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9 Attributes Of The Best Entrepreneurial Leaders

- on 5/11/2013 05:02:00 PM - No comments
Creating and building a business is not a one-man show. It requires a team effort, or at least the ability to build trust and confidence among key players, and effectively communicate with partners, team members, investors, vendors, and customers. These actions are the hallmark of an effective leader.

Behind the actions are a set of principles and characteristics that entrepreneurial leaders, like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, seem to have in common. Look for these and nurture them in your own context to improve the odds of success for your own start
up:

  1. Clarity of vision and expectations.     You must be able and willing to communicate to everyone your vision, goals, and objectives. Just as importantly, you have to be absolutely clear about who you are, what you stand for, and what you expect from everyone around you. People won't follow you if they are in the dark or confused.
  2. Willingness to make decisions.     It is often said that making any decision is better than making no decision. Even better than "any decision" is a good decision made quickly. Business decisions always involve risk, at times a great deal of it. Smart entrepreneurs always balance the risk with facts, when they have them, rather than their gut.
  3. Experience and knowledge in your business area.     Effective leaders set a personal standard of competence for every person and function in the start
    up. It must be clear that you have the knowledge, insight, and skill to make your new company better than your very best competitor.
  4. Commitment and conviction for the venture.     This commitment must be passionate enough to motivate and inspire people to do their best work, and put their heart into the effort. Behind the passion must be a business model that makes sense in today's world, and a determination to keep going despite setbacks.
  5. Open to new ideas and creativity.     In business, this means spending time and resources on new ideas, as well as encouraging people to find faster, better, cheaper, and easier ways to produce results, beat competition, and improve customer service. Be a role model and guide others to excel.
  6. Courage to acknowledge and attack constraints    . An effective leader is willing and able to allocate resources to remove obstacles to the success of the start
    up, as well as removing constraints on individuals on the team. It is believing that where there is the will, there will be a way.
  7. Reward continuous learning.     You have to encourage everyone to learn and grow as a normal and natural part of business. That means no punishment for failures, and positive opportunities for training and advancement. Personally, it means upgrading your own skills, listening, and reading about new developments and approaches.
  8. Self-discipline for consistency and reliability.     An effective leader is totally predictable, calm, positive, and confident, even under pressure. People like to follow someone when they don't have to "walk on eggshells" to avoid angry outbursts, or assume daily changes in direction.
  9. Accept responsibility for all actions    . Everyone and every company makes mistakes. Good entrepreneurs don't want to be seen as perfect, and they have to be seen as willing to accept the fact that "the buck stops here." No excuses, or putting the blame on the economy, competitors, or team members.

The good news is that all of these principles of leadership are learnable. The bad news is that it's not easy. Don't assume that success as an entrepreneur is only about great presentations, killing competitors, or having insanely great ideas. It's really more about leadership, understanding the needs of your prospective clients, and communicating your solutions with clarity.

Permalink: http://blog.rockthepost.com/?p=4010

 
M Junaid Tahir 
www.DailyTenMinutes.com 
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Pull and Push approach by managers

- on 5/11/2013 05:01:00 PM - No comments

The previous generation witnessed a 'Push' approach from managers, current generation is a mix of push/pull, next generation will be 'pull'. Technology( social media, enterprise wide collaboration tools, 360 degree reviews etc) is driving this transformation now at a faster pace.

- The 'Push' approach: If you look at the military, industrial era, bosses were not comfortable to get closer to their employees, as they'd think it will erode the fear/orders model and feedback will eat into authority. 

- The 'Pull' approach: In the knowledge industry, its about agility, time to market, value, by leveraging intellect and insight, which means collaboration & feedback. So if managers don't have the likable feedback or pull factor, they wont be able to retain the best talent.

Future tagline would be - No one is THE boss

source: HBR

 
M Junaid Tahir 
www.DailyTenMinutes.com 
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Robin’s 73 Best Business and Success Lessons

in - on 5/09/2013 06:49:00 PM - No comments
The 73 Best Lessons I've Learned for Leadership Success in Business and Life 
By Robin Sharma, author of the international bestseller "The Leader Who Had No Title"

1.       You can really Lead Without a Title.

2.       Knowing what to do and not doing it is the same as not knowing what to do.

3.       Give away what you most wish to receive.

4.       The antidote to stagnation is innovation.

5.       The conversations you are most resisting are the conversations you most need to be having.

6.       Leadership is no longer about position – but passion. It's no longer about image but impact. This is Leadership 2.0

7.       The bigger the dream, the more important to the team.

8.       Visionaries see the "impossible" as the inevitable.

9.       All great thinkers are initially ridiculed – and eventually revered.

10.   The more you worry about being applauded by others and making money, the less you'll focus on doing the great work that will generate applause. And make you money.

