Saturday, July 25, 2009

Favorite Movies Quotes (2)

Ratatouille
"There are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the new needs friends", Anton Ego

"Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere", Anton Ego
"Change is nature, Dad. The part that we can influence. And it starts when we decide", Remy


"If you focus on what you left behind. You will never be able to see what lies ahead. Now go up and look around", Gusteau
"There is excellence all around you. You need only to be aware to stop and savor it", Gusteau

"You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul. What I say is true - anyone can cook... but only the fearless can be great", Gusteau


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Chocolat

"Listen, here's what I think. I think that we can't go around... measuring our goodness by what we don't do, by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think... we've got to measure goodness by what we *embrace*, what we create... and who we include", Père Henri

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Spider Man II

"I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble. And finally gets us to die with pride", May Parker


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Robots


"You can shine no matter what you're made of", Bigweld


Saturday, July 4, 2009

First, Break All The Rules


This book explores the challenge of many companies - attaining, keeping and measuring employee satisfaction. Discover how great managers attract, hire, focus, and keep their most talented employees!

Key Ideas:

1. The best managers reject conventional wisdom.
2. The best managers treat every employee as an individual.
3. The best managers never try to fix weaknesses; instead they focus on strengths and talent.
4. The best managers know they are on stage everyday. They know their people are watching every move they make.
5. Measuring employee satisfaction is vital information for your investors.
6. People leave their immediate managers, not the companies they work for.
7. The best managers are those that build a work environment where the employees answer positively to these 12 Questions:

a. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
b. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?

c. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best everyday?

d. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?

e. Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care about me as a person?

f. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
g. At work, do my opinions seem to count?

h. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?

i. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?

j. Do I have a best friend at work?

k. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
l. This last year, have I had the opportunity at work to learn and grow?

Without satisfying an employee’s basic needs first, a manager can never expect the employee to give stellar performance. The basic needs are: knowing what is expected of the employee at work, giving her the equipment and support to do her work right, and answering her basic questions of self-worth and self-esteem by giving praise for good work and caring about her development as a person.

More wisdom in a nutshell from First, Break All the Rules:

1. Know what can be taught, and what requires a natural talent.

2. Set the right outcomes, not steps. Standardize the end but not the means. As long as the means are within the company’s legal boundaries and industry standards,let the employee use his own style to deliver the result or outcome you want.

3. Motivate by focusing on strengths, not weaknesses.

4. Casting is important, if an employee is not performing at excellence, maybe she is not cast in the right role.

5. Every role is noble, respect it enough to hire for talent to match.

6. A manager must excel in the art of the interview. See if the candidate’s recurring patterns of behavior match the role he is to fulfill. Ask open-ended questions and let him talk. Listen for specifics.

7. Find ways to measure, count, and reward outcomes.

8. Spend time with your best people. Give constant feedback. If you can’t spend an hour every quarter talking to an employee, then you shouldn’t be a manager.

9. There are many ways of alleviating a problem or non-talent. Devise a support system, find a complementary partner for him, or an alternative role.

10. Do not promote someone until he reaches his level of incompetence; simply offer bigger rewards within the same range of his work. It is better to have an excellent highly paid waitress or bartender on your team than promote him or her to a poor starting-level bar manager.

11. Some homework to do: Study the best managers in the company and revise training to incorporate what they know. Send your talented people to learn new skills or knowledge. Change recruiting practices to hire for talent, revise employee job descriptions and qualifications.


This article is based on the following book:
First, Break All The Rules
‘What The World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently’
By Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
Simon & Schuster