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: rooseveltjeanfrancois.com

  • For your personal leadership self-development, Take the 90 day Mental Fitness Challenge

    The Mental Fitness Challenge (MFC) is here, and it is an adventure like no other. I challenge you to challenge yourself  by taking the 90 day Mental Fitness Challenge.

    Developed by seven of the country’s top leadership gurus, nationally acclaimed speakers, and personal transformation experts, with NY Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling authors Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady leading the way (visit their highly acclaimed blogs here: (http://orrinwoodwardblog.com and www.chrisbrady.com ), this program will awaken your mind and change your life.

    The MFC is a rare, comprehensive personal development program that provides you with the opportunity to “Live the Life You’ve Always Wanted.”

    Consisting of a variety of new materials combined with updates of materials that have proven timeless and effective year after year, the MFC format is presented as three modules – one for each month – that are packaged in stylish, protective casing. The MFC is strategically and effectively designed to exercise your mind and teach you success thinking in the thirteen aspects of life covered in Orrin Woodward’s book RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE. For 90 days, a mere three months of your life, you have the chance to make an investment in yourself that offers a lifetime of returns.

    Participating in a challenge or boot camp is usually done with the goal of losing weight, toning one’s body, and/or building muscle. In the bigger picture, it’s about feeling good and gaining a sense of accomplishment. These programs are great, and we highly recommend them to anyone; however, the one failing component of these programs is that they are temporary. Once the typical challenge or boot camp ends, you’re on your own—an invisible but powerful sensation. For some, the challenge may be the spark that leads to a life changed forever. However, for the vast majority, it was an undertaking that required all the motivation they could muster just to make it through, so continuing to follow the program is highly unlikely.

    We invite you to take a 90-Day Challenge that never ends. Sure, the Challenge itself will only take 90 days to complete, but unlike a new diet or exercise boot camp, the transformation achieved is permanent. The Mental Fitness Challenge (MFC) will certainly require work, dedication, and persistence. We do not promise instant results or miracles of any kind. But we do promise that if you faithfully follow the program, your thought process will be renewed.

    This program is a journey for the heart and an awakening for the mind. Shortly after beginning the MFC, you will start to see yourself in a new light and will approach life differently. The founders of the MFC have mentored thousands of men, women, entrepreneurs and couples and have witnessed the amazing potency of these materials.

    Consider this: What did your life look like 90 days ago? One hundred eighty days ago? A year ago? Notwithstanding life changes involving loved ones, jobs, or homes, how does your life look today compared to then? Now, ask yourself this: How COULD your life look 90 days from now? Imagine the possibilities, and then take the Challenge and find out! For every failing marriage, frustrated parent, hopeless addict, bankrupt home, or faith-starved man or woman, the MFC has the capacity to teach, motivate, and assist one with implementing the necessary changes in the right areas of life, the impact of which will last a lifetime.

    Visit:  www.mental-fitness-challenge.com

  • Conversation with Nathalie Liautaud about the PADF-LEAD Invest in Haiti Program

    I had a conversation with Nathalie Liautaud, PADF (Pan American Development Foundation) Manager, Diaspora and Investment Outreach of The Leveraging Effective Application of Direct Investments (LEAD) program.

    The program is designed to strengthen the capacity of SMEs to engage in best business practices, attract foreign and Diaspora investments, grow businesses, create jobs, and generate income.

    LEAD will use a grant matching mechanism to leverage private investments in Haitian SMEs identified through business plan competitions, and will collaborate with the Haitian Diaspora community to channel remittances to viable social enterprises and community projects, increasing their internal sustainability and external impact.

    In addition, LEAD will work with the Haitian Diaspora in the United States and elsewhere to engage them in targeted philanthropic activities, social businesses, and innovative ways to use a portion of remittances to further the development impact of these resources.

    Prior to joining PADF, she was a program director at Caribbean Central American Action (C-CAA).

    Listen to Nathalie Liautaud

    She was also a program coordinator for the Centre pour la Libre Entreprise et la Democratie (CLED)’s media and civil society outreach policy and discussion program, focusing on raising awareness on competitiveness issues, and served as technical advisor at the Associations des Industries d’Haiti (ADIH), focusing on labor issues.

    Nathalie has worked on environmental issues and economic development and has conducted research and evaluations of behavioral risk factors and other topics, working with the Office of Survey Research at the University of Texas at Austin.

    She also has experience working with media companies, logging time at MTV Latino in Miami, among others. She graduated with Bachelor of Science in radio-television-film and earned an MA in Latin American Studies and in international communications from UT Austin. Nathalie is Haitian-American-Mexican, grew up in Haiti, and is fluent in French, English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole.

