It's a common occurrence, a CEO leads a company to record earnings, retires and in months, those once high-flying earnings are dropping like shot ducks. Observers blame the new leadership team. But most likely the observers are wrong. It's not just the new leaders who are screwing up. Instead, it was most likely the former CEO. Yes, the former, supposedly great CEO. Look to him for what went wrong - and what went wrong provides lessons for leaders at all levels. The reasons are clear but seldom recognized. They get back to the raison d'être of leadership - which is not the performance of the individual leader but the continually improved results of those being led. The problems lie in the definition of results. For when results are defined narrowly, i.e. in strict terms of share, margin, shareholder value, profits, organizations lose their elasticity and impact. And the quality of organizational elasticity is linked to its culture of leadership, leadership with a broader vision of results, encompassing the necessity to hire and develop people who lead others to get results. So when decline follows the departure of great leaders, the safe bet is that those "great" leaders haven't hired and developed leaders - and so really weren't great at all, no matter what results they got. In fact, they were quite poor. To paraphrase Vince Lombardi on winning, getting good leaders for your team isn't everything, it's the only thing. The moment that you decide to hire, that very moment, is the living, breathing future of your organization. A curious chemistry takes place in the hiring process. We don't just reach outward, we also reach inward. In hiring leaders, we invariably hire ourselves - our strengths and weaknesses. So the hand we reach out to shake is not just the other person's hand, it's our hand. Hire to our strengths, we hire strong leaders. Hire to our weaknesses, we hire weak leaders. I know a brilliant, young executive in a multimillion dollar manufacturing company whose ambition to become CEO of that company may founder on his maddening propensity to hire leaders who may be good but who are none-the-less not the very best. That's because the leaders he hires must have what is an unstated but at the same time real skill: the ability to curry his favor. Those leaders are ostensibly qualified. But they are often not the very best of the pool because they come equipped with that extraneous skill Since results on his teams are also defined as the care and feeding of his ego, that executive is hiring to his weaknesses, so he continually makes what may ultimately turn out to be garbage-in-garbage-out hiring decisions that can ultimately wreck his ambitions. On the other hand, I know another young executive, not nearly as brilliant, but whose hiring dictum may very well get him farther along in life. The dictum is: Hire leaders who can not only do well in this position but in the next position and maybe even the position beyond that. In other words, he hires to his strengths, his inner sense of self-confidence, which allows him to surround himself with people who are smarter and in some ways more capable than he - and so is creating a rising tide of action and results that will further his career in powerful ways. As Steven Jobs said, "I don't hire people to tell them what to do but to tell me what to do." Yet hiring people who are capable of supplanting you isn't enough. Do more. Actively develop the knowledge, skills and careers of those leaders to give them the best possible chance of supplanting you. An epitaph on a 1680 New England gravestone speaks to this: "What I gave, I have. What I spent, I had. What I left, I lost. By not giving it." That can be an epitaph for failed leaders. By not giving to your leaders, not developing their skills and careers, you lose them, lose the opportunity to have their riches enrich you. Nobody is a success unless others want them to be. And when you have a passionate desire for their success, for helping them improve and achieve their goals, when they know that working on your team will be a defining experience of their career - then you will have people who want like hell for you to be a success. The decline following the departure of "great" leaders indicates that those leaders were most likely control-monsters, commanders not convincers, great at getting jobs done themselves but not challenging and trusting others to do them. And when those others are ignored, they become inept. So let's take an additional yardstick to our leaders and measure their total value, both when they're there and after they have left. Link that value to deferred compensation, bonuses, stock options for executives and to partially-delayed evaluations for middle managers and supervisors - or whatever. When leaders define their performance beyond their tenure, they will most likely pay more attention to those three factors that are absolutely necessary for any organization's continued well-being: getting, developing, and keeping exceptional leaders. Selengkapnya...
Cara Makan Sehat ala Rasul SAW
Min sorihil iman, ahibbu ma yuhibbuhurrosul SAW. Demikian Prof. Dr. Musthofa
Romadlon memulai ceramahnya. Beliau menyitir ucapan salah seorang tokoh
pergerakan tersebut, untuk memuqoddimahi muhadlorohnya tentang ghidza`unnabiy,
atau menu dan tatacara makan Rasulullah SAW, di Wisma Nusantara tempo hari.
