Tag Archives: George Bernard Shaw

Continuous Learning: Leaders Take It Personally

Leave a reply

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to increase your learning potential. Reading time: 3:17.

As a boy, Thomas Edison once sat on a geese eggs for hours to learn for himself how eggs are hatched. Bizarre? Peter the Great wore an engraved seal when he became the first Russian czar to tour Europe on a learning expedition. The seal read: “I am a pupil and need to be taught.” Weird?

Not really. Leaders are learners.

Leaders embrace William Ward’s contention that “curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.” The most effective leaders continue to learn and earn their Ph.D – their Personally Harbored Discipline. And “Discipline” is a key leadership talent. The word –Discipline-stems from the Latin word for learning and learners (Disciples). Continue reading →

Public Speaking: Making SOUND Decisions

Leave a reply

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to enhance your persuasive skills with your tone of voice. Reading time: 3:19

You’re at a cocktail party. You scan the room. You can’t hear the individual conversations but you can infer plenty of meaning in the body language and the tone. In fact the most effective leaders religiously regard –and guard -their tone of voice as a key leadership tool.

Metropolitan Opera House, New York City

That’s why the most effective leaders readily acknowledge the validity in the results of a Harvard study that the tone of voice between a doctor and his patient can be as telling as the words they share.

Judging only on the tone of voice and with no information on the skill level of each surgeon, the Harvard study could predict with 95 percent accuracy which surgeons got sued.

Tone is critical in communicating effectively. In fact tone can be five times more important that the words, according to a UCLA study by Albert Mehrebian. He found that communications impact was 55% visual, 38% tone and 7% verbal (actual words spoken). Some Video Gamers even speak Simlish. They can only undersand each other by the tone of voice they use.

Tone is so prevalent that leaders fully embrace and celebrate that tone can thrill. Continue reading →

Creativity: Reinventing Yourself With Versatility

Leave a reply

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you extend your viability especially in tough economic times.

If you’re struggling on the job or worse yet- you have NO JOB in this era of high unemployment — read on. Let’s see what the history books say about some famous leaders who donned a new hat, a new role, a new persona in leading a new and different life when circumstances changed. Perhaps their leadership in reinventing themselves with versatility will help you extend your viability as your circumstances change.

Actor Gene Barry played Bat Masterson in a TV series

  • Bat Masterson, the sheriff of Dodge City in the old west, became the sports editor of a newspaper in New York City.
  • Artists Paul Gauguin and author Jules Verne were once stockbrokers.
  • Poet John Keats, educational pioneer Marie Montessori and astronomer Nicholas Copernicus were once physicians.
  • Architect Christopher Wren, creator of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, was first an astronomer.
  • Lewis Carroll (a.k.a Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), author of Alice in Wonderland, was a mathematics professor.
  • Inventors Samuel Morse (telegraph) and Robert Fulton (steamboat) were accomplished artists.

I have always liked the leadership observation of playwright George Bernard Shaw. Boldly step into the future and shed any woe is me sentiment:

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.”

If your circumstances don’t warrant a career makeover then become more versatile in your current role. Play a different position on the same team. Consider these versatile players from the world of sports:

George Blanda played four different positions in his National Football League career.

Paul Hornung, the only college football player to win a Heisman Trophy at one position (quarterback at Notre Dame) and the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player at another position (running back, Green Bay Packers.

Cal Hubbard, the only man enshrined in both the baseball and football Halls of Fame. He was an umpire in baseball and a lineman in football.

Otto Graham, the Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Cleveland Browns to seven league championships, is still the only collegiate athlete ever to earn All-American honors in both basketball and football in the same year. How do you stay versatile in your leadership role? I look forward to your thoughts. Use the Comments section below.

Today’s ImproveMINT
Stay nimble and versatile
to keep your leadership thinking in mint condition.

SUBSCRIBE: Have a Leadership Mint delivered to your E-mail every business day. It’s free. Just click the SIGN ME UP box in the upper left column.