The online sign-up portion of the Affordable Care Act, affectionally known as Obamacare, was rolled out last week to a resounding failure. Why did it fail? It was set up to do so by the government. Let's look at some key strategies for failure.
Force participation by people from every congressional district so that there is no clear leadership
Put it on hold during the sequestration crisis
Maintain an artificial deadline that is linked to elections, not the likely date that the system is actually ready to go
Put it on hold again during the goverment shutdown
Have half your stakeholders working to force it to fail so that they will feel vindicated by its failure (I love this great example of negative stakeholders to use during my training classes)
Refuse to delay the go-live despite to all the previous delays
Cut the testing time to a couple of weeks to ensure the go-live occurs on time
The company I work for now spends a lot of effort doing computer system validations. While I usually stay above the fray, concentrating on the project management aspects, I recently jumped in to assist in the testing phase of a moderate computer system at a small pharmaceutical company. This testing phase will take four months when complete. How did anyone expect Obamacare to be tested in a matter of weeks?
I'm glad to see the Project Manager taking responsibility for the failure. I only wish she had stuck up for her team and refused to honor the artificial deadline imposed by the president. It would have been late but it would have been properly tested. A poor roll-out spoils the program for future users.
Having recently read Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' I saw many similarities between war and managing projects. Call the enemies risk and chaos and most of the 2,500 year old advice applies quite well. So I am going to dedicate a few posts to what I humbly call: 'The Art of Project Management.' I give Sun Tzu full credit for his observations. I simply paraphrase him to shift the advice to my field.
Chapter Three
Risk Management
1. Sun Tzu said: The good Project Managers of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, then waited for an opportunity of defeating the project risks.
2. To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating risks is provided by the risks themselves.
3. Thus the good Project Manager is able to secure himself against defeat, but cannot make certain of defeating the risks.
4. Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it.
5. Security against defeat implies risk management; ability to defeat risks means Planning Risk Responses.
6. Risk Avoidance indicates insufficient strength; Risk Acceptance, a superabundance of strength.
7. The Project Manager who is skilled in Risk Avoidance hides in the most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in Risk Acceptance flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven. Thus on the one hand we have the ability to protect ourselves; on the other, a victory that is complete.
8. To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.
9. Neither is it the acme of excellence if you execute and succeed and the whole organization says "Well done!"
10. To lift an autumn hair is no sign of great strength; to see the sun and moon is no sign of sharp sight; to hear the noise of thunder is no sign of a sharp ear.
11. What the ancients called a clever Project Manager is one who not only succeeds but excels in succeeding with ease.
12. Hence his victories bring him neither reputation for wisdom nor credit for courage.
13. He succeeds in his projects by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory; for it means conquering risks that have already been mitigated.
14. Hence the skillful Project Manager puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating his risks.
15. Thus it is in Project Management that the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
16. The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus it is in his power to control success.
17. In respect of Risk Management, we have, firstly, Plan Risk Management; secondly, Identify Risks; thirdly, Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis; fourthly, Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis; fifthly, Plan Risk Responses; sixthly, Monitor and Control Risks; seventhly, Success.
18. Plan Risk Management owes its existence to the organization; Identify Risks to Plan Risk Management; Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis to Identify Risks; Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis to Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis; Plan Risk Responses to Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis; Monitor and Control Risks to Plan Risk Responses; Success to Monitor and Control Risks.
19. A successful project opposed to a failed one, is a pound's weight placed in the scale against a single grain.
20. The onrush of a well-planned project is like the bursting of pent-up waters into a chasm a thousand fathoms deep.
Having recently read Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' I saw many similarities between war and managing projects. Call the enemies risk and chaos and most of the 2,500 year old advice applies quite well. So I am going to dedicate a few posts to what I humbly call: 'The Art of Project Management.' I give Sun Tzu full credit for his observations. I simply paraphrase him to shift the advice to my field.
Chapter Two
Executing
1. Sun Tzu said: In the execution of a project, where there are in the field ten extended team leaders, as many technical experts and a hundred team members, with supplies to run the project for one year, the expenditure at home and in the field, including the entertaining of customers, small items such as paper and shipping, and sums spent on travel and housing, will reach the total of $30 million.
2. When you engage in project execution, if success is delayed in coming, the team member's skills grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay a protracted siege to an obstacle, you will exhaust your strength.
