Category: Ethics
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Commencement Speech: Emmanuel Faber – “Who is your Brother?”
I’ve just added another great Commencement speech to my youtube playlist: Commencement Speeches Emmanuel Faber gave the commencement address at HEC this year, 2016. The first half is in french, the last in english. Emmanuel tells a powerful personal story, describes 3 diseases, and asks us a question… This is a powerful speech. You’ve got to watch…
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Explaining the Paris Tragedy to a Child
I want share a conversation between a 3 year old boy and his father in Paris the day after the Bataclan attack. I love the way the father speaks with his son. His words do not undo the damage and the pain; nothing does. Families have lost sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. They are in…
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Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues of Life
In 1726, at the age of 20, Benjamin Franklin created a system to develop his character. In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues of Life are listed as: Temperance: Eat not to Dullness. Drink not to Elevation. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling Conversation. Order: Let all your Things…
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12 Abuses: Ancient Irish Wisdom for Kings
De duodecim abusivis saeculi “On the Twelve Abuses of the World” is a self-help book written by an Irish author between 630 and 700AD. You could say that it was the earliest precursor to Steven Covey, Brian Tracy or Jim Rohn. The work was widely propagated throughout Europe by Irish missionaries in the 8th century. Its authorship was often…
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How to Build Credibility
The Myth of Mad, Mad Cassandra Cassandra lived in the time of greek myth, before we put numbers to the years. She was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of the city of Troy. She was a strong willed, beautiful red head. Her beauty was so great that she is considered the second…
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Are Business and Society always in Conflict?
Communities are Conservative, Business is Progressive There is an inherent conflict between communities and companies. Communities (family, neighbourhood, tradition) try to maintain stability. Companies are driven by the nature of the capitalism market system to innovate and change. (See Schumpeter’s “creative destruction” on wikipedia) . Stability vs Destruction Companies close their factories and replace deeply experienced craft…
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The Ten Golden Rules of Leadership
I have just been scanning the book The Ten Golden Rules of Leadership. In the words of the authors: “Leadership is not the same as management. Not everyone can be a leader. what distinguishes the real leader from a mere administrator is a unique series of perspectives and values.” The authors of this book (Michael…
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You cannot promote world peace when you are angry
Last week I taught a course on persuasive communication. One individual was a charismatic speaker who repeatedly gave speeches that I would classify as “Rant”. This is a passionate and initially engaging way of speaking, but it has no place in a Leader’s communication. To rant is to speak or shout at length in an…
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Sun-Tzu’s 5 Factors for Victory and 5 Attributes of a Leader
I just watched Thomas Hyunh speak about his lifetime obsession with Sun-Tzu, the 2,500 year old Chinese General, at Authors@Google (video at the bottom of this post). Sun-Tzu was only 30 years old when he led the smallest region of China to victory over the largest region. This victory made him famous, and made…