ROOSEVELTJEANFRANCOIS

Leadership • Language • Justice • Purpose

Haitian Creole Legal Language Specialist, storyteller, and community builder helping you communicate clearly, lead confidently, and create meaningful impact.

Tag: innovation

  • Leadership, Life & Death

    I just grabbed one of my daughter’s book : Tuesday with Morrie. It’s about a dying old man teaching life’s greatest lessons to a young man. It’s a must read book from her school.

    I also googled this title and watched an interview Morrie Schwartz had with Ted Kople, former NBC Nightline  anchorman.

    I was watching the video, then pushed pause to read some passages, then closed the book  watch the video. I did that back and forth.

    “Dying is only one thing to be sad about”, Morrie said. “Living unhappily is something else”, he added.

    “The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. We’re teaching the wrong things. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it”.

    Let me leave you with this video. Enjoy it. Think. Meditate. It’s about Leadership, Life and Death.

     

  • Leadership lessons from Dale Carnegie’s How to win friends and influence people

    I just reread this classic book: How to Win Friends and Influence People.  Once again, this is a great leadership learning moment for me with Dale Carnegie who wrote this book in 1936.

    This is a very easy reread for me. I just go over my underlines and each chapter has a resume at the end. Let me share with you some highlights from this classic that I invite you to read yourself.

    The book has six major sections. The core principles of each section are quoted below.

    Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

    1. Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain.
    2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
    3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.
    4. never show others that you are not interested in what they want say.

    Six Ways to Make People Like You

    1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
    2. Smile.
    3. Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
    4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
    5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interest.
    6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

    Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking

    1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
    2. Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say “You’re Wrong.”
    3. If you’re wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
    4. Begin in a friendly way.
    5. Start with questions to which the other person will answer yes.
    6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
    7. Let the other person feel the idea is his or hers.
    8. Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
    9. Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
    10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
    11. Dramatize your ideas.
    12. Throw down a challenge.

    Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

    1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
    2. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
    3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
    4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
    5. Let the other person save face.
    6. Praise every improvement.
    7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
    8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
    9. Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest.

    I am working to adapt this classic book in Creole   (among others) and share its content through a LEADERSHIP tour in Haiti.

    Have you read this book? Please,  share your thoughts with us.

    http://www.rooseveltjeanfrancois.com

    twitter@rooseveltjf

  • Leadership global et Culture locale!

    Je suis entrain de lire un texte de Bill George, auteur, professeur de management à  la Harvard Business School, qui me pousse  à réfléchir sur une  nouvelle ère d’éducation au leadership à un moment où les entreprises globales -ci-devant les multinationales- cherchent à s’étendre dans de nouveaux marchés émergents qui sont beaucoup plus profitables tenant compte du ralentissement de l’économie dans les pays développés.
    La globalisation amène de nouveaux défis. Elle crée de  nouvelles réalités qui offrent de nouvelles opportunités pour ceux qui s’offrent comme champs d’étude et d’occupation l’éducation au leadership global.
    Bill George, ex CEO de Medtronic, propose une nouvelle approche pour le développement des leaders à un moment de transition des multinationales vers des organisations véritablement mondiales en s’appuyant sur les marchés émergents à la croissance.
    Il faut s’adapter aux cultures locales et répondre aux  besoins réels du marché. Il faut passer de  la décentralisation à la  prise de décision collaborative. Cela nécessite le développement de nombreux dirigeants, qui sont des leaders globaux  capables de travailler n’importe où.
    Les leaders au haut de l’échelle doivent refléter la diversité de la communauté desservie par l’organisation. Il faut développer  des centaines, voire des milliers de leaders globaux  avec des sensibilités culturelles et des capacités de de collaboration tout en mettant  beaucoup plus d’accent sur l’intelligence émotionnelle, la confiance en  soi et l’autonomie que sur les compétences traditionnelles de gestion.
    Il faut organiser la force de travail et de décision autour de la vision, la mission et les valeurs de l’entreprise. Il faut surtout une collaboration horizontale dans laquelle  tout un chacun est partie prenante et offre des idées pour satisfaire au mieux la communauté.
    Parallèlement, les leaders locaux doivent s’ouvrir à la culture et à l’éducation au leadership. Ceci peut amer à des tensions qui exigent le dépassement des valeurs traditionnels en cours dans la communauté.
    Une méthode pour arriver à un juste milieu entre le global et le local est l’apprentissage continu et le partage de savoir et d’expériences. Ce partage peut se faire à travers des livres, des blogs, des espaces de discussions.
    Des entreprises commerciales, des organisations socio-politiques qui, dans le temps, concentraient leurs investissements de développement des cadres et des leaders au sommet de la hiérarchie, s’ouvrent aujourd’hui vers une base plus large en intégrant un plus grand nombre de leaders dans la formation continue au leadership.
    Ces programmes permettent à l’équipe dirigeante d’avoir accès  aux mêmes livres, aux mêmes conférences, de les lire et de participer  au même moment. Ce qui crée un esprit de collaboration plus large et une capacité plus profonde pour la créativité et la performance.
    Ces méthodes de développement des leaders mondiaux pour l’avenir sont encore dans leur phase naissante, mais il ya peu de doute qu’ils auront un impact profond sur le développement des leaders mondiaux dans les années à venir.

