Here is a video that shows how an Australian Australian presenter failed to amuse the Dalai Lama with a Dalai Lama joke.
The play-on-words "joke" he used is: the Dalai Lama walks into a pizza store and asks if they can make him one with everything.
The Dalai Lama's response is funnier than the joke.
He could have added: The Dalai Lama then gave the cashier $20 and asked for his change.
The cashier replied: Change comes from within.
This Thanksgiving weekend, a friend called to say he was reaching out to the people he was thankful for – and just wanted to let me know how he felt.
My mind immediately began thinking about what else the call could have been about? I remembered that I intended to send him a book. I thought about the last time we talked. And then it hit me, he was actually exercising his ability to be thankful.
Wow, what a concept.
Were you actually grateful and thankful this weekend?
It is a choice. It is a habit. For me, it is something I aspire to exercise more regularly … What about you?
Looking back over the past few weeks, I recognize that I have been pushing hard – with a focus on finishing the year strong. Maybe it's time to recognize how much progress was made and intentionally focus on making people feel appreciated and capable instead?
Scar tissue, resentment, frustration, and fear are unnecessary and counterproductive. It's time to figure-out what feels good and do more of it.
With that in mind, here is a picture of me with my awesome wife and oldest son at the Cowboys game. We had a great Thanksgiving. Hopefully, you did too.
This public service message has been presented by the part of me that knows better. Hopefully, the part of you that knows better will notice it.
Have a great rest of the year.
This Thanksgiving weekend, a friend called to say he was reaching out to the people he was thankful for – and just wanted to let me know how he felt.
My mind immediately began thinking about what else the call could have been about? I remembered that I intended to send him a book. I thought about the last time we talked. And then it hit me, he was actually exercising his ability to be thankful.
Wow, what a concept.
Were you actually grateful and thankful this weekend?
It is a choice. It is a habit. For me, it is something I aspire to exercise more regularly … What about you?
Looking back over the past few weeks, I recognize that I have been pushing hard – with a focus on finishing the year strong. Maybe it's time to recognize how much progress was made and intentionally focus on making people feel appreciated and capable instead?
Scar tissue, resentment, frustration, and fear are unnecessary and counterproductive. It's time to figure-out what feels good and do more of it.
With that in mind, here is a picture of me with my awesome wife and oldest son at the Cowboys game. We had a great Thanksgiving. Hopefully, you did too.
This public service message has been presented by the part of me that knows better. Hopefully, the part of you that knows better will notice it.
Have a great rest of the year.
Albert Einstein said: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
So true!
We just finished some planning sessions, and this lesson showed its relevance several times.
This is a message that bears repeating.
If you focus on what you do well that gives you energy and sparks your passion, the rest seems to take care of itself … and genius emerges.
Albert Einstein said: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
So true!
We just finished some planning sessions, and this lesson showed its relevance several times.
This is a message that bears repeating.
If you focus on what you do well that gives you energy and sparks your passion, the rest seems to take care of itself … and genius emerges.
Sometimes the answer is really simple.
Here’s a secret that most aren’t willing to hear or practice.
The biggest difference between where you are and the life you’ve always dreamed of is trumpeted in this video. Should you watch it? My advice, "Just Do It!"
Don't wait until all the conditions are perfect for you to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. Just Do It!
Sometimes the answer is really simple.
Here’s a secret that most aren’t willing to hear or practice.
The biggest difference between where you are and the life you’ve always dreamed of is trumpeted in this video. Should you watch it? My advice, "Just Do It!"
Don't wait until all the conditions are perfect for you to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. Just Do It!
Steve Jobs deserves credit. He is a world-class innovator and showman.
Despite what the cartoon says, there is not an app for that. Replacing Steve Jobs will not be easy. He was one of a kind.
His latest accomplishment is that he figured-out how to get everyone to eulogize him while he's still alive.
Brilliant.
To be fair, these may be the last years (or days) of Jobs' life. But, as HBR points out, if so, Jobs no doubt knew that something needed to change. Perhaps it really is time for Jobs to go home, as he put it, to a "wonderful family" and an "amazing woman" and re-reflect on a few of the provocative questions (slightly altered) that he posed to the world in his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address.
Here is the video.
Here are some of the questions he posed. (click here for the complete text version of the speech)
For almost four decades Steve Jobs has certainly tried his best to "put a ding in the universe."
If you are looking for more on Jobs' wisdom and insights, Umair Haque has a nice post on the Harvard Business Review site; it is called "Steve's Seven Insights for 21st Century Capitalists".
He highlights lessons that jumped out at him while looking through this compendium of Jobs quotes.
Here are two examples.
