Leadership and Empowerment
"Empowerment is all about Letting Go so that others can Get Going". - Ken Blanchard
The other day I was reading one of Ken Blanchard's many books that he has out on the market about leadership and came across this quote is his book called, "The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams". For some reason this quote really stuck out to me and got my mind thinking about a great deal of things. When it was all said and done I asked myself these two questions, 1. In my leadership style, is this something that I can see coming to fruition in the lives of those that I am leading and 2. How does this apply to my own life.
Too many times in my life I have seen leaders that feel they need to keep a tight grip on every area around them because they feel entitled due to their position or title. This is why we call a micro-manager. All though some micro managers may do this for good cause, I don't always think that they realize how much of a hinderance that they are creating. These types of leaders feel that they are creating "accountability" within their workplace when in reality, all they are doing is creating more restrictions and hindering their teams creativity. When those below us who we are leading, rise to the occasion and achieve great success, it should not pose a threat to us as the leader. As a leader we should take pride in the accomplishments of those we oversee. Too many times this is where pride comes into play and as leaders we feel threatened by those below us and feel a need to smother them with tedious tasks. That is why I am a huge advocate of Blanchard's quote at the beginning of this post. When we as leaders empower people to achieve their dreams and goals, the possibilities are endless.
This takes me into my second question. How would our personal lives differ if we were able to let go of what was personally holding us back to get things going? Too many times we find ourselves holding on to the different things in our lives which hold us back from reaching that next step in life. All of us have the great opportunity to achieve great things in this lifetime but we find ourselves holding on to the different crutches in our life.
So wether you are a leader or someone is being led, imagine what your life would look life if you started to let go so that others could get going! What would your life and team look like as a leader if you exercised humility and gave others the chance to experience greatness? As leaders we don't always have to take all the credit. Enjoy the success of the team and release people their own strengths and creativity and see what doors begin to open for all involved!
What are some ways that you have seen this take place throughout your own personal experience.
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Flash Forward To Another Journey
I'm a little more than a month into the new school and finding free time in my job has been tough at times. One thing though that I have been able to explore has been podcasting. A few of my good friends have decided to try out our own podcast and so far it has been an exciting journey. Our main motivation with the podcast program was going to be geared towards our obsession with the TV show Lost. We plan on exploring different theories along with personal thoughts on the final season as it nears its end. In our journey to Lost we have first embarked on a new tv show called Flash Forward! ABC's new Flash Forward has definitely allowed us to get our feet wet as we enter into the huge lake of podcasting. So far we have been a big advocate of USTREAM which allows us to broadcast live along with record our show while at the same time recording our podcast with Garageband. So far we seem to only talking to the open air but all in all it has been fun. So when you get a chance, check out our website here and let me know what you think!
Popularity: 70% [?]
Blackberry: Storm 2 On The Prowl
It's been a little over two months now or so since I got my new Blackberry Curve 8330. I was hesitant to get it because I knew the Tour was coming out soon but was sick of my Storm. So I decided to dump the Storm and get the top selling Blackberry, the Curve. Now pic are starting to surface for the new 
Blackberry Storm, the Storm 2. Physically you can see some cool features. The main one is that the four hot keys at the bottom are now apart of the main screen where as before they we separate from the screen itself. I do think this will help its over all function but to be honest, as long as the touch screen is a clickboard, its not worth it! The fact that you have to push the screen in on the Storm made it way too slow and not worth the hype. If the screen was a normal, solid touch screen, I think the Storm would be just as good as the iPhone. I will be interested to get my hands on the new Storm but most likely will continue to stick with my Curve. The speed and weight is amazing and the OS has worked flawlessly the whole time I have owned the phone! Word to ya mother!
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Guitar Fav’s From Youtube
Every loves Youtube including myself. I also love playing the guitar so I thought I would post a few videos of some cool cover songs on an acoustic guitar along with a few guys are pretty sweet when it comes to their own innovative guitar sound. So enjoy listening to the melodic guitar favorites and originals.
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Bon Joiv- Livin' on a Prayer
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Acoustic Super Mario Medley
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Guitar Impossible: Funny and creative
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Andy McKee: Drifting
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Don Ross, Andy McKee and Michael Manring
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New Wii Sports is Wii-Tacular
Today I had a chance to play the new and improved Wii starter game: Wii Sports Resort! When Wii first hit the scene a few years back, Wii Sports seemed to be one of it's most popular games. Thankfully Nintendo decided to take their original hit and kick it up a few notches. The new Wii Sports Resort game consists of 12 different games that include basketball, archery, skydiving, fencing, frisbee golf, along with a few other originals like Wii golf and bowling.
Wii Frisbee Toss with dog:
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Wii 3 point shoot out
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Wii Skydiving
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The new Wii Sports Resort game also uses the new Wii Motion Plus adaptor which helps the Wii's remotes 
sensitivity. The only catch to the new Wii Motion Plus adapter is that all four players who are playing in the Wii Sports Resort game must have one! This is frustrating unless you don't mind spending an $60 to buy 3 extra Wii Motion Plus adapters. The reason I only say 3 is because one automatically comes with the game when you buy it.
Overall the new game is great! I am a big fan and plan on buying the game very soon. I think it will be a crowd favorite at any party or gathering that one may have and its easy and fun to play. So if you own a Wii, definitely a great buy!
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Steve Jobs Does It Again With The iTablet?
So here it is, the phantom, rumored iTablet! This is something that has been floating around now for a little bit but is starting to look more and more like a for sure thing. Some sites say its possible that the iTablet could hit stores even as soon as September. Some of the features that they say the iTablet could have are these:
-10 inch screen
- Internet connectivity
- The ability to run iPhone apps
- Book-reading abilities
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It seems that it is possible that the iTablet would have the same basic functions as the iTouch. The ability to do a lot of neat things but not as fully capable as the iPhone. BUT... none of this information is confirmed. You never know what Apple will come out with next but you know it will be good. So until Steve Jobs drops the bomb on us, we will patiently anticipate Apple's new invention that will knock our socks off! For fun are some mock-ups of the product. Check it out!
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