Peace Keeping by Delegation

Delegation By Authority

When I first came to know of possible conflicts that can happen while decision making in teams, I was elusive of any concrete solution. Some teams are stuck by dictator-by-default syndrome of CEO or team-leader, mentions an article in Harvard Busines Review. It has, to me, a good solution, namely, Delegation, though very indirectly!

Def: When managers get things done by 'transfering' a part of their authority through others, they're delegating by authority.
Now, what's precisely the use of it for a man who manages?
A handbook for managers states, "Delegating reponsibilities to others increases your available time to carry other important tasks." 'Willingness to delegate is a mark of leadership'. But its difficult a task to delegate. Therefore, here I'll summarise five of those behaviours which effective delegators use:

1. Review and Specify the Task and Objective:

Tell what is to be delegated. Without clarification of the task, which is to be delegated, doesn't make any sense. Moreover, delegation need not a lengthy written plan, as night fighter F-117 takes in its hardware before going on the mission. It means that you're are to specify details of task, deadline and resources. Since, it is a high-risk management, briefing is only essential.
It is much an intuitive approach or strategy. The delegator only mentions the intent of the mission, tell what results he wants and forget everything about it till the outcome comes out.

2. Selecting Appropriate Person:

Select appropriate man for the job who has previous expreince and availability. You can do so effectively by asking yourself questions before selecting the delegates: Who has the stomach for challenges? Who should not do? Does the task need previous experience? What interpersonal or intrapersonal qualities might be needed for the job? and so on and so forth.

3. Bound Your Employee, Bound the Delegation:

Specify employee's range of discretion or his freedom and power to decide. Its important. Because you, as a manager, don't want to or mean to be delegating whole of your authority. Specify the parameters, leave no doubts in letting the delegate know this.

4. Allow the employee to participate:

This point can help you to decide in best manner how much authority is to be delegated. You've selected an experienced and appropriate delegate and have called him to meeting. After going through step 1 and 3, discuss with him to check his understanding of the job and ensure commitment. Encourage him to feedback.

Be aware! Letting amployee decide how much authority he needs can present you with problems, like of 'self-interests, biases in evaluating their own abilities'.

5. Inform Others that Delegation has occurred:

Communicate throughout the organization that delegation has taken place. Issue all the parameters, tasks and objectives of the delegation especially to those, inside or outside the organization, who might be affected by the decisions of the delegate.

6. Establish Feedback Channels & Monitor Progress:

The next logical step can be, in order to aviod any management problems, 'establishment of feedback channels on the regular basis'. You can do so by 'fixing official reporting schedule, if appropriate'. You should also encourage feedback. This essential for controlling and coordinating. Moreover, regular updates can help to evaluate performance, not only the basis of outcomes but also on the basis of the actions, which issued the results. After, evaluation and re-evaluation, if appropriate, 'apply lessons to future delegations'.

The Habit of Proactivity

Social Mirrors:

In a society we believe in three deterministic explanations (that is, we lack stimulus freedom) of human inadequacy:

genetic determinism: It says, "Its a fault of your genes."

psychic determinism: "Fault of your parential upbringing."

environmental determinism: "Fault of your conditioning."

"All these 'faults' are out there. They're not in you."

Stimulus Freedom or Free Will:

But as we observe closely we will find that between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose.

Proactivity Defined:

Proactivity means that, as human beings:

• We are responsible for our own lives.
• We can decide how the stimulus is going to affect us
• We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.
• Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.
• We can subordinate feelings to values.
• We are by nature proactive.

Three Central Values of Frankl:

Victor Frankl suggests that there are three central values in life:

• the experiential (that which happens to us),
• the creative (that which we bring into existence),
• and the attitudinal (our response to difficult circumstances such as terminal illness).

Taking the Initiative:

Taking the initiative means that we can at least affirm our basic nature and create an atmosphere where people can seize oppportunities and solve examples self-reliantly.

Act or be Acted Upon:

Proacitvity is facing reality and realising the we have the power to choose a 'postive response' our circumstances.

