I spent the day at the Asian American Forum 2007 Leadership Institute. Great speakers on diverse topics with the theme of Revitalize: Career & Community.

There were two general sessions. Attendees then got to pick one out of four breakout sessions in the morning and one out of four sessions in the afternoon. Each of the sessions lasted two hours. The presenters in the ones I went to were pretty good at holding everyone's attention for the entire two hours, which is not easy.

I went to the Paradigm Shifters: "Cracking the Code" presented by Sanjeev Venkatesan, Software Director at Raytheon. This would be the fourth in his series on being successful. First is the Personal Branding, then Networking, and third is Visible Performance. The fifth one he is preparing for next year would be Fish Needs Not Smell. He covered a great deal of materials, mostly in the context of the corporate world. There are three kinds of people: the dwellers, the blockers and the shifters. Dwellers are those who are content as long as they are getting a paycheck and not a pink slip. Blockers are those "tried that, done it, didn't work, don't waste your time." And shifters are the likes of Moses, Gandhi, Mandela, Gates, and Jobs of the world. It is mentioned that successful CEOs on average read about 60 books a year. Magazine like People, US, are defined as knowledge poison. It is like the Coke and Pepsi, giving you a high sugar boost but actually it is poison for your body. Then we have newspapers, which are defined as knowledge appetizers. And the hard cover books are the real protein. Sanjeev made use of scrambling one word to another, ie. DEALER becomes LEADER, REACTING becomes CREATING, ARMED becomes DREAM, .... A lot of tips like opportunies are not given, you have to create it, put yourself in position at the right time; be purposeful in every step you take; play devil advocate to yourself; try new things and expand your vision .... Paradigm shifters are creative, persistent and risk takers, who stick to the essentials, break all the rules as long as you are ethical, have the integrity and follow all policies. They are people who overcome the fear of change, and master of the art of negotiation. They utilize both ears but half a tongue. People who make vigorous case so that they are heard but once the decision is made, quickly fall in line and align themselves with the business strategy. They understand the mental models regarding individual and social psychology, sociology of organization and change. It is ok to sidestep to get around the blockers. It is ok to take one step back to gather momentum for two steps forward. Always be aware of your supporters, those that stay on the sideline, and those who are absolute against you. Keep your friends close but keep your enemy closer, ie. know what they are thinking. Build your advocates. You will need to master and demonstrate a skill many times over for people to believe you got it. Book recommendations: Love Is the Killer App by Tim Sanders, Good to Great by Jim Collins, and Leadership books by Peter Drucker.

The afternoon session I chose Leveraging Your Horsepower by John C. Nguyen, Ph.D.. Performance is defined as Capacity minus the Interferences. Run all four pistons to maximize your performance. The first piston is Image, ie. Personal Branding. Dress for success, keep your hair neat, ... because appearance does matter. Combine the right attitude with inherent talents. Second piston is strength. Now, Discover Your Strengths, and operate on them to double your productivity and effectiveness. Don't focus on your weaknesses, just manage them. According to the book First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, research indicated that of the 80,000 interviewed, a decisive number of successful managers consistently used their strengths. Over 1,000 interviews, extraordinary executives worked their way up by playing on their strengths and following their passion. The 3rd piston is leadership. Here we are talking about influence, the five types of power: Position, Coercive, Reward, Expert, and Referent, and the five practices of exemplary leadership: (M)odel the way, (I)nspire a shared vision, (C)hallenge the process, (E)nable others to act, (E)ncourage the heart. Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner is recommended. The 4th piston is Impact. You are the one responsible to manage your career, not your manager, not the company, nor anyone else. Find a mentor, who is at least two job grades above you so there's no problem of him worrying about your competition if you get promoted. Search for a coach, preferably one that is certified by the International Coaching Federation. Research indicated that those managers with coaches have 50% higher earnings and performance in the 93rd percentile compare to 50th of those without.