It Matters that it Matters. "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugar water — or do you want to change the world?" That's what Steve famously asked John Sculley. Translation: do you really want to spend your days slaving over work that fails to inspire, on stuff that fail to count, for reasons that fail to touch the soul of anyone?
Do the insanely great. "When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it." We're awash in a sea of the tedious, the humdrum, the predictable. If your goal is rising head and shoulders above this twisting mass of mediocrity, then it's not enough, anymore, to tack on another 99 features every month and call it "innovation." Just do great work.
Those aren't the only lessons, nor probably the best lessons. There are lots to choose from.
Umair Haque challenges: Steve took on the challenge of proving that the art of enterprise didn't have to culminate in a stagnant pond of unenlightenment — and won. In doing so, he might just have built something approximating the modern world's most dangerously enlightened company. Can you?
What a great thing career he had. He ends his Stanford speech with a quote that sums it up well. "Stay Hungry … Stay Foolish."
Steve Jobs deserves credit. He is a world-class innovator and showman.
Despite what the cartoon says, there is not an app for that. Replacing Steve Jobs will not be easy. He was one of a kind.
His latest accomplishment is that he figured-out how to get everyone to eulogize him while he's still alive.
Brilliant.
To be fair, these may be the last years (or days) of Jobs' life. But, as HBR points out, if so, Jobs no doubt knew that something needed to change. Perhaps it really is time for Jobs to go home, as he put it, to a "wonderful family" and an "amazing woman" and re-reflect on a few of the provocative questions (slightly altered) that he posed to the world in his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address.
Here is the video.
Here are some of the questions he posed. (click here for the complete text version of the speech)
For almost four decades Steve Jobs has certainly tried his best to "put a ding in the universe."
If you are looking for more on Jobs' wisdom and insights, Umair Haque has a nice post on the Harvard Business Review site; it is called "Steve's Seven Insights for 21st Century Capitalists".
He highlights lessons that jumped out at him while looking through this compendium of Jobs quotes.
Here are two examples.
It Matters that it Matters. "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugar water — or do you want to change the world?" That's what Steve famously asked John Sculley. Translation: do you really want to spend your days slaving over work that fails to inspire, on stuff that fail to count, for reasons that fail to touch the soul of anyone?
Do the insanely great. "When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it." We're awash in a sea of the tedious, the humdrum, the predictable. If your goal is rising head and shoulders above this twisting mass of mediocrity, then it's not enough, anymore, to tack on another 99 features every month and call it "innovation." Just do great work.
Those aren't the only lessons, nor probably the best lessons. There are lots to choose from.
Umair Haque challenges: Steve took on the challenge of proving that the art of enterprise didn't have to culminate in a stagnant pond of unenlightenment — and won. In doing so, he might just have built something approximating the modern world's most dangerously enlightened company. Can you?
What a great thing career he had. He ends his Stanford speech with a quote that sums it up well. "Stay Hungry … Stay Foolish."
You don't need a formal setting to learn about leadership.
Derek Sivers gave this 3-minute talk at a TED conference.
You can watch a movement happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes, while he points-out some of the lessons.
A leader needs the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous. But what he's doing is so simple, it's almost instructional. This is key. You must be easy to follow!Now comes the first follower with a crucial role: he publicly shows everyone how to follow. Notice the leader embraces him as an equal, so it's not about the leader anymore – it's about them, plural. Notice he's calling to his friends to join in. It takes guts to be a first follower! You stand out and brave ridicule, yourself. Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that makes the fire.
The 2nd follower is a turning point: it's proof the first has done well. Now it's not a lone nut, and it's not two nuts. Three is a crowd and a crowd is news.
A movement must be public. Make sure outsiders see more than just the leader. Everyone needs to see the followers, because new followers emulate followers – not the leader.
Now here come 2 more, then 3 more. Now we've got momentum. This is the tipping point! Now we've got a movement!
As more people jump in, it's no longer risky. If they were on the fence before, there's no reason not to join now. They won't be ridiculed, they won't stand out, and they will be part of the in-crowd, if they hurry. Over the next minute you'll see the rest who prefer to be part of the crowd, because eventually they'd be ridiculed for not joining.
And ladies and gentlemen that is how a movement is made! Let's recap what we learned:
If you are a version of the shirtless dancing guy, all alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals, making everything clearly about the movement, not you.
Be public. Be easy to follow!
But the biggest lesson here – did you catch it?
Leadership is over-glorified.
Yes it started with the shirtless guy, and he'll get all the credit, but you saw what really happened:
It was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader.
There is no movement without the first follower.
We're told we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective.
The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.
When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.
—
Original video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk
Official transcript at http://sivers.org/ff
