Priscilla Archangel

Olympic Gold

August 21, 2012

Olympic Gold

Now that the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London have drawn to a close, I am still in awe at the skill and accomplishments of many of the athletes. They make difficult routines look easy as they flip and twist their bodies through the air, sail around the track or through the water. I’ve not only watched them compete, but I’ve grown closer to them through the stories and vignettes in the media about their personal lives, and often their struggles. For most, their practice and preparation consumes many hours each day. Their muscular build comes at the expense of disciplining their bodies in the gym, and their palates in the kitchen. Some come from families that are financially depleted, having put all their resources toward a son or daughter’s quest for the gold. They train their minds to think like the champions that they strive to be; knowing that the mental competition is just as important as the physical one.

Standouts

There are several athletes that stand out for their achievements…..

Gabby Douglass, USA gold medal gymnast who two years ago at the age of 14 begged her mother to be able to move from Virginia to Iowa to train with an Olympic coach. Her mother and other siblings struggled financially to support Gabby’s passion.

Michael Phelps, USA gold medal swimmer who with 22 gold medals has now won more than many countries.

Usain Bolt, Jamaican gold medal sprinter dubbed the fastest man on earth.

Claressa Shields, USA gold medal boxer at age 17, who survived the roughest neighborhoods of economically depressed Flint, MI, a father in jail for 7 years of her young life, and was bounced from home to home.

Missy Franklin, USA gold medal swimmer who continues to refuse prize money and endorsement so that she can maintain her amateur status when she starts college in the fall of 2013.

Danell Leyva, USA bronze medal gymnast whose mother and step-father defected from Cuba, where they were members of the Cuban gymnastics, team to Miami.

Felix Sanchez, Dominican gold medal runner who claimed his medal in honor of his grandmother who died just before he raced in the 2008 Olympics.

Oscar Pistorius, a South African also known as the blade runner because he is the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics running on carbon-fiber blades.

At the same time, all the athletes who even qualified to go to the Olympics are exemplary in their endeavors. They represent the best in their sport, and I can only imagine the immense feeling of accomplishment for even qualifying to participate.

Your Olympic Sport

But they aren’t the only individuals competing to excel in their chosen sport. Each of us has the opportunity to train for our own Olympic competition. We each have a challenge before us that is perfectly suited to our basic capability, yet is bigger than we can imagine, and if conquered would have an impact on many others. We’ll know our Olympic sport by the dream or desire that is deeply embedded in us. We must quiet all the chattering voices, the temporal and materialistic pulls, the temptation to do what everyone else is doing, just because everyone else is doing it.

Like the contenders in the London Olympic games, we need several key competencies…..

A Vision of what it looks like when you attain your goal.

A Plan of what you need to do to get there.

Focus to overcome the daily distractions that would try to steal our dream

Willingness to Sacrifice what you want to do, and what others are doing, for what you know that you need to do.

Perseverance to push past feeling comfortable, and become accustomed to feeling uncomfortable with what lies ahead.

Fearlessness to dare to believe that you have the capability to succeed.

None of this is easy. But as Booker T. Washington said, “Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.” So now that I’ve been inspired by Olympians from around the world, I’m going to go back to my daily routine, step by step, and work toward my gold medal.

What about you?

Who’s the Customer

July 29, 2012

Priscilla Archangel

Leadership

Who’s The Customer?

In these days of internet connectivity, companies have the technology to track your every move on the internet. They know which websites you visit, how long you linger, and how many times you click through to another page for more information. They bury tracking devices to place ads in front of you based on the sites you visit, and send spam targeted to where they think your interests lie. Yes, they’re literally following you around collecting information to try to further influence your shopping habits. For stores where you have a physical shopping presence, they entice you with “loyalty” cards where you can get discounts or coupons on products, all based on your common purchases. Instead of you, the customer being king, you’re pressured by the businesses who expend a lot of resources to understand you. (more…)

Wise Leaders, Foolish Leaders

June 17, 2012

Priscilla Archangel

Capability, Leadership

Wise Leaders…Foolish Leaders

Have you ever wished that you could give a colleague some wise feedback that would help him or her in their career, a project, or some aspect of their responsibilities? But you couldn’t because you recognized that they weren’t receptive to it, or they would have difficulty understanding it. You recognized that their perception or beliefs about what they were doing were so strong or deeply rooted, that it would be difficult for them to see any other point of view. You may have even recognized that this could develop into a serious professional derailer for the person. Maybe you carefully planned a moment in time to have the conversation, only for the person to rebuff your remarks and try to make YOU think that you were foolish.

