From Nelso Mandela to Fernando Torres

During the last week we had 2 important events in all over the world. During this period all TVs and newspapers and media were focusing on these events, but separately. I mean no body linked them together. Hereby, I want to write something about both events.

As you know for sure during this week we had the celebration of 90th birthday of The Great Nelson Mandela in Britain. A lot of celebrities, movie stars, famous musicians, even Queen. This person is irreplaceable and unique. There was almost a physical charge in the air when that familiar smile flashed across his face and his deep, sonorous and remarkably strong voice holds forth. When he gave a fund-raising banquet this week, it was entirely unsurprising that his fellow diners ranged from Bill Clinton to Pierce Brosnan, from Oprah Winfrey to Gordon Brown. What do you think? What makes him unforgettable? I will tell you the reason……

At the end of the week another marvelous event happened and Spain ended their 44-year wait for a major international title with a 1-0 victory over Germany at the UEFA EURO 2008 final on Sunday. Fernando Torres scored the only goal of the game in the first half as football's perennial underachievers finally banished that unwanted tag to the history books.

It was the first time Spain had won the European title since 1964 and their first final since 1984.For 69-year-old Spanish coach Luis Aragones there was a tinge of bitterness mixed with the moment of glory. As it was predictable, in absence of Villa, Torres was very thirsty to score the goal and he did. He was the only “SOS” for Spain and became the best player in the final game. There was a very astonishing decision that he was substituted while he was playing well and torturing German defenders but when he was called to come out from the field, he was not angry, meanwhile he could even scour more goals. I was watching the match with some of my friends who half of them were fans of Germany and the rest, the same as me, Spain. When the match was over already, we started to criticize the game. At that time I told to my friend, “I guess Torres will be awarded as the best player of final” and as usual he denied, cause he is a semi-German, and it happened. I was thinking today that what made him special in this match? What was the reason which made him never-to-be-forgotten? I will tell you the reason……

You know there is a slang in French, and I hope I will be able to answer these questions with it, says “a levelly guest is the one who knows when he should abandon the table and stop eating”. Yes, this is the reason. Nelson Mandela knew when the time to leave the table of presidency was, and even Torres realized when the time to leave the field was. Both characters have one common personality which is when to leave, which is an art itself. You know dears readers, in my opinion, if you look at history, you might find a lot of leaders who were very popular and they are still popular now. Most of them they left their place when they were on the peak of their leadership life-cycle.

This is just my point of view, I would be grateful to have your ideas as well, that whenever if even you cannot think about leaving be sure that’s exactly the time to leave.

This life is a platform to discover and develop your
potential. A platform does not have gates, so nobody is eternal or
everlasting.

Result Orientation VS. Process Orientation "2"

This post is the continuation of the previous one linked to the same topic. At the end of the last post I told my own idea about the topic that a leader cannot be result oriented and process oriented at the same time. He will be in peril and danger in case he chooses both, either result or process, that’s my own opinion about leadership which I have got in my short time experience.We became to the point that, which one is better? Obviously it depends on your responsibilities in your leadership position.


Actually, experience shows that, if the position is long run its preferred to be process oriented and if it’s short run, vice versa. What I mean is, in short run projects the time is the most important element to get the result and naturally you will not have enough time to spend/waste on the process and take care of some useless issues. On the other hand, in long run leadership positions, still achieving the targets and goals are the first priorities but time is not as important as it is in short run positions. So you will have enough time to take care about process as well and spend more time on it.

Thank you for your attention

which one is the best leader ever?

"DON'T FORGET TO VOTE ON THE POLL!!!!! "

Result Orientation VS. Process Orientation "1"

Well, dear reader, that’s the second theme which I want to write a little about it and also share my ideas and experiences concerning to it. Again there is another question which I have been thinking about for a long time and as it seamed and sounded, the same as previous theme, there is no a certain answer for this question. As it was predictable, all the people who commented on my previous post about leadership told that it depends on the circumstances and also on different people.

