A Leader in the 21st Century

As part of the #usblogs offshoot of our #usguys tribe on Twitter, we select a theme every week and post our thoughts on the weekend. This is my baby step contribution to the theme of this weekend, “The 21st Century Leader.”

To answer the question of what a 21st century leader looks like, I would look at what makes a leader a leader? The conventional responses have been

A leader serves his followers instead of commanding them.

A leader satisfies others’ needs first and his own last.

A leader takes none of the credit and all of the blame.

A leader recognizes new leadership and is willing to hand off when it is time.

and so on. So when we look at these traits of a leader, are there really any differences between leaders in the 21st Century and the centuries past? I don’t think so.

What does change between the centuries is the methods by which a leader can exercise his influence. In the 21st Century, the radical changes have been the explosion of tools available to exercise influence. While earlier leaders were restricted to their own city, state or country, today’s leaders span the globe in followers. This explosion of communication has also democratized leadership in that leadership is now available to the common man on the street. An example? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. versus Avaaz, the international civic organization that promotes the influence of the people’s opinion in global decisions.

Dr. King’s movement depended on influential people across the country to rise up together, the so-called connectors, the priests and the “Everybody Loves Raymond” of the time. Closing off communication between the connectors, or the connectors and their followers, could have stopped the movement in its tracks. Cut to today, despite an almost complete boycott of Wikileaks by service providers, they still leak information that is important for the world to know. One connection is taken down, but another takes his place, only possible because the connections now number in the millions, which in turn was made possible only due to the preponderance of the Internet and communications, and the tools built upon them, in our daily lives.

Summarizing, a 21st Century leader is the same in terms of traits as leaders past, but what he is capable of has changed drastically due to the change in how far and how effectively he can wield his influence.

Pic: Signature of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the public domain, courtesy Wikimedia Foundation

The #usblogs blog round up post is at Tom Moradpour’s blog.

Top Book Recommendations for Business, Sales and Marketing in 2011

Happy New Year 2011 to everyone. With the new year comes a bunch of resolutions and lists of things to accomplish in the new year, in the personal and professional versions of the life we live. Today we have a list of books on business, sales and marketing recommended by our #usguys community on Twitter which counts among its members business gurus, entrepreneurs, and marketing and social media experts. Without further ado, these are the books #usguys are going to be reading in 2011, as extracted from the New Years Day (virtual) celebration on Twitter.

Recommended by: Rachel Baker, Sherree Worrell, Renee Martinez, Chase Adams, Sam Parrotto, Thomas Moradpour, Kellie Silcio and Lucy Goldberg

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Recommended by: Joseph Ruiz

Made To Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Recommended by: Sherree Worrell

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff

Recommended by: Deborah Weinstein

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

The Glass Room by Simon Mawer

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

Any Known Blood by Lawrence Hill

Recommended by: Jackie Coughlan and Thomas Moradpour

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

The Dragonfly Effect by Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith

Recommended by: Jackie Coughlan

The Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder

Mindsight by Daniel Siegel

Breaking Night by Liz Murray

Getting Things Done by David Allen

The Now Habit by Neil Fiore

The Price of Altruism by Oren Harman

Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright

Recommended by: Sylvain Martel

The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

Recommended by: Cary Branscum

It’s Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want To Be by Paul Arden

Recommended by: Chase Adams

Linchpin by Seth Godin

Recommended by: Michele Price

Defy Gravity by Rebel Brown

Recommended by: Paula Lee Bright

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Recommended by: Joseph Ruiz and Deborah Weinstein

Blink by Malcom Gladwell

Recommended by: Rob Ritchie

The Jelly Effect by Andy Bounds

Recommended by: Scott Tran and Thomas Moradpour

Rework by Jason Fried and David Hansson

Recommended by: Dave Kerpen and Thomas Moradpour

Brains on Fire by Robbin Phillips, Greg Cordell, Geno Church and Spike Jones

Recommended by: Chase Adams

Visioneering by Andy Stanley

Recommended by: Ric Dragon

Landing Page Optimization by Tim Ash

The New Capitalist Manifesto by Umair Haque

Web design for ROI by Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus

Recommended by: Stan Phelps and Thomas Moradpour

Real-Time Marketing and PR by David Scott

Recommended by: Lewis Poretz

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

Recommended by: Freddie Winckler

Mainstream by Frédéric Martel

Recommended by: Thomas Moradpour

Update: Tom put up his own excellent blog post here, WITH his reasons why he’s reading these books in 2011. Highly Recommended!

and finally, Matt Browne brought #usguys 25 more books for business owners, which have been floating around in the Twitterverse for some time now. More suggestions are more than welcome in the comments.