  • Leadership education and the pursuit of happiness!

    Let’s start with a simple question: what is the purpose of the study of leadership? Why leadership education matters? A simple answer  to this question is happiness. Yes, the real purpose of the study of leadership is to discover happiness by influencing others in a positive direction. The result of applying principles based-leadership in your life is happiness.

    I’m sitting home and I’m happy. My son Jonathan just told me he listened to 4 leadership CD’s for the last two days. He told me what he learned from leaders like Claude Hamilton, Mark Hass, Mark & Jen Paul -top leaders from the Life Leadership Business- about fitness, relationships and making a difference in life.

    He just earned 20 dollars. This is the way I compensate my three kids to earn money by being a consumer of leadership education. They  earn  5$ to listen to a leadership/ life CD, $ 10 to read a leadership book; and more to post their own thoughts on their own  blog. I’m happy to connect them to great ideas and to teach them to create their own content and to be part of the leadership revolution.

    I was in Columbus, Ohio, last week-end for the the  Winter Leadership Convention. I had an opportunity to listen to a presentation from blogger and Life business co-founder Georges Guzardo about the purpose of the study of leadership.

    Guzardo said that if “you take leadership qualities and you apply them in your life, the result is happiness in your life”.

    He asked the audience to jot down 5 qualities of a leader. I will ask you the same question. Take a moment, grab a pen and a piece of paper and write down 5 qualities you think of a leader.

    I’m pretty sure each and every one of us could come with a different set of qualities. For me, the  5 top qualities were the following:

    1.- Character

    2.- Vision

    3.- Responsibility

    4.- Commitment

    5.- Trust

    I know yours will be different from mine. But, can you apply any of these qualities in your family, business, marriage, friendship, community, church, team etc. If you take some of these qualities and you apply them to your marriage, you will have a successful relationship. And what’s the result of a successful marriage: happiness. Happy wife, happy life. Happy spouse, happy house.

    the main product of leadership education is one and foremost happiness. Leaders make people happy by influencing them in the right direction.

    The most important component of learning is doing. There are two ways of learning: instructing and discovering. The best instructor teaches how to discover and the true discovering is wisdom, Guzardo said.

    Instructing leads to a vocational career to earn a living. Discovering leads to a classical liberal education which prepares for LIFE. When we say you are a student of leadership, we mean you allow yourself to have self-discovery, you develop a learning culture, you absorb history and global studies.

    Roman philosopher Cicero said historical leadership is the teacher of LIFE.  Historian Carlyle penned that all  is a variety of study of recorded human history.In ancient times, when the Greeks had free times in the afternoon, they met, and called it agora, which is what we call today school. The agora was to generate ideas.

     The best way to access to history and global studies is through reading. Reading helps us to gather information. New information inspires us for hope, life. Then, from inspiration we develop groups of thinkers who create ideas. Ideas lead to innovation and creation. Innovation transforms and creates commerce and prosperity.

    Innovation and Commerce travel hands in hands. They create opportunities and prosperity which change living conditions, said Guzardo.

    At the end, the result of prosperity is happiness. But, it starts with leadership education, self-discovering, reading, thinking.

    It starts with you!

    http://www.rooseveltjeanfrancois.com

  • Leadership & Attitude: A talk inspired from the book Resolved of Orrin Woodward

    I am sharing with you some thoughts I got from the book Resolved, just released by 7th leadership guru and wall Street best selling author Orrin Woodward.

