By Joan Marques
One of the assignments I consistently apply in the
Business & Management classes I teach at a Southern California university is
for each student to read a book that relates to the course topic, and
present this book by the end of the semester.
Recently, my students shared a total of 20 books with each other, and I thought it would be interesting to formulate the most imperative message of
each book. For this purpose, my students and I engaged in a brief exercise
after each presentation day, in order to list the one-liners for the books
presented on that day.
The reason for sharing this information here is that the formulated
one-liners, although not necessarily new or groundbreaking, may entail an
important encouragement to the reader in his or her efforts to be the best
possible leader at work, or in personal life.
Presented below are the formulated one-liners:
· If you want your organization to make quantum leaps in progress, you
should establish focused teams toward well-defined goals, and cultivate the
spirit in these teams to the max! (Book: The Quantum Leap Strategy)
· When confronted with a problem: don't get paranoid, but analyze the gist
of it, and tackle it systematically. Problems are the forebears of change,
and change is inevitable, remember? (Book: Zap the Gaps)
· Although education is important in today's society, it is not a guarantee
for accumulating wealth: the most prosperous people are the ones that made
it without a college degree. (Book: Rich Dad, Poor Dad)
· Listen carefully to other people when they need your advice, but never
take the monkey of their back. Don't make their problem your problem, and
therefore, beware of using the term "we" when discussing an issue with
anyone, especially your subordinates. (Book: The One-Minute Manager Meets
the Monkey)
· Make sure that there is an appropriate balance between your work and your
personal life. Success is great, but it can kill you if you let it. (Book:
The One-Minute Manager Balances Work and Life)
· The wealthier people are, the more normal they act. Never estimate anyone
on basis of their looks: the average millionaire doesn't spend more than 100
dollars on his watch and less than 75 dollars on his shoes! (Book: The
Millionaire Next Door)
· Even the dullest workplace can be transformed into a vibrant, productive
environment, if you care to teach your co-workers that it's up to them to
decide whether they want to make their work-experience worthwhile or not.
This insight is based on the wisdom that you may not be able to change what
happens to you, but you do have the ability to determine your attitude
towards it. (Book: Fish!)
· Live your life in every area with the best intentions toward yourself and
the ones you're dealing with. A proactive approach, togetherness,
understanding, vision, synergy, and a good balance between all your
activities, should make you a well-adjusted, appreciated, and happier
person. (Book: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)
· Don't let your entrepreneurial spirit get killed by the emergence of a
business giant in your vicinity. You can always be smarter, faster, wiser,
and more appreciated than a slow changing, and often less popular business
bully. (Book: The Nastiest Retailer of All)
· Success is the one thing you work for after having defined it yourself.
Obtaining it will depend on your own input, the choices you make, and the
degree to which you want to stretch yourself. (Book: Success is Not an
accident)
· The most useful advise for accomplishing your goals is, to formulate them
well, and then develop a detailed plan on how to get there. Organization is
the key to reaching any target, no matter how prestigious. (Book: Getting
Things Done)
· Don't ever take anything for granted, no matter how safe and secure it may
seem. The day that you will have to reapply your flexibility and adaptation
to change may be nearer than you think! (Book: Who Moved My Cheese?)
· Make sure your negotiation strategies are in order: plan well on
achievable goals; establish trustworthy relationships with partners; confirm
that every party feels like a winner; and maintain the good relationships
after the negotiation. You never know when this relationship may become
useful to you again! (Book: The Win-Win Negotiator)
· Efficiency in performance is an inevitable part of success. Therefore,
always make sure that all stakeholders are happy: keep an eye on the level
of employee involvement, customer satisfaction, product- or service quality,
organizational growth, return on investments, and competitive advantage.
(Book: Six Sigma for Managers)
· Discover what your customers want, and then: deliver it continuously, plus
1%! (Book: Raving Fans)
· Rise above the shallowness of merely collecting material wealth. Life has
much more to it than physical status symbols. Remember: "The best things in
life aren't things after all." (Book: Affluenza)
· Find your sources for encouragement in everything around you, and apply
them toward yourself and the ones you live and work with. Good leadership is
about hard work, cooperation, cheering each other on, and allowing others to
lead as well. (Book: Gung Ho!)
· There is a time for everything: don't exaggerate it, but don't play it
down either. A good manager has an eye for his or her co-workers'
performance, and gives praise and reprimands in equal time, but most of all:
he or she teaches others to become their own manager. (Book: the One-Minute
Manager)
· Success entails trying to be exclusive in your efforts, and never giving
up. "It's always better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation"
(Book: First Break All the Rules)
· There is no pre-fabricated pill available for good leadership. It all
depends on knowing how to work with people; giving them enough belief in
themselves, assuring them that they can if they want to, and then: giving
them the opportunity to prove it! (Book: The Leadership Pill)
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Some Comments on Leadership
The best way to determine for
yourself what good leadership means for you is to wonder what you would
answer at age 85 to the following questions: · What would I have liked to
become? · What would I have liked to acquire? · What would I have liked to
experience? · What would I have liked to be my contribution? (How would I
like to be remembered?)
