Get your brain in motion
Ed Gelbstein, former director of the United Nations Computing Centre with long experience in International management, has summarized in a table what is expected from those who want to be a senior manager or leader in international activities.
Here is the summary which is the combined skills of Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli, Peter the Great and Houdini!
There are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown hopeless about them.
Clare Boothe Luce
Image source: Flickr – Hartwig HKD (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Tact is the art of telling the truth without hurting one’s sensitivity. It can be very important in negotiations and in conflict resolution. Tact encompasses many things, such as emotional intelligence, discretion, compassion, honesty and courtesy.
Mind Tool has published an article with several examples concerning the capacity of being tactful and lists 5 strategies to develop tact.
1. Create the right environment and think before you speak
2. Determine the appropriate time
3. Choose words carefully
4. Watch your body language
5. Never react emotionally
Read the full article
Image source: Deviant art – Noyipi-reaver (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
Harvard professor Linda Hill, co-author of “Collective Genius,” Linda Hill, spent a decade studying leaders of innovative firms in the US, Europe, India, and Asia.
The idea was to come up with a set of tools and tactics to keep great ideas flowing — from everyone in the company, not just the designated “creatives.”
In this TED, Linda Hill talks about what’s the secret to unlocking the creativity hidden inside your daily work, and giving every great idea a chance.
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
John F. Kennedy, speech prepared for delivery in Dallas the day of his assassination, November 22, 1963.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
In his book “Twenty-four hours at No. 4 Grosvenor Square” (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1978, pp. 19-20), the Italian diplomat Roberto Ducci has masterly depicted the qualities an Ambassador should have:
” Better that the ambassador be square than sinuous, honest and truthful than scheming and artful; let him be uncompromising in vital matters and ready to compromise on small questions; sincere with his own and with guest Government; straight in his inner self, even if sometimes frivolous in his demeanour. Frivolity should be worn by him like his orders of chivalry, without taking them seriously. Honesty, thoroughness and charm (intelligence goes without saying) are the qualities of a good ambassador. Imagination, a much rarer gift, makes the ambassador great.”
Image: Wikipedia
John Hall is an accomplished CEO, who usually shares his views and knowledge about leadership. In an article published on Forbes, he focuses on a crucial aspect for good leadership: teambuilding. Since there is no leader without a team to lead, teambuilding is fundamental. So here are Hall’s 12 advises to succeed in creating the best team possible:
To deepen these concepts, you can read the full article here
Image source: Flickr – Naparazzi – (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The trouble with the future is that it usually arrives before we’re ready for it. ― Arnold H. Glasow
Image source: Flickr – backofthenapkin -(CC BY-SA 2.0)
54 lessons organized in 8 chapters, each of them covering an aspect where soft skills play an important role: career management, getting the job done, communication, handling critics, office politics, self-promotion, dealing with differences and leadership.
In her book “The hard truth about soft skills – workplace lessons smart people wish they’d learned sooner“, Peggy Klaus, tells us about the importance of soft skills on workplace, trying to understand why they are still so often ignored, although they are fundemental in our everyday work. The problem is semantic? What is soft cannot be considered serious? The matter is that most of us think that they are about touchy-feely people skills?
Among the 54 lessons pinted out by Klaus on the basis of her work experience:
1. Knowing yourself is as important as knowing how to do your job
2. Learn when to stick and when to shift or the details will hang you
3. Know where to draw the line between self-improvement and self-destruction
4. When it comes to gossip, learn the art of deflection
5. Don’t take it personally
6. Your procrastination is trying to tell you something
7. Keep your visibility when you are not face-to-face
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