Leadership Lessons - The Absurdity of Complexity

Home
Profile
My Network
Search for people, jobs, companies, and more...

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services
Try Premium for free
Watershed Hydrology Model - Try MIKE SHE for fully-integrated watershed hydrology modeling
Pulse
Publish a post
Follow
Leadership Lessons: The Absurdity of Complexity

I remember as a young Captain in the Army, preparing for the intensely
competitive entrance exam to the prestigious Defence Services Staff College. The
breadth and depth of skill sets required to be mastered was truly enormous, and I
was making heavy weather of it. My Commanding Officer stopped by one evening
to check how I was faring with the preparations. Seeing that I was looking all
hassled, he took me aside and imparted to me an enduring piece of advice "When you are at your wits end at finding solutions to complex problems, stop
what you are doing and watch a DVD of the cartoon strip Tom & Jerry for a while.
All the military tactics you ever needed to master is right there. Solutions to
problems will come flowing through to you"
Over the years, I have often marveled at the depth of that apparently disarming
yet compelling logic. Now, having hung up my uniform and shifted to the
Corporate jungle, it is apparent that the underlying principle remains unaltered.
Keep It Simple, Stupid. In the high octane world of business, you are surrounded
by the number crunchers - the 'big daddies (& mommies) of Big Data'. Don't get
me wrong. They are crucial, indeed critical to the decision support matrix. What
they often do not do however, is to simplify it for ease of decision for the
management. That is for you, the leader to do. All the business schools will teach
you how to interpret numbers and analyse data. What very few will teach you is
the art of stripping the end product of the analysis to its bare essentials.
Essentials that can help the management make an informed yet simple decision.
A Yes or a No?
Life is complex. Business decisions can be life altering and apparently even more
complex to reach. But trust me, stepping back every now and then to view the
stripped down version of the complex sum of its parts amazingly alters your view.
Solutions shall flow. As a leader, your aim should resolutely remain to strip the
problem of its complexities. Shun the absurdity of complexities. Aim to be the
CSO - the Chief Simplicity Officer. That is what is going to lead you on to the
corner office of the CEO.

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Advanced
Interests
Business Services
Written by
Follow
Like
Comment
Add your comment
Charles M Cawley
Here
is a simple problem. Mandela in his prison never hired and fired followers.
Great Leaders do not hire and fire, they do not pick and choose followers; the
reverse applies, followers choose them. Great Leaders are created by the
decision of followers to follow them. So, surely, any 'Leader' in business
hiring and firing is a fraud? Perhaps, they are really bad managers
pretending to be more than they really are. Employees and employers are
bound
by commercially enforceable employment contracts but Great or World
Leaders
never have these with their followers. The thought of Mandela using
disciplinary authority or hiring and firing followers is beyond the absurd.
There is no place for Great Leaders in the commercial world beyond a
shadow
incorporated into good management. Could you answer this simple stripped
down
problem?
Like(5)
Like (5)
Reply(3)
Reply (3)
July 11, 2014
Kedrin Edgerson, Subin Balakrishnan, Bhogesh Gulagonda, +2
Charles M Cawley
Lukas Luetke Thank you for your measured and kind
remark. There's no doubt good people are drawn to well
managed companies.
Quite often bad people are repulsed knowing they will not be
able to exploit
as effectively as elsewhere.. I do believe that the day a
company is
managed as close to perfection as it is possible then, and only
then, will
true leadership be possible in that environment. Perhaps, the
ultimate
target for all good managers should be to be to become Leaders
however but
expecting people to be Leaders before they have perfected
good management
is, perhaps, inappropriate or even fraudulent.
Like(2)
(2)
Like
July 11, 2014
Charles M Cawley and Bhogesh Gulagonda
Lukas Luetke
Very
nice approach to the article. Think about people/companies like
Elon Musk,
Google, Mindvalley. Those are companies who have problems
because there are
too many people out there who want to work for them. This isn't

Home
Profile
My Network
because they

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
greatest
Business Services
numbers. It is because of their HR philosophy. They don't have
to ask people
to apply, because people are applying to them no matter what.
And most of
them are the most qualified people out there. It is because of the
structure
and the management style. It is made to fit the employee
instead of the
company. People are put in surroundings where they feel like
they want to
work instead of have to work. This is simplyfing recruiting..
Like(5)
(5)
Like
July 11, 2014
Charles M Cawley, Subin Balakrishnan, Bhogesh Gulagonda, +2

Show More
Show More
Follow
Great Tricks for Reading Peoples Body Language

Body language provides an amazing amount of information on what other people
are thinking if you know what to look for. And who hasnt wanted to read peoples
minds at some point?
You already pick up on more body language cues than youre consciously aware
of. UCLA research has shown that only 7% of communication is based on the
actual words we say. As for the rest, 38% comes from tone of voice and the
remaining 55% comes from body language. Learning how to become aware of and
to interpret that 55% can give you a leg up with other people.