Circle of Concer/Circle of CInfluence:

We are concerned about many things with which we have emotional involvement. It is called as our "Circle of Concern".

Things over which we can excercise some control are called as our "Circle of Influence".

Reactive people focus their time and efforts on "Circle of Concern". But, when we work on things you can do something about. We're being effective and proactive

Direct, Indirect or No Control:

Our problems fall in three areas:

• Direct Control (problems involving our own behavior),
• Indirect Control (problems involving other people's behavior),
• or No Control (problems we can do nothing about).

Habit 1,2 & 3 deal with Direct control. Habit 5,6 deal with Indirect Control. No control can be best dealt with attitude.

Summary: Chapter 7, Management, by Stephen Robbins

FOUNDATIONS OF PLANNING

What Is Planning and Why Is It Important

Consider this: A motorcycle manufacturing company Harley-Davidson recognizes that the demand for its motorcycles will continue to grow in the range of 7-9% per year. Realising this problem, they now plan to continue expanding production capacity. This is exactly like doing planning.

Planning - Def:
Defining organization's goals, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals, and developing plans for organizational work activities.

Formal Planning: In formal planning, specific goals covering a period of years are defined. These goals are written and shared with organizational members.

Importance of Formal Planning:

1. Provides Direction: When every employee knows what he has contirbute to the company, what it takes to do so, that he can cooperate with each other - such a company is mostly likely to reach its goals efficiently.

2. Reduces Uncertainty: Planning cannot utterly defy dynamic situations. Best it can do is unable managers to see ahead, anticipate changes and develop appropriate responses.

3. Minimizes Waste and Redundancy: When all means and ends are made clear, inefficiences are
easily detected and can be corrected. This happens so when work activities and plans are coordinated with the company.

4. Establishes goals or standards used in Controlling: When managers plan, they develop goals and plans. Thus they easily control the progress. Without any planning there would be no control.

5. Positive Financial Results: Planning is as such concerned with higher profits, higher return on assets. Planning seems good if its implemented good rather than does the extent and amount of planning

- Critical Enviormental Forces: Studies have found that when some company's planning fails, it is majorly because of external conditions as Government regulations, Tough Labor Unions etc, which leave managers with little or no choice.
- Time Frame: Usualy a company can take four years for its complete formal plans.

Types of Goals:

Goals in short are the foundations of management science/art. In real and profession life there are two kinds of goals:
-stated goals
-real goals

Stated goals: are those statements which show what we want to achieve, what we aspire to do. From organization's perspective, stated goals are "outlines of what an organiztion say, and what it wants its stakeholders/customers to believe, its goals are."

Real goals: The goals organization actually pursues. It is manifested only in the 'doings' of its members, not in it's sayings.

One thing must not go unwatched in the discussion of goals. There maybe a conflict/contradiction b/w what a company say and what it does. The gap b/w stated and real goals is- conflict in stated goals.*

Types of Plans:

There are four ways to describe a plan, we'll mention only there names:

1. Breadth: strategic plans (positioning of entire org. relative to enviornment); operational plans (to limit details as to how achieve overall goals)

2. Time Frame: Long-Term Plans (beyond 3 years); Short-Term Plans (1 year or less)

3. Specificity: Directional Plans (in which intent is revealed, its flexible, leaves room of interpretations); Specific Plans (Rigid, clearly defined, no place for interpretation)

4. Frequency of Use: Single use; Standing (ongoing plans)- Approaches to establishing/implementing goals.

How do Mangers Set Goals?


- Traditional Approach: "Top-Down"

In a traditional goal setting, there's always an elite which works at top management level, very few in numbers. They're the head, the boss. And they are followed by a number of officials, managers, employees, workers etc., but in "hierarchy", in descending order everyone gets samller in rank.

(a) If Hierarchy of goals is clearly defined, a mean-end chain is formed
(b) If it is not clear, goals lose clarity and unity

- Management by Objectives (MBO) approach:

Def: A process of setting mutually agreed-upon goals and using those goals to evaluate employee performance.

