Accent..

Was sent a link to a Russell Peters show on Google, and he mentioned something that I just realized was very true, at least for me. When we say something in English, we carry teh accent of the place where we are, but when we speak in Tamil or our native language we sound very Indian. Its like Singapore, when I speak in English its Singapour and when I speak in tamil its singapoor.. think about it...

Leadership is not about domination

Who should acknowledge your leadership skills? Your own team or the the outsider? So, spinning that a bit, who is a better leader, one who dominates and rules by fear or one rules by example and gets everyone to follow willingly? I am not going to argue the fact that we have many an example for great successes using the former approach, but again they belong to a time where people were classed and the public accepted tagging the line as long as they had a roof to live under and food to eat. We dont belong to such an era anymore, the individual (and egos) demands personal attention for everything these days. These are times where men and women pay another person £20 an hour for standing besides them while they are doing 20 mins over the treadmill, 20 mins over the cross-trainer and the rest doing sit-ups and push-ups. Not that I am very prudent with my money, but even by my poor standards this is plain stupid.

Getting back to the main topic, while at a meeting recently. One of our partners, a major force with the IT Sector was fronting a bid for a govt project. At teh open house, the leader (We shall not reveal the sex of the person, so as not to be judgemental) chose a public stage to exhibit to others gatthered there, who the boss really was. I was just sat there thinking how wise a move it was, because this person just had exposed the single point of failure for every single competitor gathered there. If I were on the opposing side, I would go, 'Break that one and they lose'. I personally would prefer a leader who makes the team look invincible, bring out the best in them so the opposition has to second guess the driving force behind the team. That way the team learns, and if one has an off-day, another steps up