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Advanced
thatInterests
can give you an edge is powerful and will streamline
your path to success.
Business Services
TalentSmart has tested more than a million people and found that the upper
echelons of top performance are filled with people who are high in emotional
intelligence (90% of top performers, to be exact). These people know the power
that unspoken signals have in communication, and they monitor body language
accordingly.
Next time youre in a meeting (or even on a date or playing with your kids), watch
for these cues:
Crossed arms and legs signal resistance to your ideas. Crossed arms and
legs are physical barriers that suggest the other person is not open to what youre
saying. Even if theyre smiling and engaged in a pleasant conversation, their body
language tells the story. Gerard I. Nierenberg and Henry H. Calero videotaped
more than 2,000 negotiations for a book they wrote on reading body language,
and not a single one ended in an agreement when one of the parties had their legs
crossed while negotiating. Psychologically, crossed legs or arms signal that a
person is mentally, emotionally, and physically blocked off from whats in front of
them. Its not intentional, which is why its so revealing.
Real smiles crinkle the eyes. When it comes to smiling, the mouth can lie but
the eyes cant. Genuine smiles reach the eyes, crinkling the skin to create crows
feet around them. People often smile to hide what theyre really thinking and
feeling, so the next time you want to know if someones smile is genuine, look for
crinkles at the corners of their eyes. If they arent there, that smile is hiding
something.
Copying your body language is a good thing. Have you ever been in a
meeting with someone and noticed that every time you cross or uncross your legs,
they do the same? Or perhaps they lean their head the same way as yours when
youre talking? Thats actually a good sign. Mirroring body language is something
we do unconsciously when we feel a bond with the other person. Its a sign that
the conversation is going well and that the other party is receptive to your
message. This knowledge can be especially useful when youre negotiating,
because it shows you what the other person is really thinking about the deal.
Posture tells the story. Have you ever seen a person walk into a room, and
immediately, you have known that they were the one in charge? That effect is
largely about body language, and often includes an erect posture, gestures made
with the palms facing down, and open and expansive gestures in general. The
brain is hardwired to equate power with the amount of space people take up.
Standing up straight with your shoulders back is a power position; it appears to
maximize the amount of space you fill. Slouching, on the other hand, is the result
of collapsing your form; it appears to take up less space and projects less power.

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
youre
a leader or not.
Interests
Advanced
Business Services
Eyes that lie. Most of us probably grew up hearing, Look me in the eye when
you talk to me! Our parents were operating under the assumption that its tough
to hold someones gaze when youre lying to them, and they were right to an
extent. But thats such common knowledge that people will often deliberately
hold eye contact in an attempt to cover up the fact that theyre lying. The problem
is that most of them overcompensate and hold eye contact to the point that it feels
uncomfortable. On average, Americans hold eye contact for seven to ten seconds,
longer when were listening than when were talking. If youre talking with
someone whose stare is making you squirmespecially if theyre very still and
unblinkingsomething is up and they might be lying you.
Raised eyebrows signal discomfort. There are three main emotions that
make your eyebrows go up: surprise, worry, and fear. Try raising your eyebrows
when youre having a relaxed casual conversation with a friend. Its hard to do,
isnt it? If somebody who is talking to you raises their eyebrows and the topic isnt
one that would logically cause surprise, worry, or fear, there is something else
going on.
Exaggerated nodding signals anxiety about approval. When youre telling

someone something and they nod excessively, this means that they are worried
about what you think of them or that you doubt their ability to follow your
instructions.
A clenched jaw signals stress. A clenched jaw, a tightened neck, or a

furrowed brow are all signs of stress. Regardless of what the person is saying,
these are signs of considerable discomfort. The conversation might be delving
into something theyre anxious about, or their mind might be elsewhere and
theyre focusing on the thing thats stressing them out. The key is to watch for that
mismatch between what the person says and what their tense body language is
telling you.
The bottom line is that even if you cant read a persons exact thoughts, you can
learn a lot from their body language, and thats especially true when words and
body language dont match.
What other body language clues do you look for? Please share your thoughts in
the comments section below, as I learn just as much from you as you do from
me.
Dr. Travis Bradberry is the award-winning co-author of the #1 bestselling

book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the cofounder of TalentSmart, the world's

Home
Profile
My Network
of and more...
Search leading
for people,provider
jobs, companies,
Jobs
and training
Advanced
75%Interests
of Fortune 500 companies. His bestselling books
have been translated
into
Business Services
25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries. Dr. Bradberry has
written for, or been covered by, Newsweek, TIME, BusinessWeek, Fortune,
Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The
Washington Post, and The Harvard Business Review.
If you'd like to learn how to increase your emotional intelligence (EQ), consider
taking the online Emotional Intelligence Appraisal test that's included with the
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 book. Your test results will pinpoint which of the
book's 66 emotional intelligence strategies will increase your EQ the most.
Written by
Follow

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services
Follow
The American City Was Built for Cars. What Will

Happen When They All Leave?