3. Again, if the execution is delayed, the resources of the company will not be equal to the strain.
4. Now, when your skills are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other companies will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
5. Thus, though we have heard of stupid waste in moving to execution too fast, cleverness has never been associated with long delays.
6. There is no instance of a company having benefited from a long delayed project.
7. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the complexities of project executions that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.
8. The skillful Project Manager does not ask to increase the budget, neither are the same parts ordered twice from his vendors.
16. Now in order to work long hours when required, the team must be roused to excitement; that there may be advantage from completing the project, they must have their rewards.
17. Therefore in weekend and late night work, those should be rewarded who volunteered first.
20. Thus it may be known that the Project Manager is the arbiter of people's fate, the man on whom it depends whether the company shall succeed or fail.
As Solar Power becomes more prevalent, there is a push to store this energy for night-time use. I've posted before about storing wind energy in people's water heaters and electric cars. Here is a new method that stores heat in salt which melts until it is needed again. The system is small now but can be expanded. Currently the Arizona utility buys all the energy produced by this method.
The Nobel Prize in Economics went to three economists including Shiller, who theorized about housing price bubbles and P/E overpricing. I like the graphic that went along with the article and want to access it myself at times so I post it here for anyone's convenience.
Placed next to each other like the New York Times did in another example of their excellent graphics department, one can see how a soaring stock market drives a housing bubble. The drop we saw in 2006 was predicted and we still seem a little high so don't get that second mortgage to finance your child's education just yet.
Having recently read Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' I saw many similarities between war and managing projects. Call the enemies risk and chaos and most of the 2,500 year old advice applies quite well. So I am going to dedicate a few posts to what I humbly call: 'The Art of Project Management.' I give Sun Tzu full credit for his observations. I simply paraphrase him to shift the advice to my field.
Chapter One
Laying Plans
1. Sun Tzu said: The Art of Project Management is of vital importance to the company.
2. It is a matter of survival or bankruptcy, a road either to success or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
3. The Art of Project Management, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
4. These are (1) The Moral law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Project Manager; (5) Method and Discipline.
5,6. The Moral Law causes the Project Team to be in complete accord with the senior staff, so that they will follow them regardless of their careers, undismayed by any danger.
7. Heaven signifies night and day shift, winter and summer, times and seasons.
8. Earth comprises distances, great and small and the technologies used to cross these distances.
9. The Project Manager stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness.
10. By Method and Discipline are to be understood the forming of the team in its proper extended teams, the graduations of rank between leaders, extended team leaders and team members, the maintenance of vendor supply lines and control of budget.
11. These five heads should be familiar to every Project Manager: he who knows them will be successful; he who knows them will not fail.
12. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine to best project, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise:
13. (1) Which of the two projects is most in accord with the Moral Law?
(2) Which of the two Project Managers has the most ability?
(3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?
(4) On which side are methods and discipline most rigorously enforced?
(5) Which Project Team is stronger?
(6) On which team are the leaders more highly trained?
(7) On which team is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?
14. By means of these seven considerations I can forecast success or failure.
15. The Project Manager that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will succeed: let such a one be retained in command! The Project Manager that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will fail: let such a one be dismissed!
16. While heeding the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules.
17. According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one's plans.
I'm so proud of our new pope! There are thousands of articles, radio and TV interviews and social media posts discussing how humble this new leader is. From the moment he was elected and chose to pay his own bill in the residence, we knew we had someone new in charge.
He is quietly taking on the staid traditions of the church, not allowing himself or the church be intimidated by the 'gay lobby' and all the entrenched bureaucracy. To the general public he is embracing everyone, including atheists. He is backing down from the controversial positions the church has held, not rejecting them, but refusing to let these positions alienate people.
Too bad the man isn't younger. I'm looking forward to many years of his stewardship of the Catholic church.
I have a lunchtime exercise routine when I'm in Morristown that takes me up a nearby hill to an old Revolutionary War fort site. It offers good cardio workout and a splendid view from the top:
So I'm taking my walk yesterday and the gate is closed and adorned with a beautiful plastic banner that is adorning all National Parks this week. I saw the same banner on the Lincoln Memorial. Here it is:
How much money did it cost to print and distribute all of these banners? The government shutdown was supposed to save money but all I can see it that it's costing extra money and all these workers are going to get paid anyway. But that's not my main beef here.
