I have the pleasure to share with you my conversation with Richard Rose, IBC Airways Manager in Fort-Lauderdale. We spoke about business opportunity in Cap-Haitian from Florida.
Tag: leadership
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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.
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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
- Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain.
- Give honest and sincere appreciation.
- Arouse in the other person an eager want.
- never show others that you are not interested in what they want say.
Six Ways to Make People Like You
- Become genuinely interested in other people.
- Smile.
- Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
- Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
- Talk in terms of the other person’s interest.
- Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.
Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
- The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
- Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say “You’re Wrong.”
- If you’re wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
- Begin in a friendly way.
- Start with questions to which the other person will answer yes.
- Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
- Let the other person feel the idea is his or hers.
- Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
- Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
- Appeal to the nobler motives.
- Dramatize your ideas.
- Throw down a challenge.
Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
- Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
- Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
- Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
- Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
- Let the other person save face.
- Praise every improvement.
- Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
- Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
- 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
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Power and Leadership!
I just read a post on Power and leadership from my classmate friend blogger Cassandra Honorat. I may not agree with her on several key points on leadership but I’m glad to share her post with you.
Just note her lead is Power or Leadership with a question mark. But mine is Power and leadership with an exclamation mark.
I do think one can not be without the other. Power and leadership are intertwined. Former US Senator Joseph Nye is a good source on power and leadership in global affairs. He defines the concepts of hard power and soft power.
Let’s read her post.
Power or Leadership? Susan Ward defines leadership as: ” the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal”. This is certainly a concise, precise and to the point approach of a concept which has been debated throughout our recorded human history. Our aim here is neither to redefine nor discuss the meaning of Leadership rather than it is to underline the differences that exist between that concept and the one of Power and how confusing both has hurt Haiti tremendously.
If we go back for a minute to Susan Ward’s definition, the responsibility of the individual who aspires to lead rests in his/her ability to direct others. Therefore it would be fair to add that those who are meant to be led determine whether or not the leader is successful. If the common goal isn’t reached and if people are not motivated to work toward that said objective, then the leader has failed. On the other hand, those who have power don’t depend on those they rule or direct to succeed. They depend on the tools available (legal system, army, money) and on their ability to use those tools effectively to get what they want.
What is Power? The dictionary offers an array of definitions depending on the context. We’ve retained three:
1. The ability or capacity to perform or act effectively.
2. The ability or official capacity to exercise control; authority.
3. A person, group, or nation having great influence or control over others.
Power! When limited to the political realm, it simply means having within the hands of the individual, social class or political party the legal means to exert authority over the rest of society. Those who run for office usually do so in order to gain power but, in order to succeed, they must possess those qualities needed to become a good leader. One who has leadership qualities will sooner or later gain power; however, most who have power don’t necessarily lead because they are too concerned with controlling. Throughout human history, the less fortunate, who happen to be in greater numbers, have been kept in line because of power and because of a realistic fear of what it can do. There have been times when leadership was born out of grave injustices to right the wrongs of our world.
Having just spent 16 days in Haiti, one cannot help but ponder those two concepts. Before the magnitude of the work to be done, one has to ask whether or not our collective illness isn’t simply due to a terrible deficiency in quality leadership. Oh, there is plenty amount of power in Haiti and countless numbers of Haitians who vie to hold it for as long as they can and by all means necessary. Since 1804, and because of national and international conspiracies, the Haitian people has not been properly led. We’ve had our fair share of powerful and authoritarian heads of state. A small group of families, whose interests do not align with those of the rest of society, has been very successful at holding and keeping power and all means of production; they have yet to lead a society desperate to find itself.
There is an infrastructure that needs rebuilding and modernizing, construction codes to be updated, an educational system in desperate need of restructuring, jobs to be created, a legal system that needs a facelift and our collective dignity to be regained. Power only begets more power and it has the uncanny ability to quickly corrupt the foolish. But honest and effective leadership begets true vision and wisdom to lead a people onto the path of human progress. Haiti today needs builders of nation and makers of dreams to rise once more out of the ashes of destruction. Two fundamental questions remain: Can a society that is deep in crisis recognize those qualities that make a good leader? Is Haiti forever condemned to having as heads of state those power seeking individuals who never concern themselves with leading? The answers, I leave to you.