    With the release of  this  new book RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions For LIFE,Orrin Woodward has  been eagerly anticipating the reaction of leaders around the globe.

    Writing a book is an arduous task. It  requires  many thankless hours of time alone to think and write a labor of love. 

      However, when it’s released, it’s part of the global networth to inspire others beyond time and space.

    This is a poadcast for my radio show on attitude.  yo.aspx?cardid=V4b2MLgfhF6gYIor8fQp3B     I invite you to listen and to share your comments in this blog.

    Leadership is about sharing and growing. I invite you to have this book to grow yourself personnally. http://www.yodio.com/yo.aspx?cardid=V4b2MLgfhF6gYIor8fQp3B

    Leave me a message and I will have you get this book. Then we may have a special conference call to discuss it. We need to grow together. Iron sharpens iron. Let’s build a leadership matermind group to build our communities, our homes, our families, and our countries.

    www.rooseveltjeanfrancois.com

  • A conversation with Anis Blemur on his new book: A balanced LIFE

    Haitian-US Business Entrepreneur Anis Blémur just released his first book entitled A Balanced Life: How to Achieve Success in Every Area of Your Life. He turns his mess into his message. I have a conversation with him regarding his book.

    BizNews Poadcast with Anis Blemur

  • An update from the Global Leadership Summit

    I was very happy to be a live guest speaker   at the The Global Leadership Summit Video Conference last Friday in Haiti. It  was “awesome and inspiring”, according to e-mail update released by this event coordinator, Pastor Edner Jeanty Junior, a long time classmate from College Canado-Haitien.
     This  fith edition gathered approximately  400 pastors, Christian NGO staff, business people, young leaders, educators, media reporters etc. from the city but also from out of town (including Cape Haitian, St Louis du Nord, Pignon, Mirebalais, etc.). 
     The various messages of the day were all well received, especially Bill Hybels’ “Five Critical Questions” and Henry Cloud’s session, “The Fool, the Evil and the Wise”. The other speakers were Len Schlesinger of Babson College (Entrepreurship and Leadership) and Rick Warren (Leadership as Stewardship).
    The translation was easy to understand and the people laughed at the jokes and expressed they understood the insights. The Resource Center attracted many leaders who were happy to find titles they have been wanting to get for some time. Several media outlet came to the Karibe Convention Center requesting interviews about the Summit.  

    At the end of the second day of the Haiti Summit many participants came up to the organizers to say how satisfied and blessed these two days had been. All the talks got high marks in the evaluation form, especially the live talk by Mr. Roosevelt Jean-François, journalist, university professor and author of Leadership sur le vif (www.leadershipsurlevif.com). This was a sweet reunion for Roosevelt and Edner who had not met since graduating high school together in 1983. The facilitator for the day felt the sessions were her special birthday gift and an answer to prayer. The manager of a health program commented that the sessions have put a lot of challenges on her plate. One young married man wanted at least the one session by Andy Stanley on Focused Leadership that stressed “cheating” the work/ministry but not the family. 
    The GLS is offered in Haiti under the umbrella of LEADHAITI, a board representing various Christian individuals and groups committed to leadership training. All the planning is done by the Barnabas Christian Leadership Center.  
     A number of churches and organizations payed directly for many of their partners in Haiti via  www.leadhaiti.com.  Some Christian groups in Haiti sent  their leaders and staff: Compassion, Food for the Hungry, World Vision, Wesleyan Mission, UEBH, Baptist Haiti Mission, Lifeline, The Bible League, etc. And this year, a special collaboration with the Haitian Bible Society was forged. TopEvangelique.com provided a valuable support in getting the word out to its large database.
     
    The next event is the GLS in the South, at Les Cayes, December 15-16. Next step could be in  Cape Haitian  in January.  

  • Leaders with Values

    I’m glad to share with you a video blog I just watched on the Harvard Business Review. This is  good  Management thought leaders sharing their ideas on values in business.