As much as you wanted to help the other person, to help them see the folly of their ways, you knew that you had to wait until they WANTED to listen to you. You had to wait until they fell and got bruised and tried to figure out what happened and why….then maybe, just maybe you’ll be able to help them recognize how their own behavior or decisions contributed to their situation.

A rock with the word Wisdom engraved on it. Realistically, none of us are completely wise or completely foolish. There are simply areas in our lives where we exhibit more or less wisdom (sometime a lot more or a lot less). The goal is to increase the areas where wisdom shines through; to seek the counsel of other people who are wise; to be able to recognize the difference between wise and foolish behavior.

This is even more important for leaders, because their wise or foolish decisions impact not only themselves but others around them. A CEO who makes an irrational or foolish product decision can drive the company’s stock downward effecting investors and employees. A CFO who foolishly covers up material financial information similarly damages the corporate reputation and subjects the firm to negative sanctions. The greater your responsibility, the greater your need for wisdom. The greater your wisdom, the greater responsibility will come to you.

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Whay You See May Not Be What You Get

May 29, 2012

Priscilla Archangel

Character, Leadership

What You See May Not Be What You Get

What if we all had x-ray vision to see beyond the visible into the invisible? What if we could see beyond a company’s balance sheet to understand their culture and strategies? What if we could see beyond the words people use, to understand the intent behind them? We’d likely make more informed choices, better investment decisions, and smarter selections in our relationships, career, and life in general.

Fortune Magazine’s recent article on How HP Lost Its Way (by James Bandler with Doris Burke, Fortune, May 21, 2012) provides an inside look at what they call “a dysfunctional company struggling for direction after a decade of missteps and scandals.” After the departure of CEO Mark Hurd following allegations of inappropriate behavior with a HP contractor, it became evident that his “external success had concealed internal deterioration.” The search firm consultant who recommended the new CEO supposedly told HP’s board of directors that Leo Apotheker would be “one of the best CEO picks ever”, but he only lasted eleven months. When the current CEO, Meg Whitman was initially asked to join the board of directors by Chairman Ray Lane, she reportedly thought that it sounded interesting and fun, and that it was likely a well run company. “What could go wrong?” she said. Once she accepted the CEO role after Apotheker’s departure, she gained a clearer picture of the needs and opportunities at this company. Eye looking through a hole in a piece of paper. (more…)

What Defines Your Leadership?

May 2, 2012

Priscilla Archangel

Leadership, Results

What Defines Your Leadership?

In the April 9, 2012 issue of Fortune magazine, an article on The 12 Greatest Entrepreneurs of Our Time – and What You Can Learn From Them by John A. Byrne provides a brief but insightful look at what makes these successful men tick (three women received honorable mention but didn’t make it to the top 12).I’d like to provoke your thoughts by sharing the critical success factors about the top four.

Steve Jobs – Apple– Didn’t rely on consumer research, but instead “connected the dots” about relationships between technology and life experiences. He believed that it wasn’t consumers’ responsibility to know what they wanted, especially if they haven’t seen anything like it before. In essence consumers are often limited by their own experiences and imagination.

Bill Gates – Microsoft– Picked smart people and put them to work on important things. Both his business partner (Paul Allen) and his successor as CEO (Steve Ballmer) fall into that category. These are people who he bounced ideas off, and who in turn would come up with even better ideas. Gates believes that brilliant people should work on the best and most important projects.