A four-step process:
1. Goal Specificity
2. Participative Decision Making
3. Explicit Time Period

4. Performance Feed-Back
What is needed in an organization is: a corporate culture in which the heirarchic levels break up, where it needs to. So that the bosses assure that plans are not being imposed from the top. And, that the different isolated levels of the order mix up with each other, so as to let everyone understand complexity of the problem and find integrated solutions..... I call it- decentralization. "Decentralization, if implemented with sophistication and best monitring tools, could be great."

Charatersitics of Well-Defined Goals

They are
-Stated are stated in terms of outcomes rather than actions
- Measureable and quanitifiable
-Clear time time-frame
-written down
- and, communicated to all organizational members.

What Contemporary Planning Issues Managers Face?

Criticisms of Planning:

1. Creates ridigity: Since Plans are written at a point in time, it can fail us to react to changing situations

2. Can't be Developed for Dynamic Enviornment.

3. Can't replace intuition and creativity: A research study has found that a greater percentage of CEOs get their business flourish better if they're more intuitive in anticipation than those who are not. Gut feeling has no alternative.

4. Focuses on today, not tommorrow.

5. Reinforces success, which can lead to failure: Unique situations demand unique solutions. Established plans are no option in unique crisises.

Highest Function of Soul

Each faculty of ours delights in that for which it was created: lust delights in accomplishing desire, anger in taking vengeance, the eye in seeing beautiful objects, and the ear in having harmonious sounds. The highest function of the soul is the perception of truth.
- al-Ghazzali

Unique Features of Human Language

Posted by. Muhammad Umer Toor, On Nov, 23 2008.


Those who meditate on their human nature and their enviornment with a keen or philosophical outlook, find themselves eagerly observing and studying human language. I am no exception as I have an intellect that takes pleasure in reflecting over its own 'self', and certainly there's a language of self.

In this post I will be sharing with my intelligent readers a few basic but unique features of human language - rather 'design featurs' as R. L Trask call them. This man - R. L. Trask - wrote a book for layman like me, Language: The Basics [1], from where I actually came to appreciate the following conepts of human language:

Desgin Features of Human Language:

1. Duality or Duality of Patterning.

In simplest terms, duality or duality of patterning states that 'by combining a very small set of meaningless speech sounds in various ways, we can produce a very large number of different meaningful item: words. For example, let these be special symbols for speech sounds: /K/, /a/ and /t/. These are called by Trask phonemes [2]'. Individually they mean nothing. But, if we combine them together in different ways, different meaningful English words will be produced, like cat, tact, tacked or act.

It is unique to human language only that we have a very small number of phonemes and we can produce a very large number of meaningful words, even such words which we never have heard before [3]. Whereas non-human creatures communicate on the basis of "one word, one meaning" principle, as the book says. That means, they can't combine their signals to form new signals or calls. Their this signalling system 'consists of usually between three and six signals, or calls - monkeys remarkably have total of twenty or so!![4]'. On the other hand, humans have around 45 phonemes, as mentions the book, and, many, many thousand words, increasing day-by-day, which are made only by the combination of different phonemes.

2. Displacement.

"Displacement is the use of language to talk about things other than the here and now."[5] Have you ever seen the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" or "10,000 B.C"? Even if you've not, the title suggests clearly that both movies must be about time and space not in the present, and they do so (as I have seen both). This is exactly displacement. And no non-human creature except honeybee enjoys this quality. Even so, honeybee's ability to communicate things in displacement is seriously limited as to be compared with that of humans', e.g, it can't mention height, it cannot refer to future events, and so on. Its systems of communications can have no match to what we possess.

