Jack Welch Leadership Principles

Jack Welch - the former CEO of GE - lays down the following 10 principles for good business leadership in his book, Straight From the Gut:

1. There is only one way - the straight way. It sets the tone of the organisation.

2. Be open to the best of what everyone, everywhere, has to offer; transfer learning across your organisation.

3. Get the right people in the right jobs - it is more important than developing a strategy.

4. An informal atmosphere is a competitive advantage.

5. Make sure everybody counts and everybody knows they count.

6. Legitimate self-confidence is a winner - the true test of self-
confidence is the courage to be open.

7. Business has to be fun - celebrations energise an organisation.

8. Never underestimate the other guy.

9. Understand where real value is added and put your best people there.

10. Know when to meddle and when to let go - this is pure instinct.

21 Life Coaching Quotes - Tagore

21 Effective Quotations of Guru Dev Ravindra Nath Tagore

1. You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.

2. I slept and dreamt that life was Joy. I woke and saw that life was Duty. I acted, and behold, Duty was Joy.

3. Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.

4. The emancipation of our physical nature is in attaining health, of our social being in attaining goodness, and of our self in attaining love.

5. Do not say, “It is morning,” and dismiss it with a name of yesterday. See it for the first time as a newborn child that has no name.

6. Your idol is shattered in the dust to prove that God’s dust is greater than your idol.

7. According to the true Indian view, our consciousness of the world, merely as the sum total of things that exist, and as governed by laws, is imperfect. But it is perfect when our consciousness realizes all things as spiritually one with it, and therefore capable of giving us joy. For us the highest purpose of this world is not merely living in it, knowing it and making use of it, but realizing our own selves in it through expansion of sympathy; not alienating ourselves from it and dominating it, but comprehending and uniting it with ourselves in perfect union.

8. I have become my own version of an optimist. If I can’t make it through one door, I’ll go through another door - or I’ll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.

9. We live in the world when we love it.

10. We gain freedom when we have paid the full price.

11. Children are living beings - more living than grown-up people who have built shells of habit around themselves. Therefore it is absolutely necessary for their mental health and development that they should not have mere schools for their lessons, but a world whose guiding spirit is personal love.

12. Objects of knowledge maintain an infinite distance from us who are the knowers. For knowledge is not union. Therefore the further world of freedom awaits us there where we reach truth, not through feeling it by senses or knowing it by reason, but through union of perfect sympathy.

13. It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.

14. If you shut the door to all errors, truth will be shut out.

15. Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it.

16. Asks the Possible of the Impossible, “Where is your dwelling-place?” “In the dreams of the Impotent,” comes the answer.

17. Life is perpetually creative because it contains in itself that surplus which ever overflows the boundaries of the immediate time and space, restlessly pursuing its adventure of expression in the varied forms of self-realization.

18. Beauty is in the ideal of perfect harmony which is in the universal being; truth the perfect comprehension of the universal mind. We individuals approach it through our own mistakes and blunders, through our accumulated experience, through our illumined consciousness - how, otherwise, can we know truth?

19. We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.

20. There are two kinds of adventurers; those who go truly hoping to find adventure and those who go secretly hoping they won’t.

21. In love all the contradiction of existence merge themselves and are lost. Only in love are unity and duality not at variance. Love must be one and two at the same time. Only love is motion and rest in one. Our heart ever changes its place till it finds love, and then it has its rest… Bondage and liberation are not antagonistic in love. For love is most free and at the same time most bound.

Planning your day., 18 effective tips

1. Visualize your long term picture of success and put it in writing. Review your goal frequently.

2. Your goal should be (SMART) Specific, Measurable, Action Oriented, Rewarding adn Time Bound and compatible with where you are now. There should be an end date as well.

3. Stephen Covey in his book 7 Habits says "Begin with the end in mind."

4. First start logging your time (writing what you did) at least for a couple of days and find out how you spend your time. (i.e. do you work hard or smart)

5. Do your planning at the same time every day. Use this time to review past accomplishments as well as future things to do. You start forming it as a HABIT.

6. Use only one planner to keep track of your appointments. Keeping a separate business and personal planner creates confusion.

7. Prepare a "To Do list" every day. Include only those items that are your major goals, do not include the routine because they will be done by themselves if you focus on your major goals.