Most of what we buy bubble gum, blouses, books, baseball is destined to last
days, weeks, maybe years. But we think of houses as investments rather than
consumable goods because houses last decades or centuries. Over that time, what
makes a house valuable doesnt change much: we'll always like plenty of square
footage, views, and mostly prefer living in cities with nearby restaurants, train
stations and jobs.
And we love parking. Where we live, work and even eat is shaped by where we can
park our cars. A car has been the pet that Americans insist on accommodating, in
numbers ten times higher than modern parts of Asia like Hong Kong.
But now a change is at hand. Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicts that cars will drive
themselves in two years. Chris Urmson at Google estimates it will take five years.
Already Lyft and Uber have shifted millennials home-buying preferences: who
needs a garage, or for that matter a kitchen or a living room, when transportation,
food and even a social life are all available online and on-demand? This is why,
even as urban home prices boom, we see couples with one car or no cars
preferring smaller homes with fewer amenities but a high Walk Score and nearby
transit.
In our lifetimes, and the lifetimes of our mortgages, the self-driving car could
change the shape of the American city even more profoundly. Unlike the cars of
today, which are parked 96% of the time, self-driving cars will be in semicontinuous service except in the wee hours; well need far fewer cars overall, and
those that remain will leave town at night.
A third of urban real estate is devoted to parking garages that could become
parks; there are eight U.S. parking spaces for every car in operation, for as many
as two billion U.S. spaces overall. Thirteen percent of every lot for a typical singlefamily home is now dedicated to a garage that could be converted into an office or
a mother-in-law apartment; with the income provided by AirBnB and other
property-rental sites, single-family homes could thus become 13% more

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Advanced
fixed-fee
garage-conversion services, in much the same
way that old houses
were
Interests
Business Services
once converted en masse to use modern furnaces and plumbing.
Self-driving cars will also change homebuyers location preferences. Data from
Lyft and Uber already show that when private transit becomes significantly
cheaper, public-transit use also increases: many carless households replace the
car with a mix of private and public transit. As cars become a service rather than
an asset, proximity to bus lines may become less important, but subways and
trains that can bypass car traffic altogether will only grow in popularity.
How should this affect your home-buying decisions today? Perhaps not much; the
average lifespan of a car is 15 years, so it may be 2035 or later before nearly all
cars are self-driving. And well still need at least some parking, not to mention a
place for our skis and lawn-mower.
But our guess is that the future, which usually doesnt come to pass at an even
pace, will happen faster than that; there will be a tipping point, driven in this case
by the overwhelming convenience and safety of self-driving cars, and by the
likelihood that only a small proportion of cars need to be self-driving before real
estate prices begin to anticipate a world where most cars are that way.
Regardless of when you want to prepare for the future, heres our take on what to
do about it:
Dont pay a premium for a garage. Today the same home with or
without a garage costs an extra $50,000 per parking space. A decade from
now self-driving cars will make urban homes with less parking more
attractive.
Do pay a premium for proximity to a subway station or rail

station. Today proximity to transit adds 30% to a homes value. As the
number of partially or completely carless households increases, we believe
that premium will be closer to 50% in a decade.
And last but not least, consider the possibility that a home next to an
unsightly parking garage may one day be situated next to a new
park or a new block of coffee shops and restaurants.
A hundred years ago, the car was the reason that cities became something entirely
different than villages, with sprawl, painful commutes and gated communities.
Now the self-driving car may bring the old idea of a village back to the future.
@glennkelman is the CEO of Redfin, a technology-powered real estate broker.

Photo credit: Thomas Hawk on Flickr.

Home
Profile
My Network
jobs, companies, and more...

Search for people,
Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services
Written by
Follow

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Home
Profile
My Network

Jobs
Interests
Advanced
Business Services

Leadership Lessons - The Absurdity of Complexity

Încărcat de

Informații document

Titlu original

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Leadership Lessons - The Absurdity of Complexity

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Home

Search for people, jobs, companies, and more...

Try Premium for free