3. Open-endedness.

Here are some interesting, mind-boggling sentences from the book:

(1.1) Luxembourg has invaded New Zealand. [Keep in mind, Luxembourg has no Navy, no Air Force and only a small Army of 800 men.]
(1.2) A large pink spider wearing sunglasses and wielding a feather duster boogied across the floor.
(1.3) Shakespeare wrote his plays in Swahili, and they were translated into English by his African bodyguards. (Shakespearean fans are requested not to outrage for few moments only.) [6]

"Open-endedness is our ability to use language to say anything at all, including lots of things we've never said before [7]." The preceding examples are ones you most probably have never heard before, and almost all of them, to my knowledge, are flat lies. A monkey can warn, "[Roger that] Look out - hunters," if data's at hand'. But they cannot certainly say, "Two hunters with Rifle Belgian FAL prototype (ca.1950) chambered for British .280 (7x43mm) intermediate cartridge." [8]

4. Stimulus-Freedom

This ability of ours, as it will be defined in the next sentence, also testifies of a fact Stephen Covey has advocated in the Ist habit (I leave it upto you to detect this, and mention it in the comments, if it pleases you. Further, see note # 8). I have a friend in some part of Pakistan, when I like to irritate him, I reply to his serious questions and requests in some of these ways: "Well, Well" or "Yes, yes", or, to bruise him completely, by saying, "No thanks." I do this in a context which is utterly different to the answer. We usually don't prefer answering a person, "No thanks," when he's asking, "Hello, how are you?"! I have done this many time, because I'm stimulus-free!

Trask's knowledge also shows that almost all non-human signals do not have such 'liberty' in saying or reacting to particularsituations, as humans normally can do. He labels non-human creature's signalling system as being, "stimulus-bound" [9]. Humans are, to the contrary, stimulus-free. Most of us reply in 'expected' manner only because of, what Trask puts as, 'social norms or pressures'. Otherwise, "there's nothing about English that prevents us [10]" from saying whatever we want, no matter what is being asked or whatever be the context.

Conclusion.

To finish the post in Trask, author of Language: The Basics [1], "Lacking duality, lacking displacement, lacking open-endedness, lacking stimulus-freedom, animal signalling systems are almost unfathombly different from human languages." And, he goes further to declare boldly, "...human language is unique on earth, and without it we could not count ourselves human at all."! [11]

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Notes:

[1] "This second edition of R. L. Trask's Language: The Basics (LTB), provides a concise introduction to the study of language, Routledge - Publisher." [Source is here.]

[2] LTB, 2nd Ed. Routledge. Reference to quotation, Pg. # 3.

[3] The concept human language can produce words which we know not of before, falls under the heading of arbitrariness [Pg. # 12, LTB, 2nd Ed.]. Which says that words do not, mostly, contain inherent meaning within themselves, they are only labelled particular meaning. And, its, obviously, is a matter of convention. For instance, what is the meaning of word meaning? Why we call dog, d-o-g in English? This is arbitrariness. To give you more clearer idea, consider word mean again. Trask explains that mean has different meanings in English. [This is again arbitrariness.] 'The French word mine sounds exactly like English mean, but the French word means (coal)mine', he says. And, there are so many other meanings of words of form like of mean, yet they represent utterly different truths. Now, it should be clear to my reader that this happens because mostly words are born out of conventions. And, conventions are conventions, they're absolute in such cases.

[4] Quote: LTB, 2nd Ed. Routledge, Pg. # 4.

[5] Quote: LTB, 2nd Ed. Routledge, Pg. # 5.

[6] Quote: LTB, 2nd Ed. Routledge, Pg. # 6.

[7] Quote: LTB, 2nd Ed. Routledge, Pg. # 5.

[8] The book accounts of one rare spectacle ever recorded, which is an example of stimulus-freedom in animals. 'A fox, Arctic one, was found signalling danger signs to her cabs, when there was no danger around. Probably to distract them from her meal she was trying to eat'. [Pg # 11, LTB, 2nd Ed.]

[9] Quote: LTB, 2nd Ed. Routledge, Pg. # 11. Moreover, notice, this can be a clue to my question.

[10] Quote: LTB, 2nd Ed. Routledge, Pg. # 10.

[11] Quote: LTB, 2nd Ed. Routledge, Pg. # 11.

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When Established Superiority Isn't everything !!

When Established Superiority Isn't everything !!

Posted By Muhammad Umer Toor, 21-Nov-2008.