I can understand that they get furloughed and cannot show up to work. But what right do they have in closing parks like this and the Lincoln Memorial? And the various memorials in D.C.? The workers are not needed there. I've been to the Lincoln Memorial and it is basically a big stone building with a statue inside. Why can we not walk around inside? What right do these non-workers have to prevent us from seeing them? Is this just the government trying to spite the citizens because they cannot reach a budget agrreement with the opposition party?
So being the typical Australian who cares little for authority, I walked around the barrier preventing me from getting my exercise and climbed to the top and back down again. Surprise, surprise, I managed to do this without the park workers, (who I've never seen all the years I've taken this walk by the way). When I arrived back at the barricade, there was some kind of uniformed officer waiting to talk to me. (Did I mention there was also a sign warning me of a $65 fine for trespassing on this National Park?)
I saw him from a distance and practiced in my head what I would say to him. My thoughts ran this way: This is a hill. I use it for exercise. You don't own it and you better not try to prevent me from walking up it because of your stupid government shutdown. I don't need any workers to help me climb up and down this hill.
The actual conversation went this way:
Officer: "You do know this park is closed, right?"
Me: "Yes, but this is my usual lunchtime exercise."
Officer: "Oh. Are there any more people up there?"
Me: "Yes. There's a wild Tea Party orgy going on!"
Actually that last line stayed in my head as I replied "No."
So what do we do? Allow the government to continue to spend us into bankruptcy? Default on our loans? No. It is time to make some serious cuts in government workers, and remaining workers' benefits and pensions. We need to bring some fiscal responsibility back to our government spending. So fire a quarter of the government workers and only hire back the good ones. That's what happened in the private sector and we are doing just fine.
My cousin recently retired early from San Jose's city government for a simple reason. If she left now, she would not have to face the drastic cut in pensions and medical benefits she would incur if she stayed a year longer.
San Jose is in the news yesterday as the latest municipality that is trying to deal with all the benefit promises made to its municipal workers. While Medical care and pension for life made sense 50 years ago when people died 5 years after retirement and a birth cost $5.00, ($5.50 including circumcision), these benefits are not sustainable today. People are working 20 years and then retiring with these expensive benefits and living another 40 years.
The unions who negotiated these benefits were not negotiating with a management team who was trying to keep the company profitable but with the elected official they supported in the first place. As a result, these ridiculously generous benefits are bankrupting cities, states and soon the nation.
Those of us in the private sector watch pensions transform into self-directed 401(k) plans and our share of medical medical coverage soar to $600 a month. It's time government workers took on the same burden.
Where are the leaders who are going to take the reins of these troubled communities and make the tough choices to bring them back to financial solvency?
Read today's NY Times article to see how this problem is affecting a large, middle-class, tech-savvy city like San Jose. Soon it will be affecting you. Get ready.
It's a sad day when we unfavorably compare the leadership of the USA to that of Russia but it happened today. Obama has been backpedaling on Syria, drawing lines in the sand and then backing away. Declaring he will do something about a dictator, then asking for Congress to vote and withdrawing that. Asking for UN approval, then getting upset when he doesn't get it. Where is the strong leadership we are used to seeing in the White House? Are we back to the malaise of Carter?
Meanwhile, Putin puts an Op-ed piece in the Times explaining his position on Syria. No flip-flopping, based on the rule of law as enshrined in the UN charter. Hard to argue with. Read the text below and decide for yourself.
A Plea for Caution From Russia
What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria
By VLADIMIR V. PUTIN
Published: September 11, 2013
MOSCOW — RECENT events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.
<nyt_byline>
Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.
The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America’s consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.
No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.
The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.
Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.
Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria? After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all.
From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today’s complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.
No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.
It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”
But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.
No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.
The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen nonproliferation, when in reality this is being eroded.
We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.
A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action.
I welcome the president’s interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations.
If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.
My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.
Right after I saw the movie Witness, I've always wanted to assist the Amish in a barn-raising.
Seeing a worthy project like this from groundbreaking to completion in one day, watching the whole community pitching in to help a young couple, it all brought tears to my eyes. I've been fascinated with the Anabaptists since, visiting Lancaster county multiple times and reading about them whenever possible.