11.   To double your net worth, double your self-worth. Because you will never exceed the height of your self-image.

12.   The more messes you allow into your life, the more messes will become a normal (and acceptable) part of your life.

13.   The secret to genius is not genetics but daily practice married with relentless perseverance.

14.   The best leaders lift people up versus tear people down.

15.   The most precious resource for business
​ ​
people is not their time. It's their energy. Manage it well.

16.   The fears you run from run to you.

17.   The most dangerous place is in your safety zone.

18.   The more you go to your limits, the more your limits will expand.

19.   Every moment in front of a customer is a gorgeous opportunity to live your values.

20.   Be so good at what you do that no one else in the world can do what you do.

21.   You'll never go wrong in doing what is right.

22.   It generally takes about 10 years to become an overnight sensation.

23.   Never leave the site of a strong idea without doing something to execute around it.

24.   A strong foundation at home sets you up for a strong foundation at work.

25.   Never miss a moment to encourage someone you work with.

26.   Saying "I'll try" really means "I'm not really committed."

27.   The secret of passion is purpose.

28.   Do a few things at mastery versus many things at mediocrity.

29.   To have the rewards that very few have, do the things that very few people are willing to do.

30.   Go where no one's gone and leave a trail of excellence behind you.

31.   Who you are becoming is more important than what you are accumulating.

32.   Accept your teammates for what they are and inspire them to become all they can be.

33.   To triple the growth of your organization, triple the growth of your people.

34.   The best leaders are the most dedicated learners. Read great books daily. Investing in your self-development is the best investment you will ever make.

35.   Other people's opinions of you are none of your business.

36.   Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end.

37.   Measure your success by your inner scorecard versus an outer one.

38.   Understand the acute difference between the cost of something and the value of something.

39.   Nothing fails like success. Because when you are at the top, it's so easy to stop doing the very things that brought you to the top.

40.   The best leaders blend courage with compassion.

41.   The less you are like others, the less others will like you.

42.   You'll never go wrong in doing what's right.

43.   Excellence in one area is the beginning of excellence in every area.

44.   The real reward for doing your best work is not the money you make but the leader you become.

45.   Passion + production = performance.

46.   The value of getting to your goals lives not in reaching the goal but what the talents/strengths/capabilities the journey reveals to you.

47.   Stand for something. Or else you'll fall for anything.

48.   Say "thank you" when you're grateful and "sorry" when you're wrong.

49.   Make the work you are doing today better than the work you did yesterday.

50.   Small daily – seemingly insignificant – improvements and innovations lead to staggering achievements over time.

51.   Peak performers replace depletion with inspiration on a daily basis.

52.   Take care of your relationships and the sales/money will take care of itself.

53.   You can't be great if you don't feel great. Make exceptional health your #1 priority.

54.   Doing the difficult things that you've never done awakens the talents you never knew you had.

55.   As we each express our natural genius, we all elevate our world.

56.   Your daily schedule reflects your deepest values.

57.   People do business with people who make them feel special.

58.   All things being equal, the primary competitive advantage of your business will be your ability to grow Leaders Without Titles faster than your industry peers.

59.   Treat people well on your way up and they'll treat you well on your way down.

60.   Success lies in a masterful consistency around a few fundamentals. It really is simple. Not easy. But simple.

61.   The business (and person) who tries to be everything to everyone ends up being nothing to anyone.

62.   One of the primary tactics for enduring winning is daily learning.

63.   To have everything you want, help as many people as you can possibly find get everything they want.

64.   Understand that a problem is only a problem if you choose to view it as a problem (vs. an opportunity).

65.   Clarity precedes mastery. Craft clear and precise plans/goals/deliverables. And then block out all else.

66.   The best in business spend far more time on learning than in leisure.

67.   Lucky is where skill meets persistence.

68.   The best Leaders Without a Title use their heads and listen to their hearts.

69.   The things that are hardest to do are often the things that are the best to do.

70.   Every single person in the world could be a genius at something, if they practiced it daily for at least ten years (as confirmed by the research of Anders Ericsson and others).

71.   Daily exercise is an insurance policy against future illness. The best Leaders Without Titles are the fittest.

72.   Education is the beginning of transformation. Dedicate yourself to daily learning via books/audios/seminars and coaching.

