Executive Intelligence

Last December I finished reading Justin Menkes’ Executive Intelligence. It was a fine read.

At the heart of the book is the idea that most great successful enterprises, all great innovation, ideas and researches, are efforts of not one person but of a group of people working together. The great leader is one who produces great results, and he/she does it by surrounding himself/herself with great people. And that any leader who could harness the power of these great people are bound to achieve the task they are expected to deliver, or to realize their dreams.

There is however a caveat to this. How should you be able to know if you are surrounding yourself with the best people?

Justin Menkes’ answers focuses on the following characteristics of star leaders, regarding three of the most common focus of managerial job.

Task

A star leader has this innate ability to define a problem. They would know what should be done first, and could asses the necessary action for the specific problem. Some people might be exceptionally brilliant in pure analytics, but then some problems go beyond pure analysis. It is those ability that one must posses for the person to execute well.

Other People

A star leader must be able to recognize the underlying agendas of other people. He/she must also be able to understand multiple perspective, and equally important is the ability to anticipate emotional reactions.

Self

A star leader must be able to identify his/her own flaws and mistakes, and must be able to learn from it. He must seek the advise of others, he/she must be able to take constructively any form of criticism, and adjust accordingly.

POSTED BY luvinc ON 02.03.09 @ 1:57 am | 0 Comments

2009 Things to Do

Today is the first day of the year, 2009, and as I ponder about the things that I wish to do or changed, I remember my blog which have been idle for quite some time. Hopefully, this first post will usher me to a more prolific writing year.

There are things that I have put on hold, like the small book that I started writing a few years back, which I intend to tackle bit by bit this year. I would write at least one page every week, a goal which is not really heavy, so in kaizen approach I would be able to give it the necessary form.

I also have to complete the business plan for the business that is already operational but without the business plan, nor the operation manual which consultant would advise every startup business entrepreneur to have. I know it is important, and I promise to follow their advice.

POSTED BY luvinc ON 01.01.09 @ 11:08 am | 0 Comments

My Valuables

Titling this post as Canon of Values, or Value Code is tempting but the fear of being preposterous won over. On hindsight, the choice of the word alone would somehow show a glimpse of who the writer is, and what are those that he/she values more. In my case it tells me that I value what other people might say about my written work.

For some, the critique matters less or not at all. This is a personal blog anyway. But for me, the critique is a controlling aspect of my writing style. I would often argue in favor of substance as against style, believing that the message is more important than the way the message is being drafted, but my fingers would not press the keys when something seems to bother me.

Honesty is one. When I feel not true to the words, or when I am just writing just for writings sake, or what the young would like to say ‘ek-ek lang’, I can not find the strength to write. I must not pretend to know something or I don’t write. Or I should find the justification why I should write on that topic.

This justification idea came about because of expertise thing. When writing about economics, my first reaction is that, what made you think you have the right to discuss economics when you know so little about the topic? On the other hand, I also told my self, do I need to be an expert to discuss something? Why? What’s wrong with it?

POSTED BY luvinc ON 08.10.08 @ 1:29 am | 0 Comments

On Formal Schooling

A non conformist I had become. It is easy for me to see different angles, the uncommon views. I am also not afraid to walk the unfamiliar route. And it would work to my advantage when I delve into the mundane world of business. In business one has to see new opportunities, unserved market, the school of fish in the blue ocean. However, I have less desire to catch all the fishes; I am more of a learner who would love to know where those fishes are, or how to catch those fishes.
 
Dropping out of school is dificult to justify. It is easy to cite Bill Gates, one heck of a drop out. But Bill has something that most people don’t have to start with. He was born to a wealthy family. His father was a top notch lawyer, and his mother is a banker, so is his grandfather who was a national bank president. But when you have no other resources but your brain and brawn, dropping out of school closer is far from a wise decision.
 
In life, in sports, or in business; it is easier to start by leveraging several resources like financial capital, connection, skills, training, education or natural talent. But I will never say that it is not possible to still make it. Because even with limited resources, which would mean a slow start,  a start is a start. That a wild fire always begins with a spark.
 