I watched a documentary recently and saw how, after some maniac shot a bunch of Amish children, they had pity for the shooter's widow and attended his funeral.
In yesterday's Times, I read an article detailing how, ever since Hurricane Sandy, 1,300 Mennonites have been volunteering in Far Rockaway and Staten Island, rebuilding destroyed homes. Some are even commuting from their Lancaster County farms after putting in a full day's farm work, then volunteering for another day and commuting back the three hours. Others are coming in from Ohio, staying in temporary housing built by Amish carpenters and trucked to the sites.
abin Botsford/The New York TimesMennonite volunteers are living in Far Rockaway in trailers built by Amish carpenters.
They assist the neediest cases: cancer victims, wheelchair-bound, handicapped. They plan on helping out for two to five years. And there is no proselytizing. They are here only to rebuild other's homes. Humble heroes indeed.
On the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech and 150 years after the Gettysburg address, I think it fitting to let these leader's words speak for themselves. I have the full text of the Gettysburg address and the ad-libbed "I have a dream" speech below for anyone's reference. But first, I include the song I have been crying about all day: Abraham, Martin and John.
The Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg, PennsylvaniaNovember 19, 1863Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.I have a DreamWashington, DCAugust 28, 1963
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father's died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi -- from every mountainside.
Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring -- when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children -- black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics -- will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Hah! I love it. A city in Spain is getting revenge on dog poop law scoffers by delivering their dog's poop back to them at home.
In Brunete, Spain, the mayor found that the most consistent complaint he received was about the presence of errant dog-poop so he set about to reduce this problem. His earlier program was less successful, more on that later, but this one works. All dog owners seem to be carrying plastic bags now, a rare sight in Spain and dog poop complaints have been reduced by 70%.
This article goes into more detail. The big question I had while reading it was: How do they know whose poop it is? Undercover volunteers, after witnessing a crime, will meet the owner and admire the dog, asking its name and breed. From there, a quick look at town records reveals the address. The poop is packaged in a white box and delivered to the door titled: Lost and Found. When the owner signs for the package, they get a lovely surprise.
Oh, and the previous failed project. A remote controlled plastic poop that would bump into people's feet to raise awareness. Both programs are shown in the video below:
Teresa Crane forwarded me this article and asked if I would like to present it. I agree with all the advice so I post it below. The original article is posted here.
According to The Job Outlook for the College Class of 2013 by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), nearly all of the top ten bachelor degrees for hiring in the current job market involve leadership ability. These include some of the most popular degrees offered online, such as business administration and marketing management (November 2012). Furthermore, even if you are an e-learner who does not intend to pursue a direct supervisory role, “leadership” is an often cited soft skill on most prospective employers’ lists of wants for their employees.
Clearly, leadership is a new trend in hiring, and graduates about to enter the workforce must be prepared to develop and demonstrate that they have this talent. But what is meant by “leadership skills,” and how do students, especially e-learners, attain and document that they have such abilities? To help guide you, here is an explanation of what employers are looking for and ways you can show them you have leadership skills.
Leadership Defined
Most experts agree that leadership can be a bit difficult to define. Therefore, David Mielach of Business News Daily went right to the source, the leaders of business and industry, to discover, “10 Ways to Define Leadership” (27 December 2012). The answer that stands out most of all is the definition offered by business consultant, Kendra Coleman:
Leadership is an act — a decision to take a stand, or step, in order to encourage, inspire or motivate others to move with you. What’s more, the most effective leaders do not rely on their title, or positional power, to lead. Rather, their ability to use their own personal power combined with their use of strategic influence are what make them effective” (qtd. in Mielach. 27 December 2012).
Most see leadership as the ability to take proactive, preventative, results-producing action. This has no connection to a job title or position. Rather, the group of experts Mielach interviewed sees leadership as an inner strength that inspires outward results, a sense of vision that envelops others and guides a team to further success.
There are a few additional traits that are often mentioned.
Additional Characteristics
Some additional attributes of leadership should also be kept in mind. Good leaders are:
• Flexible with people and situations: According to author and expert trainer,
leadership involves the understanding of when to direct, coach, support, and/or delegate to co-workers as a supervisor or team member based on the context.
• Entrepreneurial/Intrapreneurial: They have the creativity and dynamism to operate outside the box to problem solve and get things done whether you are owning and operating your own business (
in class and obtain letters of recommendation from professors, collect relevant feedback (e.g., on assignments from faculty and other students), and save copies of your best work.