So the question which I want to raise is “Result Orientation or Process Orientation” OR “Result Orientation & Process Orientation”. As it is very clear and obvious, I want to know your opinion as well. What do you think? Can a leader be a result oriented and process oriented simultaneously? Or the leader must choose one of them?

Some of my friends they commented on previous post and mentioned that a driver can drive the car in the middle while avoiding the accident. In my point of view, you (leader) cannot avoid accident while you are doing something wrong in your organization. At the first time when you ask this question from any person, mostly replies the most optimistic answer, “of course a leader must be both at the same time”, but nobody cares ‘how?’.When I look more deeply through these issues I realize that’s just a dream to be in the middle. In your point of view, how Bill Gates can lead his company (Microsoft) being both contemporaneously?

So I guess you have got already my opinion related to issue. I rather prefer to choose one of them than being both at the same time in leadership position. When it comes here, the second question will face as well. Which one? Process Orientation forever or Result Orientation forever?

To be continued ……………….

Friendship
OR
Leadership
?

Leadership VS. Friendship

Well it’s a long time that these two areas have been challenging with each other in our life. Sometimes Leadership wins, sometimes friendship. When I joint to AIESEC organization I was confused when I started to decide my first decisions in first month. I could not choose one of them without any problems. Meanwhile, that was the time which I was supposed to make decisions for my team for the first time. I guess it has happened to each of us in our ordinary life, and it might be a very hard decision to make, Leadership or Friendship?

So after that event I started to think about this issue more and more. I started to ask from some people who were leaders in their career areas and even my direct team leaders in our organization AIESEC. Different opinions, diverse point of views, different methods were suggested to use in order to choose one of them, or even some people suggested to use both at the same time, Leadership and Friendship.
There were a lot of theories concerning to this issue but honestly I did not like any of them except two. I think you are keen and willing to get to know what those brilliant ideas are.


First idea was from one of leaders in AIESEC Armenia. Once upon a time on one cloudy day in winter 2008, while I was thinking and on my own in the office, that person (because of national security I am limited to bring her name) came in and as usual asked me “what are you thinking about dear? Why are you so sad? “. I raised the question and asked directly “which one Leadership or Friendship?”, she answered quiet unpredictable, “Do I have to choose one of them?” I was surprised. Then she started to tell about her experiences in AIESEC life and different responsibilities which she had got in her AIESEC life. It was very interesting for me, she thinks that we need to have both contemporaneously in balance.

You know in my opinion it’s very difficult to keep this balance in life. How can Bill Gates in his leadership style lead Microsoft by the using of friendship? Imagine one of the employees, new product’s promotion responsible is one of his close friends. Tomorrow is the time to release the new production which has been producing in Microsoft since 1 year ago. Employee calls to Bill Gates and says that he has a meeting with his future father-in-law and in case if he does not so he will lose the chance of marriage with his 10-year girl friend. What would be the decision of richest person in the world? Leadership and Friendship? Leadership or Friendship?


Second idea which I liked more was from one of my best friends in Armenia. When asked the same question, he started to answer it by the using of science. He brought an example which is called FASSY decision. It says between 0 and 1 there is something in computer science. It says between Black and White there is also another color. It means you can have both of them in a balance and going in the middle of the road. But he rejected this theory and said he does not agree with this one. If there is


Actually why I liked the second one more, because as I mentioned above about Bill Gates, in many cases which you are supposed to be the final decision maker you can not consider friendship in your decisions. Imagine you are driving a car in a road. The road has a line on the middle. You must drive either left or right (depends in which country you are). Can you imagine what the disaster will happen? Or there is side-track and you must choose the track which you want to continue. Either left one or right one. If you choose to go through middle of them you will kill yourself simply.


So dears I talked too much. I would be grateful to have your ideas about this issue as well.

Leadership and Friendship? Leadership or Friendship?

This is the way...........