Tag: New York Times

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Jeremy Lin: A Teaching Case on Succeeding in a Complex World

I love the Jeremy Lin story – the humble, smart, sudden NBA superstar for the Knicks who until a few weeks ago was sleeping on his brother’s couch and wondering his future with the sport he loved. [If you need to catch-up on Lin-sanity, check out the Washington Post story on how his talent went unnoticed for so long or one of the many New York Times sport columns.]

This is a great basketball story – a living remake of the movie classic “Hoosiers.” It’s an American morality tale of hard work, immigrant family, humility, following a dream, and success against the odds. It’s also a teaching case about how to succeed in an increasing complex world.

Forbes columnist Eric Jackson identifies 10 lessons from Jeremy Lin to enrich our lives and work. Let me post and discuss.

1. Believe in yourself when no one else does. Only the 4th Harvard grad to make it to the NBA. One of only a handful of Asian-Americans to make it. Sent to the Knicks D-League team in Erie, PA 3 weeks ago. Already cut by two other NBA teams before. It’s easy to lose heart in the face of defeat – but where will that get you?  Look where faith took Jeremy.

2. Seize the opportunity when it comes up. Lin got to start for the Knicks because they had to start him: too many injured and missing players. Lin made the most of it. Opportunities arise when we least expect them. Will you be ready to make the most of them? Be strong and confident to rise to the new  challenge? How can you cultivate the inner strengthen needed for that? It’s not easy to sustain confidence in the face of rejection.  

3. Your family will always be there for you, so be there for them. Lin only got his contract guaranteed by the Knicks a few days. His family has been his support: they pick him up when he gets down on himself and make him “continue to believe.” If you want your family to believe in you like that, you’ve got to be there for them when they need it.

4. Find the system that works for your style. Context is everything in leadership – no one is perfect in all situations. Lin isn’t Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant (whom he out-scored the other night, by the way). His style of distributing the ball didn’t work with his other NBA teams. It’s perfect for the Knicks. Know your strengths and find the job or organization that’s a good fit. If you don’t, people will overlook what you bring to the table.  Amen!

5. Don’t overlook talent that exists around you. You may have a Jeremy Lin working for or around you now. Pundits say Jeremy wasn’t helped by others’ stereotypes: he’s from Palo Alto High and Harvard. He’s Asian-American. Don’t let assumptions blind you to your other or others’ talents. My own belief: we are all capable of much more than we now show with the right opportunity and support.

6. People will love you for being an original, not trying to be someone else. I love the Judy Garland quotation: Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.

7. Stay humble. In interviews, Lin shows humility despite the media frenzy. May we all have the grounding and executive presence!

8. When you make others look good, they will love you forever. The Knicks are playing well because they are playing better as a team – and have been working harder to share the ball since Lin. Lin praises his teammates to the media. Take note!

9. Never forget about the importance of luck or fate in life. To quote Eric Jackson, “Whatever you believe in, be grateful for it.”

10. Work your butt off. Lin was ready to seize his opportunity because his skills were strong from a lot of hard, hard work. Hard work is not glamorous – but there are no short cuts in today’s tough, competitive world.

I add a #11 to the list:

11. Choose hope. Hope is the most powerful form of human motivation. But it is not wishful thinking. Real hope is informed by persistence, hard work, patience, and courage – as seen in the Jeremy Lin story. The New York Times quoted one of Lin’s favorite verses: Suffering produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us (Romans 5:3-5). 

Sustain faith in yourself, passion for the contribution you want to make, and the hope necessary to find the right place to make it. Onward! 

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Young women drop out of the workforce for school: Preparing for a bright future

A powerful article in this morning’s New York Times by Catherine Rampell (“Instead of Work, Young Women Head to School”) identifies in interesting shift: for the first time in three decades, there are now more young women in school than in the work force.

The women’s choice is deliberate: a good job can be tough to find in this economy, so take time now to upgrade skills and prepare for a better one down the line. It also stands in sharp contrast to their male counterparts who seem more likely to take the job they can find.

To quote Rampell: “The longer-term consequences, economists say, are that the next generation of women may have a significant advantage over their male counterparts, whose career options are already becoming constrained.”

