Are You A Sailboat Or A Submarine?

Once in a while my eye catches the comments people leave on LinkedIn.com. I love LinkedIn, but I find the majority of the comments people leave to lack value and to be a waste of time. The topics aren't that great either - "How good are you at crisis management?", "One word or phrase to characterize your leadership style?". Silly topics that create inefficiency when 291 people actually take time out from producing to answer these rhetorical questions. Where is the value? However one question from somebody named John caught my eye "Do you believe you can motivate people?"

Culture Of Transparency...Are We Ready?

The best businesses are built on a culture of transparency. Period. Yet so few companies, organizations or nations for that matter practice a true culture of transparency. As the recent WikiLeaks saga unfolds itself many intellectuals, critics and spectators are debating whether we, as a global community, are better off knowing the contents of some 250,000 classified government documents that were stolen and sold earlier this year. Its a complex question that is worth pontificating, even if there is no clear cut answer. Personally I am more interested in the question whether we, collectively, are ready for the kind of transparency philosophers and progressives preach, or business professors idolize.

When China Ruled the World (Or why the "China Century" will be the shortest on record): Guest Post

Back in September I posted a blog titled Why Fearing China Is A Mistake, outlining a number of cracks in the invincibility of China, and underlining my growing belief that Brand USA has a massive opportunity to manufacture "Made In USA" products for export to the growing Chinese market. As a follow up to that post I am excited to share a must read guest blog by Thomas P.M. Barnett of Esquire that is both thought-provoking and insightful in why we must not fear China and instead gear up to compete in the free market.

Once A Fraud, Always A Fraud

Once in a while I am shocked. Shocked by people's actions. Its honestly a rare thing in these times of suicide bombers, rapists, pedophiles and Bernie Madoffs, but nevertheless once in a while I am, as the British put it so eloquently, gob smacked. On Sunday I received an e-mail from an old friend and colleague in Paris who is hiring a sales executive for the German market. One of the candidates under consideration worked for the start-up we both worked at from the late 90s to the mid-2000s. Here is what my friend wrote:

Do You Want To Be Right Or Do You Want To Be Married?

Life is tough. Its tougher when you are stupid. One of the most frustrating things about being an advisor to others is when you watch smart, intelligent, even accomplished people fall into what I call the TEST – temporary emotional stupid trap. It’s human nature I guess, kind of like the killer’s plea for temporary insanity. Emotion takes over and you dig in to fight because you believe you are right and the other party is wrong.

Unreasonable Ambition, Yes, Blind Ambition No.

You often hear people's opinions on what it takes to be a success in this world. You hear advice on habits, best practice, waking up with a '5' on the alarm clock, or just plain old advice from your Grand Pa saying "Son, hard work is what it takes to make something of yourself in this world". Everyone has a view on what the secret to success is, even those who are not successful.

The Importance of Keeping Your Head Empty

This week I had the privilege of attending a private dinner with Elizabeth Gilbert, best selling author of the book Eat, Pray, Love. Now before you say 'huh?' let me just say I haven't read the book or watched the movie, but am aware it is a "chick flick" and that didn't prevent me from attending. You see, I find authors to have interesting perspective on the world and have often found their views helpful to me personally and in my work. I was not disappointed by Ms Gilbert.

20 Things I’ve Learned From Traveling Around the World for Three Years: Guest Post

I read a post this morning that I just had to share. Gary Arndt is the man behind the blog Everything Everywhere, one of the most popular travel blogs in the world. Gary is a true Nomad. Since 2007 he has been traveling around the world, having visited more than 70 countries and territories, and gaining worldly wisdom in the process. Gary posted this on Tim Ferriss' blog and it really captures the most important lessons you need to learn about traveling around the world.

Friday Afternoon Musings From Boston

What I love about travel is that it not only gives you time to reflect on your life, but also it enhances your sense of observation. You really see things that normally you wouldn't. Things that perhaps are better unseen. And you appreciate the complexities, challenges and obstacles that life sometimes throws at you. If there is one thing I love about being a nomad its the opportunity to reflect and observe things that you normally wouldn't in your day to day life.