Image by User: Raysonho in the Public Domain

PS: Oh, what is #usguys? See here, here and here.

India Song

Passions of love and desire sweep through the play “India Song” as protagonist Anne-Marie Stretter, the wife of the French ambassador to the British India of 1937, struggles with the oppressive heat and exhaustion in India during the transition from summer to the monsoon, where life is “neither painful, nor pleasant, not easy nor difficult” summarized by the young attache of the French embassy into “living is impossible.”

The primary tool used by India Song to narrate the stories are four disembodied voices which appear to be speaking about memories of their past, none of which are complete. This results in a post-modern experimental in form play; where the sense of vision vividly describes the luxury of the life of European colonialists while the voices describe the unspeakable horrors of the coming Bengal famine of 1943 and the constant presence of death among the natives due to poverty, leprosy and starvation.

The diversity of the characters is unmatched in its detail, with the disgraced French vice-consul of Lahore, outcast due to him shooting at himself in Lahore, and at lepers in Calcutta so as to put them out of their misery and other eccentricities. The aristocrat Michael Richardson, equally isolated from the social milieu, but rather for the opposite reason of being far too respected to be able to join the comparatively lower order of the colonial gentry, starts a marine insurance company so as to stay on in Calcutta with his lover.

The young attache, new to India and the social pecking order, befriends and invites the vice-consul into the crowd of the party of Act 2, and wonders about the constant presence of the beggar woman. The beggar woman that sings a plaintive tune that disturbs Anne-Marie, being impossibly the same as she heard from children’s mouths in Laos, and reminds the audience what Gale Thompson describes as the “social inequalities of colonial domination.”

The wife, married young at the age of 18, forced to move from Laos through the capitals of Asia including Mandalay, Rangoon and Sydney over 17 years without a choice as her husband is posted at will to far destinations. Resorting to promiscuity as a means of rebellion, she strives to take back control of her never-settled life. The conflicts between power and promiscuity play out in the Indian city of Calcutta, where the French vice-consul of Lahore, the young attache at the embassy and the English aristocrat Michael Richardson covet and possess her attentions.

Overall, India Song, directed by Prof. Robin Witt and Abbi Thomas of the Department of Theater and executed by talented students from across University departments, takes the audience through two days of the troubled life of Anne-Marie at a reception by the French embassy and her escape the next day to the French residency situated on the largest alluvial island in the estuary formed by the river Ganges, where she attempts suicide by walking into the Bay of Bengal.

A version of this article appeared in the University Times of November 18 2010.

Toughing it Out in Afghanistan and in UNCC

The UNC Charlotte International Speaker Series hosted Dr. Michael O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, at the Dale F. Halton Reading Room in the Atkins Library from 3:30 to 4:30 pm on the 28^th of October to speak about the current situation on the ground in Afghanistan drawing from his experiences among the Afghans, the Pakistani Army and senior staff at the White House.

This was the second installment from the UNC Charlotte International Speaker Series for the 2010-2011 year, with the first installment seeing Adrian Wooldridge, author and managing editor for “The Economist” magazine speak on “The Changing Face of Globalization” The UNC Charlotte International Speaker Series is a collaboration of the Office of International Programs, World Affairs Council of Charlotte, the Department of Global, International and Area Studies and the Atkins library.

Dr. O’Hanlon laid out an “argument” for gradual drawdown of the NATO and American forces from Afghanistan than a cut and run approach, drawing lessons from the mistakes of superpower interventions in Afghanistan throughout history from the times of the British Empire through the Cold War. He also did not shy away from squarely accepting responsibility for the American “betrayal” of Pakistan and Afghanistan after the Soviets were defeated by the mujahideen which aided the US victory in the Cold War.

This betrayal, O’Hanlon maintains, is the reason Pakistan still maintains the Afghan Taliban on the back burner as insurance against the influence of India on the Afghan government. Touching upon the psychology of Pakistani leaders as being fearful of India being able to attack Pakistan on both the Eastern and Western frontiers,  he said that this fear is the reason that a major part of American aid is diverted by Pakistan to fortify itself against the perceived risk of Indian aggression. O’Hanlon also stated that based on his experience with the Pakistan Army, the Pakistanis prefer a democratic and multi-ethnic government on their western frontier than an unstable one.