73.   The quickest way to grow the sales of your business is to grow your people.


M Junaid Tahir
www.DailyTenMinutes.com
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Think Get Paradigm - The Law of Attraction

in - on 5/08/2013 03:33:00 PM - No comments
The law of attraction is surprisingly simple: Like attracts like. It becomes a bit more complicated when it comes to training our minds to think in ways that will bring what we desire into our lives. The term "self-fulfilling prophecy" describes the same law. This well-known term explains that we create the circumstances our mind dwells upon, whether positive or negative. So our goal is to practice consistent presence of mind to make sure our thoughts are always directed toward the positive and that which we want to create.

A key to the process is the word "frequency." This is true for two reasons: 1) The frequency you use when you passionately dwell upon or revisit a thought, dream, desire or goal provides the energy your musings need for creation; and 2) just like a radio station broadcasts on a certain frequency, like the radio you must be "tuned in" to receive it. This means preparing for the arrival of your dream on every possible level—material, physical, and spiritual. You don't have to know how it will come into your life, just trust that it will. Your job is to lay the groundwork, follow any leads you can find, and prepare for its arrival. This can mean cleaning out your garage to make space for a new car, taking a tour of a model home to get the feel of it in order to feed your fantasies, or thinking of what you want in a mate and then living up to that list yourself.

Just like with any skill, the law of attraction must be practiced. We must decide what makes us feel abundant, and use our imagination to create the feeling. It isn't enough to just want something; you must use the power of your thoughts to attract it. A series of choices is what brings us everything in our lives right now, every moment. When we know the direction we want our choices to take us, it is as if we've placed an order with the universe. Then we can await its arrival with joyful anticipation. If we find ways to experience our dreams right now, we make creating joy a treasure hunt in which the seeking is just as much fun as the finding.
 
M Junaid Tahir
www.DailyTenMinutes.com 
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Conscience - Your Great Companion

in , , , - on 5/08/2013 03:30:00 PM - 3 comments
By Junaid Tahir:

Nature has awarded us with such a great tool called conscience. 
It generates positive and negative signals for the actions you perform. 

When you buy food for the hungry with sincerity,
when you give some money to an orphan with love,
when you pay the education fee for a poor student, 
when you give some money to a free services hospital,
your conscience sends you a thank you signal and you feel good about yourself which gives birth to your 'inner' satisfaction.

It is said that you don't really achieve deep happiness by spending on yourself; you get it when you spend on others !!! And even you achieve greater degree of contentment when you spare your time from your busy life, visit any orphans or widows place, hospitals and other deserving people of society and then spend your money on them.


From religious perspective, I believe that almost all of the religions have defined the principle of spending on humanity in order to get tranquillity, serenity and prosperity. However, we the unfortunate people, the materialistic minds, keep calculating our money and assets several times a day which increases our greed level and eventually deprives us from peace of mind. It won't be wrong if I say that our extreme love for money and being materialistic is the real killer of our happiness.
To cope up with this, the wise people highly recommended to allocate a little portion (5% of your earnings) for the genuine causes. 

While the conscience claps for our good acts, it must generate red signals for our bad acts too. And if that is not happening then something is seriously wrong in our roots of faith. Considering the fact that a clean and active conscience is the best pillow, we must empower it by more positive acts as well as with daily self audits when our head is on the pillow at the end of each day.

Some article you may like:

Story – The Gold Coins - The 99 Club
Story-of-two-wolves.html
What Is Real Wealth – How To Achieve
Eighteen Ways to Make Your Parents Feel Great
Garden Grass and Garbage
Do You Keep People Happy

About Author: Junaid Tahir is a passionate blogger. He writes articles on Leadership, Stress Management and Life Enhancement subjects at his personal blog


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Funny Out of Office E-mail Auto-Replies :)

- on 5/07/2013 11:38:00 AM - No comments
 
  1. I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position
    .
  2. I'm not really out of the office. I'm just ignoring you. 
  3. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I w
    ere in, chances
     are you wouldn't have received anything at all.     
  4. Sorry to have missed you but I am at the doctors having my brain removed so that I may be promoted to management 
  5. I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me until I return from vacation on 4/18. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received. 
  6. Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first ten words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message. 
  7. The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and try sending again.'
    (The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how many 
    individuals
     did this over and over).
  8. Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system. You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks. 
  9. Hi. I'm thinking about what you've just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response. 
  10. Hi! I'm busy negotiating the salary for my new job. Don't bother to leave me any messages. 
  11. I've run away to join a different circus.
M Junaid Tahir
www.DailyTenMinutes.com
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Refreshing the Famous 90/10 Principle

in , , - on 5/07/2013 11:37:00 AM - No comments
The 90/10 Principle
says, "
10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react
"

What does this mean?
We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no control over this 10%. You determine the other 90%. How? By your reaction.
You cannot control a red light, but you can control your reaction. Don't let people fool you; YOU can control how you react.

