Reposted from the Greenleaf Newsletter

http://www.greenleaf.org/

“THIS IS MY THESIS: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built.  Whereas, until recently, caring was largely person to person, now most of it is mediated through institutions – often large, complex, powerful, impersonal; not always competent; sometimes corrupt.  If a better society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course is to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them.”

Servant Leadership as a way of leading.

What do you think?

Stanford Business School has published an article along with a video with an interview with Steve Ballmer.  The video is 62 minutes long, however, I found it interesting to actually hear him speak about Managing Microsoft including his view of his review by the Microsoft Board of Directors.  He also mentions GOOGLE and YAHOO as companies they “benchmark” on online marketing.  His personality seems to really come through in this informal video.  He talks about the 30 key indicators he and other managers use to understand the performance of the business including innovation and people management.

Stanford Ballmer Video

What did you find interesting?

As many of you know, I really like the work of John Kotter.  His work comparing leadership to management as well as his work on leadership and change is the subject of many of our class discussions.

For all you Kotter fans out there, he has a new book.  Linked here is an interview “Hearts and MInds” in Strategy and Business where he talks about the subject of his new book “A Sense of Urgency”.

For sure, urgency is critical in leadership situations.  What do you think about Professor Kotter’s insights into the subject?

I was introduced to a streaming video by the Stanford Business Knowledgebase Newsletter entitled “Managing Your Boss“  This is part of a Last Lecture Series which offers advice to graduating MBAs.

The speaker is Professor Frank Lynn.

What did you think?  Do you think that there are some good “lessons learned” for students?  What are they?  Do you think there are some good “lessons learned” for bosses?  What are they?

Gene A. Wright