Are You Sure You Want To Follow Today’s Executives?: Guest Post

Anyone who has tried to sell anything to corporations, and specifically the decision makers inside corporations, will appreciate the fallacy of proof. I remember some years back when I was working on a strategic project with a client in the UK who was looking at outsourcing a part of their operations worldwide. In a meeting with the COO of the company it was clear that leadership wanted to do this because of the perceived value, but implementation was going to be the biggest challenge to making it happen. To ensure success we embarked on a lengthy crusade to 'sell' the concept inside the company and win over the key stakeholders who would be impacted by this change.

Change The World NOW!

I wanted to share with you an incredible vision statement from a start-up I am privileged to sit on the Board of. At this time I am not able to name the company or the founders of this incredible venture, but you will hear about them in the near future, both on this site and around the world. But the words in their business plan blew me away. And they reminded me of the essence of this blog - the power of the individual and the different each of us - YOU - can make in this short life.

Killing Me Softly

I was scanning through articles like I do every day and came across a very disturbing piece in the UK's Daily Mail today. A Manhattan-based artist named Sally Davies bought a Happy Meal from McDonald's on April 10th and photographed it on her shelf in her apartment. She proceeded to photograph the happy meal every day in order to capture the daily decay, a kind of 'art' project I guess. The only trouble was 6 months later the Happy Meal has barely decayed. It looks almost like it did on the day she bought it.

Why Fearing China Is A Mistake

One of the unfortunate repercussions of the weak economy and politics in the West is the growing animosity towards China. I have heard uninformed people blame China for everything from the high rate of unemployment (its all those outsourced jobs) to the high cost of gas (they are using more and more energy!). This anti-China beat is still in "politically correct" tones, however as elections loom and we continue to fail in turning our economy around, this narrow view of a Chinese threat beating us will no doubt grow louder. This is a mistake and a missed opportunity in the making in my view. 

Government 2.0: Guest Post

In 1990 I was privileged to attend the 50th Anniversary dinner for Bruce Lee in Los Angeles. He would have been 50 had he not tragically passed away in 1973. It was a wonderful evening, lots of stories from his family (wife, son Brandon and daughter Shannon all in attendance), as well as Ip Man, the grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and Bruce Lee's Master, who is the subject of the highly rated Chinese film Ip Man, a must see for avid foreign film lovers. That night I learnt an amazing lesson that has stayed with me 20 years on, and holds so true in today's complex world.

Balancing It All: Guest Post

Some of the best people I have worked with were women. In fact, of the top five people I have had work for me, 2 of them were female. If I think of the top ten colleagues I have had under me then 5 of the 10 were women. Most were wives and mothers, balancing life at home as well as at work. Yet they performed at the highest levels for me, outperforming their male colleagues in an apples to apples comparison. And let me be clear, my management style is all about accountability so I don't see a difference between male and female team members, old and young or experienced and inexperienced. You are either in the role or not.

A Little Old School for LinkedIn Users

When I graduated business school and entered the workforce for the first time I was fortunate to have chosen an opportunity that got me the coaching and mentorship every young professional needs. My boss, mentor and today friend, Dan, taught me a lot of things, from effective business writing to how to order in a  French restaurant to his incredible thought process. But the number one lesson he drilled into me echoed what my father always taught us growing up: your credibility is everything.

What Do You Think?

In the last two decades of my professional career we have had three recessions, one depression (current), one oil crisis, one oil disaster, a slew of natural disasters from Katrina to the Asian tsunami to multiple earthquakes, the fall of the Soviet Union, an internet boom (and bust), a real estate boom (and bust), two Wall Street crisis of confidence, 9-11, three major wars, a new Pope and the third impeachment of a US President in history. Throughout these events we have scrutinized many things about our global system of commerce, but one area has not come under much scrutiny... 

The Missing Element Of Success: Taking Care of Your Body

The past few weeks I have been putting together the contents for a blog on the importance of personal training and why its imperative for leaders, managers, professionals and individuals young and old to focus on their physical, nutritional and mental health. The basic message is you must incorporate taking care of your body into your day-to-day life. If you want to be successful at your profession and with your family then you have to workout and eat the right foods. However as life happens I wanted to share an experience from this evening that in my view reinforces the absolute need for all of us to exercise, build strength and eat the right foods.

