TQM
I love to be alone at the top – Yelena Isinbayeva
I love to be alone at the top – Yelena Isinbayeva
Life lessons from Michael Phelps
Life lessons from Michael Phelps
August 18, 2008 , Rediff News
At 23, Michael Fred Phelps has become an international sporting sensation.
The young American swimmer has smashed seven world records and won eight gold medals at the Beijing [Images] Olympics [Images], the first athlete ever to secure first place so many times at a single Olympics Games.
Given his success, it’s easy to slot Phelps into the ‘born achievers’ category — at 23, he’s established a glorious career doing what he loves best, he’s a millionaire, a world record-holder and the pride of his nation.
But hold on a minute — is Michael Phelps [Images] really a born achiever?
He may beg to differ.
At the age of seven Phelps, the youngest of three children, was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. For those not familiar with the condition, ADHD is a childhood condition characterised by constant activity, impulsive behaviour and the inability to focus one’s attention on anything for a short span of time.
ADHD is treated with therapy and medication, but is not classified as curable — as per information on the website WebMd.com, about 60 percent of afflicted kids carry the condition into adulthood.
To help release his pent-up energy and to emulate his older sisters who were also accomplished swimmers, Phelps took up swimming, starting to outshine his peers right from the start.
At the age of nine, Michael’s parents divorced. His mother brought up all three children single-handedly, encouraging them to follow their dreams at all costs — one middle-school teacher even told Michael’s mother he would never be a success.
But successful Phelps is, and how.
Yes, there are the occasional set-backs. Like the time back in 2004 when Phelps, then 19, was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. He was under the legal drinking age limit of 21 in any case and to top it he was driving in an inebriated state. A repentant Phelps pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months probation, saying in court, “I recognise the seriousness of this mistake. I’ve learned from this mistake and will continue learning from this mistake for the rest of my life.”
So who is Michael Phelps? He was a regular kid who struggled with an irregular condition and the divorce of his parents. He’s young, he excels at what he does and like the rest of us, slips up once in a while.
And what life lessons do his struggles and successes hold for us?
Deal with your own issues effectively — Michael certainly dealt with ADHD and his parents’ divorce that way. His mother helped him cope up with his condition and channeled his energy into what he loved.
Cut out the drama — Michael’s story is inspirational but at the same time, neither the young man nor his family have exploited their experiences to sensationalise his life. They’ve told it like it is.
Zero in on your strengths and overcome your weaknesses — He was less than an average student at school, but Michael was a passionate and dedicated student of his sport. The young swimmer is known to have studied tapes of his races over and over, zeroing in on mistakes and working towards bettering himself constantly. Excellent is still not good enough.
Remain focused on your goals — At the Athens Olympics back in 2004, Phelps was beaten by teammate Ian Crocker beat in the 100m butterfly. He put up a poster of Crocker in his room to motivate him and keeps a list of his career goals beside his bed.
Pursue what you love with passion and put in a genuine effort — Phelps’ dedication to swimming was apparent back when he was nine and began to break national records in his age group. His commitment to what he does has grown with him.
It’s not just his career and his unbelievable performance at the Olympics that classify Phelps as a winner — it’s his story of inspiration that makes him a real champion, a youth icon, somebody to look up to.
DEWA brings awareness campaign to malls and private companies
DEWA brings awareness campaign to malls and private companies
Staff Report KHALEEJ TIMES Published: July 21, 2008, 13:20
Dubai: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has launched a campaign to raise awareness of water and energy conservation among the public under the slogan “Now that you know, don’t let it go.”
The campaign is a sequel to the “Your Decision Campaign” that marked the introduction of a slab-based tariff system.
The new campaign, which will be implemented at government departments, private companies and shopping malls, seeks to educate the public on avoidance of wastage of water and power to conserve environment and natural resources.
The campaign focuses on behaviour of consumers when it comes to wasting water and electricity, through visual and written communications collateral, giving facts and explanatory messages on natural resources and the importance of saving them.
It uses various channels, including posters, to convey the message of water and energy conservation to governmental departments, private companies and in shopping malls.
DEWA is putting stickers on water taps and electric switches and distributing booklets and brochures to employees and visitors. Moreover, the campaign also uses portable advertising billboards showing its slogan and fact sheets.
The process of electricity production in Dubai requires 7,000 staff workers, 1,219 kilometres of overhead lines and 2,129 km of underground cables.
Water production needs 43 desalinating units and a 769 km pipeline to meet the consumers’ daily demand.
No limits to excellence
No limits to excellence
The important lesson in the Nadal-Federer match is that people who operate at high levels of excellence pull each other up the scale.
V. K. Madhav Mohan for THE HINDU
CEOs and organisations can learn important lessons from the history that unfolded on Centre Court at Wimbledon on July 6, 2008. The gentlemen’s final of 2008 was arguably the greatest tennis match of all time. Noted tennis historian Bud Collins had no hesitation in classifying it as the greatest Wimbledon final ever (also the longest at 4 hours and 48 minutes).
What Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer achieved on that rain-swept day was unimaginable. As the rest of the world looked on in disbelief, they shifted the frontiers of excellence upward by an order of magnitude.
This was not just tennis, as Vijay Amritraj said during live commentary. The match had everything anyone could hope for: drama, fortunes swinging like a pendulum, brute power laced with consummate finesse, court speed fuelled by fighting spirit and above all, mental strength beautified by sportsmanship.
What has all this got to do with CEOs and organisations? Quite simply, the classic encounter reveals finer points that are as applicable to individuals as they are to organisations. Both Nadal and Federer competed on their own respective scales and yet propelled each other to the next level. They fed on each other’s performance and so transcended from good to great. That transition points the way for the rest of us, lesser mortals!
The important lesson that stands out is that people who operate at high levels of excellence pull each other up the scale. Peter Drucker posited that the difference between the top and the average is constant and so the way to shift the average upwards is to help the top shift upwards. The common practice however is to help the bottom shift upwards.
Both in academic and corporate environments, the focus is almost always on the weaker, poorer performers. More resources are lavished on them in terms of training and counselling; if the same resources were directed at the top performers, they would move even higher. Then the average would move upwards since the difference between the top and average is constant.
This has important implications for organisational performance. If more people improved their performance and if top performers went even higher the entire organisation would migrate to new standards. This is more or less what happened during the Nadal-Federer epic. Both have been top performers consistently as their respective ATP rankings of two and one in the world respectively, denote. On July 6 both pushed the other into a new zone of performance, a zone that that is the stuff of dreams.
Their achievement is bound to raise the standard of tennis on both the men’s and the women’s circuit because Nadal and Federer have demonstrated what is possible. This is much like Roger Bannister breaching the four minute barrier for the one mile run on May 6, 1954, with a time of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds; a month after this feat another runner, an Australian named John Landy, bettered Bannister’s record with a time of 3 minutes 57.4 seconds.
New performance zones
The CEO should think about ways to move his team into these new zones of performance. By focusing his own time and the organisation’s resources on the top performers (mentoring, training, new assignments, exposure, travel, scholarships) he can create an environment in which every individual pushes others up their own scales. A collective lift ensues, thereby scaling up organisational performance, much like the flight of geese in formation generates collective lift.
Wining formula
Coming back to the Wimbledon final, I believe Nadal won this time because of the following, each of which has lessons for CEOs:
His backhand is hit with perfect balance in all situations since he is a natural right-hander converted into a lefty. So Nadal actually has two equally powerful sides, his powerful lefty forehand and his backhand beefed up by the strength and control in his natural right hand. Organisations need to learn from this by creating and innovating new strengths while augmenting the existing strengths. This more than compensates for weaknesses.
Nadal’s swinging slice serve which curves away from the opponents on either side. Even the great Federer’s perfect ground-strokes were always under pressure on the Nadal first serve because the ball was always either going away from Federer (on the deuce court) or curving into his body (on the advantage court).
The lesson here is to develop one particular weapon to specifically neutralise a competitor’s core strength. That means understanding the opponent’s strength and designing a product, service or policy to eliminate its effectiveness in the market
Unrivalled court speed and unrelenting aggression. Nadal is probably the fastest man ever on a tennis court. That allows him to retrieve even impossible winners and forces the opponent to play interminably long points, thereby sapping his stamina.
Companies need to build reserves of cash and talent that will force opponents downhill with every competitive encounter. No matter what strategy or tactics the competitor employs, the CEO must always be ready with a counter thrust. In fact, the reserves of organisational stamina must be built up with contingency plans and resources, careful husbanding of cash and constant honing of talent
Continuous adaptation and evolution in his game. Nadal has made the crossover from a clay court specialist to a complete tennis player. From being able to hit mostly heavy top spin ground strokes he’s graduated to drop shots, sliced backhands, deft angles and serve and volley tennis. Similarly organisations must adapt continuously and develop all-round capabilities much like pilots with all-weather ratings. That calls for continuous market analysis and organisation development to map the market.
Mental toughness. Nadal’s mental toughness prevented him from wilting even when he had lost several match points. That strength is evidently practised and polished with visualisation exercises. Mental rehearsals are as important as physical practice. CEOs must develop this capability for personal visioning by repeatedly visiting the scene of future physical performance mentally and “seeing” a perfect performance every time. By encouraging everyone around him to develop this skill the CEO can make a very strong impact on organisational performance.
Supreme physical fitness. No other tennis player has demonstrated Nadal’s unremitting aggression, court speed or mental toughness. The basis of all that is his almost superhuman physical fitness which gives him the balance, breath control and stamina to deploy his technique and weaponry with devastating effect.
The peerless Federer revealed fleeting glimpses of fatigue only in the last two games of the match but that, sadly, was enough to make the difference between victory and defeat.