    Featuring:
    Arturo Condo, professor, INCAE Business School
    David Rock, founder, NeuroLeadership Institute
    Buie Seawell, professor, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver
    Erin Lehman, senior researcher, Center for Public Leadership, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
    Christopher Adkins, director, undergraduate program, Mason School of Business, The College of William & Mary
    Maj. Gen. Frederick B. Hodges, US Army
    Susan Clancy, associate professor, INCAE Business School
    Jonathan Gosling, professor, University of Exeter Business School

    Here is the link:

    http://blogs.hbr.org/video/2011/11/leaders-with-values.html#.TrbbUJ03gJE.email

    Roosevelt

  • Paul Allen Idea Man… a must read (via Rooseveltjf’s Blog)

    Paul Allen Idea Man… a must read I just finished reading Paul Allen Idea Man: outstanding memoir of the co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates. Paul Allen is a billionaire philanthropist whose passion goes from technology, science, space, art, music, sport and LIFE. I knew more about Bill Gates. And my reading of Idea Man helped me discover Paul Allen’s greatness in crafting ideas, making things happen in the world you and I are living today.  This book helps me better understa … Read More

    via Rooseveltjf's Blog

  • Paul Allen Idea Man… a must read

    I just finished reading Paul Allen Idea Man: outstanding memoir of the co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates. Paul Allen is a billionaire philanthropist whose passion goes from technology, science, space, art, music, sport and LIFE.

    I knew more about Bill Gates. And my reading of Idea Man helped me discover Paul Allen’s greatness in crafting ideas, making things happen in the world you and I are living today.

     This book helps me better understand the information revolution for the last 40 years. Paul asked himself a few basic questions which led to his bright ideas and business ventures: “where is the leading edge of discovery headed?’, “what should exist doesn’t yet?” and “how can I create something to help meet, and who might be enlisted to join the crusade?”.

    This was in 1969. Paul just met Bill. Physicist Gordon Moore just asserted that chips will double in capacity without raising cost which will become the Moore Law. And this paves the way for ordinary people to have their own computers in their homes and in their offices. This is a time of fundamental change. Computers cease to be the chasse garde of government, corporations and universities.

    To make this possible, there should be a language accessible to anyone. And the simple language known at the moment was the BASIC (Beginner’s All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code).

    Paul discovered his calling. He wants to be a programmer. His partnership starts with Bill whom shows three qualities, Paul said. He was really smart, really competitive, really really persistent… able to laugh at himself in almost any circumstance”.  

    They became buddies and never stopped thinking about the next business opportunity which led them to TRAF-O-DATA which became later Microsoft.

    Microsoft grew tremendously with a group a young people excited about the future, having fun and searching for the next big thing. They believe software and the programming langyage is more important than the machine and the hardware.

    Paul said that Bill was more assertive that himself and managed to have 64% of the company and 34% for him. Paul thought his partnership with Bill was based on fairness but Bill puts himself in a position to grab as much as possible of the pie.

    Microsoft doubled and tripled in size each year. The partnership diluted. Paul stated that Bill became rude, different. He decided to resign from the day to day operations on June 1, 1982.

    Paul mentioned his relationship with his parents who hold him to high standards, to treat people honorably, to stand by your word, and to do something you love.

    He had to face some personal challenges: cancer. He was thirty and diagnosed with lymphoma with a fifty-fifty chance to live. He said the business was hugely important but did not define him.

    Paul left Microsoft to exploit his new freedom and to pursue new adventures. Life is short, he said, and there was so much out there to do.

    He invested in sports buying the basket ball team Portland Trail Blazers led by Clyde Drexler. The team is in the final playoffs against the Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan. And Paul affirms Bill gates and Michael Jordan as the most competitive human beings he knows.

    He also entered the national Football League with the Seattle Seahawks.

    Paul Allen is also known as the Space man with his project SpaceShiftOne to travel people in Space. I personally visited the Kennedy Space Center with my family in Florida, I can say this is a trip I’d like to do. I hope tickets will be on sale some day.

    Paul is also a musician. He plays electric guitar Rock n roll. He recent venture is the Human Genome Project which aims at studying the human brain. This brain institute conducts researches on neuro-science and to understand the genetic basis for happiness, love, compassion, memory; and how to face mental ailments such as from Alzheimer and Parkinson to depression and schizophrenia.

    Paul Allen is more about significance than success. He’s more what he will leave behind for the betterment of humanity.

    Paul Allen Idea man is a must read.

    http://www.rooseveltjeanfrancois.com