David Feldt Proud father. Entrepreneur. Builder. Catalyst. Accelerator. Guide.

Leadership checklist to move you and your team forward in 2010

As we approach the end of the year, we all think about New Year's resolutions. Instead of making a whole bunch of new resolutions, I thought I'd share a 12 point checklist on leadership that I just discovered in an old journal of mine.  I made this list for myself back in 2003 and think it still applies for 2010:

Motivating yourself:

1. Keep a positive outlook. When you experience challenges, you'll find optimism works wonders.
2. Believe in yourself. Guess what - there's no-one else in the World like you!
3. Set yourself meaningful and achievable goals - keep measuring your success.
4. Develop and follow an action plan.
5. Find ways to enjoy what you're doing.
6. Keep your enthusiasm levels high. Celebrate your successes / achievements.
7. Be kind to yourself. Self-criticism will lead you nowhere.
8. Move on from your mistakes. Learn from them and grow.
9. Avoid negative people. Know when to cut lose and move away. Surround yourself with successful, positive people.
10. Never stop learning.
11. Know that you will succeed!
12. Set yourself new challenges.

Motivating others / motivating your team:

1. Let your positive outlook be infectious. Spread it around.
2. Tell and show your team you believe in them.
3. Work to set meaningful, measurable and achievable goals.
4. Develop an action plan with them and help them stick to it.
5. Keep it fun for them.
6. Acknowledge and recognize their achievements, privately and publicly.
7. Never criticize. Instead, commend their achievements, make recommendations and lead by example.
8. Don't worry about their mistakes. They need to make them. Your role is to help them learn by doing.
9. Overcome any negativity with action plans, tips, training and new ideas.
10. Show them, by example, how to duplicate themselves.
11. Keep dreams alive by constantly reinforcing the big picture.
12. Encourage them to keep setting challenges for themselves.

One year later: A Personal Crossroads: Choosing Light or Darkness

One year ago, I wrote a blog post entitled, "A Personal Crossroads : Choosing Light or Darkness:

We have been seduced by the “American Dream” for the past 20+ years, borrowed money we couldn’t afford, bought things we didn’t need and speculated wantonly in the pursuit of more and more. Avarice and stupidity at their respective best. Humanity at it’s collective worst.

So, we are at a crossroads.

My brother-in-law once described the choice we face as follows:  “Can’t keep propping up a dead dog .. At some point you bury it and buy a puppy and raise it differently.”

Are we ready to bury this dead dog? Or will we simply continue to prop it up via additional loans to the Big Three, the banks, over-leveraged credit card holders, … the list continues. At what cost?

Looking a little more deeply, this crossroads and choice is a fundamentally spiritual one.

Some see this as simply the symptoms of another speculative bubble. “The market will correct itself.” The US taxpayer will pay for all of this greed and nothing needs to change. We’ll return to times of plenty once we’ve ridden out this current storm.

I believe we are being given a huge opportunity to change the game. To abandon the dominance of our selfish nature and to embrace a new world where giving back and caring for others is the path to our redemption. We have the opportunity to temper the destructive nature within ourselves where personal gain triumphs over everything else. We are being given the change to balance it with empathy, concern and care for others ...

What has transpired over the past year? Did we choose the path of Light? Or did we just continue down the familiar road of Darkness? Here's an example of this huge game-changing opportunity that I wrote about one year ago:

I've written several times about charity:water as they continue to innovate to help the 1 billion people on Earth who do not have access to clean drinking water. It's a major problem that has major repercussions for health, education, woman's rights and empowerment across the globe.

Their most recent campaign idea, mycharitywater.org, launched at the end of August.

Their vision was ambitious, crystal clear and simple:

Water changes everything. Our vision is simple and ambitious: clean, safe drinking water for everyone on the planet. Welcome to mycharity: water.

Charity:water built an online fundraising tool that enabled individuals to launch their own personal campaigns to help solve this 1 Billion person problem. Over 17,000 people have launched their own personal campaigns and, as of today, the collective fundraising efforts of these 17,000 people and their personal networks have yielded a phenomenal result:

• $1,024,112 raised
• 16,854 donations received
• Average of $60.76 was donated
• Charity:water's efficient well-drilling operations ensure that every $20 raised, provides water to one person for 20 years. Thus, the total raised to-date via the mycharitywater campaign will provide 51,205 people with clean, safe drinking water for the next 20 years!

So, do you agree that we've chosen the path of Light? Or not? Please provide your feedback below in the comment section.