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Fred Smith – Fedex– Learned about logistics from his experience serving in Vietnam where he saw the importance of integrating ground and air operations to move material and equipment, and to support the troops.He also learned the importance of investing in the right first line managers to make good decisions, and to praise them publicly for their work.

Jeff Bezos – Amazon– Takes a mini-retreat every quarter. This is time for him to reflect on the past, and plan for the future.His time alone with no phones is spent web-surfing for new trends and ideas that he then writes in a memo to himself and other members of his executive team for follow-up and action. These ideas typically take on a life of their own as others add to them until something develops. (more…)

Who’s Your Tiger?

April 7, 2012

Priscilla Archangel

Courage, Leadership

Who’s Your Tiger?

I caught a few minutes of an interview recently between Charlie Rose, the acclaimed PBS interviewer and recent CBS morning news host, and Jim Nantz, CBS Sportscaster for The Masters’ Golf tournament. The key topic of course was Tiger Woods and his chances of again winning this major tournament. According to Nantz, Tiger’s left knee has been operated on four times, literally rebuilt, but that process has spawned a number of other injuries related to the knee, including Achilles tendon issues. If he is to succeed in his quest to beat Jack Nicklaus’ record of major championship wins, Tiger needs to win five more majors. Assuming his body holds up another 10 years, with four majors a year, 40 in total, he should be able to easily best Nicklaus.

Interestingly though, they commented that the field of golfers has changed significantly since Tiger’s last major win four years ago. Instead of just the golfers in their 30s and 40s, most of whom have been mentally and physically intimidated by Tiger’s skill, there is a new crop of younger golfers in their 20s emerging who are poised and ready to establish and define their own era of golf. They’re not intimidated by Tiger, or used to him beating them by double digit strokes. They’re confident and fearless.

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I’m not a huge golfing fan so I sought out my local golf pro (my husband) to gain insight on whether Tiger really upped the level of the game, or were the new younger golfers just better. His opinion was that Tiger’s focus and commitment to the game taught other would-be players about the importance of body strength, practice and pure skill. This interview was really thought provoking, so I have two questions for you. Who’s your Tiger? And how do you respond to him? (more…)

The Facebook Way

March 23, 2012

Priscilla Archangel

Leadership, Purpose

The Facebook Way

Much is being written about Facebook these days, as the company moves toward it’s long awaited IPO. Earlier this year, co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg held a global all-employee meeting. Everyone thought he was going to announce the IPO, but instead (according to an article in the March 19^th issue of Fortune) he used that time to talk about the company’s mission and priorities. He recognized that the eight year old startup company with phenomenal growth and value was about to undergo a transformation that could potentially ruin the culture that had made it so successful. He admonished employees to maintain their focus on the characteristics that fostered the “hacker way”, building through continuous improvement; the mottos on the wall like “Done is better than perfect”; the orientation to constantly improving customer interface that brought over 800 million people in the world to open up a Facebook account. He recognized that the IPO would subject the company to more outside scrutiny and investor demands; and that more importantly, many of the employees themselves as newly minted millionaires might lose their edge. They might lose the driving desire to create something new and innovative.They might decide to pass on the quarterly all night hacking sessions where employees work on something other than their day-to-day job; trying out ideas and thinking up new products.

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Mission or Money

While those of us on the outside may think of Facebook as existing to make a profit, Zuckerberg has a broader more impactful vision. In his words, they don’t build services to make money, they make money to build better services.That ethos will be tested now among their 3,000+ employees. His goal has been to open up more connections across the globe. He uses the internet and technology to help people establish relationships, share information, and make their voices heard more quickly and personally than ever before possible. (more…)

Starbucks Gets It

February 25, 2012

Priscilla Archangel

Leadership, Purpose

Starbucks Gets It

Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks was featured in the December issue of Fortune as the 2011 Businessperson of the Year. Schultz joined what was then called Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spices in 1982 as its marketing leader when there were only four stores in the Seattle area. He developed a vision to model the stores after the many small espresso bars he saw across Italy, essentially selling not just coffee but the experience and environment. While skeptics laughed at him, he was easily able to sell coffee at a price greater than his competition, and create a new coffee (and tea) culture in the U.S.

