Yesterday's Admissions Team (photo by Margeaux)
Friday, March 16, 2007
10:40:35 PM
March 16, 2007 9:06 AM - Lecture Notes - Steve Farber.
www.stevefarber.com
Steve Farber: Author - Extreme Leadership and Beyond
Position of Authority has no relationship to Leadership or personal title.
“No Posers” - Example
Baggy Pants were initially popular among skateboarders for practical reasons. Later, they became popular among other people who didn’t even skateboard; these people are known as “Posers”
The same idea can be applied to leaders. Some people are leaders and some people simply “Pose” as leaders and May not actually lead.
Extreme Leadership - L.E.A.P.
(Cultivates) Love
• “... Many leaders use the word love freely when talking about their own motivations to lead...” Study conducted on thousands worldwide. -Kouzes and Posner: The Leadership Challenge
• Why would you “stick your neck out” and take risks if it wasn’t something you are passionate about.
• Makes your work meaningful
• Steve Jobs - Stanford Grad 05 Speech
(Generates) Energy
• When a group has more energy they are far more likely to be more productive
• Leaders who are “zombies” simply create clones of themselves
• Company Profile Gillette:
- The company seeks out people who are passionate about what they are doing. The professional Razor tester “We bleed so you can shave.” “We own the face” - they manufacture far more than razor-blades, they create a great shaving experience.
• “What’s exciting about the work that I/we really do?”
(Inspires) Audacity
• Leadership Definition : A Bold and Blatant disregard for normal restraints...
... In order to do what?
- Thinking outside the box vs. What Box?
• ... In order to Change the World for the Better.
- Definition of world doesn’t necessarily mean the “entire” world.
- Think of all the smaller worlds you encounter. i.e. A single person, a family, an organization ect.
• Example: Hallmark Retirement
- “ When a person’s biggest risk is trying to get through the day without falling down, that’s not a great life”
- Introduction of risk into their lives. They can prove to themselves what they can still do. It inspires audacity “What else can I do as well?”
- Every Spring, they head to Guatemala to do community service work.
• Business model
(Provides) Proof
• “Do What You Say You Will Do”
- People watch everything you do. People are more likely to imitate actions rather than what you are saying. If your words don’t align with your actions you lose credibility.
What does Leadership “Feel Like?” - Do I really want to do this stuff? Are you willing to scare yourself to change the world?
“There are many people who think they might want to be matadors, only to find themselves in the ring with 200lbs of bull bearing down on them. And then they discover that what they really wanted was to wear tight pants and hear the crowd roar”
Pursue the “OS!M”
“Oh Shit Moment” - The natural human reaction to a situation where change is about to be evoked.
If you think you are leading but you don’t have any OSM moments; you probably aren’t.
No OSM = Poser Category
Everyone’s OSM is different. Something that one person finds easy is not necessarily the same for others.
“Connecting the Dots of Your Life”
www.stevefarber.com
I’d like to somehow make some generalization on what I’ve taken out of this program so far as becoming a global citizen. One of the big things that I’ve gained from this experience so far has been perspective. Everyone has their own view of the world and how they see themselves in it. Some peoples perspectives are very narrow because they aren’t exposed to things outside their own culture and society. So far I’ve stayed with 6 different host families, each with their own unique lifestyle; with many more to come. It wasn’t until I had broken out of my own “cultural bubble” that I was able to take a step back and realize the reasons why sometimes people think and act the way they do, its like finding a 5th dimension to reality. I mean, often times the US has a very bad reputation in the world and the people are often stereotyped as gun toting cowboys. I can say that there hasn’t been an American that I’ve met yet that has agreed wholly with what the country has been doing on the world stage. As a matter of fact, the host family that I have this week is actually very anti gun. Another postulation that I’ve drawn from my UWP experience is that though though we differ at the cultural level; we are all just people with the same basic needs and aspirations. I believe that I’m only going to see a continuation of this trend as we go on. Last night on the way back from supper, I had a chance to have a long conversation with my host dad on this topic.
Today itself was pretty so so I guess. I still am not 100%, which is scary considering the two shows tomorrow as well as supercrew at 5AM and stage Strike until after 11PM. I’m calling it “Judgement Day”. Anyhow, we had the guest speakers in the morning and pizza for lunch. The porridge that I’d had for breakfast was really good as well, it was made just in the same fashion as the first bowl I’d had here. After lunch, we went to the country music hall of fame. There sure was a lot of stuff to see there with highlights including the original black fiddle that was played by the person that wrote “The devil went down to Georgia”.
In the afternoon, back on the Belmont campus, we wrapped up an activity called “Johari’s Window” that had happened on Tuesday when I was out. It involved each cast member writing their name on an envelope and then going around to everyone elses envelope and leaving constructive criticism on a signed note. Unfortunately, some people in the cast took this as an opportunity to unleash the built up frustrations that they had with certain people. One note was even given to a girl simply saying “Go Home”. Sad but true. One of the reasons why this happened was, as we found out, that most of the people in the cast solve problems best by avoiding them. We completed the Thomas-Kilmann Mode Instrument Test in which we were classified as either Avoiding, Accommodating, Competing, or Compromising. I scored almost equally in the Avoiding - Accommodating category. This fits well with my social style of Thinker-Listener. Anyhows, many people got hurt from this activity. I can say though that I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job of keeping my head above the water. I know that I annoy people sometimes but you can’t please everyone all the time. I don’t think that there is any point to wasting time in this program stewing about what a couple of other people think of you. Smile, take it all in, and learn form it. Its all Good™.
Unfortunately, the grandmother in the family suffered a pretty bad fall this afternoon and at last notice had broken her wrist and hip but otherwise is ok and in good spirits. Its not like she was planning to go to tonight's Justin Timberlake concert downtown anyhow. For supper it was just Gill and I. He cooked up some Pasta and Clams in a parmesan Alfredo sauce. Mmm Mmm Good. I’m doing my laundry tonight and trying to pack what I can as tomorrow is a write off. I want to keep Sunday stress free. Its all Good™
Pictures are in reverse chronological order today.
Cooking Supper
Johari's Window
Peppe, Bringing YoYo Back!
Visual Arts center
Standing on the Soul of Counrty Music
Canada's Own
Devil's Own Fiddle
Playboy: Braille Edition
Silver, Gold, and Platinum too!
Restoring Vinyl's
Gold Plated Cadillac
Lobby
Rockin Out, Outside that is
Pizza For Lunch; Yay!
We Proudly Drink Starbucks
Mr Farber
Armando and Margeaux on the morning shuttle
My Road Machine, The Core 2 Duo, 15 inch MacBook Pro.
