The Time article talks about how when the India luxury chain Taj received a letter from the Orient Express that its overtures were not welcome. Indian Hotels Vice-Chairman R. K. Krishna Kumar wrote that he was offended by the letter.

White’s letter, he says, "will go down as one of the most uncivilized
exchanges of views between two companies in the 21st century." Its
sentiments, Kumar says, reflect "an era that is now prehistoric."

India’s Economic times was later quoted as saying:

The days of "white supremacy are disappearing rapidly, and white brand
value with it," the piece went on. "When Arab financiers are needed to
rescue Citigroup, notions of white cachet seem ludicrous."

Orient Express said that the statement had more to do with branding than anything else. As a Marketer, I can’t disagree more. My thinking is that if an Indian company can make Jaguar make good cars again, then that will be good for the brand – who cares where the improvements come from. And by the way, being an intolerant global brand in today’s world… is totally off-brand.

I have both worked with toxic handlers and been a toxic handler myself. While it is noble to help people while in need, it can actually be hard on the person’s health. According to the original article by Peter Frost and Sandra Robinson they are at a higher risk for burnout and even physical issues such as heart attacks.

After seeing a colleague go through the incredibly stressful experience of being a toxic handler for the rest of the team, I think that really it isn’t fair for one person to absorb the pain for everyone else. When a person feels pain, even organizational pain, they then have the choice to make a change to do something about it. Buddhist thought says, "pain is the prelude to enlightenment". If the Toxic Handler comes in to buffer that pain, the person will not notice enough to make a change, and the half-broken situation continues to break more. Instead of relying on themselves, the person in trouble continues to depend on the Toxic Handler. Since they might be buffering the pain of several colleagues at once, the stress of being a Toxic Handler is amplified.

So – even though some think of the Toxic Handler as an organizational hero, I think that they are actually people who prevent others from seeing what the true problem is. We are all grown-ups, we can take care of ourselves. We don’t need another hero .

There wasn’t much smiling or inspiration and there was a lot of pandering to my boss, who eventually came to see me as a human. It wasn’t exactly my passion, but if it wasn’t for that job, which I did on Mondays and Fridays, and crammed my Bachelor of Commerce courses in on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, I would never have graduated from University with a relatively small amount of debt.

When I was 24 and first started in the working world, I knew my place. I got a job as a Marketing Analyst at a very large American manufacturing company. Similar to the consulting firm, there was a lot of heads-down work and pandering, despite my graduation from University on full scholarship… at the time, I believed it would all eventually be worth it, and I would come out of the other side of the hard work as a better professional with more interesting opportunities awaiting me.

Now, looking back, I can’t help but wonder if this hard-work thing is a myth. I happened upon this interview with Carissa Reiniger who has just had a 1.4 million dollar year with her Marketing Consultancy business at the age of 24. So… at the same time that I was "getting a better character" by pushing through the administrative and analytical work, she is actually achieving her dream. Now, I understand from a colleague that knows Carissa that she had financing from her family and friends to back her up… but I think she is still a good example of using her skills to the maximum vs. developing character through doing mundane work.

I think that this mundane work thing is a throwback to the old economy – a kind of factory-worker mentality… where using skills to the maximum is more information-age. I strongly recommend to any young person entering the business world: don’t take advice from 40-50 year-olds that you should do strictly mundane work in order to pay your dues. Remember, if they are your employers, that they think of you in a certain way, and when they are giving advice it has a lot to do with what is best for them… not what is best for you.

Don’t feel sorry for me and my early career – I eventually figured it out. I ended up doing some very interesting projects at the company. I released two very exciting products nationally which is amazing for someone under 30 and in managing the website for my product group, I discovered my passion for website marketing. But, I didn’t get those projects because I was the greatest at the clerical work. I did those projects because I grasped for them… I built a foundation of successes and good ideas and earned more and more freedom.

So… in the new economy, success is built on the basis of solid ideas and creativity rather than that mundane hard-work. My advice to people in your early-twenties – work on developing and expressing ideas… and whatever you do… don’t put your head down and for God’s sake, don’t work for a guy who thinks of you as nothing more than a body.

Our rule: if a criminal prosecution is likely to hurt a company’s share price, then don’t prosecute.

The idea is based on the absence of prosecution of Steve Jobs in the recent options back-dating scandal. Other people involved in the scandal were harshly prosecuted, but Jobs, being iconic and popular was kept safe. Someone less popular, like Conrad Black for example, is fine to prosecute.

