BrandToBeDetermined

Leadership Notes from Justice Article on Belichick

I enjoy the study of leadership. And success. Winning is great. So some of the quotes from this Justice article titled Belichick has an eye for success, quite literally, caught my eye. Here are a few of them. All bold emphasis added by me.

"You can talk about managing the salary cap, and you can talk about finding players, bringing in new players," Patriots vice president/personnel Scott Pioli said. "But one of the most difficult things that's not often talked about is just managing success."

Managing success means managing egos and the heart. It means seeing Bruschi for what he can contribute next season instead of what he contributed last season.

.....

Coaches sell players on three things: money, fame and success. They preach that if they do the right things, the team will be successful and fame and fortune will follow.

....

He (Belichick) seems to value intelligence above everything else in his hires. His offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, is 31 years old.

....

Confidence in team

His message to Tom Brady and to the rest of his players that afternoon was, "I believe in you."

Belichick wants players who are smart and motivated and want to be pushed.

"If we win, he wants to put it behind us and get ready to play the next game," Brady said. "If we lose, he's on us until Wednesday."

The company is over 10 years old at this point. We had a great year in 2007 thanks to our clients. Yet every day is a challenge. I need all the help I can get. If you are into leadership, I recommend reading Justice's article even though we know the Patriot's didn't get that perfect season after all.

Deb Fortune - May God Bless You and Go In Peace

I have the privilege of working for some amazing clients. To serve them. One amazing person, someone I  learned as much from as she hopefully did from us, is Deb Fortune. Deb passed away on November 9th. I just found out. And it is tremendously sad news.

Deb Fortune could only look at how to move forward, never how to step back. If you did step back she was reaching out, grabbing your hand, and once again showing you the way forward. Racing you to pick up the lunch tab. Smiling. Crossing cultural and generational boundaries as few can actually do. Yet she could. All the while her quick wit, and sometimes a dab of sarcasm, would make you smile knowing she was right.

From Deb's site:

“There is nothing more exciting than to be involved with an organization that builds a high performance culture through development and implementation of their values, vision, and guiding behaviors. Helping to build on an organization’s strengths to shape an environment where individual and organizational health can be achieved is truly rewarding.”  - Deb Fortune

To borrow from her quote - working with Deb was "truly rewarding." Deb was a driven person. Not by money as she had achieved that. Yet she did not have an off button when it came to topics she was passionate about. One of those topics was corporate culture.

"Culture is like the water fish swim in. It is an integral part of their environment; they are surrounded by it every day. Its effects can be felt, yet it remains unseen." - Deb Fortune

I knew Deb initially from a professional relationship. But she became a friend. Not sure if she really could do business long term with someone she didn't like, and to me that is a huge compliment. I made the cut. Yea! Thanks Deb!

From her obituary on the chronicle site:

DEBORAH JANE GIBBONS FORTUNE was born on June 13, and died at her home in The Woodlands on November 9, 2007. She is survived by her children, Jennie, Josh, Katie, stepchildren Beth and Tara, and seven grandchildren: Pete, Jhett, Jonas, Alexander, Cynthia, Jennifer and Christopher. Deb was 59, and gave life and love to all those around her. She trusted that the Lord would put her where she was meant to be, and this wisdom lifted her into His arms, out of pain, and with her family in Heaven.

I'll paste Deb Fortune's full CV after the jump, mainly because it is simply too important to risk the record not being retained. In closing this post I'd like to say

"Deb - you will be missed greatly. You made the world a better place and your family is blessed to have had you in their lives. May God bless you and go in peace Deb. Go in peace."

66% Error Rates - um NO! "job emplyment oportunity"

I received an email from a job applicant last year with the following subject line (sic):

job emplyment oportunity

Now here is the problem. Two out of three words are spelled incorrectly. This is a 66.66% error rate. There are only three (3) words in the entire subject line!

In this case the student feels the email subject line doesn't matter as that is just casual communication. But if entrusted with interacting with our clients surely he would spell every word correctly. He believed there is a difference between small actions and large actions. He believed that his behavior was different based on the "stakes".

Oh sure, yes the first client contact email would be spell checked and double checked. But once familiarity sets in, we go back to completely unprofessional communication (especially in the days of automatic spell check!).

I like this quote, although it is more focused on leadership, the point remains; it is not the big actions, but rather the small actions that define us.

"Leadership is a practice that requires self-discipline to hone and adapt the thousands of small actions that result in others' following you" (3 of 4) - Dr. O'Brien

Small actions. Small details. As a student of leadership I have read over and over, and experienced over and over, that there is a 100% correlation between small actions and large actions. To judge a person fairly; first judge them by their small actions and then increase their responsibility.

Erica on Startup Houston Blog

Kudos to Erica for the great post on Startup Houston. Must learn more about that blog!

Yahoo! Peanut Butter Manifesto

I love reading the thoughts of a leader like Brad Garlinghouse. Especially a leader willing to state what is obvious yet uncomfortable. Obvious, courageous and still unspoken internally.

If you are in the tech sector and in a leadership position (or aspire to such), please do read the Yahoo! peanut butter manifesto. From ypbm:

We have lost our passion to win. Far too many employees are "phoning" it in, lacking the passion and commitment to be a part of the solution.

and

There are three pillars to my plan:

1. Focus the vision.
2. Restore accountability and clarity of ownership
3. Execute a radical reorganization.

Via Liz Gannes at GigaOM.