Always keep in mind what first paragraph of page # 199, 227 (exhibit 8-7) of Management book [1] states, whenever you're in the business. Even when your organization is touching skies or, worst, in a downturn, and if you cease to bring innovation, cease to find new directions and so on and so fourth - this is a worst pitfall. Becoming best is one thing, and trudging along a constant line is not a safe strategy. Because, whenever you find that everything is going smooth, actually something is going wrong there. This happens mainly with those companies whose tasks demand optimum performance; when everything around them is changing without any notices. What I learnt from Stanely Hainsworth, 'former creative genius behind campaigns for Lego, Nike and Starbacks' [2], is that eternal reconstruction is the price of success for any brand. Editor at Entrepreneur magazine calls it as 'Survival of Fittest' [3]!

The basic idea behind finding new directions or cracking innovation, a necessity of established companies and else, is well explained by Hainsworth, and in his own words:

"Many [companies] wait until a crisis hits and then go through the cycle of
ahiring freeze, cost-cutting and
layoffs. [Refocus] while you're strong, while have the resources and before you
start cutting."[4]

This happens (-unexpected shocks-) mainly becuase of 'market-shifts', customer choices change (like our favorite ice-cream example!), and of course, due to dynamic enviornment, generally. [5] Doing something ahead of hard times isn't at all a weak idea. It's an expert view as well as well-researched thesis. (To quote you one more example). According to a research done [6] on the four common causes of growth stall, two majors reasons given for growth stalls confirm Hainsworth point of view.

One big reason, according to HBR [7], is that 'innocvation management breaks'. Second, because 'company lacks a strong talent bench'. [8]

Once, I asked a senior student of criminal psychology, "What is the remedy for a criminal-minded person?" And, his reply, which I found quite witty, was, "You shouldn't be criminal in the first place." 'That's the best strategy', he whispered to me without even whispering! And, business studies are no exceptions!

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Notes:

[1] Page 199 (Chapter # 7), Ist paragraph states the successful plans are not likely to work in changed situations. Whereas page 227 (exhibit 8-7) (Chapter # 8) urges the need for creating strategic flexibility, i.e, it consists of: monitoring and measuring results; gaining fresh perspectives and ideas outside organizations; sharing negative information and learning from the mistakes; while making strategic decisions, having multiple alternatives. (From: Management, 9th Ed., by S. P. Robbins& M. Coulter.)

[2] Quote from Entrepreneur, November 2008, article, INSGHIT "Survival of the Fittest,' by Lindsay Holloway.

[3] Quote from Entrepreneur, November 2008, article, INSGHIT "Survival of the Fittest,' by Lindsay Holloway, Pg. # 33.

[4] Quote from Entrepreneur, November 2008, article, INSGHIT "Survival of the Fittest,' by Lindsay Holloway, Pg. # 33.

[5] Quote from Entrepreneur, November 2008, article, INSGHIT "Survival of the Fittest,' by Lindsay Holloway, Pg. # 33.

[6] When Growth Stalls, by Mathhew S. Olson, Derek van Bever, and Seth Verry, HBR (Harvard Business Review), OnPoint, Fall 2008, Article Published Originally March 2008.

[7] Excerpt from HBR (Harvard Business Review), OnPoint, Fall 2008, When Growth Stalls, from Idea in Brief coulmn, Pg. # 33, Article Published Originally March 2008.

[8] It is further explained in the article, (OnPoint, Fall 2008, When Growth Stalls, from Idea in Brief coulmn, Pg. # 33, Article Published Originally March 2008) as:

"The firm has few executives and staff with strategy-execution capabilities."

How Cisco Uses Our Chapter 9 Pg # 241 to 'See the Future'*

Since when I started reading out carefully Harvard Business Review (HBR), I have come to respect my course management book (i.e, Management, 9th Ed., Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter). I have appreciated that this book summarizes or states, at least, all those principles on which all of today's successful organizations work and win.

Quoting a small example which I came across in this month's (Nov.) issue of HBR, will make you take my claim more seriously.

Cisco Systems are "the world's largest provider of internet networking." And, Cisco's new CEO John Chambers, who will begin his 14th year at Cisco in January, has always been good at listening. And, so has his company been such that - they have scored loads of capital, merely by listening to their clients and customers, as HBR puts it.