So too must CEOs , business owners and managers be committed to physical fitness. This is the key to mental toughness and clarity. Gym workouts, sports, walking, yoga, pranayama are all de rigueur for today’s leaders. Personal discipline leads to fitness, physical and mental, and that goes with the territory of leadership.
What the world experienced during the Nadal-Federer encounter was indeed a demonstration of possibilities for personal and organisational growth. The dynamic duo proved beyond doubt that limits to growth and excellence do not exist. For that we have be eternally grateful to those two great sportsmen.
TheLonelyCEO@gmail.com
Which credit card debt will you pay off first?
Which credit card debt will you pay off first?
Bloomberg Published: July 11, 2008, 23:29
You’ve charged it up – now it’s pay-down time. If you’re up to your eyeballs in credit card and other debt, paying the minimums and little else, it’s time to get serious.
The best way to get rid of debt, experts agree, is to attack the balance with the highest annual percentage rate first. When that one is paid off, move onto the debt with the next-highest interest rate.
But always attack that high-interest debt first.
On that debt, you want to “double, triple, quadruple minimum payments,” says Howard S. Dvorkin, president and founder of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, Florida. “When you’re done with that one, move on to the next one.”
Linda Sherry, editorial director with Consumer Action, a consumer advocacy group in San Francisco, agrees: Size up bills by interest rates rather than the amount of the balance.
“The amount you owe doesn’t really matter when you’re paying an enormous amount of interest,” Sherry said. “Try to pay the highest interest rate ones first. Muster all the funds available and get the debt out of your life.”
An alternative plan: What about knocking off some low-balance bills first and eliminating a bill or two from that thick monthly pile?
Experts respond: Go ahead, especially if it will give you the boost you need to stick with a pay-down plan.
“It makes better financial sense to pay down the highest interest rate first. But people get discouraged. So they knock down lower balances first,” says Steve Rhode, co-founder of financial services organisation Myvesta.
“It’s a lot more gratifying for some people to pay off the smaller balances within a couple months. (They) feel like they’re making more progress.”
But once those smaller balances are gone, he says, go back to Plan A: Take the money that had been set aside to pay those bills and apply it to the balance with the highest interest rate. “Muster all the funds available and get the debt out of your life,” Rhode says.
Stick to your plan: The key to an effective pay-down plan is sticking with it. Don’t let up on the monthly payments as the card’s minimum payments inch down and as bills get paid off.
“Once you establish a payment plan with a credit card bill, stick with the payments until it’s gone and then roll it into another credit card and keep going,” says Christine Jones, a counsellor with American Credit Counseling Service, Florida.
Unfortunately, many people quit before they get started. “The problem I see is that people make mental promises to themselves that they can’t keep,” says the DCA’s Rhode.
“They say they will pay $100 a month but it’s too big a stretch. They can’t do it and then they forget about it.”
Think before you act: To avoid falling into that trap, take a hard look at your finances and determine how much you can realistically afford to pay each month.
Rhode suggests that people track their spending every day for a month to get a firm handle on where their money is actually going.
“People will save 20 per cent just writing down where their money goes,” he says. “Because they will start cutting back.”
After tracking their spending, people can better decide how much they can afford to pay toward credit card debt. Experts say just $50 more a month can make a big difference.
Try these tips for saving $50 a month: Have movies and popcorn at home instead of going out. Use coupons for groceries and buy store brands.
Make pizza at home instead of ordering out. Buy in bulk and freeze dinner entrees. Give handmade cards and gifts. Shop at consignment, thrift and discount stores.
Pay more than the minimum. Once you start paying more than the minimum, the debts start to disappear.
It is also important to keep in mind that debt is not always bad. “Having a certain amount of credit balance is not negative,” Consumer Action’s Sherry says.
“Some debt is necessary to reach goals.” But most experts recommend that debt payments including car payments and credit cards eat up no more than 10 to 15 per cent of income. More could spell trouble.
New system being installed at Dubai airport to detect fake travel documents
New system being installed at Dubai airport to detect fake travel documents
By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter GULF NEWS Published: July 07, 2008, 18:02
Dubai: The Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) reinforced its employees’ skills and ability to spot falsified documents and passports following an extensive training on the Electronic Documentation Information System on Network (EDISON) for verifying various passport security features and examination of questioned documents.
The system which is currently implemented by DNRD at the Dubai International Airport various terminals to assist passport control officers in detecting forged travel documents containing images of over 1,400 genuine and fake travel document samples from over 190 countries and is recognised as a global reference for testing the authenticity and validity of travel documents.
Questionable documents are taken to a specially-set laboratory at the DNRD offices at the DIA to avoid any delays inflicted on regular passengers.
A delegation from the International (EDISON) Committee headed by Diederik Fabius recently met with Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director of DNRD to discuss the next phases of the implementation of the system.
ClicksandWrites 
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