Tiger’s silence could cost him $500 Million

We've all witnessed the crash-and-burn of Tiger Woods over the past few weeks.

At first his corporate sponsors stood behind him but then in the past few days both Gillette and Accenture have officially dumped him. Nike is still standing by him but that is understandable given that they are more than just sponsors --- they have a global business unit producing a range of products with the "TW" brand on them.

The paparazzi have had a field day and Woods' team is scrambling to stop further stories leaking out ... Mistresses being paid off; CNN "Breaking News" coverage ... the saga continues ...

I'm not going to discuss the psyche of Tiger Woods and what drove him to pursue all his "transgressions." We all now know that he has decided to take a hiatus from golf to focus his attention on being a better husband, father, and person.

The core issue at play here is integrity - both personal integrity and professional integrity. In our ever-increasingly corrupt world, integrity lies at the heart of Golf. The game is all about the alignment of one's personal and professional persona.

However, we are all human and by definition we make mistakes. None of us is perfect.

What could have been an alternative outcome?

Tiger Woods and his PR agents don't appear to be living in our transparent world of social media. Their first reaction was to hide, lie and say nothing, hoping that everything would simply blow over. Sorry, in today's hyper-connected world, that's just not going to work. In the absence of the human voice of Tiger Woods, the media and the World were left to fill in the resultant void. A static statement on a website just wasn't enough.

Instead of refusing to make a statement to the police or to the press, just imagine how differently this could have turned out for Tiger if he had come out and told the truth when he was first released from hospital. Speaking out in a human voice (on TV, in person, on Twitter, on Facebook, on his blog, on Youtube, ... there are many channels he could have chosen to expose the truth) and letting the world see him as a vulnerable, open and honest human who made a mistake; admitting it and asking for forgiveness.

Wouldn't we have forgiven him? Wouldn't his corporate sponsors have stood behind him? Wouldn't he still be playing golf?

The lesson: Don't hide; don't lie; don't be quiet. Instead, speak out in a human voice. Reveal your vulnerabilities. Be honest. Be open, Be transparent. Engage in conversation with the World.

Remaining silent in today's world can be very expensive.

(Update: Tiger's wife apparently plans to file for divorce in California where any prenuptial agreement will be set aside and she can get half of all that Tiger has)

Holiday Campaign: Help me raise $1,000 for charity:water

Starting on Friday night, December 11, I'll spend 8 nights lighting candles for Chanukah. Every year, I'm reminded of why these days matter. Because by a miracle, oil enough for one day burned long enough to last eight days. As with our faith, and as with many things in life, a little proved to go a long way.

When I found out that more than a billion people live without clean, safe water every day, I realized Chanukah was the perfect time to start a campaign. A little can go a very long way with water. Just $20 gives someone clean water for twenty years. And just $250 gives two families of six clean water. These are small amounts of cash to us. They are years of life for others.  Donate here!

My goal? I want to raise $1,000 by the time we light the 8th candle on Chanukah. But I need your help. Because of charity: water's innovative new business model, 100% of every donation funds water projects in the developing world, and each project is "proved" using GPS technology and photos and placed on Google Earth.

Together, we'll be able to see what we've accomplished.

Let's make our little go a long way. Donate here!

Happy Holidays!

Best,
David

The Dark Side of Open Data

There has been a lot of positive sentiment recently around the trend of releasing government data to the public. Some prime examples are Washington DC's Apps for Democracy contest and Toronto's OpenTO initiative. The noble intentions are to spark innovation, transparency and discovery.

However, here's a scary tale from the New York Times Magazine's Ninth Annual Year in Ideas highlighting the dark side of Open Data:

Happy Holidays! Time to light up our World!

As we approach the end of another year and the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it is time to celebrate our successes, express our gratitude and share some festive time with our family and friends.

It's also a time to reflect back and examine the challenges and obstacles that were offered to us. Did we learn, adapt, change and evolve? Did we overcome? Were we able to help others on their journey?

As we enter into the dark Winter in the Northern Hemisphere, this is the season of Light (Christmas, Chanukah.) It's our time to light up our World - to spread positivity and joy to our individual and collective networks.

In the Jewish tradition, this Friday night we will light the Chanukia, one additional candle every day for eight days. (Here are some insights into the power of Light.)

Whatever you believe or whatever path you follow, the central theme of "Lighting Up The World" applies.

Please join me in spreading some Light to those of us who are less fortunate by donating a few dollars to Charity:Water as they continue their mission of providing clean drinking water to the 1 Billion people who don't have it.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!