Andrew Maddox | Chasing the Wind » Leadership

Facebook’s Response

Andrew — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 22:37:36 +0000

Hi Andrew,
Unfortunately this is a part of the upload process that cannot be
changed. In particular, editing photos before they are uploaded may be
contributing to the problem. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please let me
know if you have any further questions.
Thanks for contacting Facebook,
James
Customer Support Representative
Facebook

Editor’s Note: How odd that image adjustment occurs only after they have been edited. Boo, facebook. Boo.

Being an Expert

Andrew — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 23:45:10 +0000

All I am really an expert at is being stupid and learning from it….I have become an expert at not making the same mistake twice, and learning from every stupid thing I have ever done.
-Larry Winget

Not Finishing the Race

Andrew — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 23:39:58 +0000

Check out this video: Runner slips and falls across the finish line. Yea, I know it’s morbid, but it’s pretty funny.

Leadership and Foolish Choices

Andrew — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 06:19:41 +0000

People make dumb decisions. We make scores of them everyday, all of which affect us to varying degrees. There are decisions with limited repercussions, such as eating one too many pieces of pizza at lunch. It’s a bad decision, but its ill effects are limited to minor post-meal discomfort.
Other decisions are more far-reaching. Choosing a job or place to live, or maybe your college or degree has a more distinct impact on your life. But what about the decisions that involve others?
As leaders, every decision you make has a snowball effect on others. Your choices cause large an unintended reactions in those you lead. If you tell someone X, and then choose to do Not-X (sorry for the strange philosophical terminology again…), you have undermined everything you have been saying.
We generally call this hypocrisy (which it is), but I think we fail to consider the realistic disturbance it causes in your leadership. So, you have said X and are acting upon Not-X, what happens to those who follow you? Do they choose to go with what you say, or do they choose to follow how you act?
Realistically, I don’t think most people will do either. Most people will take a third option: they leave. If the leadership of an organism does not present a cohesive nature, people naturally leave. Why is this? I don’t know, but I suspect there is an innate sense—an innate desire to follow the leaders that actually do what they say.
I write all of this to say: do your actions mesh with your words? Don’t let your foolish choices undermine what you have worked so hard to build.

Stating the Obvious

Andrew — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 02:19:38 +0000

I helped paint and repair a house today. There were about 20 people working on the house. Luckily, we had a paint sprayer to help speed the painting process. It was a noisy piece of equipment with an interesting noise/pause style.
[Paint Sprayer] “Brum brum.”
- pauses -
[Paint Sprayer] “Brum brum.”
- pauses -
[Paint Sprayer] “Brum brum.”
- pauses -
(You get the idea).
There was a girl standing next to the sprayer…
[Girl] “That is an annoying sound.”
[Me] “Yea?”
[Girl] “I can’t handle repetitive sounds.”
[Me] “Really?”
[Girl] “Yea, it’s gonna drive me crazy.”
[Me] “Maybe you should go somewhere else.”
[Girl] “That could be taken as very rude.”
[Me] “Take it as an obvious solution to your problem.”

Leaning on Our Strengths

Andrew — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 05:50:42 +0000

Everyone has a certain set of primary talents. Some folks are athletic. Others, easy going. Some are visionaries. Others are charismatic. Some talents are difficult to pinpoint and others are quite blatant.
Aside from the primary or most obvious talent are other talents that don’t come quite as naturally. Perhaps a musician is great at hearing the music and playing it by ear, but struggles to learn how to read music. After time, the musician learns to play just as well using music as they do by ear.
The key is recognizing your primary strengths while also realizing your secondary talents. Very rarely are great things done with a single skill.
This seems to be the case with many leaders: they naturally possess either charisma (excitement or enthusiasm) or vision (having a goal or a place to go). Charismatic leaders wing-it, constantly relying on their skills with people to compensate for their lack of long-term vision, while visionaries often forget to take other people along.
Visionaries without charisma lead a handful of people while dreaming of great things. Charismatic leaders take people on a merry-go-round of life, gleefully enjoying the ride but never getting anywhere.
I write all of this to say that we should examine our natural strengths and use them accordingly. But we should also work toward maturation in the other areas of our lives that don’t come quite as easily. And I speak even more strongly to leaders, because their failure to consider their talents and develop them causes problems for many other people.

Leadership and Groups

Andrew — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 06:20:33 +0000

The leaders of a group define who a group is. More specifically, the eminent leader defines who the group is and how they act. The subordinate leaders help to influence a situation, but the primary leadership always is the determining factor of a group’s character.
The first response to such a statement is denial, “No, I can think of groups that are completely different than their leader.” But even that seems to indicate my point: if the group isn’t influenced by the leader, then it is a sign of weak leadership that does not affect the quality of a group. So even in the negative sense, the leader defines a group.
The whole situation made me consider the role of spices and herbs in food. Take chili, for example. Chili is mainly composed of meat (and beans, if you believe in that sort of thing), but yet the flavor is dominated by a few ounces of very potent spices. These spices infiltrate the rest of the food and infuse it with concentrated doses of flavor. In this case, the few dominates the many.
And so in leadership, good leaders, although fewer in number than their constituents, dictate the flavor and direction of group by their very nature. And like most spices and herbs, good leadership sometimes goes bad. It can go bad because it loses its flavor or it can go bad by literally spoiling and making the food toxic. Likewise, herbs and spices are food specific, that is, I wouldn’t want to douse my ice cream with an ounce of salt or paprika.
So it makes me wonder: how many leadership positions are filled by ‘old spices’ and how many are filled with ‘incorrect spices?’ And if these two don’t apply to the situation, how many times do leaders infuse too much or too little flavor?
I think the application of this concept is far reaching and thought provoking. I’m not writing this to say that every leader I’m around is a failure, but simply as a manner of reconsidering my role as ‘leader’ and my role as ‘follower.’ And of course, I also am thinking about your role as leader and follower as well.
What do you think?

A Boy Named Pin

Andrew — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 04:40:42 +0000

There once was a boy named Pin,
Who stood on some steps with a grin.
He lurked on his perch,
With a penchant for works
And he sorely wished to be in.
He fixed his gaze on things afar,
While wishing only to play his cards,
He dreamed of what the others had,
He schemed to make them seem so bad.
The things he spewed he did not care,
He only wished he had their airs.
Comprehend, he could not
The things they did as their lot.
His eyes so bad he couldn’t see
The things they did in reality.
Poor Pin tried not to see the truth,
And in the end was quite uncouth.
The things he said, the things he did,
Puffed up himself, improved his id.
The words he spake,
Destroyed their stake,
And sealed the others’ lids.

10 Things You Should Know

Andrew — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 19:04:49 +0000

This is great entry by Kim Meyer : 10 Things You Should Know About People … if you want them to hear what you’re saying. [Via]

Middle Management

Andrew — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 17:33:38 +0000

You know you’re destined to be a Middle Manager if you:
1) Believe that long meetings are the best way to communicate everything.
2) Believe that no meeting is complete without repeating the information three times.
3) Believe that being at work for 8 hours a day is more important than getting your work done.
4) Believe that a problem with one person should be dealt with by sending an email to the entire company.
5) Believe additional reports and procedures are necessary for work to be successful.