The Battle For Talent

One of the challenges facing businesses of all sizes today is finding, developing and keeping the right talent. While unemployment is at record highs all over the world, and companies don't look to be adding great numbers of head count in the near future, one thing remains certain: good people are in high demand like never before.

A Relationship Story - Our Legacy in the Stories People Tell: Guest Post

I was talking about my Great Grandfather the other night with my Dad. I know very little about the man that everyone in my extended family still raves about. "He was a great man" my cousin says every time I visit him in San Diego. "He fed the British army during World War II when they were stationed in Iran" my Grandmother used to say. "Rahim Khan was a great man!" people who knew him say. Yet my Great Grandfather was not a Rockefeller, a politician or a celebrity. He was a hard working man from the North of Iran who worked night and day his entire life to raise 7 kids (5 boys and 2 girls), farm his lands and produce enough food to feed the villages and towns that were in the North of the country.

LeBron, Cleveland and France's World Cup Team Lessons To Us All

A good friend and mentor of mine once said "Life's lessons are all around us. The trick is to recognize them, learn from them, and live from them!". It sounds pretty obvious but how aware are you of the world around you and all its lessons? And more importantly, are you applying these lessons to you and yours?

Why We Need The Rich...: Guest Post

As America celebrates Independence Day 2010 I am in Europe discussing opportunities that will (hopefully) eventually lead to creating jobs in America. In my discussions over here I often get feedback about the Nomad Influencer blog and suggestions on how to improve it. One recurring comment from readers over the past months is why my blog posts do not address the ever turbulent political landscape of America. I have thought about this many times and firmly believe the Nomad Influencer is not about politics (albeit everything touches politics regardless of how much we like to think otherwise). However, I did agree with a European reader today that since the Nomad Influencer is about perspective then it makes sense to share the perspective on what is going on in America today. 

Somewhere Over The Skies of Colorado

I'm sitting on a plane heading to the East Coast and my neighbor decides to vent her frustrations that her management "doesn't get" her role as a Senior Manager of the company. We got into a heated debate about how important the role of the manager is versus her view that the business world revolves around the needs of each and every employee. 

Dress The Part

"Dress shabbily, they notice the dress. Dress impeccably, they notice the woman."

--Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, French fashion designer

Three Tips To Take A Leap

I had lunch today with an old friend and colleague in Pittsburgh, catching up on life and work. Its probably been 18 months since we got together last. A great conversation, good to see him again and see how his kids are growing up so fast. He lives in Toronto and work brings him to Pittsburgh regularly, but this was the first time we had seen each other in ages. Conversation turned to business and while I won’t share the context of our (private) lunch, I was reminded of three key lessons that life has taught my friend and I since we first met as colleagues in Brussels in the 90s.

Introducing the DoBand Campaign

In today’s fast paced internet world where ideas, action and start-up businesses make headlines every day its hard to separate the really good ideas from the short-lived hypes. Thanks to a team of students at Cornell University I am pleased to share one of the best ideas I have seen in a long time. The DoBand concept (www.DoBand.org) was inspired by the movie Pay It Forward, but takes the concept from the movie to a whole new level of personal involvement.

Whats In A Name?

There is nothing more frustrating than forgetting a name, especially one you just heard a moment ago. Or you are at a conference and this smiling face comes up to you and says "Shahriar! How are you? Its been a long time!" and you are thinking to yourself I know this guy, whats his name again? And the impression it leaves on the person is pretty bad, somewhere between disappointment and feeling insulted...

Remembering Apollo 13

Exactly 30 years ago on April 13, 1970 astronaut and mission commander James Lovell spoke those infamous words “Houston, we’ve had a problem” from the spacecraft Odyssey, better known as Apollo 13. What transpired over the next 72 hours is well known and documented in history books and in the Tom Hanks film Apollo 13. But in remembering the story of how 3 astronauts found themselves stranded on a malfunctioning spacecraft and were guided home by a team of engineers on the ground in Houston’s Kennedy Space Center, I stumbled on a remarkable story of leadership the likes of which we have not seen too many times since.

