WEEKLY BLOG AND READING REFLECTIONS

This week I choose to shake things up with my blog selection and cover 2 of the blogs I haven’t made any reflections in the past.

The first one is Seth Godin’s blog. I am consistently impressed with his narrative and style of writing. It gets to the core of my existence. These past 2 weeks Seth talked about several things. Like beads on a string, all connected and built off each other. Among other things he talked about importance of looking around and being aware of your competition and what others are doing to move forward, especially if they are in your blind spot. In another, Seth talked about problems of having high expectations, but also the issue in having none. As I would say it is important not to over promise then under deliver. But striving for perfection and something bigger and better is a fuel that keeps us charged. The last post I will mentioned from Seth’s blog was called Seeking Sonder. I didn’t think this was an English world but it sounded inciting. I read the post and felt so much closer to so many people who I wish could see where their problems lie. As Seth said “Sonder is defined as that moment when you realize that everyone around you has an internal life as rich and as conflicted as yours”. Essentially we are all in the same boat theoretically speaking. Rich or poor we all feel pain of loneliness and fear of rejection, of failure. We all feel distances we pass are hard. Once we reach the first milestone we had an eye on for a long time, sometimes doesn’t feel all that exciting because there is a new milestone and mark in sight. Sonder in my mind is the moment when you are able to understand and bond with others on a spiritual level. See their faults and beauty for what it is and understand that we all struggle to communicate or achieve at times. It’s also called empathy and its key in understanding and practicing leadership skills.

The second post I would like to feature is from Entreprenuer.com called What Do Post-It Notes, Amazon Drones and Gmail All Have in Common?

The answer is all 3 were developed under the same type of leadership technique, intrapreneurship! The article goes on to talk about difference between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship. And how the latter can truly transform a business. Ideas born started as a bottoms up approach, employee driven. The companies recognize vision and invest in people and technology. Companies who take this approach provide their employees with an opportunity to run the business as if it were an entrepreneurship and yet the success that comes out of the efforts remains proprietary to the mother company. Making it a win win for all. I always say that happy people are productive people. Employees just want to be heard and understood, given a chance to prove themselves. Once that happens they keep on going and giving.

The third and last blog I am going to reflect on this week is from Harvard Business Review. I very much enjoyed reading an article called Data from 3.5 Million Employees Shows How Innovation Really Works

The article talks about results of a 5 years long study around innovation in more than 150 companies. They all had one thing in common. They fostered innovation. Employees were able to post their ideas and get feedback and input on how to make ideas bigger and better. The more ideas were produced the higher rates of innovation and ROI were seen. Scale played a role here, but when innovation is encouraged even in a small company results were are there. That’s where frequency and engagement come in. The more people ideate the more they innovate successfully. Lastly, diversity of ideas and diversity among those giving ideas and feedback was seen as a plus.

As we learn in tribal leadership lessons these past two weeks diversity is very important. Diversity of thought and culture. The more perspectives the better and stronger the idea or a project is.  When ideas grown in an isolated incubator results are predictable and have many unforeseen faults.