I salute the young women for their commitment to professional development and their proactive stance toward career self-management.  

The knowledge economy requires it – and the world is changing so fast, the only way to prepare for the jobs of the future is with advanced education that cultivates critical skills that will last the test of time like  how to learn, how to work well with diverse others, how to manage change, how to be creative and embrace innovation, how to think more deeply and more flexibly, and how to lead from the head or the foot of the table. 

Young women, continue your studies!  I like what I see. 

Young men, reconsider the wisdom of your choice.  How can you better prepare for the work world that lies ahead?  

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In Celebration of Sidney Harman: Career Self-Management at Its Finest

Sidney Harman died last Tuesday at 92. If you don’t know much about Harman’s life, you need to. It stands as a model of career self-management at its finest: a passion for learning and creative problem solving wedded to solid values, a love of life, and a willingness to use his talents across a range of projects and sectors.

The key to a good and long life, Harmon once mused, is restless curiosity. His fueled technology and business successes that revolutionized the audio industry – I still have the groovy Harman/Kardon stereo speakers I bought in graduate school – as well as his political activism, philanthropy, love of the arts, and stints as a college president, Jimmy Carter’s deputy Secretary of Commerce, and Executive Chairman of the edgy, born-again Newsweek (now in partnership with Tina Brown and the online Daily Beast.)   

You can read details of Harmon’s life and leadership in his autobiography, Mind Your Own Business: A Maverick’s Guide to Business Leadership and Life – or in the many tributes following his passing.

I call attention to the confidence that his skills and experiences were transferable across time and industry, his willingness to get in there and do something – “lead the revolution” – even when others had given up or failed, his refusal to take himself too seriously – “Want a little Shakespeare? The kid is ready.”[1] – and his positive determinism.

Just weeks before his death on learning about the cancer that would quickly take his life, Harman penned an upbeat, sassy My Turn column for Newsweek entitled “Hey Cancer: Go Stand in the Corner.”[2] Life is  for living, working, and enjoying the things you love to do. Harman wasn’t naïve or in denial about his health. He just wanted to continue living his life as he had always done: deliberately and fully, nothing on hold as he faced down “the dragon.”

During chemo, he planned to prepare his lectures for his University of Southern California class, study Newsweek’s recent operating reports, read, listen to music, and work on his new book entitled Geezer Golf. “This is a hell of a good time to finish it,” Harmon wrote.[3]

The New York Times eulogized Harman as “a scholar of boundless energy and utopian ideas,” and that’s what set him apart from the crowd and prepared him for a diversified career.

I want the courage to live and work every day the way Sid Harman did. He knew who he was and brought that with confidence to every table. He loved what he did – or changed things up when needed to keep life fresh. What about you?

[1] Sidney Harman (2011). Hey, Cancer: Go Stand in the Corner. Newsweek. April 25, p. 9. Accessible at http://www.newsweek.com/2011/04/17/hey-cancer-go-stand-in-the-corner.html

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

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Who’s Leading Us:The 10 Most- Followed People on Twitter

I was surprised to see a recent list of the 10 most-followed people on Twitter.  While Twitter analysts have  complex formulas for measuring Twitter influence by counting tweets, tweeting frequency, mentions of another’s tweet, personal responses to less famous followers, and retweets, I’m OK looking at raw numbers to ask an important question. To whom do we accord power and leadership?   

If we listen to someone – and listen regularly – we cannot help but be influenced by what they think, say, do, and value. Look who’s got the ear of millions today – and millions of young people. What does all this say?

The 10 Most-Followed People on Twitter

1. Lady Gaga (7,941,444 followers)

2. Justin Bieber (7,032,265 followers)

3. Britney Spears (6,652,470 followers)

4. Barack Obama (6,531,868 followers)

5. Ashton Kutcher (6,261,483 followers)

6. Kim Kardashian (6,032,559 followers)

7. Ellen DeGeneres (5,745,455 followers)

8. Katy Perry (5,283,350 followers)

9. Taylor Swift (5,020,965 followers)

10. Oprah Winfrey (5,013,218 followers)

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Data from David Leonhardt (March 27, 2011). “A Better Way to Measure Twitter Influence.” New York Times Magazine, p. 18.