“In AirAsia we consider ourselves basically a dream factory…We deliberately decided that we wanted a company where people can pursue their passion and we wanted to make use of all the talent that we have in-house. The culture that we have stems from the fact that we want openness and we want people to be creative and passionate about what they do. In order to do that, we’ve got to inspire them.”
Tony Fernandes
CEO and Founder
AirAsia
Tony Fernandes is above all things a dreamer.
“I cannot live without books.â€
– Thomas Jefferson
More outstanding leadership books that have influenced me.
The Wall of Reality
In the last two posts “The Reality Principle” and “Focus On The Winning Idea” I wrote about the importance of seeing reality clearly.
This post is about how leaders can push reality to achieve great things.
I have learned through trial and error that the ability to see reality clearly makes all the difference in achieving desirable outcomes in life. I call this “The Reality Principle.”
I was a little dramatic in my last post Good Leaders Fire People. Managing someone out (the right way) is different from firing.
My definition of “firing” is a forceful and immediate removal from the company. Firing should be reserved for someone who steals, lies or otherwise shows big integrity problems. Firing decisions are easy because they are so clear.
Managing someone out the right way means you ask someone to resign and he or she does so willingly. It’s a lot tougher than firing someone.
I’ll teach you how.
You can’t be a good leader unless you learn to fire people.I call it “managing out.”
Sometimes you make a hiring mistake. Sometimes the organization outgrows the ability of a person. Sometimes people get too comfortable and complacent. The list goes on.
You have 100% of my confidence until you don’t.
Last year I had a conversation with a leader, Chung. She was giving me a hard time about an ineffective manager, Vy, who reported to one of my direct reports, Linh.
Chung said, “Haven’t you talked to Linh about this behavior? It’s not ok. People are leaving because of Vy.”
Weak leaders use brute force to get the right behaviors. Strong leaders use transparency and accountability.
“Deep down everyone loves to have others love them…love is the emotion of wanting to be together, wanting to unconditionally support each other, wanting to understand and empathize, wanting to be there when things are tough and to be there when things are fun.”
Thanh Nguyen, Founder & CEO of Anphabe.com
Welcome to my first video interview!
My guest was Thanh Nguyen, Founder & CEO of Anphabe.com, the leading “Share to Succeed†business community connecting thousands of leaders and experts in Vietnam.
Thanh is a passionate, highly spiritual leader. She is talented at communicating vision and motivating others to achieve greatness.
Chi with one of her marketing creations.
Have you or someone on your team ever made a painful mistake?
You know, the kind of mistake that makes you cringe with embarrassment? That makes you feel like you got punched in the stomach?
Those are the best.
Painful mistakes are always fantastic learning opportunities. Never let one go to waste. And never punish someone for making a mistake the first time. Always focus on the learning.
