a point that can grab attention and motivate others to understand their value.

In our company, as consulting advisors charging a fee, understanding our market and those of our customers is vital.

To help keep us on track Seth Godin and others like him are now playing an active role every day as our advisers in our RSS feeds.

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John Robert Wooden (born 1910) is a retired basketball coach and a highly revered icon of leadership in the US

In a public domain video, Woodem;s biographical stories dwell on success, humility, and service to others. In recanting influences in his life and experiences he comments about someone asking him , “Why teach?”  to which his reply was, “Where could I find such splendid company?”

I noticed many use this video under banners oriented to their pitch: Management, Leadership and so on. I like the title on this one and   just wanted to share it. I learned much from what he freely gives  Enjoy it, as I did..

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North Korea is keeping the heat up around Asia,

Myanmar is clarifying it’s diplomatic standing upon Aung San Suu Kyi.

And maybe we can have a chance to meet Iran’s first lady after the June election

What these events share in common is the question “Who’s going be the leader?”

For interest, I wondered what similarities these CEO’s have with leaders in business and what such people need to reach that position in their working career.

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