On an island in the middle of the Dnieper river in Kiev, Ukraine is an open-air gym that was built in the 1980s by a professor of cybernetics.
This gym is made entirely from recycled machinery, such as tractor parts, tyres and chains.
It is completely free for everyone all year round.
The ground is soft sand and the air is filled with the constant clank and squeak of the machinery.
I guess this is Kiev’s version of Muscle Beach, California!
Dave Anderson from Learn to Lead suggests that a company that builds character around the following foundations will lead business growth and character growth:
• Avoid half-truths – tell the truth, no matter how ugly, to earn your community’s trust.
• Honour all commitments – keep the promises you make to maintain business integrity to your customers and your team.
• Go above and beyond – the old cliché is true: ‘under promise and over deliver.’ Or at least deliver more than your competitors, after finding out what they deliver.
• Truthful Marketing – false promises and misleading marketing will erode your credibility, so just stick to the facts.
• Drop the Baggage – let go of the energy sapping grudges with competitors, employees and even members. A resolved conflict may lead to a future opportunity.
Here are some great characteristics of leaders:
• Good communications skills
• Trustworthiness
• Have enormous energy
• Lead by example
• Sense of humour – about themselves!
• Self confidence and self esteem
• Commonsense
• Courage
• Persistence
• A vision and a plan to get there
Think you have all these? Awesome … but does your team?
If you would like a free 360 degree leadership questionnaire that your team can rate you on, then email me today: [email protected] and I will send it through.
Has anyone ever said to you, ‘You’re no Einstein!’ or ‘Nice one Einstein!’? Probably with a touch of sarcasm without knowing how close they are to the mark!
Reading www.entrepreneur.com I found an intriguing article that compared the traits of Albert Einstein – the most influential person of the 20th Century – with entrepreneurs of the 21st Century!
Here are a couple:
• Imagination. Einstein said, ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’ The people at Google had all the computer skills and knowledge they needed to have successful careers in some firm’s IT department – along with tens of thousands of other techies. What makes Larry Page and Sergey Brin household names is the fact they imagined there was a better way to search the web, and then they created it.
• Always questioning. ‘The important thing is not to stop questioning.’ One of the most important questions an entrepreneur can ask is, ‘How can I make it better?’ Whether you offer a product or a service, improving it is the only way to attract new clients and retain existing ones. While Phil Knight was marketing Nike to the top of the athletic-shoe sales heap, Bill Bowerman tinkered with the shoes’ designs and made sure Nike footwear was on the cutting edge of innovation. How can the new model, Bowerman wondered, be better? If Einstein had stopped questioning, we would have been left with his thoughts on relativity instead of an entire theory.
34% of employers rejected a candidate in the last 12 months because of the person’s social media activity. And the top 4 reasons the candidate was not hired:
▪ They had posted inappropriate photos or information.
▪ There was evidence of drug use.
▪ They had poor communication skills.
▪ They had bad mouthed a previous employer.
A great lesson for employees and a great place to start checking out potential new staff.