Law Professor Larry Ribstein originally called a similar phenomenon the Apple Rule on his blog.

The Apple Rule provides for an exception from corporate criminal liability when a popular business executive is accused of, or presides over a company that is accused of, misconduct. "Popular" is defined as "liked by journalists." In the event of allegations of criminal misconduct touching a "popular" business executive, said executive or his company may avoid trouble by aiming the investigation toward an underling.

What happened to everyone being equal under the law? Is it naive to talk about that at this point? I admire Steve Jobs so I am saddened by this whole thing… but not so much that he should be shielded from the consequences that the rest of us have to live with.

The text from this speech by Steve Jobs was circulated around my MBA class a while ago – it is a lot cooler to see it live – thanks YouTube! Even though I am not in the "Mac cult" – never have been and never will be, I think that he has accomplished great things in his life. He is also a creative and an entrepreneur, which is awesome. I think it is really interesting that he studied broadly rather than taking a prescribed route, and his unusual course selection inspired the typography that originally made the Macs different. He says:

Follow your intuition – truly know what you want to become – everything else is secondary.

According to Peter Drucker, one of the greatest management thinkers of our time, we have more freedom now to become what we want to be now than at any point in history. It is then extra-important for us to have an end-point in mind while we make the thousands of choices that leads each one of us to our destiny. He says:

Your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

I think almost everyone can relate to this quote. It resonated particularly clearly with me, since I lose myself in my job, family, relationships and image that I want to portray to the world instead of focusing on what is most important to me. I think that many of us get so caught up in the dramas of everyday life that we forget to focus on what really matters to us… and how we can best contribute to the world. This little convocation address serves as a good reminder.

Excess Voice, a copy writing newsletter I subscribe to, created this hilarious Business Jargon Copy Contest where they asked readers to submit their funniest obfuscating jargon and put the winners on mugs. Here are some of the funniest entries, enjoy:

Shift my paradigm before I’ve had my morning coffee and I’ll core your competencies.

Our alliance stands alone in demonstrating the extensivity of integrated partnerships with other collaboratives.

You can take your bleeping paradigm to the next level and drop-kick it from 30,000 feet, pal.

We need consensus on the agenda ASAP — and I’m talking COB — or we’re DOA. Got that?

We appear to have begun an upstream shift while simultaneously experiencing a paddle deficiency.

Next time you are sitting in a meeting and hearing stuff like this, hopefully it will make you smile… and don’t worry if you don’t understand… the person using it might not understand what he is saying either.

During my MBA we studied survey by Kouzes and Posner which asked followers what the characteristics were that they most admired in a leader. The results came out as:

• Honesty
• Inspiring
• Forward-looking
• Competent
• Fair Minded
• Supportive

The lowest-ranking characteristics of a leader were:

• Independent
• Self-centered
• Loyal
• Ambitious
• Determined
• Mature

In looking at the list, all of the ambitious, determined and self-centered behavior a la Donald Trump The Apprentice does not build the best leader. We replicated this study in our class, and we came out with a very similar list. Basically, people want their leaders to satisfy their needs, such as inspiring them, supporting them or being fair in times of conflict. Independence, ambition, and determination may be the individual characteristics that advance an individual to leadership, but ultimately being a great leader stems from satisfying the follower’s needs. In other words, what drives us as individuals is not what our followers are looking for in a leader.

I find this theory very practical and applicable. I also like the idea of a new generation of leaders who drive to inspire instead of going after their own self-centered goals. Yes, I know this may not be a realistic scenario based on how most people become leaders, but it is nice, shiny ideal to strive for.

I got this article, The Art of Business from Creative Pro sent to me yesterday and I think it is offers some excellent tips on how to bring art back into your life.

I like the way that it focuses on the need to look internally, such as developing a one-year plan, but it also discusses external things such as teaching or using your talents for non-profits. It doesn’t suggest making dramatic moves or  even going to therapy…  it just offers practical advice on how to enrich the creative side of your life.

Hands – Pitch in when Necessary

The worst project managers sit on the sidelines and call only when they need something… last minute. They think that managing is not actually doing, but instead it is only sitting in the stands, watching and critiquing. When things go wrong, they look for someone to blame instead of taking action to solve the problem. I had an American manager like this – he needed to control me but did not really understand what I was doing. As a result, every time we met he made dramatic decisions so none of my traffic acquisition strategies had time to work. Each time they were getting off the ground – he wanted to try something else.  Managers like this tend to make sweeping decisions that cause a lot of work for the people below them since they are unfamiliar with the project or they don’t really care.