Did I made the right decision? Would I advice my kids to follow my footstep?  Considering our differences in temperament and enfluences, up bringing and changes in environment; honestly, I would not advice them to follow my steps.
 
Self study has a limited potential. It is more difficult, and is prone to misdirection.  It is more of a trian and error type, where so much time and effort are being wasted. In business parlance; it might be effective but it is obviously inefficient.
 
On the contrary, the formal schooling method offers a more focus learning module. More knowledge is being acquired in shorter time. The school environment also offers the opportunity to developed organizational, people skills which in the modern times is prevalent working paradigm. How often do we hear the phrase; ‘the sum of all its parts is greater than the whole,’ ‘In unioun there is strength,’ ‘Together we could achieve more.’
 
Gone were  days when the encyclopedic mind of one man would hold the key. People don’t think alone these days, they do brainstorming. They do research as a team. They do business as a group. Lone ranger has long been buried.  

POSTED BY luvinc ON 08.05.08 @ 1:14 am | 0 Comments

The Unschooling

When a person study in earnest, the natural consequence is the accumulation of knowledge. Which eventually lead to new interpretations of phenomena, or problem that has betwixt mankind. Armed with so many tools, the learned could unravel the complexity of the universe, not unlike the select erudites of the past. They are like the observer on top of the hill watching how the world go by.
 
I made myself to believe that I am one of them. The erudite who knows what is best for himself, what is needed to succeed, I dropped out of college. Armed with the overflowing confidence of the youth but not a credential to prove my ability or acquired knowledge, without much ado I get entangled with worldly nuances, believing that I could change the world.
 
I could still dig the heroic tinged of those times, and I now know that I was right then but that I also made some mistakes. There is no regret. I limited my options, I choosed the difficult path, and I suffered setbacks, encountered moments of uncertainties, but all were temporary and are now behind me.
 
The greatest lesson is that one’s choosen path, no matter what, is not an obstacle. It is not what you failed to do, or what you don’t have; but what you can still do, and can still have that will matter most.

POSTED BY luvinc ON 08.02.08 @ 12:20 am | 0 Comments

The Becoming

Freuds psychoanalysis? It may appear too assuming for a highschool reader,  and truly it is. But I was not reading the real thing. It was actually the readers companion, it is a sort of psychoanalysis for layman. The real reason I was reading that book was my interest in the minds of geniuses (hehe..because I was trying to fit my self into the mold).
 
The natural drift lead me to Comte’s sociology writings, to Smiths Wealth of Nations, to Russel, Sartre, Keirkeigard. Reading their works without really understanding. Up to now I can not truly grasped the meaning of existentialism or the positivism, except the positivism of Peale and the pragmatism of Pierce.. How about Das Kapital? Of course. I’ve even read a Red Handbook, how brainwashing was being carried out. 
 
The drift would lead people to think, that I would become an activist. No I never was. But I was very unconventional. A non-conformist. The leftover spirit of the 60’s youthful uprising. I could already see flaws with the social system, with our education. The accumulated knowledge became the seed of disbelief.
 
The more I read, the cracks that I could see with the system is  growing even bigger and deeper, and the bigger it goes the temptation to repair it became stronger. It reach the point when I no longer wanted to be part of the system which for me then is full of cracks. I thought it was crambling. I told my self that success is not hinged on the diploma but on the knowledge. On true education. That if you are truly educated, no matter where you are, no matter what you do you can hack it. I never became the activist, but a sort of a reclusive hermit. Withdrawn from the system.
 
I became like what Peter Drucker would term, the gold fish out side the pond. It was quixotic minus the sword. Fighting the enemy by not being in the ring. The right battle with the wrong tools, and trying to win by default.

POSTED BY luvinc ON 07.29.08 @ 11:11 pm | 0 Comments

Reading Journey

Not according to what I thought I would do, I wrote. To be honest about it, in college (I have been to two college universities, Silliman University and University of Southern Mindanao) writing is not one of the many things I would love to do. Actually writing and politicking are at the farthest sprectrum of my interests. (Politics is another topic that I would write later that also appealed to me quite unexpectedly).
 