He explained how the troop presence expanded from light footprint of Special Forces to a 100,000 strong troop presence with logistics and vehicles corresponding to a more traditional war in terms of the area required to be covered by the limited number of troops available. On the question of the consequences of a rapid withdrawal, O’Hanlon explained at length the misinterpretation of the deliberate ambiguity of President Obama’s remarks of a July 2011 deadline to start drawing down troops from Afghanistan, and maintained that a rapid withdrawal would lead to a retaking of the South and East Afghanistan by the Taliban and a return of the Al-Qaeda to the mountains.

According to Dr. O’Hanlon, the average Afghan gradually lost respect and goodwill for the NATO forces, as shown by polls, as the war dragged on for over a decade as “they [Afghans] judge by results.” Summarizing the problems of the Afghanistan nation-building effort as Pakistani support for the Taliban, cronyism and corruption in the Afghan government and American behavior and dealings with the various tribes, he proposed solutions to these problems in terms of reassurance and incentives to Pakistan such as civilian nuclear cooperation to stop support to the Afghan Taliban, gradual introduction of transparency and accountability and more balance in American contracts and dealings with the various tribes that lay claim over the country.

A version of this article appeared on the front page of the University Times below the fold on 2nd November 2010.

Killing Us Softly

Enlightening and hard-hitting……

….is how you would describe the documentary “Killing Us Softly 4” created by the Media Education Foundation featuring Jean Kilbourne which was aired in the Student Union theater Tuesday by the Multicultural Resource Center. “Killing Us Softly 4” is a continuation of the well known series consisting of “Killing Us Softly”, “Still Killing Us Softly” and “Killing Us Softly III” which aim to show how ideas such as beauty and sexuality have been gradually raised to unrealistic heights via the means of mass media.

Graphic images, impassioned speech and intermittent humor by Ms. Kilbourne cause you to think over the effect of the daily bombardment of media which depicts women as passive sex objects. Jean Kilbourne shows how sex is blatantly used to sell consumerism and deplores the trivialization of sex as a mere convenience without the emotional investment. The ideal of beauty, as shown by mass media, is a skinny, size zero Caucasian woman with blue eyes and blond hair.

Not restricting herself to the United States, Ms. Kilbourne demonstrates how the effect of such media extends around the globe and across age groups. Children are particularly influenced by early exposure to sexual images and young girls thus exposed, research shows, are more prone to suffer from depression, low self-esteem and eating disorders, the three most common mental health disorders in women. The documentary aims to expose the dual standards advertising imposes on women, asking them to be innocent and sexy, virginal yet experienced and how it causes females not matching up to the ideals advertised to feel insecure and vulnerable.

Humans are objectified and objects are sexualized in a relentless pursuit to create a need for the products that the commercials attempt to sell. Though concentrating mostly on the plight of the female of the species, Ms. Kilbourne notes that males are also being gradually objectified and urges the audience to speak up against such insidious advertising that misuses feminism to commercial ends.

All in all, this film is a must watch for anybody learning about or in the fields of Mass Media or Communication. “Killing Us Softly 4” is available at the J. Murrey Atkins Library for Niners who decide they want to watch this documentary. This columnist personally came out of the Student Union newly aware of the prejudices he had unconsciously internalized and resolving to henceforth cast a critical eye on the various influences of the environment around him.

A version of this review was published in the University Times of 28th September 2010.

35th International Festival at UNCC

UNCC celebrated its 35^th International Festival Saturday 25^th September at the Barnhardt SAC from 10 am through 6 pm in a continuing effort to generate an acceptance of the growing diversity in the student populace and in Charlotte at large.

While the festival started at 10 am, set up of initial arrangements took up half an hour before the party got into its groove. The music started early with a Scottish Loch Norman Bagpipe band making the rounds of the Halton Arena and the plaza between the SAC and Atkins library. Intermittent music would burst out as Robert Wilusz, an accordionist, followed in the Loch band’s footsteps. Other attractions included a 22′ Earth balloon, the Passport Project for children and the various kinds of ethnic food from the approximately 45 countries represented at the IFest.