8. You could also prepare "To Do list " as A, B and C Priorities. "A" items are Important to your long term success, "B" may be Urgent and Important and "C" are those that would be nice to do if you get the time. Start with the A items. Don't work on a C just because it's easy to do. Also, break your A items into small manageable chunks, so they're easy to accomplish.

9. Check off items as you complete them to give yourself a sense of accomplishment.

10. Specially BLOCK off time (Silence Hour or Zero Hour) in your planner for major activities.

11. This might include a block of time for working alone on major tasks. If someone wants to meet you during that time, say "NO" - "I'm sorry, I already have an appointment. "

12. Please do not fill your day with lots of activities. Always have some time for Urgency or emergencies, special opportunities and thinking time.

13. Set aside time Personal & Family life too in your daily plan. Many a times we take Family for Granted. Family gets time only if I have it after everything.. .this should not be the case. Spend quality and quantity time with your Family.

14. From your Time Log that your prepare find out how you're doing and where the opportunities for improvement lie. Don't be surprised to find out that you spend major chunk of your time on Urgent but unImportant items.

15. Start Focusing on your GOALS and spend more TIME during the day on YOUR GOALS.

16. Start with the change in the way you plan your day..... START from NOW.

17. Review your goals and your plans daily. If it does not work ..pause and ask what happened and take corrective measures.

18. Follow through again and again till you achieve your goal and set new and higher Goals.

Talents, pelicans and footprints

The competitiveness and productivity of an organisation depend on the talents of its employees. It depends on how well we fit the right talents in the right place and how well we merge individuals' goals and organization' s goal.

If we create the right talents, develop them and manage them, we will be able to handle many of the turnovers, dissatisfactions, low productivity and absenteeism.

Talents mean everything that we possess. Literally it means a `gifted ability'. Our abilities in sports, music, arts, dramas, our intelligence, good health, creative mind, adaptability, ability to take risks and challenges, our relationships, everything that we have are talents.

Have you heard of the story of the Californian pelicans?

These were a group of lucky birds that got their food without any work because the fishermen after cleaning their fishes used to throw away the entrails of the fishes. The pelicans nourished themselves on these entrails. In the meantime they became fat, lazy and content. Later on the fishermen discovered ways to commercially use the entrails for better purpose. They stopped throwing away the entrails. But the pelicans waited and waited for their free food. But no food came. They became weak and thin. They couldn't get food because they had forgotten how to fish since they never used their talents before. All of them finally starved to death.

Similar tragedy can happen in our lives as well. We become inefficient, unproductive and incompetent when we fail to continuously nurture and improve our talents and gifts.

The saddest thing is to see a talent going waste. When a talent goes to waste, a person goes to waste. The real tragedy in life is not being limited to few talents but the failure to develop and use the talents given to us. We disappear leaving no footprints on the sands of time and history forgets us.

Different people have different talents. If you merely look at people and their talents we will conclude nature is unfair to us as some of us have more talents than others. It's ridiculous to think so. Imagine of a world with people having the same talents. Suppose this world had only Sachin Tendulkars and no Aamir Khans, what a boring world this would have been! Variety is beauty. We all don't need the same talents. We need different talents to fulfill the different demands.

We have an abundance of talents. It doesn't matter how many talents we possess, what actually matters is how well we nurture and use the talents that are in our possession.

The challenge for us is to develop our talents and use them well for our own benefit and for the good of others. To become efficient and effective we need to build on the talents we have. Many of us are unhappy and unproductive because we fail to build on our talents and fail to choose a career on the basis of our talents.

We have numerous talents and infinite number of possibilities. We need to discover them. Take time to look within ourselves and recognize those talents that are buried deep within. Become aware of the talents we have wasted or thrown away or those we consider as useless. Write down the many things that we can do well. If we make a list of our talents we will discover things that we never thought we really possessed.

Having discovered our talents we now have the responsibility to develop them. We must nurture our gifts and make it 100 fold. We have the responsibility to increase our talents by constant practice and use. You alone are responsible for the development of your talents. You alone are responsible for your success.

Everybody is born with a whole set of talents. Talents are gifts because we receive them freely. We can nurture and develop them into skills. The world is full of competitions. Yet the one who has developed his talents and made them into skills and core competencies will always find ample opportunities to excel. He will always be in great demand.

Be a good steward of your gifts. Stewardship is responsibility for taking good care of our resources. We must be faithful, confident and humble in the use of our talents. We are stewards not the owners of our talents. We have no right to destroy them but to protect, nurture, improve and use them.