Let's use an example.
You are eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of milk onto your business shirt. You have no control over what just happened. What happens next will be determined by how you react. You curse. You harshly scold your daughter. She breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your wife and criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. She misses the bus.
You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. After a 15-minute delay you arrive at school. After arriving at the office 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase. When you arrive home, you find small wedge in your relationship with your wife and daughter.

Why? Because of how you reacted in the morning. Why did you have a bad day?
A) Did the cup of hot milk cause it?
B) Did your daughter cause it?
C) Did you cause it?
The answer is
C

You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% was determined by your reaction. A wrong reaction could result in losing a friend, getting stressed out etc.
The 90-10 principle is incredible. Very few know and apply this principle. The result? Millions of people are suffering from undeserved stress, trials, problems and heartache. Next time you react to any situation, remember the 90-10 principle.

K.N.RAJAN
 
M Junaid Tahir www.DailyTenMinutes.com 
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The Emotional Bank Account --- Stephen R Covey

in - on 5/06/2013 11:18:00 AM - 1 comment

When it comes to improving and maintaining our relationships with others, Stephen Covey's metaphor of the Emotional Bank Account is probably one of the most powerful ideas ever created for the development of interpersonal relationships. If you've never heard of this, it basically means that anyone with whom we have a relationship with, whether it be our coworkers, family or friends, we maintain a personal "emotional" bank account with them. This account begins on a neutral balance. And just as with any bank account, we can make deposits and withdrawals. However, instead of dealing with units of monetary value, we deal with emotional units. 

The emotional units that Covey speaks of are centered around trust. When we make emotional deposits into someone's bank account, their fondness, trust, and confidence in us grows. And as a result our relationship develops and grows. If we can keep a positive reserve in our relationships, by making regular deposits, there will be greater tolerance for our mistakes and we'll enjoy open communication with that person. On the contrary, when we make withdrawals and our balance becomes low or even overdrawn, bitterness, mistrust and discord develops. If we are to salvage the relationship, we must make a conscious effort to make regular deposits.

This post will discuss Covey's six major ways of making deposits into these 
Emotional Bank Accounts and how we can avoid making withdrawals.


1. Understanding the IndividualIn Covey's book, seven habits of highly effective people, one of the seven habits is "seek first to understand then to be understood". Truly understanding what others are feeling is not always that easy. We must remove ourselves from our egocentric viewpoint and put ourselves into the minds and shoes of others. I say minds and shoes because we must try to first understand the thought patterns and second walk in their shoes or empathize with them.
One of my major faults when communicating with others is, while they are talking I tend to think what I am going to say next. Truly understanding someone requires us to wholly and completely concentrate on what the other person is trying to say, not reloading, just waiting to fire off your response

2. Keeping Commitments
Certainly when we break our promises to others, we make major withdrawals from their Emotional Bank Accounts. However, keeping commitments is not just relegated to promises. It also includes things such as arriving to work and appointments on time, fulfilling our duties, and living up to every word that comes out of our mouth.

3. Clarifying Expectations
There is nothing more frustrating in a relationship than not understanding what is expected of you. Although many of us wish we could be, we are not mind readers. And because each of us sees life differently and has different backgrounds and life experiences, expecting someone to just "know" is not only unfair but completely unrealistic. It's important that the person with whom you are dealing with, knows exactly what is expected of them. Doing this will keep them out of the dark and allow them to relate you confidently, knowing that what they are doing is in line with your expectations.

4. Attending to the Little Things
Little courtesies, kind words and warm smiles are at the heart of the little things that brighten up a relationship. It shows recognition and an awareness of others. It's interesting, but within our relationships, if you want success, it's the little things that really become the big things.

5. Showing Personal Integrity
Nothing is probably more damaging to a relationship, then a lack of integrity. Being that the Emotional Bank Account is based upon trust, you could essentially be doing all of the previous things, but without trust, it is to no avail. Integrity means wholeness, completeness, or soundness. In this case soundness of moral character. Integrity is the rock-solid foundation upon which all successful relationships are built.

6. Apologizing Sincerely When We Make a Withdrawal
Granted, we are all mortal. We make mistakes. That's part of life and learning. Knowing when you are wrong and admitting your mistakes prevents the wounds that you've caused in others from festering and allows them to heal. When appropriate, sincere apology will keep your relationships accounts in the positive, allowing you to maintain the balance that has been created in your application of all of the previous steps
source

7 Habits of Highly Ethical People

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Business Term: B2B (business-to-business)

- on 5/06/2013 11:10:00 AM - 1 comment
On the Internet, B2B (business-to-business), also known as e-biz, is the exchange of products, services, or information between businesses rather than between businesses and consumers. Although early interest centered on the growth of retailing on the Internet (sometimes called e-tailing), forecasts are that B2B revenue will far exceed business-to-consumers (B2C) revenue in the near future. 

