leadership archives
“It takes a strong UX practitioner to stand up to an ill-informed team who think that Agile is about speed rather than about better project control, and who subsequently think that user experience work is a waste of time.”
Looking forward to reading the rest of Nielsen/Norman’s Best Practices for User Experience on Agile Development Projects

posted by ted on Monday, Dec 01, 2008 · 0 comments

“When we misuse authority by preventing failure, we diminish accountability and capacity for learning.”
Barbara Tanner from George Wythe University . The context was in education, but I think it applies to allowing teams and individuals to take risks in the workplace as well. This made me think back to Scott Berkun’s session on spectacular design failures at UIE 13, as well as his essay on learning from mistakes. If we are so afraid of failure that we risk nothing, then we don’t grow.

posted by ted on Monday, Nov 24, 2008 · 4 comments

“Leaders inspire. Managers require.”
A participant at the George Wythe University Statesmanship Retreat last weekend, commenting on the difference between leadership and management. Not to say that good managers can’t also inspire—but when they do, that is when they Lead instead of merely Manage. Also, you can lead without being a manager—something good designers do every day.

posted by ted on Monday, Nov 17, 2008 · 0 comments

“Establishing a bond of brotherhood is critical. If those who serve with you feel this mutual love and trust, the work of the Lord will thrive and heaven will aid you in your efforts. Fail to establish this bond, however, and you may find your work tedious, toilsome, and unproductive. Average leaders used the carrot and the stick to motivate those around them. Great leaders communicate a vision that captures the imagination and fires the hearts and minds of those around them. Average leaders inspire people to punch a time clock. Great leaders inspire industry and passion. You can get people to work by using threats or by promising rewards. But if you want to create a band of brothers, you must inspire those who work with you and encourage them to give their all in a great cause.”
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, in Band of Brothers

posted by randy on Sunday, Feb 24, 2008

“When I was struggling with a project he would say, “but, it’s not beautiful, yet.””
Comment from Milton Glaser to Frank Baseman http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/heroes-baseman

posted by chris_mayfield on Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008

“He had an unbending
devotion to flexibility.
”
Lincoln on Leadership

posted by ted on Tuesday, Oct 23, 2007

“Managers do things right.
Leaders do right things.
”
Quoted in Lincoln on Leadership, my current commuter audiobook

posted by ted on Friday, Oct 19, 2007

“Whether people skills are effective or not depends on something deeper [than] behavior and skill… . No matter what we’re doing on the outside, people respond primarily to how we’re feeling about them on the inside.”
Corny… but true? From Leadership and Self-Deception .

posted by ted on Monday, Jun 04, 2007

I had some interesting experiences last week that struck a chord with something I just read in Leadership and Self-Deception : “Whether people skills are effective or not depends on something deeper [than] behavior and skill… . No matter what we’re doing on the outside, people respond primarily to how we’re feeling about them on the inside.”

It sounds kind of corny, so I questioned this at first. But I’m coming to believe that this statement as I examine my interactions with my family and co-workers. If I’m frustrated with my kids, and that’s the main feeling in my heart, it doesn’t matter too much that I keep my voice level and say reasonable things; somehow my they sense my frustration with them and react to it defensively.

The same thing seems to hold true at work. When I am mostly thinking how I want someone else as a problem or roadblock, they seem to sense that somehow, even if I’m smiling and making chit-chat. Some defensiveness arises, finger-pointing starts, etc.

So what do you do about it? Chang

posted by ted on Thursday, May 31, 2007

“Identify someone with a problem and you’ll be identifying someone who resists the suggestion that he has a problem. That’s self-deception—the inability to see that one has a problem. Of all the problems in organizations, it’s the most common—and the most damaging.”
Leadership and Self-Deception

posted by ted on Thursday, May 31, 2007

“Don’t try to be perfect. Do try to be better.”
Leadership and Self-Deception

posted by ted on Monday, May 07, 2007

“Self-deception blinds us to the true cause of problems, and once blind, all the “solutions” we can think of will actually make matters worse.”
Leadership and Self-Deception

posted by ted on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007

“If clever people have one defining characteristic, it is that they do not want to be led. This clearly creates a problem for you as a leader.”
Leading Clever People – Havard Business Review (via Trizle)

posted by john on Thursday, Mar 01, 2007