The next thing to do is to take up the right job. Choose a job that will require your talents, skills, personality and knowledge. Choose the right job where you will be comfortable and competent. Build your career on your strengths and talents. Your talents should help you to become a brand. You should become a master in your career.

Become passionate about your talents and passionately develop them to achieve your goals. Passion for goals will ignite your life and you will begin to use your maximum strength to achieve your goals.

Finally, use your talents to make the world better. Some of our talents we use, others we don't. Some we use to promote ourselves, some to put down others and some we hide from others. We are given these talents to build up this world not to destroy the world and humanity, individuals and relationships. Use your intelligence, free will and capabilities to make this world better.

One way to know whether we are using our talents is to examine ourselves and see if we are really happy in our job. Are we using our talents and strengths? Are we transforming our talents into our core competencies? Have we identified a niche where we can excel and where our competitors respect our talents? Are we the best person to do this job?

Or simply ask yourself: how often does my boss praise and recognize my work? Am I really essential in this organisation? Am I respected for my contributions and am I promoted in the organisation?

Well, these questions will tell us if we are really developing and using our talents or not, whether our fate will be like those Californian pelicans who depart leaving no footprints on the sands of time.

How to Complete Your Work

Complete work means that whatever task you're doing is being done so perfectly and thoroughly that nothing about it is unclear, confusing or not fully thought out by you or when communicating with another.

1. If experiencing a problem:

What system needs to be installed to prevent this problem, its brother, sister and cousin, from ever coming your way again?

2. If sending an email:

Assume this person is extremely overwhelmed and barely remembers his name, much less what I emailed him about earlier, what can I include in my email to him so that he clearly understands what I am saying, what I am asking for and what's really important that he get -- whether he asked for it or not.

3. If asking for something;

a. Tell the person exactly what you need (Size, shape, name, format, version). b. Why you need it (the context, background, problem). c. How you want it (fedex, email, immediately, later, by when).

4. If instructing someone:

Assume the person is an idiot and will misunderstand what you're writing unless you spell out each step distinctly.

5. If closing the sale: Double close and triple close by:

a. Asking what concerns they have. b. Sensing and responding to what they aren't saying, questions they have. c. Being in touch with what YOU'RE feeling.

6. If asking for a change:

a. Condition the change. b. Tell the person why you're making a change. c. Tell the person what you want them to do and by when. d. Offer support/access/ Q&A time.

7. If surprised by something:

a. Ask yourself why you were surprised; why didn't you know beforehand? b. Ask yourself what it means; is it good or bad; serious or not. c. What is the risk that has been added or that is potential?

8. When presented with an opportunity:

a. Ask yourself how this might bring down your business. b. Notice how you are responding -- adrenaline, greed? c. Ask yourself how this opportunity might cost you in other areas. d. Ask yourself if it's really worth it.

9. If informing someone of something:

a. Give the who, why, where, how, when, and what of it in the first paragraph. b. Ask yourself how what you are saying might be misheard and cause fear. c. Ask yourself the questions that any reasonable person would ask themselves when reading what you just wrote and then weave in these answers to your communication.

10. If reacting emotionally to a situation:

a. Ask yourself why you're reacting; what does this bring up for you? b. Ask yourself: Is the other person a jerk? And if, so, why are they in my life? c. Respond with a request that the other person act differently. d. Take responsibility for your PART in the matter. Emotional reactions don't just happen on their own. It may be a dynamic/racket that you created, even without meaning to. e. AND FINALLY, notice where you didn't do complete work somewhere along the process, that got you to this upsetting place right now. Fix that and you'll fix the upset.

SWOT Analysis: Things to remember.

SWOT Analysis is an effective method of identifying your Strengths and Weaknesses, and to examine the Opportunities and Threats you face. Often carrying out an analysis using the SWOT framework will be enough to reveal changes which can be usefully made.

SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. Once key issues have been identified, they feed into marketing objectives. It is a very popular tool with marketing students because it is quick and easy to learn.

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. For example, a strength could be your specialist marketing expertise. A weakness could be the lack of a new product. Opportunities and threats are external factors. For example, an opportunity could be a developing market such as the Internet. A threat could be a new competitor in your home market. During the SWOT exercise, list factors in the relevant boxes. It's that simple.

