Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Beatles - Let It Be - HD

This is a wonderful song that comforts my soul. Inspired by the words of wisdom. The Beatles - Let It Be

Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Laura's Takeaway on Leadership

As part of the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York's Distinguished Leadership Committee, our team has created a series of talks and workshops on leadership for 2013 and beyond. Our successful kick-off event was with leadership consultant Michael Feiner and former professor at Columbia Business School. I'd highly recommend his book The Feiner Points of Leadership as the topic of leadership is complicated. 

There is a differentiation between leadership and management yet to be a leader, one needs to know how to manage people and every leader has a different style depending on the type of company he or she is running, or country or even a religion or philosophy like the Dalai Lama. Leaders implement visions like Feiner's law of "Building a Cathedral" - meaning convince your people that they're building a cathedral, not cutting stone. I believe this metaphor has also been used in Buddhism.  Hence, convincing people to build a cathedral also depends on the art of collaboration which leads us to our next speaker.

Sarah Miller Caldicott, the great grandniece of Thomas Edison, will give a keynote address on "Leading Innovative Teams" through collaborative methods. Sarah is an innovative expert, award winning speaker and trainer who has expanded Edison's paradigm of world-changing innovation and collaboration methods into the twenty-first century.  We're very excited about her upcoming talk on April 23rd. For more information, click on the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York link above. 

In short, collaboration is a vital part of the innovation process. Leaders need to leverage the diversity of strengths and information their teams bring to the table in addition to teamwork where everyone has a part to play.  We're truly looking forward to learning more about this superskill "collaboration" as a force for innovation in creating new products, services, companies, industries and who knows maybe even new philosophies and paradigms for peaceful co-existence in the world.

In summary, these leadership talks' series provide a real opportunity to learn and grow professionally as well as provide tools to enhance your personal life. 

That's Laura's brief takeaway on leadership development!