• Lead group projects and document what you did and why; be careful to do this in accordance with the characteristics described above rather than in a pushy way.
• Take specific courses related to leadership, and if possible, take some independent study classes that would allow you to work with a professor on a topic specifically related to leadership development in your field.
• Obtain certifications related to leadership by checking what is offered by your school (e.g., See these offerings by
• Consider entry-level jobs, internships/externships, and volunteer positions in which you may develop and increasingly demonstrate leadership skills. Your department and/or school should be able to assist you with finding a suitable position.
How to Document Leadership for Employers
Now that you understand what leadership is and have some ways to gain skills in this area, it’s also time to think about how you will demonstrate this to employers. Here are some suggestions to get you started.
• Most application processes still rely on the traditional cover letter and resume with transcripts, though often this is presented via an online application site. Follow a
that will highlight what you can do, and be sure to add a specific (sub)heading for “Leadership Skills.”
• Online applications will often allow you to attach transcripts, additional documents, and/or electronic links. Take full advantage of these options to add scanned copies of certifications, screen shots of your work, letters of recommendation, sample projects—anything you have done or are currently involved with that shows you are a leader.
• Software options exist that will also help you demonstrate your leadership skills to potential employers. Consider using
as an up and coming leader in your field within social media sites, such as
Twitter
,
Facebook
, and
LinkedIn
. Share links to these sites with prospective employers within your application.
Pursuing, documenting, and demonstrating that you have leadership skills can take time; however, the knowledge that employers are increasingly looking for talent in this area, especially in some of the top career fields, should motivate you to take action. You also do not need to accomplish all of the above steps at once. Rather, try to focus on one or two ways each semester and gradually build an impressive portfolio for employers and online presence that brands you clearly as a leader.
If you have any additional tips or suggestions, please share them in the dialog box below or via Twitter.
Toyota donated their efficiency model to New York's food bank instead of money this year. And what a difference this made.
James Estrin/The New York Times
Daryl Foriest, director of distribution at the Food Bank’s pantry and soup kitchen in Harlem, was skeptical at first of the Toyota engineers’ efforts. “The line of people waiting to eat is too long,” he told them. “Make the line shorter.” They did.
According to this recent NY Times article, teaching the Kaizen model to the food bank decreased lines for dinner from 90 to 18 minutes, filling bags from 11 to 6 minutes and packing boxes from 3 minutes to 11 seconds.
The kitchen, which can seat 50 people, typically opened for dinner at 4 p.m., and when all the chairs were filled, a line would form outside. Mr. Foriest would wait for enough space to open up to allow 10 people in. The average wait time could be up to an hour and a half.
Toyota made three changes. They eliminated the 10-at-a-time system, allowing diners to flow in one by one as soon as a chair was free. Next, a waiting area was set up inside where people lined up closer to where they would pick up food trays. Finally, an employee was assigned the sole duty of spotting empty seats so they could be filled quickly. The average wait time dropped to 18 minutes and more people were fed.
With student loans becoming crippling for new college graduates, some are looking for more creative financing models. Today's Times explores a couple of these new options. In Pave and Upstart, people can invest in students to fund their education or business ideas. For example, one student needs $30,000 in exchange for 7% of his income for his first 10 years in his career.
Stuart Isett for The New York Times
I was intrigued and went on these websites to see who I could invest in. I was disappointed in the few who wanted to fund their education and the plethora of those who want to start some crazy start-up or become well-educated but poorly paid social workers.
I like the idea but want to see more solid investments before I send any of my money their way.
With all the corruption rampant in India, it is a refreshing surprise to see a huge proejct like the Delhi Metro come in on time and budget and actually make money. How is this possible? A great article in Australia's The Age looks into this to find that the project's success hinges on the personality, strength and confidence of the Project Manager, E Sreedharan.
Sreedharan agreed to take on the Delhi metro on one condition: no political interference. He hired a small, motivated staff, solely on merit, paid them well, and sent them overseas to study how the world's best metros worked. He insisted on developing expertise within the organisation, rather than relying on consultants.
Deadlines and budgets had to be realistic and achievable; but once set, they were not to be altered, save in compelling circumstances. Once a decision was made, it was final. If anything went wrong, there was no hunt for scapegoats, only for solutions. A colleague told Forbes magazine that in 30 years of working together, he never heard Sreedharan shout at anyone.