To carry out a SWOT Analysis write down answers to the following questions:

Strengths:

What are your advantages?
What do you do well?
Consider this from your own point of view and from the point of view of the people you deal with. Don't be modest, be realistic. If you are having any difficulty with this, try writing down a list of your characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths!

Weaknesses:

What could be improved?
What is done badly?
What should be avoided?
Again this should be considered from an internal and external basis - do other people perceive weaknesses that you don't see? Do your competitors do any better? It is best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.

Opportunities:

Where are the good chances facing you?
What are the interesting trends?
Useful opportunities can come from such things as:
Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale
Changes in government policy related to your field
Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, etc.
Local Events

Threats:

What obstacles do you face?
What is your competition doing?
Are the required specifications for your job, products or services changing?
Is changing technology threatening your position?
Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?

Carrying out this analysis is will often be illuminating - both in terms of pointing out what needs to be done, and in putting problems into perspective.

A word of caution, SWOT analysis can be very subjective. At time two people rarely come-up with the same final version of SWOT.

TOWS analysis is extermely similar. It simply looks at the negative factors first in order to turn them into positive factors. So use it as guide and not a prescription. Adding and weighting criteria to each factor increase validity, but that's another aspect of it.

Now, you have become knowlegable about SWOT, it’s high time now you take a pencil and paper and carry out SWOT about yourself, your Organization and its Products/Services, your Family or practical whatever you are concerned about and want to improve. This is one of the very powerful tool to do so.

Nine Emotional Guidelines for Conducting Effective Meetings

Every day 11 million business meetings are held in the United States,
according to the Harvard Business Review. Of them, just 20 percent are
productive.

Well-run meetings are an asset to every company, and an essential mode
of communication, brainstorming and morale boosting for employees. But
if not conducted properly, your meetings could very easily end up
falling into the “complete waste of time” category.

So how do you ensure that every meeting you conduct is effective,
exciting and beneficial for everyone involved? Here are the tips you need to
know.

1. Recognize the real goal of the meeting.

If you believe the meeting is about you as opposed to the actual goal
of the meeting or organization, you will steer the meeting in a
direction that does not support the goal. So be honest with yourself about what
the meeting’s real goal is and behave accordingly.

2. Be a leader.

A major obstacle that can prevent you from conducting a meeting
effectively is being unwilling to truly lead.

This may be due to low self-esteem, negative self-talk, fear or even a
pessimistic attitude. Now imagine releasing your fears, your
inhibitions, your anxiety or your need to please.

This will become a reality when you let go of these good-for-nothing
feelings. You can wad up all those self-limiting feelings into a ball,
then throw them as you would a ball so you are free to take on the world,
or in this case to lead a productive meeting.

3. Let go of your need for approval.

Everyone, even those in charge of meetings, wants to be liked by their
colleagues. But if you let this need for approval get the better of
you, it will stop you from delegating tasks, making objective decisions
and otherwise focusing on the tasks at hand.

If you are having a hard time being the one who is in charge, let go of
wanting everyone to like you and focus on the job at hand.

4. Make sure it’s necessary.

Before you decide to hold any meetings, ask yourself, “Do we really
need this meeting?” Your answer will tell you whether to move forward.
As far as meetings are concerned, quality is always preferable to
quantity.

5. Invite the right people, and make sure they’re prepared.

One of the biggest time wasters at meetings is including people who do
not need to be there, and excluding those who do. Only invite the
essential people to the tasks at hand, and make sure you give them the
necessary information ahead of time so they can participate.

6. Set a time limit.

Meetings have a tendency to take on lives of their own, and can easily
absorb an entire afternoon if you’re not careful. To avoid meeting
overkill, set a firm time limit, and stick to it.

7. Let go of your fear of speaking.

Many people freeze at the thought of speaking their mind in front of a
group. You, however, can speak with confidence and charisma if you
release your fears.

8. Explain your objectives and expectations.

At the outset of the meeting, tell everyone what you hope to accomplish
before you depart. Also let the attendees know what you expect. Is it
a brainstorming session? An announcement? Will you be asking for
everyone’s opinion (if not, see number 4)?

9. Decide on the next action step.

Sometimes even the best meetings seem to fall into a black hole, and
all of your great ideas go along with it. During the meeting, make sure
someone is documenting the important points, and before the meeting ends
come up with your next step. A specific person should be put in charge
of the next phase of your goal, and a timeline should be established
for its completion.