IStock Photo

But to me, more significant than the success of his business are his business values. Starbucks provides health care and equity grants to all employees who work more than 20 hours each week, and rebuffs investors who try to persuade him to reduce such coverage. To him, it’s just doing the “right thing for it’s own sake”. He’s concerned about his entire supply chain, and through Starbucks Foundation he has given to people in third world countries to better their standard of living. He believes “there needs to be a balance between commerce and social responsibility…The companies that are authentic about it will wind up as the companies that make more money.” (more…)

Forgetfulness and Fruitfulness

February 5, 2012

Priscilla Archangel

Character, Leadership

Forgetfulness and Fruitfulness

Think of a time when you had an experience that was so negative that you wanted to just forget about it. Maybe it was a bad relationship, a challenging job, a chaotic family experience, or an insurmountable burden of debt. It may have happened many years ago, or very recently. In any event, the myriad of emotions that you went through during that period continues to stick with you. You may have been treated unfairly, abused, disrespected or bullied, because even adults are victims of bullying. You may have made a bad decision that you can’t undo, so it sticks with you and haunts you. Possibly you never shared your experience with anyone because it was too painful or embarrassing.

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Unfortunately, now that experience lives on with you. You can’t shake it. It seems like it occurred just yesterday. It defines how you act and think, your responses to situations, and your perspective of yourself. You wish you could move on. You try to push it into the deep recesses of your mind, but at the seemingly strangest moments, it pops out again.

Everyone else around you seems to be carefree. No one else seems to have such a horrible memory. No one could imagine what you’ve been through. You want to shake it, yet you can’t seem to figure out how to do that. How can you forget? How can you move forward like it never happened?

A Time For Forgetfulness

There was a man named Joseph who had a similar experience. For no good reason, his jealous brothers threw him into an empty pit, and left him to die. Then they changed their mind and sold him to some strangers, who sold him again to a powerful and wealthy man. He lacked the freedom to get home to his father; and even if he could, feared his brothers’ wrath if he ever showed up again. So he stayed where he was, working day and night to please his boss, hoping that one day he’d be freed from his situation. He was successful in his work until one day he got in trouble with his boss’s wife. He had seen her looking at him when he was in her vicinity, and he always hurried through his work to get out of her presence. He knew better than to get involved with her. But one day, she caught him alone in the house and she went after him. He ran in fear, but in his haste he literally ran out of his clothes, and left them there in her hands. When he realized how she would then set him up, it was too late to do anything about it. Her husband, his boss, came home, listened to her lie, and threw him in prison for trying to rape his wife. (more…)

The God Particle

January 24, 2012

Priscilla Archangel

Inspiration

The God Particle

What is the fundamental element of existence? How was the universe created? These are the ultimate questions for scientists to uncover. Centuries of study and billions of dollars have been spent in attempts to understand these basic, yet complex, questions of life. Many theories have been presented, including one in the 1960s by physicist Peter Higgs and a team of scientists. In their search to understand how particles get their mass, they developed a theory that the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle that no one has ever even seen, is the key to understanding how the universe works.

Large Hadron Collider (IStockPhoto)

Since that time, scientists have worked to prove the theory, and as a recent article on CNN.com reports (What is the Higgs boson and why is it important? ), they have now found an indication that the Higgs boson particle actually exists. Because this particle is believed to exist everywhere, yet it has never been seen, it eventually got the nickname of the “God particle”.

Their research is being conducted by smashing protons against one another in the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider (see photo) in Switzerland. Interestingly, as exciting as it may be to finally uncover the Higgs boson, if they don’t see it, this contradicts decades old approaches to understanding the universe, and our existence may be even more complex than originally thought.

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Olympic Gold

Who’s The Customer?

Wise Leaders…Foolish Leaders

What You See May Not Be What You Get

What Defines Your Leadership?

Who’s Your Tiger?

The Facebook Way

Starbucks Gets It

Forgetfulness and Fruitfulness

The God Particle

Leadership Tips