One Minute MBA

Got a minute? OK, you want to do business or manage one. A lawful one? Well, that's Legal Framework. Law or perhaps a mini-course on Ethics.
You look at today's papers and you want to imitate successful people. That's LEADERSHIP. Managerial effectiveness. What's your project? Its called OPERATIONS. You want not only to make things but also to market your products or services. You shout it sooner. It's MARKETING. You need warm bodies, followers. Practise ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR or Human Resources Management. To help you weather the competitive storm make sure your figures are as good as your judgement. They used to refer it as STATISTICS but can come in more fashionable clothes like, Information for Business Decisions. Now money falls on your lap. Make sure to re-invest it. Think FINANCE. It will make you financially literate. It comes along with another language of business called ACCOUNTING, without which you cannot function in business. Soon you'll want to impress your peers and friends on supply and demand curves which get wired to edgy markets. That's ECONOMICS. In today's recession, government intervention is the saviour or else Hell Break Loose!. There are of course many other 'invisible' hands in the economy that drive or stifle competition. Don't be left behind on ICT. Take up Business Information Systems. You'll be surprised how current and sophisticated your communication/presentation skills can be. May I ask on which side of the fence are you? An 'intrapreneur'? Look deep into your heart. If you can stomach Schumpeter's ' gale of creative destructon' go and be an entrepreneur. And finally don't leave the house without it. STRATEGY. The idea is to be victor of the market place instead of victim. Take it from Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' - to subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill. That's my friend is the MBA mindset in one minute.

Green Matters

It started with the hippies flower power. Then the Beatles adopted the flower power as a symbol of 'Give Peace a Chance' movement. Soon the flower power was synonymous with environmental movement and anti-establishment ideas.
The greening of business idea was churned into successful marketing tactics and strategy by green marketeers promising products that are natural and environmental-friendly.
However green matters much less to customers than do price, quality, convenience, past experience, brand recognition and others' recommendation ( word of mouth). Increasingly businesses will find it a tricky balancing act to navigate between the demands of stock holders, market share and ethical business philosophy.
How can organisations remain ever so competitive with environmental marketing? First they need to capture the imagination of the younger generation who shop online towards a worthwhile sustainable cause e.g. Earth Hour. Secondly they need to pursue eco-labelling their products or services. Management need to re-focus on green matters. One potential growth trend is eco-leadership.
The green idea like what its colour literally signifies will grow. But like a garden, the beauty of its appeal may disappear a while when the flower wilts and drop on the garden floor to nourish the whole garden ecology. But soon a multitude of flowers may spring out to bring forth yet renewed growth and vigour to the garden.

Plan the Work, Work the Plan

An entrepreneur has to plan his work, then work his plan.
In spite of all the vision, analysis and strategy, no success will be achieved without working out the plan i.e. implementing it correctly and efficiently.

Eagles,Ducks, Sheep and Cats

One Minute Sketch - Eagles, Ducks, Sheep and Cats

Act 1; Scene 1

Alice: Would you tell me, please which way ought I go from here?
Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don't care much where-
Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't matter which way you go.

Remember cats have nine lives and they are mentally agile,too.

Act 1; Scene 2

Few people come into your life without a reason. For best example- You and your spouse are a team. Act like one. Entrepreneurs need warm bodies, without which there is no company. Like the marriage make sure you commit to spending time together outside of meals and sleeping. Shout it: " Have Fun! It's all part of the job description!"

Act 1; Scene 3

At work, don't create a company of ducks. Let your people soar like eagles to deliver superior customer service. As an entrepreneur you want to lead them with love by tearing down fear.

Come to the edge.
It's too high.
Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
And they came.
And he pushed them .
And they flew away.

Step out of the box. 'You must always do the thing you cannot do' (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Act 1; Scene 4

Don't lead sheep. Herd cats. Richard Branson tells : It is easy to herd sheep, but impossible to lead them from the front. Cats, on the other hand are independant and intelligent and those are the kind of people we want to employ at Virgin.

(Before the curtain falls)

" What a man can be , he must be. This need we call self-actualization" ( Abraham Maslow)

And they lived happily ever after.

End.

Credits:

David McNally - Even Eagles Need a Push

Ken Blanchard et.al. - The One Minute Entrepreneur

Richard Branson - Screw it, Let's do it!

Steven Silbiger - The 10 - Day MBA

9 C's of Leadership

Lee Iacocca has distilled his experience and has come out with 9 C's of leadership.

• CURIOSITY
• CREATIVITY
• COMMUNICATION
• CHARACTER
• COURAGE
• CONVICTION
• CHARISMA
• COMPETENCE
• COMMON SENSE

It is not necessary to have all these qualities in one person. What is important to realise is that at different times a different emphasis is required. e.g. with Ronald Reagan it was about Character and Communication. Today's America according to Lee requires a leader who have the following desired qualities; Curiosity ( what motivates people to go for global progress), Communication ( truthful), Character (born of crisis the leader demands equality of sacrifice with him showing the example), Competence ( to select the best team and solve problems both ideals and real issues)

Reference: Iacocca, Lee ( 2007) Where Have all the Leaders Gone?. Simon & Schuster, London.

Leading Paradigms

Who is a leader?

A leader is a person you will follow to a place you wouldn't go by yourself.

( pg.163, Joel Arthur Barker, Paradigms - the business of discovering the future (1993)

Guess how he does it?
A leader lead between paradigms.

While managers enhance paradigms e.g. through quality circles or continuous improvement ( evolution), leaders with their intuitive judgement assess the seeming risk, determine that shifting paradigms is the correct thing to do and because they are leaders instill the courage in others to follow.

The concepts can be applied in 2 examples as illustrated below:
#1 Keep your paradigm; change your customer
e.g. Deluxe Corporation( formerly Deluxe Check Printers) was excellent in printing bank cheques . They expand this competency into bank forms, office forms,computer forms,direct-mail greeting cards and into electronic funds transfer, so that they keep their old customers and make many new ones they never knew before.

#2 Change your paradigm; keep your customer
e.g. IBM had a strong base of corporate clients in the big computers but ventured into personal computers to prevent their corporate clients from deserting them and going to Apple or Radio Shack for their desktop computers

Can paradigm shifting be learned?
Yes, we can be trained to look with new eyes.

Warren Bennis differentiates between a leader and a manager:

The manager administers; the leader innovates.
The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective
The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
The manager has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon.
The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

( Boof reference: Barker, Joel Arthur ( 1993) Paradigms - the business of discovering the future. Harper Business, New York.)

Process plus Proceeds

Warren Buffet commenting on leveraged buy-outs said: "We enjoy the process far more than the proceeds, though we learn to live with those also." ( extract: pg.168,David McNally,Even Eagles Need a Push"(1990)

Entrepreneurship - Wat you mean?

Entrepreneur (noun)
A person who makes money by starting or running businesses, especially when this involves taking financial risks

Entrepreneurial (adj): entrepreneurial skills

Entrepreneurship ( noun)

Ref: Horby A S ( 2005) , Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English(7th Edition), Oxford University Press, UK.

Initial Notes

Initial Notes:
I start this blog today in Kuching to put on record snippets herein as SOUND BITES that fleets my mind. Don't want to lose precious gems. At the same time would like to share them as tiny news that can be consumed on daily basis over this BIG WIDE WORLD of the Internet.