Spring Leadership

Its April and Spring has arrived, my favorite time of year. Its not just the change in weather that makes this a wonderful time of year, but also the change that happens in everything and everyone around us. It doesn’t matter what you do, the start of the second quarter of the calendar year means we shift gears up and push the gas pedal on whatever it is we are trying to achieve in our lives.

Fail Fast

The best piece of advice I ever received in my career was to fail fast. Like most young graduates coming out of school I was determined to be successful and never fail. In fact, from an early age it was engrained in me that failure is not an option.  None of this “everyone received a trophy for participating” stuff that seems to be more and more the norm in America’s schools and competitions. You worked hard to be the best you can be, and there was nothing else. But when you come out of school and are thrown into the fast world of business, profits and growth, you realize that trying to be perfect is likely the fastest path to failure.

Value Creation = What Drives The Market

Perhaps the most important thing I have learnt in my professional life that my education failed to teach is that markets do not reward merit, they reward value. These are two entirely different things yet politicians, the labor market and the Press still confuse the two. At Davos French President Nicolas Sarkozy proclaimed that the recent financial meltdown had demonstrated that letting markets decide executive compensation was "morally indefensible." Mr. Sarkozy said "There are remuneration packages that will no longer be tolerated because they bear no relationship to merit." Mr. Sarkozy, like his counter parts in the US and UK, fails to appreciate this key criteria of what makes a free market the best option for every individual in the world.  And many free market supporters equally confuse value with the cult of market meritocracy, a distinction that can prevent their hard work from being rewarded.

5 Travel Lessons You Can Use at Home

If there is one thing I hope the Nomad Influencer achieves its this: to encourage you, the reader, take the experiences a nomad lifestyle can give you and apply it in your everyday life. It doesn’t matter what kind of a life you lead today, whether you have a family and the responsibilities that go with that, how old you are or how limited (or not) you may be economically. Life is about what you do with your time and that means choices. And that is the message Rolf Potts, the author of Vagabonding, gives in his post on Tim Ferriss’ blog this week.  It’s a wonderful read based on the experiences of a true nomad who has 5 amazing lessons about the art of travel well worth adopting in your everyday life. I hope you enjoy it and share your thoughts.

Are You Cut Out For A Career In Sales?

Like most people in business I spend a lot of time with sales people and/or selling myself. Often you don't think twice about the person in front of you who is showing you their product or explaining the benefits of their solution. You assume they are an authority on their product and focus on the questions that matter to you - will this address my problem? will it help me? can I/my company benefit from this. Of course you also assess whether the organization selling is right to become a partner to you and your organization, and often that starts with the quality of the relationship with the sales person in front of you. But once in a while I am stone cold surprised by the individual representing a company and its solution because they are just not an effective sales person. And it reflects poorly on their company, its products and its people.

The Apple iPad Haters Don't Get It

Am I the only one who just doesn’t understand the wave of criticism following Apple's introduction of the iPad? I mean the tsunami of criticism in the media about the long awaited Apple Tablet – that’s what it is – is just indicative of the ugly side of human beings. Call it free speech if you want, but its like mental therapy for haters. People just love to hate and the iPad seems to have given them the excuse to go after Apple, the symbol of what the modern day business should be.

Recruiting: The Problem With Resumes

Its been a grueling week of interviewing candidates. Lots of candidates. My client has a strategic initiative that requires a number of talented natural athletes with a mixture of skills and experience. The role doesn’t really exist today in the marketplace, although key components of it do in fairly established tactical functions in the manufacturing, automotive and aerospace industry. My client is in financial services.  What we are attempting is to elevate what is a traditionally tactical manufacturing role into a highly strategic relationship management position looking after some of the most critical parts of an organization at executive levels. Its pretty disruptive change internally, and highly difficult to find the right profiles externally. Forgive me for being vague, but client confidentiality comes first.

Pictures That Move

Sometimes pictures say it in a way no words can. This was a candidate for Picture of The Year in 2009. You decide.

The Best Company In The World To Work For

Fortune magazine released its annual list of “100 Best Companies To Work For” and there is a new king at the top of the list. North Carolina based software maker SAS tops the list this year with some impressive stats as well as some very unusual perks that no doubt make employee satisfaction a key component of why the company has made this list for the past 13 years and is now number 1. However, this begs the question what truly makes a company great to work for? We have all worked at good companies and bad companies at some point in our career. But only a few have worked at truly Great companies. What makes a company a great place to work?