B2B Web sites can be sorted into:

Company Web sites, since the target audience for many company Web sites is other companies and their employees. Company sites can be thought of as round-the-clock mini-trade exhibits. Sometimes a company Web site serves as the entrance to an exclusive extranet available only to customers or registered site users. Some company Web sites sell directly from the site, effectively e-tailing to other businesses.

Product supply and procurement exchanges, where a company purchasing agent can shop for supplies from vendors, request proposals, and, in some cases, bid to make a purchase at a desired price. Sometimes referred to as e-procurement
sites, some serve a range of industries and others focus on a niche market.

Specialized or vertical industry portals which provide a "subWeb" of information, product listings, discussion groups, and other features. These vertical portal sites have a broader purpose than the procurement sites (although they may also support buying and selling).

Brokering sites that act as an intermediary between someone wanting a product or service and potential providers. Equipment leasing is an example.
Information sites (sometimes known as infomediary), which provide information about a particular industry for its companies and their employees. These include specialized search sites and trade and industry standards organization sites.

Many B2B sites may seem to fall into more than one of these groups. Models for B2B sites are still evolving.

Another type of B2B enterprise is software for building B2B Web sites, including site building tools and templates, database, and methodologies as well as transaction software.

B2B is e-commerce between businesses. An earlier and much more limited kind of online B2B prior to the Internet was Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), which is still widely used.

 
M Junaid Tahir 
www.DailyTenMinutes.com 
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Story: Baloons Seller and the Kid

in , - on 5/05/2013 03:33:00 PM - No comments

There was a man who made a living selling balloons at a fair. He had
all colors of
balloons, including red, yellow, blue, and green. Whenever business
was slow, he would
release a helium-filled balloon into the air and when the children saw
it go up, they all
wanted to buy one. They would come up to him, buy a balloon, and his
sales would go up
again. He continued this process all day. 
One day, he felt someone
tugging at his jacket.
He turned around and saw a little boy who asked, "If you release a
black balloon, would
that also fly?" 
Moved by the boy's concern, the man replied with
empathy, "Son, it is not
the color of the balloon, it is what is inside that makes it go up."

The same thing applies to our lives. It is what is inside that counts.
The thing inside of us
that makes us go up is our attitude.

Have you ever wondered why some individuals, organizations, or
countries are more
successful than others?
It is not a secret. These people simply think and act more
effectively. They have learned
how to do so by investing in the most valuable asset--people. I
believe that the success
of an individual, organization or country, depends on the quality of
their people
.

Source: unknwon



M Junaid Tahir www.DailyTenMinutes.com 
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10 Recommendations for Project Tracking and Governance

in - on 5/05/2013 03:30:00 PM - No comments

For a project manager the real game is project governance and its tracking. So I would like to share some tips for project governance and its tracking. Here we go:

1#  Produce action points against each item on the agenda and circulate within 24 hours of the meeting.  Use these action points to help in the creation of your next agenda.

2#  Review the items on the critical path checking they are on schedule.  Review risks, review yours stakeholders and your communication plans and whether you are still on track to deliver on time, to budget and to the required quality standard.

3#  Set a tolerance figure and monitor e.g. a tolerance figure of ±5% means as long as you are within the 5% limit you do not have to formally report.  If  exceed the 5% limit (cost or time) then you need to report this to the agreed person – probably your sponsor

4#  Report progress against an end of a stage – are you on schedule?  Time, cost or quality?  Ensure that if something is off schedule the person responsible for delivering it suggests ways to bring it back on time, within budget or to hit the right quality standard.

5#  Develop an issues log to record items that may be causing concern.  Review at your project meetings.

6#  See whether you are still delivering the original project benefits when reviewing your project.  If not, consider re-scoping or if appropriate abandoning the project.  Do not be afraid of abandoning a project. Better to abandon now rather than waste valuable time, money, and resources working on something no longer required.  If you close a project early – hold a project review meeting to identify learning.

7#  Produce one-page reports highlighting key issues.  Agree the areas to include with the Sponsor before writing a report.

8#  Use a series of templates to support the monitoring process, e.g. milestone reporting, change control, log, planned v. actual.

9#  Apply traffic lights to illustrate how you are progressing – red, amber and green. Use these in conjunction with milestone reports.

10# Engender honest reporting against specific deliverables, milestones, or a critical path activity. If you do not have honest reporting imagine the consequences.


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