Cassandra Honorat
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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!
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Living a Life that counts!
I read the editorial of Haitian journalist Frantz Duval Living Life (Vivre la Vie). I like reading Duval and he’s definitely my favorite Haitian journalist for these days.
But, I am also reading the 7th leadership guru Orrin Woodward recent book Resolved: 13 resolutions for life. This helps me put into perspective Duval’s edito. And it’s not enough to just live life. You and I need to live a life that counts.
Leadership expert John Maxwell quoted Ben Franklin who once wrote, “I would rather have it said ‘he lived usefully’ than ‘he died rich.’” More than just words, it was the way Franklin lived his life. One example of his useful nature was the invention of the Franklin stove. Instead of patenting it and keeping it to himself, Ben Franklin decided to share his invention with the world.
According to Dr. John C. Van Horne, Library Company of Philadelphia: “Franklin’s philanthropy was of a collective nature. His sense of benevolence came by aiding his fellow human beings and by doing good to society. In fact, in one sense, Franklin’s philanthropy, his sense of benevolence, was his religion. Doing good to mankind was, in his understanding, divine.” Even his position as a printer fit this philosophical bent. He did not hoard his ideas, but shared them, and everyone benefited. He had an “abundance mentality.”
Maxwell also reported that instead of seeing the world in terms of how much money he could make, Franklin saw the world in terms of how many people he could help. To Benjamin Franklin, being useful was its own reward.
Maxwell talked on his perspective on the illusion of wealth and status as forms of fulfillment.
“I don’t want my life to be measured by dollars and cents, or the number of books I’ve authored. Rather, I want to be remembered by the lives that I’ve touched. I want live a life that counts”, said John Maxwell who is a leadership bestselling author.
With each day that passes, we should feel a greater sense of urgency to make sure our time and energy are invested in developing leaders and others to live a life that counts.
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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.
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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. -
Mon interview avec wakim Exume de la VOA sur les investissements en Haiti
Je partage avec vous ma derniere interview avec le journaliste Wakim Exume de la Voix de l’Amerique.
Nous avons parle des investissemnst comme secteur cle pour la relance de la croissance en Haiti et de la mise enplace d’un cadre approprie.
Mon point est qu’il faut surtout des investissements au niveau du secteur de l’agriculture et dans les communautes de base pour avoir des entrepreneurs haitiens qui produisent pour satisfaire la demande locale et aussi pour des marches comme le Venezuela, Cuba etc…
Je vous invite a ecouter l’interview et surtout a me faire parvenir vos opinions.
Interview de Roosvelt Jean-Francois avec wakim Exume, journaliste de la Voix de l’Amerique.
Pour avoir acces a mon livre, visitez http://www.leadershipsurlevif.com
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Leadership, Education, & The Life Business
I do believe leadership education is my higher calling. I am always happy to discuss, read, learn, and share contents, thoughts and ideas about leadership, education, and life issues.
And, since last November, my friend Jean Delpe introduced me to the new Life Business (www.the-life-business.com) led globally by # 7 and # 12 leadership gurus respectively Orin Woodward and Chris Brady. They co-authored the New York Times and wall Street bestselling book : Launching a Leadership Revolution”.
I am glad to be part of the LIFE Business endeavor and to introduce it in Haiti. The LIFE Business is in 4 countries: USA, Canada, Haiti and the Bahamas. And our goal is to reach in the upcoming 5 years at least 1 million people, committed to leadership education, self-development in the 8 foundational aspects of their life.
We call it the 8 F (Faith, Family, Finances, Fitness, Following, Freedom, Friends, Fun) to LIFE (Living Intentionally For Excellence).
I was happy last night to have a conversation with a colleague who is reading the outstanding Dade Carnegie’s classic book: How to win friends and Influence people.
We discussed about sincere appreciation, insincere flattery , making people feel important.
I re-read the book in a couple of hours understanding that I have read it before and undersigned what is relevant to me.
Not only, we have a high standing conversation, but she also mentioned one of her fiends wants to get into the practice of leadership education through reading and audio listening.
Ideas have consequences. Good ideas have great consequences.
