By Jayakishore BayadiA day before yesterday, I got an old issue of CIO magazine while searching for some books in my office library. It was June, 2006 issue (U.S. edition). I was just glancing through the pages and the editorial written by its Managing Editor David Rosenbaum intrigued me, and made stop turning pages for a while. Though it was not so great piece of writing, I got enthused by the content.
At the first look you may notice a lot of ‘I’, ‘me’ et al in the write up. But David explains why ‘I’, ‘me’ becomes important, when it comes to leadership; when you are leading your team or people behind you. And he clearly discerns between self centric ‘I’, ‘me’ and cause centric ‘I’, ‘me’ in a fascinating manner. Below, I’ve provided article for you to read. Not to glance! If this Interests you too, please drop a comment.
By the way, I was ovewhelmed by the calls and mails from my friends,well wishers,virtual friends complaining why iam not updating the blog! Iam really sorry folks! Soon I will be a regular blogger again!Any way,today i got some time and this is my first posting in 2008.
Wish you a very Happy New year!
-JKB
No Time for Martyrs
A leader’s most important job is making sure he can draw on his inner resources top lead. And that means taking care of yourself!Lately, I’ve been feeling lousy. May be it’s the change of season; may be it’s allergies; may be it’s germs. Whatever it is, for the past two weeks my head’s been aching, my nose has been running, my eyes have been burning, and I’ve been looking even pathetic than I normally do.
The doc put me on antibiotics and told me to take antihistamines, drink lots of water and take it easy.
But I haven’t been taking easy. Most days, I’ve been dragging my sorry butt into work. There’s lot going on right now at CIO. We’re deploying a new content management system. We’re building a new Web architecture and redefining our online coverage to make our award winning website even better. We’re reengineering our internal work processes to make our site and our magazine more timely. And I figured that without my physical presence, without my sterling, hands-on leadership, the whole kit and caboodle would go to hell in a hand basket. So I showed up to work and led the troops with my noggin noddin’ and my rheumy eyes half closed. I deferred decisions and radiated martyred misery. I led with a whisper, a whine, a sneeze and a sniffle.
Very inspirational. I should have known better.
Recently, in conjunction with last month’s CIO Leadership Conference, I had the opportunity to interview Pulitzer Prize –winning historian David McCullough. Among many things, McCullough said that made a tremendous amount of sense to me was that leaders needed to be energetic. “You can’t be in second gear all the time and be much of a leader,” he said.
In order to summon that energy, in order to be the engine that drives the endeavor, in order to provide a positive example for the people who look to you to see how they should conduct themselves at work, executives and leaders have to take care of themselves. They need to stoke their own engines and do whatever it takes to feel good about themselves, mentally and physically. And while at first blush that may sound selfish, it is actually one of the most important parts of the job: making sure that you can come in to work each day with the enthusiasm, optimism and vitality and necessary to lift the spirits of the people around you.
If you can’t do that, you might as well stay in bed.
-David Rosenbaum
Managing Editor, CIO