Project Management is never hands-free. There is the work of setting up schedules, of adjusting them when necessary and of making sure that you have the right people working on the right things. There is the responsibility of meeting with people regularly (not necessarily round-table or formal, but having the conversation) to make sure everything is on track and nothing unexpected has come up.

Ears – Listen to Those Around You

A good manager listens to the people around them, no matter what level they may be. I worked with a manager who was not very sure of herself when it came to the technical side of her projects. As a result, she saw any question as a challenge to her abilities and stubbornly resisted input. As a result, her projects turned out to be much more rudimentary than if she simply listened to her technical team.

Listening is valuable because it helps you avoid mistakes and get creative input. It is not being ordered around. Let’s face it – the people working on the project have a vested interest in making their own lives as easy as possible so their suggestions could come only from self-interest. Instead of taking orders, it is sitting back like a judge and taking in all of the points of view as a way to gather evidence – then reaching your own conclusion based on a certain criteria.

Heart – Passion for What You Are Doing

First of all, if you have someone who is talented on your team – tell them that they are great at every opportunity. This is especially good for creatives (such as writers or designers) because giving them credit makes them more comfortable to take more creative risks. Don’t fake it when they are not since you don’t want an untalented person to take risks. If you are stuck with them be polite. If you have the freedom to find someone else, do that.

Being genuinely passionate about your projects is a huge motivating force. It makes it more fun for people to work with you and they won’t avoid your calls as much. I have always been a manager with a lot of passion – both with enthusiasm and frustration… until now. Lately I have been less inspired. I have less strategic and creative input into my projects and a lot of the work is simply making local copies of something someone else already implemented. Also I am managed rather closely by my direct report. These are all things that take the heart out of a manager – so if you are working with a project manager temporarily without passion – don’t blame them! Maybe it isn’t their fault. Passion is something difficult to maintain and it has to come from a genuine place. To resolve it, I am focusing my energy on the one project that is exciting, and potentially impactful – and maybe success there will allow me to do the more fulfilling projects that I am interested in.

Technorati Profile

There are over 100,000 blogs created every day according to Technocrati. Wow… that is a lot of new voices instantly communicating to the world – one thing they could be communicating is corporate secrets. A consultancy called "The Attention Company" discussed what that means from a business perspective in their presentation

In their survey, 8% of people thought it was appropriate to share trade secrets through a blog and 39% thought it was appropriate to share opinions about the performance of the company. It is obvious that this information could affect both competitive positioning and share price.

Blogs are a modern-day medium for secrets – bringing the water-cooler gossip to the world, instantly. The internet allows people to share their stories openly, without the permission of an authority. The conservative PR department, which in my experience sits right next to the legal department, no longer controls the way that employees represent the company to the world.

According to The Attention Company, people who are “Out There”, meaning those who consider it okay to criticize their organization online, have very unique opinions about competition and their organizational lives. They think that knowledge resides at the bottom of the organization, endorse transparency and are not trusting of those that keep secrets.

These people sound a lot like the traditional non-conformists who want to have a voice and don’t want to be tied down by rules. We have all heard stories of employees who were fired for having a blog but with 100,000 being created a day, it seems impossible to keep the “out there” people at bay. Like any “vice squad” trying to rid an area of crime knows, once you bust one criminal, another appears to pick up where he left off.  The presentation concludes that companies should accept the new reality and use the “Out There” people to drive internal innovation and communication. In other words, you are being watched so you better behave!

Outside the business realm, what does it mean to have no more secrets?  We all have family or personal secrets that could get us in trouble. This makes me think of the Girl with a One Track Mind. A British woman, who once worked on the set of Harry Potter, published her sex life online to later have her identity revealed by mistake. Her blog discussed having multiple partners with intimate details.

Because of the social stigma associated with women enjoying the sexuality, she was afraid that she would be treated like an outcast. But she wasn’t – in fact many of her friends and family members supported her. So, it is possible that revealed secrets about who you really are can lead to greater acceptance and more connection with the people that you care about. It will be interesting to see how a world with fewer secrets will look. But as an “Out There” person myself who “doesn’t trust those who keep secrets”, I am looking forward to it.