Leadership Lessons From The Shaolin

I watched a Sunday movie called Shaolin, a martial arts film from Hong Kong (2011). 

What I really enjoyed about this movie aside from action and adventure was the teachings of the Shaolin monks.

Some highlights that I took away:

- Everything has a purpose: "Which is more useful a pile of gold or of mud? To a seedling, it is the pile of mud." One thing or one person is not better than another, but are just different and each serves their own purpose in life. 

- Greed is the root of all evil: "All negative deeds are done for greed." We need to be willing to let go of the desire for material things and instead value doing good deeds.
 
- Evil causes suffering: "From evil comes suffering. With justice, they are gone." In Judaism, there is a similar notion that one bad deed begets another and causes suffering, and vice versa good deeds spur more good in the world.

- Repentance is learning and growth: "The one who repents is a hero." Everyone makes mistakes and does bad at some point in their life--no one is an angel--but the key is to learn from these and commit to do better the next time. 

- Compassion is the way to peace: By being compassionate to others, we can purge ourselves of discontent and anger, and find inner peace and enlightenment.

Below is how I summarize the steps from materialism to enlightenment.

Hopefully, we can all find our way to achieving our true potentials for the good.
 

Leadership Lessons From The Shaolin

Do Business With Good People

While most companies run to do business with anyone with a checkbook or credit card, some amazing others are more discriminating. 

In interview on Leadership in the New York Times (24 December 2011) with Ori Hadomi, the CEO of Mazor Robotics (they make robotic systems that aid in spinal surgeries) he states: "You can't afford to working with people are not good people [you need to be selective]...you need to look at your vendors and your customers the same way."  

He actually "told one our salespeople recently that he didn't have to sell our product to people who were not nice to him."

Wow--this is powerful stuff. 

It's not about just the money, it's about the meaning and feeling good about yourself, the organization, and what you are achieving,
Similarly, Hadomi has a different--better--philosophy on the role of the management that typically sees itself as making sure employees get the work done and work hard.  Hadomi states: I believe that my role is not to make people work, but to give them the right working conditions, so that they will enjoy what they do." 

On making mistakes, often a punishable offense in organizations, Hardomi states: "It's natural that we make mistakes."  The main thing is that we learn and solve them for the future. 

With planning and communicating, while many organizations play their stakeholders and stockholders telling them everything is going to be just great--and this often is pronounced when companies reassure investors and others right before they were about to fall off the proverbial bankruptcy cliff.  However, Hardomi tells us that while positive thinking can help motivate people, it can also be dangerous to plan based on that and that instead in Mazor robotics, he establishes an executive as the devil's advocate to "ask the right questions [and]...humble our assumptions."

In working out problems, while email wars and reply-alls fill corporate email boxes, Hardomi cuts it off and says "after that second response...you pick up the phone."  Problems can be resolved in 1/10 the time by talking to each other and even better "looking at the eyes of the other person." 

As we all know, too often, the number and length of meetings are overdone, and Hardomi has instead one roundtable a week--where everybody tells what they did and are planning to do--this synchronizes the organization. 

Who does Hardomi like to hire, people that are self-reflective, self-critical, and can articulate their concerns and fears. These people are thoughtful, are real, and will make a good fit.  

Hardomi sets the bar high for all us in breaking many traditional broken management paradigms--he is paving a new leadership trail that especially from a human capital perspective is worthy of attention and emulation.

(Photo adapted from here with attribution to Gnsin and Honda)

Do Business With Good People

Online Presence, Your Calling Card

In the age when Facebook has surpassed 800 million users, I still often hear people say that they don't like to join social networks or put any information about themselves on the Internet. 

Whether or not their apprehensions about their privacy being compromised is justified or whether they feel that "it's simply a waste of time" or that they "just don't get it," the impetus for us to all establish and nurture our online presence is getting more important than ever. 

In the competition for the best jobs, schools, even mates, and other opportunities, our online credentials are becoming key.

We've heard previously about jobs checking candidates backgrounds on the Internet and even bypassing candidates or even firing employees for their activities online.  

Numerous examples of people badmouthing their companies or bosses have been profiled in the media and even some politicians have been forced out of office--remember "Weinergate" not too long ago?

Now, not only can negative activities online get you in trouble, but positive presence and contributions can get you ahead.

The Wall Street Journal (24 January 2012) reports in an article titled No More Resumes, Say Some Firms that companies are not only checking up on people online, but they are actually asking "applicants to send links representing their web presence" in lieu of resumes altogether. 

What are they looking for:

- Twitter Accounts
- Blogs
- Short Videos
- Online Surveys/Challenges

The idea is that you can learn a lot more about someone--how they think and what they are like--from their history online, then from a resume snapshot.

Of course, many companies still rely on the resume to screen applicants, but even then LinkedIn with over 135 million members is sometimes the first stop for recruiters looking for applicants.

Is everything you do and say online appropriate or "fair game" for people screening or is this going over some sacred line that says that we all have professional lives and personal lives and what we do "when we're off the clock" (as long as your not breaking any laws or doing something unethical) is no one's darn business.  

The problem is that when you post something online--publicly--for the world to see, can you really blame someone for looking?  

In the end, we have to be responsible for what we disclose about ourselves and demonstrate prudence, maturity, respect, and diplomacy, perhaps that itself is a valid area for others to take into account when they are making judgments about us. 

When it comes to children--parents-beware; the Internet has a long memory and Facebook now has a "timeline", so don't assume everyone will be as understanding or forgiving for "letting kids be kids."

One last thought, even if we are responsible online, what happens when others such as hackers, identity thieves, slanderers, those with grudges, and others--mess with your online identity--can you ever really be secure? 

Being online is no longer an option, but it is certainly a double-edged sword. 

(Source Photo: here; Image credit to L Hollis Photography)

Online Presence, Your Calling Card

App Provides Push-Button Emergency Help

An important new free iPhone/Android App called CrimePush hit the market today.

It allows you or a loved one at the push of a button to report a crime.  

Once you download the app, you can store your name, phone number, and address (so it's there in case something G-d forbid happens).

Further, you can set the App to report crimes with your information or anonymously and with or without your GPS location. 

Then you have a screen that provides you with 9 options for the various types of crime or emergency:

- Theft
- Threat
- Altercation
- Sexual Abuse
- Medical
- Accident
- Vandalism
- Drugs
- Harassment

Click on theft, as an example, the date and time are pre-populated for you, and you have a free text area to describe the incident, and the options to add a photo, video, or audio.

Then simply hit the "push" button to submit to the authorities. 

My understanding is that more enhancements to the CrimePush App are in the works such as the ability to shake your phone to activate CrimePush, so the police can find you quickly through GPS. 

CrimePush has the potential to help a lot of people and ultimately actually help to reduce crime by having people report instead of ignore, and provide information to the authorities faster, more accurately, and more comprehensively using the various multimedia options to capture the crime and the criminals.

(Source Photo: here)

App Provides Push-Button Emergency Help