    LEAD will operate in the three USG development corridors: Cap-Haïtien, Saint-Marc, and Port-au-Prince. The project will target industries and businesses with the greatest potential to create jobs, including construction, tourism, agribusiness, and alternative energy. The project will also focus on encouraging job creation for women, as women’s entrepreneurship enhances economic growth and improves household well-being, as well as for those with disabilities and are therefore particularly vulnerable.

  • Leadership, liberté et pouvoir !

    C’est Henry David Thoreau qui disait que le meilleur gouvernement est celui qui gouverne le moins. Je vous invite à réfléchir sur des idées relatives au leadership, la liberté et le pouvoir dans le contexte de la fondation des Etats-Unis et de la République d’Haïti.

    Je viens de terminer 1776, un livre extraordinaire sur la révolution américaine, écrit par l’historien David Mc Collough. Je prends aussi plaisir à lire au même moment des passages de Thomas Madiou sur la révolution de Saint Domingue pour comparer les faits, les hommes et le contexte du leadership global de l’époque.

    Les deux  révolutions n’ont pas été un « diner party », pour reprendre  Lao Tse. Les deux, chacun dans leur grandeur, ont abouti à la rupture de l’ordre ancien et créer un nouvel ordre.

    Mais l’ordre nouveau créé aux Etats-Unis et celui créé en Haïti a donné lieu à des systèmes et des communautés de gens très différents. Et les résultats aussi. La grande différence serait le fossé du leadership.

    Orrin Woodward, auteur et 7ème top leadership guru du monde, a partagé ses réflexions, récemment, à travers un blog, sur la meilleure façon, de délimiter les pouvoirs coercitifs de l’État de la liberté  des communautés à influencer la société.

    Deux grandes tendances traversaient la société américaine au lendemain de son indépendance. Le fédéralisme poussé en avant par les écrivains de la Federalist Papers James Madison, Alexandre Hamilton et John Jay ; et l’anti-fédéralisme défendu par des hommes comme Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, John Hancock.

    Les deux groupes avaient leur propre vision  de l’Amérique et vendaient leurs idées à travers les journaux, des prises de parole. Et la communauté avait à choisr à travers l’exercice de la constitution et le vote des élus.

    Parallèlement, dans le contexte haïtien, la communauté ne s’est pas vraiment exprimée à travers un débat contradictoire. Mais, le nouvel Etat a s’est exprimé par la force l’octroi du pouvoir aux nouveaux chefs. La communauté avait deux choix : soumission ou conspiration.

    L’État qui détient le monopole de la force s’exerce par  le pouvoir  tandis que la société  constituée des communautés libres  avance à travers l’influence. Le leadership de l’Etat s’exerce par la force et celui de la communauté s’acquiert par l’influence.

    Les guerres de religion ont dominé les 16ème et 17ème siècles. Les formes de gouvernement et les structures politiques ont dominé les courants de pensée des 18e et 19e siècles. Le 20ème a été dominé par le conflit Est-Oust.

    Aujourd’hui, cependant, la guerre des idées a changé de domaine.

    Peu importe  la structure gouvernementale d’un pays, la question clé concerne la perspective économique du pays. Les structures économiques peuvent produire la liberté ou le despotisme. Ceci que ce soit dans une monarchie, république ou une démocratie.

    Les idées ont des conséquences.  La séparation entre la liberté et le pouvoir est directement proportionnelle à la création de richesse économiques des prochaines générations.

    La liberté spirituelle ajoutée aux  droits civiques conduit au despotisme, si les gens ne sont pas économiquement libres pour entreprendre, réussir et échouer tout en assumant leurs propres responsabilités par rapport à leur succès et leur échec.

    Dans un texte que j’aurai à publier bientôt, je dis qu’il faut surtout ouvrir Haïti à l’éducation au leadership, pour renforcer la liberté et l’influence dans la communauté qui sera plus apte à faire du business et plus apte aussi à décider de son avenir à partir d’une vision donnée.

    www.rooseveltjeanfrancois.com

     

  • Leadership & Systems thinking

    A leader cannot reach his potential without a systems mindset. Chris Brady, top leadership guru and co-author of the best selling book Leading a Leadership Revolution,  shares several excellent examples of systematic solutions in the following video. Essentially, when a person accurately identifies the system he is a part of, he can learn to leverage the system for bigger results. Systems thinking is crucial for long-term success. In fact, Orrin Woodward,  in his recent outstanding book, RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE, one of the thirteen resolutions is resolving to learn systems thinking.

    Here is Brady’s video.

  • BizNews Roosevelt Jean-Francois Interview with Richard Rose from IBC AIRWays

    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.

  • 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.

  • 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

     

     

  • 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