This week Something Different – a collection of interesting thoughts from various people. Many of things stated seem obvious, but it is good to remind ourselves of these every so often, and reflect and make part of our daily life.
Narayan Murthy, speaking at Wharton recently:
Leaders transform reality from what it is to what they want it to be and raise the aspirations of followers. It is about making people believe in themselves; it is about making them confident; and it is about making people achieve miracles. Leadership is about dreaming the impossible and helping followers achieve them. Lofty aspirations build great firms, great countries and great civilizations.
The best form of leadership is leadership by example. In a knowledge company whose core competencies include human intellect and learning through a process of observation, data collection, analysis and conclusion, leaders have to walk the talk. Any dissonance between rhetoric and action by leaders will hasten the loss of credibility.
In [Infosys’] case, human intellect, technology and processes are the three key strategic resources. We operate in a domain where customer preferences and technology change rapidly and business models, paradigms and rules quickly become obsolete. Thus, the only constant for us is change.
These days, the world moves so fast that often the person who says that something cannot be done is proven wrong by another person who is already doing it.
10 Habits for IT Success, by Paul Kampas
(http://world.std.com/~pkampas/):
- Be a Player: New technology will not go away, so play now or pay later
- Begin Early: There is no substitute for more time when managing change
- Anticipate: Use trends, patterns, predictions, models, academics, early adopters, etc. to look ahead and thus prevent crises
- Engage Early Adopters: Identify, engage, and learn from early adopters, who may be employees, suppliers, customers, etc.
- Experiment First: Make your mistakes on the prototype/pilot
- Combine Vision and Focus: Plan methodically and respond to the moment
- Expect Uncertainty: Identify alternative scenarios, then craft strategies that span them
- Learn: Expect, admit, and move beyond mistakes, but make only new ones (from Esther Dyson)
- Simplify, Standardize, and Renew: Minimize support and maximize opportunity by relentlessly simplifying, standardizing, and retiring aging stuff
- Persist: Keep trying until you get it right.
