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A Simple Way to Keep Updated With This Blog (And Others)

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Many people subscribe to blogs in feed readers, where they can stay up to date with everything in one place. But there are also many people who don’t do that.

For those who use a reader, you can easily subscribe by clicking on the RSS icon up in your address bar or on this link.

If you don’t use a reader, there is still a very easy way for you to keep up with this blog. You can subscribe by email. Just click that link to sign up. Then, each morning the posts from the previous day will be delivered right to your inbox.

And if you don’t use an RSS reader but want to get started with one, Abraham Piper has a very helpful post on how to do that called What is RSS? A Step-by-Step Guide to Google Reader. He writes: “If you follow these instructions, you will be subscribed to your favorite sites and already saving time by the end of this article.”

What Does a Leader Do?

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So much has been written on leadership, yet the concept of leadership often remains vague and unclear. The first reason for this is probably that many books on leadership are average to bad.

But even good books on leadership often fail to provide the core clarity that goes right to the heart of what leadership is. For example, Marcus Buckingham points out that the book Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence details “nineteen traits that effective leaders are supposed to possess.”

I have that book on my to read list, but now I’m afraid to read it. How are you going to keep 19 different competencies in mind? It is hard to apply such a broad spectrum in the day-to-day.

To be sure, it is helpful to understand the characteristics of something, especially leadership. There is much value in that.

But, before that, I would argue that you need to know the single, underlying core of a matter. Knowing the 19 characteristics of this or that is not going to be sufficient guidance. It’s too much — and too little — at the same time. They need to be integrated into a bigger idea.

You need to know the core of a matter so that you have a context for understanding the broader characteristics of it (in this case, leadership). So, what is the core of leadership? What is the essence of what a leader does?

Maybe the authors of Primal Leadership do this. But successful attempts at this are rare. I have seen nothing more helpful than the definition of leadership that Marcus Buckingham gives in his book The One Thing You Need to Know: … About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success.

Buckingham’s definition is not simply the best of a bunch of “good but still not exactly right” attempts; it resonates. When you read his definition, you immediately get it. Finally. You have an aha moment (at least I did), and realize “that’s it — that’s what leadership is.”

So, what does a leader do? Buckingham’s answer is:

Great leaders rally people to a better future.

A great leader does not control people, he rallies them. He rallies them to realize and bring about a vision of a better future.

Buckingham especially emphasizes the future-oriented nature of leadership:

The two key words in this definition are “better future.” What defines a leader is his preoccupation with the future. In his head he carries a vivid image of what the future could be, and this image drives him on. This image, rather than, say, goals of outperforming competitors, or being individually productive, or helping others achieve success, is what motivates the leader.

Don’t misunderstand. An effective leader might also be competitive, achievement oriented, and a good coach. But these are not the characteristics that make him a leader. He is a leader if, and only if, he is able to rally others to the better future he sees. (The One Thing You Need to Know, pp 59-60.)

One last thing: This means that a leader must have a talent for optimism. If you are not an optimistic person, nobody will want to go to the future that you see. Leaders rally to a better future. “As a leader you must believe, deeply, instincitvely, that things can get better” (p. 63).

Web-Enabled TV Sets Not Too Far Away

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You can already access the web on your TV through devices like the Apple TV and so forth, but this requires hooking up devices external to your TV. Now it looks like web-enbabled televisions are on the horizon, as Yahoo, TV Makers Unveil Deals to Webify the Tube:

TV and the Web are converging, but until recently most of the movement has come at the Internet end. Broadcast channels are increasingly putting current episodes online, and U.S. audiences for Web video were up 34% in November 2008 over the previous year, according to new metrics from comScore.

Now the other side of the equation is starting to move, with the announcement by Yahoo that it has lined up manufacturing partners who will build high-definition TVs that will let viewers access Yahoo online services directly from their big home screens.

At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday Yahoo revealed that it would work with Samsung electronics, Sony, LG Electronics and Vizio to build TV sets that can access the Yahoo Widget Channel.

The new service will use factory-installed software and the Ethernet connections used to provide cable TV to connect viewers with Yahoo TV widgets, small applications they can click while watching programming to get news, weather and finance reports from Yahoo.

Another widget will let users browse through photo’s they’ve stored on Flickr, Yahoo’s photo-sharing portal.

Among non-Yahoo content, TV audiences will also be able to click on widgets that access eBay, Amazon, Twitter, Netflix, Blockbuster, music service Rhapsody and the Web sites for CBS, the New York Times, USA Today and Showtime.

Present Like Steve Jobs

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BNET has a good 7-minute video on giving better presentations called Present Like Steve Jobs. “While most speakers merely convey information, Jobs inspires.”

Here are the main points:

  1. Unveil a single headline that sets the theme. For example, “Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.”
  2. Provide the outline. For example, “I’ve got four things I’d like to talk to you about today. They are …”
  3. Open and close each section with a transition in between. Make it easy for listeners to follow your story, letting your outline serve as guideposts along the way.
  4. Don’t be stiff and formal. Have fun and be excited about your company, product, service.
  5. If you offer numbers and statistics, make them meaningful. For example, don’t just say “we’ve sold 4 million iPhones to date.” Say, “that’s 20,000 each day since it was released.”
  6. Make it visual. Don’t fill your slides with mind-numbing text and charts. Paint a picture for your audience without overwhelming them. Use video clips, demonstrations, and guests.
  7. Identify your memorable moment and build up to it.
  8. Rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse some more.
  9. Give your audience an added bonus to walk away with. “One more thing …”