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BLG Leadership Insights

10 Must-Read Social Media & Leadership Stories From May 17-21

1. Have you ever wondered what the most useless word in the English language is? It’s very relevant to leadership.

2. Overworked, stressed out, think you’ve had enough of your current employment situation?  These books offer some interesting suggestions

3. A quick reflection on the difference between a leader and a manger. It’s important to know what you need to balance.

4. Twain said, “The man who does not read good books is no better than the man who can’t.” Here are 5 reasons why leaders should read biographies.

5. Stop multitasking. That means you. Really, quit it. It might not  be helping you. This post will help.

6. China’s leaders are attracting positive PR…but do they want it? Do they need it?

7. Training executives isn’t straight forward. You have to balance learning with respect. Follow these 5 pointers.

8. What are the elements of a great meeting? Think about the why first.

9. Was Facebook caught sharing private data with advertisers? A bad case of bad timing.

10. Finally, the introduction of Google TV.

Picture Credit: Kevin Dooley

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BLG Leadership Insights

Leadership Book Corner: Leadership in China and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

godschinesesonIn the midst of America’s civil war another, bloodier, battle was being fought in China. The Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) took more lives than World War I and devastated parts of rural China so thoroughly that they were not fully recovered until the 1950s. The Taiping Rebellion was the deadliest war the 19th century world had ever seen…and it was started by one man, Hong Xiuquan.

Leaders, good or bad, have lessons to teach us and that’s why it’s crucial to read about leaders past and present. That said, in our own culturally bound world, we tend to read only about those we are most familiar with. We have our own select gallery of bad and good leaders and beyond this we rarely venture into different cultural worlds. That’s why it’s exciting to take off our blinders and examine a case we rarely hear about.

Hong Xiuquan’s story follows an unusual road that is thoroughly, and cinematically, described by Jonathan D. Spence in God’s Chinese Son.