Writing perhaps was just an offshoot of my readings, which covers just about everything and anything where there are printed words. From komics to wrappers, or from a highly technical scientific journal to mathematical permutations. The first books that enthralled me (meaning I don’t understand what i there) was Id, Ego,Super Ego book of Sigmond Freud, I was in 4th year highschool then. But like everyone, I also tried Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. The last book I remembered reading in high school was The Power of Positive Thinking by NV Peale. (So I became a positivist). 
 
First year college. One of my room mate, Roy Laoagan, is a book worm, he has this cartoon filled with paperbacks, and I was once again introduced into the world of commercial  literature… of Robert Hudloom (did I spelled it right?) and Harold Robbins. But similar to my Hardy Boys adventure, I never finish one Harold Robbin’s book. Of the numerous Ludlum book, I can only remember one title, The Matarisse Circle. Literary work is perhaps not my cup of tea. I still have to finish Tolstoy’s Ana Karenina,  or the War and Peace. The fartherst of my literary reading journey is Checkov’s Short stories, and Sionel Jose’s Rosales saga.
 
Reading is fun, and it stimulates the mind. I love doing it but here in my home province, reading does not pay. So I was forced to do something else.
 
(next of my reading journey are the works that enfluenced my future. Why I quit school,  and the repercussion of my decision). 

POSTED BY luvinc ON 07.28.08 @ 1:42 pm | 0 Comments

personal journey

Where am I leading? What the future holds for me? In silence, would often asked my self. The road ahead is as dark as alketran (asphalt). I eventually ended trying my luck in business. With no experience to begin with, I stumbled and fumbled. Actually I was forced into it because I was already having my first baby then, and I thought that was the only sensible way for me to support my family.
 
The decision, though, to get married was the result of my impatience in wanting to put a semblance of stability to my life, thinking that the familial responsibilities would force me to embrace the pragmatism of successful people. Unfortunately, there is a big stubling block that I failed to forsee. The lives of the likes of the economist Thorsten Veblen, Sartre, and all those eccentrics enfluenced me that made me impractical. I would often say that money is not important, always insisting that we could survive minus the mundane enfluence of money. And trully,  we did survive. Those were very difficult times, and to try to survive is not an easy task.
 
In between difficulties and survival, I would still read, would still dream of one day making it. Yet, during those times, I don’t have a clue what direction I would take. I would try this and that. I eventually became a writer.  I don’t exactly recall the twist and turns of it because writing in the first place was never one of my cup. I was enthralled with science, I can play a nice game of chess (yeah I can beat a  rated player-like an IM- then), but writing, nuh. I was not even a school paper writer. The writing path though is quite easy, and in so short a time, I found myself writing a twice a week newspaper column.
 
(tobecontinued) 

POSTED BY luvinc ON 07.23.08 @ 1:48 pm | 0 Comments

Question and Answer

Given so much choices, it is difficult to have a diffinite direction. Early on, I was wondering what role would I like to play. I thought I was going to be a scientific researcher, only to find out that I don’t have the necessry educational preparation to hack it out in the world of science. For a couple of years, I really bored into the libraries (there were no internet then), scientific american, etc. And eventually I realized how far behind am I. I really thought then, that if I only have the preparation I could make it, but as the years went on I have serious doubts about my self belief. Yes, I have doubts because I have difficulties in basic mathematics. I know how to integrate, how to differentiate, but I really have a difficult time relating this mathematical tools to practical application. The world in not revealed in numbers.
 
And like most of us, I quit the track, and tried to find my space somewhere. The result is that I drifted to nowhere.  
 
(Next: Where am I leading?) 

POSTED BY luvinc ON 07.22.08 @ 1:36 am | 0 Comments

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POSTED BY luvinc ON 07.19.08 @ 4:56 pm | 0 Comments