Being A Head

Leader vs. Manager: change with the market and change your business model as necessary. It’s not just about alignment.

“A lot of those good leaders who came out of Sun understood and knew what I was trying to do when I picked an enemy, or when I picked a cause or when I put all the wood behind one arrowhead. It was about trying to align a bunch of really different people around a commonality of purpose. That’s what really great leaders do.” Scott McNealy, interview in Forbes magazine (McNealy: “Hire Great People and Delegate”)

Necessary but not sufficient. Be like Jack. Nimble. Quick.

Taking Off: My Last Weekend

I’m leaving Singapore tomorrow (Tomorrow = next week in INSEAD time. To be more accurate it’s later, since it’s past midnight) and I couldn’t ever DREAM of boiling down my adventures since my first weekend into a half dozen highlights. So. These are a half dozen things that I learned (for and about myself) in the last four months (4 INSEAD months = [7 INSEAD days/Real Life days x 30 Real Life days avg/Real Life month x 4 Real Life months] x [1 Real Life month/30 Real Life days x 12 Real Life months/1 Real Life year] = 2.33 Real Life years). Yeah, I know you checked that calculation. I’m right.

• Prioritize. Figure out what you want – find out what sets you on fire – and make It happen. Life is too short to over-focus on things that are not important to us. Dig deep, separate the noise from the signal, do the analysis and find your own personal Goal. As soon as you figure that out, put your heart and soul into turning the Dream into Reality. That means (1) you also have to learn to let go, because there are tradeoffs, and (2) you have to treat the things of which you’ve had to let go with respect, because respect is non-negotiable. Alternative stock tip of the day: people. They are what matter, so to the extent possible, invest in them. Prioritize them over letters and numbers. Bugger off to the Raffles Hotel before FMV to spend some quality time with Mr. Messy. Stay up until 8am organizing that fundraiser and reschedule your class to the afternoon section’s. Recycle your course packs (scan them if you have WOWs you want to enshrine), spend the night before FOM sharing Brazilian food and beverages poolside. One way to prioritize people that requires no trade-off but time – my favorite one of them all, needed in large quantities on a daily basis  -CHINA!!!