Tag: ideas

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Upcoming Inc. Magazine Talk

Sam Bacharach will be talking at Inc. magazine’s Leadership Forum on June 8th. He’ll be giving two talks on the following subjects:

1. When Charisma and Vision Are Not Enough: Moving From Potential to Execution

Charisma may get you in the front door, but unless you have the ability to actually deliver on your promise, you will be remembered more for your personality than your leadership. Do you know how to rally people to your side and build focus and consensus? How to keep them there and nurture their entrepreneurial instincts? How to build a strong, dynamic, loyal team of dedicated, innovative managers and implementers? How to create a “pool” of talented people who will be your company’s leaders of tomorrow? In this groundbreaking session, you’ll learn how to master the skills of political and managerial competence. Recognize the benefits of developing these capabilities in yourself. Foster the leadership potential of others. And create a more dynamic, proactive and energetic organization.

2. Leading Your Team: The Skills of Engagement and Enhancement

In a world of Generation Y, in a world where companies are moving from products to solutions, and in a world where agility is critical, you need to engage your team members and enhance their capacity. Your team will deliver and commit only if you know how to lead it. What are the key things you need to keep in mind in leading a creative, dynamic, aspiring group of people? How do you coach and develop others to meet their potential while executing the business strategy? How do you challenge them so that they are fully engaged and committed? Dynamic organizations and creative agendas succeed because leaders know how to invest in others. In this session, you will learn the critical leadership skills to make sure your team will stay with you and go the distance.

The Inc. Leadership Forum will feature:

The Inc. Leadership Forum brings together the knowledge and experience of industry experts, academics, seasoned entrepreneurs and fellow company leaders to share their methods on how to implement leadership strategies that help businesses flourish.

What’s Included:

– A cocktail reception

– 2 power-networking breakfasts and lunches

– High-profile speakers

– More than 15 hours of education

– Informative break-outs and panel discussions

– Book signings

– A working night out! Join us for a baseball game at the brand-new, state-of-the-art Marlins Park (ticket, transportation and $20 refreshment voucher included with registration

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BLG Leadership Insights

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy & Leadership

Douglas Adams, British author and musician, is best known for his series of books and plays revolving around The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He’s also well known for concluding that the meaning of life is exactly “42.”

Adams wrote over 10 books, worked on a number of radio plays, and was a loud voice in wildlife preservation circles. Yet, none of it came easy for Adams. He wasn’t exactly a master of getting work done.

As he once said, “I love deadline. I like the whooshing sound they make as they go by.” Getting things done was clearly a problem for Douglas Adams. Still, he managed to struggle out of the idle grip of procrastination for brief moments of productivity.

In Adams’ early days he was living at his parents’ house writing a radio teleplay that would eventually turn into the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy story. He writes in his notes that it was “six months of baths and peanut butter sandwiches.” He eventually managed to produce a final product, but after long bouts of inactivity and part-time jobs.

Adams’ work woes didn’t end there. After the success of his teleplays and his first novels, Adams had to be locked in hotel rooms by publishers in order to meet deadlines and produce fresh work. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, the 4th book in the Hitchhiker “trilogy” was written in three weeks under the roof of a hotel in England.

While Adams struggled to write, his passion to shape his stories into lucrative opportunities never dried up. Adams successfully spun the Hitchhiker story into a bestselling video game, comic book, towel line, television series, and movie. Not only that, but he helped design the video game and adapt his stories into scripts for the small and big screens. He worked hard to preserve the quality of his work and ideas, even though he wasn’t good at consistently producing new material.

Adams’ biography can teach us a few things about implanting ideas and visions. While Adams wasn’t adept at churning out new material, he was certainly dedicated to making sure his work was always presented and executed with the highest standards. Adams ensured that his stories would flourish in new mediums by using new technologies that would grab new audiences.

Adams’ quality control, dedication, and follow through illustrate that ideas don’t need to come in by the dozen. Sometimes they just need to be molded and presented with consistent strength in order to succeed.

Picture Credit: Patrick Hoesly

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BLG Leadership Insights

When Is Anything Better Than Nothing? Or, Visionaries Vs. Rube Goldberg

rubegoldbergIn proposing change and new agendas, visionaries often tend to reach far, and sometimes they overreach.  In overreaching, they fail to establish the coalition of support they need to implement their vision.  That is when negotiation begins.  That is when chipping away at the vision results in reformulation and compromise, often leaving the vision as a reconstituted and at times, unrecognizable, Rube Goldberg contraption made up of remnants, spare parts, and those practical essentials that give the vision some sense of minimal forward movement.

A choice leaders often face is simple: Fight for the vision and stay stubbornly committed to your intention or survive with that contraption that emerges from the chipping-away compromise process.  The tactical alternatives are just as simple.

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