"Cisco is able to predict trends six to 8 years (remember budgeting, forecasting, or projecting is always futuristic) in the highly volatile technology market by recognizing early-warning signals its customers unwittingly give off**." This is what they call "market shifts." And, Chambers, Cisco's CEO, himself abandoned his own old 'command-and-control' style in decision making. (I will share more ideas on this topic in future posts, hopefully.)

Cisco was founded in 1984. It did went in a downturn (i.e, crisis). And it came out. Regained its superiority in Internet Communications Equipment providers. But. Only through seeing the future. And, it has been doing so for long only by listening to its customers.

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Notes:

* Harvard Business Review, November 2008. "The HBR Interview: John Chambers", Heading Topic & Pg. 241 of, Management, 9th Ed., Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter
** Harvard Business Review, November 2008. "The HBR Interview: John Chambers"

A Word of Caution for 'Managers'

Managers are overseers. While a building is being erected and in the process of making, a craftsman, (be him a painter, a constructor or carpenter, et al) concerned with his job, has nothing doing what's outside his area of expertise.

But, a manager, as mentioned earlier, does nothing artistic as making. He rather- partly- enjoys like a bird, which sits on wetty , greeny branches of morning tree, and sees the night and sun shuffle and replace each other. And partly does he enjoys the taste of directorship. All of you have become enough mature to repeat such trite phrases, half asleep, as to what a manager exaclty does (rather much abstractly). Decision-making (don't yawn) is directorship, and their sole-business.

Enough of wandering. For my intelligent readers are still focused on to hear an admonition? Yes, it is one.

Behind your noses (don't turn back) are 'ventromedial prefrontal cortexes'. An area that plays critical role in making decisions. Thereby, Managers! you are instructed not to play with your noses as Mr. Bean or circus-stuntmen do.

Here it the visulization:

If, it is damaged or paralysed a person loses all abilities of taking decisions. He may become a great philosopher- not a manager. (Some literary critics believed that Hamlet, of Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet', had had this. However, it wasn't so, some justify. No matter what. Lesson is: because of Hamlet's habit of reflecting a lot, while avioding action, he brought his own destruction. For more details read: "Hamlet" by Shakespeare.)

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BONUS FEATURE(s)

Making business:

Suppose, we work in a medicine-making company in product department and are a part of cross-functional team with research & development department. We hire medical scientists. We direct them to carry out a research on how VMPFC gets damaged or paralysed; which type of persons in certain enviornments are likely to get it damaged; what's its importance to tough decision making professions or professionals and so on. Finally, how we cure or prevent it. Invent the medicine. Leave what they do then. Here, allow me to answer, why I hit upon this idea and what's it got to do with your business studies. Reasons are twofold:

Number one: CEOs of big companies, high government officials, military heads - they are worth billions or themselves billionares. And, they decision-making factories. If our research clicks and shows that they need it...... We might share their luxuries at a point in time.

Number two: simply because its a business thing.

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By Muhammad Umer Toor, 18-11-08.

Questions on "7 Habits.." 'Principles of Change'

The question of this discussion demands, before anyone comments on it, that we must have a deep understanding of the content of this book. Even lacking this prerequisite, I'll not stop from commenting on it.

I have perplexing questions about the 1st three (3) habits, because I've only touched these ones. And, I don't feel shy publishing their fury.I too realise, as some others have - I am a reactive person. After reading a lengthy, tedious and dense habit no. 1, I have seen in the light of my small experiences that it is easy starting doing something to create a change. This happens because the real enemy is spotted and teh friend discovered (identifying one doesn't let the opposite go undetected). And, I think, there lies a victory on the part of the author for he has shown other 'selfs' to identify their enemies and friends. Thus the conscious reader starts thinking and doing to bring about a change. All they have to believe in, as Obama says, "Yes, We Can!" And, to my knowledge, the problems this book (7 Habits, of course) address to are not unique to humans. They are old-age, but not out of order. Some are (this book focus on) perennial, some may not be.