There was no mercy, however, if the issue was corruption, so rife in India. Anyone caught was out immediately. Sreedharan ignored the rule book on competitive tenders to award tenders to firms he trusted - but if they failed to deliver on time, quality and budget, they, too, were out. Politicians used to pulling strings to get jobs or contracts for their allies found their strings were cut.
Mr. Sreedharan was named India's man of the year for his efforts and the government won't let the 81 year-old man retire.
Douglas Engelbart, the computer visionary who changed the way we use computers died this week.
In a single epiphany in 1950, he envisioned the way computing should be done. At this time, huge computers were fed punch-cards by a single person trying to solve one problem at a time. According to this recent NY Times obituary, this is what Dr. Engelbart envisioned back then:
In his epiphany, he saw himself sitting in front of a large computer screen full of different symbols — an image most likely derived from his work on radar consoles while in the Navy after World War II. The screen, he thought, would serve as a display for a workstation that would organize all the information and communications for a given project.
Looks similar to what we do now doesn't it? (Al Gore was 2 years old at the time) But Dr. Engelbart didn't just leave it there. He went ahead and created the elements of this vision.
A decade later he established an experimental research group at Stanford Research Institute (later renamed SRI and then SRI International). The unit, the Augmentation Research Center, known as ARC, had the financial backing of the Air Force, NASA and the Advanced Research Projects Agency, an arm of the Defense Department.
The SRI is widely acknowledged as the founder of the Internet.
In December 1968, he set the computing world on fire with a remarkable demonstration before more than a thousand of the world’s leading computer scientists at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco, one of a series of national conferences in the computer field that had been held since the early 1950s. Dr. Engelbart was developing a raft of revolutionary interactive computer technologies and chose the conference as the proper moment to unveil them.
For the event, he sat on stage in front of a mouse, a keyboard and other controls and projected the computer display onto a 22-foot-high video screen behind him. In little more than an hour, he showed how a networked, interactive computing system would allow information to be shared rapidly among collaborating scientists. He demonstrated how a mouse, which he invented just four years earlier, could be used to control a computer. He demonstrated text editing, video conferencing, hypertext and windowing.
A prototype of the first computer mouse, which was invented in 1964 by Dr. Engelbart and constructed by two of his associates.
In contrast to the mainframes then in use, a computerized system Dr. Engelbart created, called the oNLine System, or NLS, allowed researchers to share information seamlessly and to create and retrieve documents in the form of a structured electronic library.
The conference attendees were awe-struck. In one presentation, Dr. Engelbart demonstrated the power and the potential of the computer in the information age. The technology would eventually be refined at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center and at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Apple and Microsoft would transform it for commercial use in the 1980s and change the course of modern life.
Years later, people in Silicon Valley still referred to the presentation as “the mother of all demos.” It took until the late 1980s for the mouse to become the standard way to control a desktop computer.
Check out the presentation here. It's quite eye-opening to see history in the making.
Another football player succumbed to Parkinson's disease last week. This time it was Jim Hudson, one of the heroes of the Jets' unlikely victory in Superbowl III.
His brain and spine were donated to Boston University to those researching the link between trauma and neurological disease.
“He was a hard-hitting, tough football player,” his wife said. “What he wanted to do was help researchers come up with alternatives to protect players better, especially kids coming up.”
According to this recent article, products are starting to come out that measure the amount and severity of hits to the head. Reebock is selling a washable beanie called ChecklightTM that measures impacts to the head and indicates the severity with a simple yellow or red light.
The X-Patch sends impact reports over wireless to the sidelines.
As a parent and a coach, watching my kids taking hits in soccer games, this is information I want. I attended an excellent concussion training course put out by the CDC and learned that the most important thing to do is to take kids out of the game when they sustain any head trauma. But how do I judge the severity of heading a ball, crunching into another player, banging into a goalpost or just falling down without one of these units?
The NY Times article asks a tough question: Will opposing players try to knock other players out of the game by setting off their sensors? That kind of headhunting would need to suffer serious consequences.
Will one of the answers coming out of this research be that helmets in NFL football actually increase the chances of head injuries because they encourage the use of a helmeted head as a weapon, rather than something to be protected during the game?