The star attraction of the morning by far, Obakunle Akinlana from Atlanta has been teaching African folk tales to children and adults alike through 22 years of the IFest. With just an “International Festival Last Minute Get-it-together African band”, Obakunle managed to create a blast with with volunteers from his audience and an abundant supply of traditional African musical instruments. As the performance approached its end, the chant of “One heart, one love, one peace, one world” filled the interior of the SAC. Obakunle has performed all over the world and at all sorts of venues to create what he calls, in his own words, a “cultural democracy” with the culture of the Yuruba tribe from Africa as the ambassador of his message.

As the IFest progressed through the afternoon, ethnic dances and music were presented in the Halton arena in two parts, where Haiti won the hearts of the audience, and India paraded the diversity that exists even within their nation. A Parade of Nations recognized the variety of cultures, races and creeds represented at UNCC. Meanwhile, nations presented their dance moves, clothing, knick-knacks and souvenirs at their respective pavilions drawing appreciative crowds. The German, Chinese and Pakistani pavilions drew especially large crowds eager to learn more about the nations in the news of the past and the present. Mrs. Buchenau at the German pavilion informed this reporter that the entire operation was handled by German faculty, staff and students with all proceeds of sales going to a German scholarship intended to fund students interested in studying in Germany. Freshman Dailey Toliver explained his motivation to visit the IFest as, “It is so we can learn about the culture of [all] these different countries.” Repeat visitors, though, felt that the IFest experience remains essentially the same over the years.

When asked about the apparent redundancy, Mrs. Marian Beane clarified that the IFest was meant to help interaction between people who have internalized their respective cultures, thus creating lasting bonds of friendship among the disparate parts of humanity converging at UNCC. While some may doubt the effectiveness of the tiny butterfly wing beat exerted by the IFest every year in creating such bonds, the rising acceptance of foreign cultures was exemplified after Bosnia & Herzegovina had presented their traditional dance at the Festival Music and Dance program. The proof came in the form of a child’s comment, “That was so cool.”

A version of this story was published in the University Times of September 28 2010.

With the University Times…

…and loving it. This gives me the deadlines I need to write, let us hope that I’m allowed to link, or maybe even post, articles I write on the blog, the blog will then come to life and regular readers, if any, will have new content to look forward to.

Watch this space.

Update: Happy days! I can post articles I write for the University Times if I also mention that the article was published in the University Times newspaper of so and so date.

Little Women

Finally completed reading “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott as part of reading the top 100 books according to BBC. Took quite some time (a week!) to complete a 491 page book(contrast with reading The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King in around 6 hours) in between handling visa preparation and getting immunizations and insurance etc in preparation for flying to the US.

Based in probably Civil War or American Revolution era USA, the plot is good but I found it quite slow. The characters aren’t constantly involved in action or some exciting thing or other all the time as in the Inheritance series or the Harry Potter books. Overall, I consider it a good read, but I wouldn’t add it to my top 100.

Godfather

Watched the American classic “The Godfather” from way back in 1972 the day before yesterday. Just have to say it deserves every bit of the praise lavished upon it. Having read a few stories about The Godfather, I paid close attention to Marlon Brando as the Godfather, but I found both Al Pacino and Marlon Brando equally responsible for the film’s success. Robert Duvall as the “consigliere” who couldn’t adequately fill the large shoes left by the Godfather in times of war gives a performance that is frequently understated. I believe “Tom Hagen” gave an effect of knowing exactly what is going on, while the Godfather and the future Godfather remain slightly divorced from the murky details of the implementation of their orders. All in all, this film “makes you an offer you can’t refuse”

Lemonade

A few days of hot and humid weather due to a cyclonic circulation near Mumbai, and lemonade stands have started making their appearance near centers of public transport. I today observed a kid at the ESIS bus stop in Mulund at just such a lemonade stand.

While kids selling lemonade at bus stops are a common sight in the summer, they are usually poor or slum dwelling kids out to make a quick buck. Not this one. This kid was quite chubby and dressed well and generally looked like he might be from one of the nearby middle class colonies.

This sight left me wondering whether he was inspired by the American way of life as delivered via movies, television series, cartoons et al and thinking whether we are going to follow in the Western footsteps of excess and waste before coming back from the brink of epidemics of lifestyle diseases as currently prevalent in the West. Again, if we do, there would be no stopping the consequences on the already suffering planet.

Of course, I’m not arguing that kids selling lemonade is an undesirable phenomenon, or that we shouldn’t adopt the beneficial aspects of Western culture. Rather, I believe that small businesses like these teach kids valuable life skills like marketing, self reliance, respect for money, etc.