The Worrying Trend of Faking Numbers

Earlier this month Stanford University Economics Professor Michael J. Boskin wrote an article on the Wall Street Journal called “Don’t Like the Numbers? Change ‘Em.”  In it he discussed how lately, politicians and scientists who don't like what their data show have simply taken to changing the numbers. They believe that their end - socialism, global climate regulation, health-care legislation, repudiating debt commitments, la gloire française - justifies throwing out even minimum standards of accuracy. He further highlights that it appears no numbers are immune: not GDP, not inflation, not budget, not job or cost estimates, and certainly not temperature. A CEO or CFO issuing such massaged numbers would land in jail, Mr. Boskin concludes. While Boskin’s article is really well written, it highlights a worrying trend of people of influence, be it elected officials, scientists or figures of authority, fudging the numbers to show balance and order in their domain.

God Bless America And Its People

I landed in New York this past weekend and was immediately hit with a barrage of television, radio, newspapers and people on street corners doing something for Haiti. I watched Vice President Joe Biden give a speech at an air force base, having just returned from Port-au-Prince. I usually find Biden hard to listen to, he is all charm and no substance in a way only American politicians can be, but today his words were armor piercing as he described the devastation in Haiti and what he saw on his short visit. President Obama has assembled the team of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to spearhead relief fund raising in the same way President Clinton and George H.W. Bush did for the Asian Tsunami several years back. Hollywood is doing its part too, with many Actors and Actresses donating large sums (notably Sandra Bullock committed $1m as did Bratt Pitt and Angelina Jolie) or spearheading fund raising for relief. Athletes are rallying behind the Caribbean nation, notably the NFL as it used its playoff weekend spotlight to help and announced the NFL Player’s Association will be donating $1m. So will the NBA. And there are unconfirmed reports of disgraced golfer Tiger Woods donating several million doillars to Haiti, demonstrating yet another act of humanity from America’s celebrities. Most notable however is the tens of millions of dollars the American public has raised for what is now known to be the worst natural disaster in the Western Hemisphere in decades – death toll 70,000 and rising. Everywhere I went from the moment my plane touched down there is evidence that America has mobilized in a way only it can and does when disasters like this hit.

What Should Tiger Woods Do Now?

Much has been written and said about Tiger Woods and his woes, and many people have a view or opinion on what happened and what should happen going forward. But a great deal of this commentary ignores conventional wisdom on how to handle a mess like the one Tiger has got himself into. What is relevant to you and I is not to judge Tiger on what he did, but rather learn from his mistakes and how he ultimately handles them. Because you can count on one thing for sure, almost everyone will face some career-related setback or problem at some point in their lives, it is important to learn how to overcome career reversals.

Managing Cost: Skate To Where The Puck Could Be, Not Where You Think It May Be

How would you change your business if your profits were cut by 50% overnight? That is a question a lot of companies are asking themselves as the global economic landscape continues to change in 2010. No one can really predict with any degree of accuracy what will happen to the economy, politics or the markets next year, but that doesn’t mean leaders and managers shouldn’t be thinking about their cost base now, especially as we go into the new year.

What the Heck Happened to British Airways?

I just completed 3 days of straight travel, originating in Brussels, flying through Munich, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, London and back to Edinburgh. It has been several years since I was flying British Airways regularly to and from the US. It was the highlight of my travels, experiencing BA’s wonderful customer service both on the plane and in the terminal lounges. As a Gold card member of their much coveted frequent flyer program, you got extra special service everywhere you went with British Airways. Everything about the experience set them apart from the competition, especially the poorly managed US airlines that have absolutely no customer service. Quality food, drinks, amenities, and most of all first rate customer service where staff actually took the time to look at your boarding card and address you by your name. And for this differentiated experience, we the road-warriors of travel were happy to pay a slight premium (2-5% on average) to fly British Airways.

In 2010 Go Seek And Venture

Harvard Business Review’s August issue focused on managing in the ‘New World’, a title for the post-recession world where Government Regulation, Risk, the ‘New’ Economy and Leadership will differ.