Many Reasons To Get Off The Bed – LEGACY

According to WHO, in 2015 the average life expectancy at birth of the global population was 71.4 year. This means that, in average one has 26061 days to build a legacy. Of course, legacy is not only passed on when one dies. It happens in many transitions in life – from student to a professional. From individual contributor to manager, our kids upbringing and so on… And to me, legacy is construed in everyday life with small or big actions!

For some time now I have adopted the habit of working out early in the morning – usually around 5:00 am. This year and motivated by a close friend, I resumed running and it is impressive how it boosts your energy for the day and the myriad of ideas sparking in one’s mind with working out – there is a scientific reason for that but will not get into details here.

Chewing the fat with this same friend (who encouraged me to resume running) a few weeks ago, he mentioned that the Vicar of our local church and who was an avid runner himself, had prematurely passed away during one of his run earlier that week – heart attack while out running. On the Sunday after that, I went to this church with my son – aiming to participate the sermon but also expecting to hear his eulogy – something I came to know living abroad as it is not common in Brazil.

It was amazing. Whole community was there and his family too. In sum, the Curate conducting Sunday morning sermon said that he was

‘An example in many ways. A great and respected leader, head of family and a trustworthy friend who anyone could rely on for advice and support. A sporty man who loved run and occasionally spent time in the jazz club. A great reference to anyone he interacted with.’

His legacy! And, I believe, building his legacy was (consciously or not) what took him out of the bed every day!

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Are you really successful?

I want to give you hope so you can get right back up and achieve it, what is that? GENUINE SUCCESS!

“If the success you achieve has been at the expense of your health, your family or a negative change in your personality or character, is not really a success”

I DECIDED that: “No matter how high I grew in my professional life, I would always pray to remain as truthful to myself as I’ve always been. I don’t want to change to the extent of losing myself, forgetting who I am and where I come from”.  My decision has a lot to do with the upbringing I received from my parents and is based on the respect for all, without distinction.

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The Communication Continuum

How space and time can transform our communication

What is it that gives other people confidence in you?

What is it that defines you as a credible, confident, authoritative communicator of ideas and vision? Gives you gravitas? Says to people that they should take you seriously?

It’s pretty simple really. It’s all about space and time.

In (not quite) the same way physics brings space and time together to form the space-time continuum, so it is that how we bring together our personal relationship to space and time will define our impact as communicators. A Communication Continuum, if you like. 

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It takes a village…

‏In the short time since I last submitted a blog it seems the world has taken another step along the path to crazy. The scandals of Weinstein, Westminster, and Spacey et al say nothing good about the world in which we live…

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Five things no one likes to hear and why

In my youngsters days I felt uncomfortable when someone told me one of these five phrases. I’ve now learned how to act upon them.

In my youngsters days, at some point, I felt uncomfortable when someone told me one of these phrases, and even though I’ve learned how to act upon them, these for me are the top 5 things no one enjoys listening to and I want to share them with you. I’m pretty sure you will even agree with me on the reasons why.

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Employment Engagement – A Vicious or Virtuous Cycle?

Building a culture of engagement, although manager carries the most responsibility on it, it goes hand-in-hand irrespective of job level or title – be it a manager, director, president or a janitor. Everyone shares responsibility on the overall group engagement.

Employee Engagement – how do you go about it? Is it an annual event or integrated part of your culture?

Gallup recently published a report stating that only 15% of the global workforce is engaged.

 ‘Worldwide, the percentage of adults who work full time for an employer and are engaged at work — they are highly involved in and enthusiastic about their work and workplace — is just 15%. Though engagement levels vary considerably by country and region, in no country does the proportion of the employed residents who are engaged in their job exceed about four in 10.’

It is undoubtedly a very alarming finding. So, who is responsible to raise Employee Engagement? The common answer is the manager. I do, however, agree about it partially. To me, it is a team effort. Everyone holds responsibility in it and following are my reasons.

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Indispensability, passion and goodness

In our continuous striving to achieve more, do we risk considering ourselves indispensable and seek undue reward rather than give for the greater good?

Many moons ago, I worked on the project that conceived, developed and launched the world’s first debit card.  The initiative was led by a terrific individual, Bill Hislop, now sadly passed away.  I was reminded of his verve and vitality as a leader by the background that appeared on booting up Windows 10 earlier this week.

I remember Bill speaking to a group of new graduate entrants and showing two cartoons.  The first showed a climber atop a mountain peak with the caption, “It’s now how far you’ve come…”  The second showed a broader perspective of the landscape with the climber standing on what could be considered a mere hillock looking out to a Mordor-like mountain range; the caption read, “… it’s how far there is to go.”

The background picture off Windows was this:

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Never Touch a Painting when it’s Wet – A Story About Constant Care…

 

 

This article is about constant care and the maturing process. When I started working in shipping I wanted to work in operational execution.  I applied so many times and never got the opportunity.  I overheard a manager make a comment about me once: “He doesn’t have the required emotional intelligence to work in operations”.  That did not make me feel very happy.  Then I experienced the greatest motivational drive for me, that stubborn feeling when someone tells me that I cannot do something.  It took me years and several applications to finally get to where I wanted to be.  I was offered the wonderful opportunity of leading a team overseas.

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Living and Leading in Turbulent Times

How do we respond positively to challenging events and turbulence and learn lessons for life and leadership?

My recent period of turbulent times started innocently enough – with a neighbour giving us a bunch of wilting Sweet Pea plants (Lathyrus odoratus). The plants were not showing much sign of life, so I decided to save them. What then followed were a series of challenging events which, taken in the whole, have provided some valuable lessons for life. But this is not a horticultural blog so what I’ve looked for is how life informs leadership, and vice versa.

Now that I’m almost freed from the shackles of daily commercial endeavour, I find I take more valuable time to reflect on the lessons that life throws at me. My friend and Guest Author Domingos Silva put it so well in his recent Blog article: “I never lose. I either win or learn”. Domingos in turn was quoting from Nelson Mandela.

What were my challenging events – my turbulent times – and what were the lessons for life and leadership?

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7 Opportunities To Be The Talent Your Organization Is Looking For!

We never stop being an individual contributor. Being a leader of others or leaders of leaders, we will still have peers. And, as member of a management team, we need to collaborate with them so our teams can deliver results which will support the overall business strategy. Yes, leaders are individual contributors.

We very often see and publish articles about leadership and what is expected from us in such roles. Less common are the articles about individual contributors and what is expected from them (us) in general. Do you consider yourself being a good Individual contributor?

Being an individual contributor doesn’t mean that we should act individually. It is empirically proved that we achieve greater results when we peer up and collaborate. Basis on that, we never stop being an individual contributor. Being a leader of others or leaders of leaders, we will still have peers. And, as member of a management team, we need to collaborate with them so our teams can deliver results which will support the overall business strategy. Yes, leaders are individual contributors.

So, what is expected from an outstanding ‘individual contributor’?

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