Turing back to what interests me more, on this forum - My problems with the 3 chapters. I fear I don't have capacity to mention all of them here (imagine how idiot I am). But I will share what I am discussing with others these days.My 1st problem for today is - bringing a change in (a pathetic) situation which goes against my interests, and I realise it, through an independent will (the latter this the only hope in Stephen's eyes), even when all perceptions are clear!AS all of you know, Covey says that in order to change a situation, you need to change your perceptions. My perceptions anout the problem, do not doubt are clear.

No change yet!

Example: I made some years ago a contract with God, The Absolute, that for Him only I will wake up early in the morning around 5-6 am to meet Him under the tense but refreshing canopy of earth. You can understand how big this priority is, of course if you are not a secular fundamentalist who abhors what was beyond and before the Big Bang. As a matter of fact, I say this regretfully, that I didn't meet Him in several years for time period more than 5 months. And, even that's an exaggeration. If there is no quick fix, where is the sluggish fix that 'shall last for eternity'? How I can change this situation- remember the compulsion- how do I change this situation .... beginning first in the mind? Such that .... mind triggers or initiates the .... movement .... and then comes 'action to commitment' period? (Managers always work under compulsions.)

Take the people around you, not to blame or hurt anyone. But first please answer me. Is Not 'Perception' About Objective, Adequate, Full, Deep and Correct knowledge of the reality? If it is not in your opinion, please re-read the book.Take the world now: Many knowledgable persons who know so much act against what they know of. AS you may find (I have found) the knower of law exploding what is legal and what is lawful; you'll find a doctor who smokes, he the one who warned me not to touch it . Mention an evil, lo! they, the intelligent, knowledgable beings the ultimate man, has surpassed it. Many CSS officers had become criminal minded. DO they not see? DO they not know the complex implications of their immoral actions on their own self and on the large society? Where lies the difference?

Sticking to correct moral principles and its logic can be the only solution, as Covey would like to agree. Because, he quoted Cecil b. deMille saying,"It is impossible for us to break the law. We can only break ourselves against the law."

The discussion has to come to an end. Yet, I am sceptic about the mechanisms of bringing the change, maybe I am not clear about the practical ones, suggested in the 'Habits'. I also do not demand the ready-made quick fix pills. I believe in revolutions, small revolutions, big revolutions, results of constant meditations and actions, actions and meditations. The question that I could not solve I leave that up to you to solve for me, yourself and others: Where's the tipping point? Where lie those small changes that trigger off to make big changes?

Guy Kawasaki on Presentations

Links, sites and blogs on "The 7 Habits.." by Stephen Covey

Here are some useful links, which consists of summaries, reviews, notes and expositions of Stephen Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People".

The following address is a fan blog. It can be a good learning place as you may find some interesting discussions on "7 Habits.." The blogger also discusses the philosophy of S.Covey and of his book. The author has generously provided its readers with many a useful links to other sources on 7 Habits. I have enjoyed this blog and I wish you also do.

http://stephen-covey-seven-habits-effective.blogspot.com/

In this link (the following one) you will find not the summary, not rigorous analysis or exposition of Covey's book. But, only small and short notes on each chapter, which are.... like highlights of a few but key points .

www.gp-training.net/training/leadership/7habits/index.htm

Follow this link and come to understand what a paradigm is: http://www.egs.edu/faculty/agamben/agamben-what-is-a-paradigm-2002.html

This is another good link. A fine review, charming as well, and very much to the point.

http://www.bainvestor.com/Seven-habits-effectiveness-Covey.html

I should have given this link at the beginning of this post. Because. It contains a PDF, and free, version of 7 Habits- whole book and you can also download it. And, also, it contains a few articles and presentations on some of the concepts of this book.

http://www.docstoc.com/search/stephen-covey/.

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I request my readers to please discuss if you have liked a link and found it interesting to be shared.

Quote of the Day

"It is not by augmenting the capital of the country, but by
rendering a greater part of that capital active and productive than would
otherwise be so, that the most judicious operations of banking can increase the
industry of the country."

- Adam Smith

(Portrait of Adam Smith, Author of "The Wealth of Nations", read this book on the following link: http://www.bartleby.com/10/ )