7 Lavas

Leadership is about building people.

7Lavas — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:55:14 +0000

: image via matthewhooper.com

Leadership is about building and developing people, it is not about building institutions and big companies. Big successful companies are the byproduct of developing the right people. Building a house is very easy, buy the tools, equipment and go to work, but how do you build people.

To build people you have to have a clear vision. Communicate your vision with your team. Panda Express have a vision, Panda Express wants to build an organization where people are inspired to better their lives.
To build people you have to explain to each one of them how they fit in your vision for the organization. If you want to known for the best customer service, hire people with great customer service, and inform them that you hired them because they have great customer service.
To build people you have to set a high expectation for them and let them strive to achieve them.
To build people you have to explain to them where do you want to go, and get out of the way, they will get you there.
Help people lead a better lives, be their mentor. Be their coach. According to John Maxwell developing people is the second best form of leadership, people will follow you, because of what you have done for them.
To build people you have to understand that you can delegate tasks but not responsibilities, If your team fail, you have to step up and be responsible for their failure.
Leadership’s main responsibility is to manage people and not tasks. If you find yourself managing tasks, please stop.

Do the right thing.

Integrity means doing the right thing.

7Lavas — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:00:02 +0000

via CBS news

I was a little kid, and I looked up to my father. I asked him ” What is integrity?” he looked me in the eyes, and said the following, ” I can not explain integrity to you, If I have not showed you what integrity is, I have done poor job raising you” I started to pay a closer attention to what my father does, and how he carries himself. Few days later, and I found the answer, integrity is doing the right thing.

Doing the right thing is something Joe Pa failed to do. He was fired last night, because he failed to do the right thing. He knew about somebody on his staff that was molesting children and he failed to call the police.

Remember, every time you are facing a difficult situation, just do the right thing. Do not ask who is right, just do the right thing.

Fuse the News

7Lavas — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:04:53 +0000

image via CNN

Joe Paterno is acting like a middle east dictator that refuses to give up his seat. Jo Pa as he called in the college dorms is a father figure for 1000s of players that he coached throughout his career, he has been the Penn State coach for the last 46 years, he is 84 years old who failed to contact authorities when he was informed of an assistant coach that who assaulting little children. Penn States board of trustees will meet this evening to decide if they want him to continue to coach until the end of this year as he promised this morning. He promised to retire at the end of the season. I do not care what this man is promising, I care that he failed to protect abused children, he failed to do the right thing, he should of called the police. Period.

No man should be bigger than the system itself.

The ugly side of Steve Jobs!

7Lavas — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:41:00 +0000

via cnn

Was Steve Jobs a genius? The more I learn about Steve Jobs, the more I dislike him. He was a troubled man that knew nothing about building relationships with others. It is very difficult for me to say this, because he tweaked the most used communication tool in our times, but it seems he rarely used it to communicate with others. He was abandoned by his father, and he turns around and return the favor for his daughter. His friend paid his daughter tuition, because he refused initially to help her. There are more facts that will come about him that will make me wonder about his legacy.

Seth Godin and Higher Education. Seth Godin values real life education versus formal education, I value both form of education, but given the choice, I will choose real life education. I know too many people that are doing great without a formal education.

Most Powerful People in the World.

7Lavas — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:32:41 +0000

via business insider

According to Forbes magazine president Barack Obama is the most powerful man in the world, Vladmir Putin is the second most powerful man in the world. Let me save you some time, and share with top ten most powerful individual in the world.

Barack Obama. (USA)
Vladmir Putin (Russia)
Hu Jintao (China)
Angela Merkel. (Germay Chancellor)
Bill Gates (Microsoft, USA)
Abdulluh Bin Abdul Azziz Al Saud. (Saudi Arabia)
Ben Bernanke. (USA)
Pope Bendict XVI.
Mark Zuckerberg . (Facebook, USA)
David Cameron. (UK)

Eight out of ten are politicians, what does that tell you? Politics matter. Politics come in different forms, family politics, office politics, and more.

I’m so glad that Mark Zuckerberg was able to to get that high on the list, and if it was up to me, he will be a little higher, he knows more about us that we know about ourselves. Bill Gates influence is huge, Bill Gates foundation reaches millions of people every year. What does it take to add your name to that list?

What does Dave Ramsey have in common with Car Talk?

7Lavas — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:16:31 +0000

Dave Ramsey is the man who turned his misfortune to create a fortune. He comes on the radio every day and talk about debts and money. Who wants to talk about debt and money? Obviously, Dave Ramsey wants to talk about them. Who wants to listen? 6 millions people in America.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi are two brothers who have a radio talk show about cars. Every week they come on radio and talk about cars, not their cars, but your cars. Listeners from all over USA call, state their car problems and ask for a solution. Tom and Ray offer solutions in a very funny way that transform every listener to a fan, and every fan to a follower of their show. They focus on solving people’s problem.

Dave and Car Talk focus on other people’s problems, and they offer a quick and easy solution to every problem. They focus on you (the listener), the customer. They are creative and innovative.

Dave and Car Talk provide a great value to the market place, what kind of value do you provide? Are you solving problems or are you hiding from them? When your phone rings, are you afraid to pick up the phone and talk to customers?

Be different.

Seek problems and solve them.

Our Economy

7Lavas — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:46:14 +0000

Our economy is failing us, but I believe that the people that live in your house have more control over your income than people who live in the white house.
Surround yourself with people who are willing to stay awake to encourage you to be better person.
I’m blessed, I have great friends.
Who is encouraging you to be better?
Stay great my friends.

Tribes

7Lavas — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:58:54 +0000

I just finished reading Tribes by Seth Godin, It was a good book, easy read, simple and straight to the point.

Tribe: is a group of people with shared interest that connected to each other.

There are tribes every where, and they need your leadership, step up, get noticed, get criticized and lead.

Do not focus on building a bigger tribe, focus on building a tighter tribe, it is not easy, it takes time but it is fun.

To be a tribe leader, you have to empower you follower and trust them to make decisions, give them knowledge and they will make the right decisions.

Leaders do not manage tribes, they lead them wherever they need to go.

Managers manage with knowledge, leaders lead with ideas and passion.

Managers react based on intuition and innate desire to survive.

Good managers respond based on their knowledge and expertise after careful logical explanation.

Leaders inspire their followers to make decision based on their passion and desire to improve the world.

Show your passion, what are you passionate about?

Leaders are rare because very few people are willing to go through discomfort and think outside the box.

It is not a choice, It is not an opportunity, it is an obligation.

Social media and the web made it easy for us to build tribes, to learn and succeed. Focus on building relationships everyday, every minute of your life.

Marketing is about telling a story, it s about communication and connection.

If you want to grow as a person or as a business support change do not resist it, look at the music industry.

Leaders should never love the system, should never get used to comfort zone, it is dangerous and inhibit growth.

Religion is a set of rules, faith is what we do to express them and live by those rules.

The status quo will always resist change, so you work is cut out for you, and it is not easy to change.