Saya pribadi berpendapat bahwa acara tersebut merupakan salah satu yang paling
ilmiah yang pernah saya temui, karena tujuannya sangat spektakuler;
menghidupkan sunnah Rasulullah yang hampir dilupakan orang!
Dalam setiap aktifitas dan pola hidupnya, Rasulullah memang sudah disiapkan
untuk menjadi contoh teladan bagi semua manusia., termasuk dalam hal pola
makan. Memang sih, hanya urusan makanan. Tetapi kalau dengan pola makan
tersebut, Rasulullah kemudian memiliki tubuh yang sehat, kuat, dan sanggup
mengalahkan para pegulat, tampaknya kita harus mikir lagi untuk mengatakan
hanya. Ini bukan perkara remeh. Sebab salah satu faktor penting penunjang fisik
prima Rasulullah adalah kecerdasan beliau dalam memilih menu makanan dan
mengatur pola konsumsinya.
Selama ini kita mengenal dua bentuk pengobatan. Pengobatan sebelum terjangkit
penyakit / pencegahan ( At thib Al wiqo`i), dan pengobatan setelah terjangkit
penyakit (at thib al `ilaji). Nah, dengan mencontoh pola makan Rasulullah, kita
sebenarnya sedang menjalani terapi pencegahan penyakit dengan makanan.
(attadawi bil ghidza`). Ini tentu jauh lebih baik daripada kita harus
berhubungan dengan obat-obat kimia.
Hal pertama yang menjadi menu keseharian Rasulullah adalah udara segar di subuh
hari. Sudah umum di ketahui bahwa udara pagi kaya dengan oksigen dan belum
terkotori oleh zat-zat lain. Ini ternyata sangat besar pengaruhnya terhadap
vitalitas seseorang dalam aktifitasnya selama sehari penuh. Maka tidak usah
heran ketika kita tidak bangun di subuh hari, kita menjadi terasa begitu malas
untuk beraktifitas. Selanjutnya rasulullah menggunakan siwak untuk menjaga
kesehatan mulut dan giginya.
Lepas dari subuh, Rasulullah membuka menu sarapannya dengan segelas air yang
dicampur dengan sesendok madu asli. Khasiatnya luar biasa. Dalam Al qur`an,
kata syifa / kesembuhan, yang dihasilkan oleh madu, diungkapkan dengan isim
nakiroh, yang berarti umum, menyeluruh. Di tinjau dari ilmu kesehatan, madu
befungsi membersihkan lambung, mengaktifkan usus-usus, menyembuhkan sembelit,
wasir dan peradangan. Dalam istilah orang arab, madu dikenal dengan al hafidz
al amin, karena bisa menyembuhkan luka bakar.
Masuk waktu dluha, Rasulullah selalu makan tujuh butir kurma ajwa`/matang.
Sabda beliau, barang siapa yang makan tujuh butir korma, maka akan terlindungi
dari racun. Dan ini terbukti ketika seorang wanita yahudi menaruh racun dalam
makanan Rasulullah dalam sebuah percobaan pembunuhan di perang khaibar, racun
yang tertelan oleh beliau kemudian bisa dinetralisir oleh zat-zat yang
terkandung dalam kurma. Bisyir ibnu al Barra`, salah seorang sahabat yang ikut
makan racun tersebut, akhirnya meninggal. Tetapi Rasulullah selamat. Apa
rahasianya? Tujuh butir kurma!
Dalam sebuah penelitian di Mesir, penyakit kanker ternyata tidak menyebar ke
daerah-daerah yang penduduknya banyak mengkonsumsi kurma. Belakangan terbukti
bahwa kurma memiliki zat-zat yang bisa mematikan sel-sel kanker. Maka tidak
perlu heran kalau Allah menyuruh Maryam ra, untuk makan kurma disaat
kehamilannya. Sebab memang itu bagus untuk kesehatan janin.
Dahulu, Rasulullah selalu berbuka puasa dengan segelas susu dan korma, kemudian
sholat maghrib. Kedua jenis makanan itu kaya dengan glukosa, sehingga langsung
menggantikan zat-zat gula yang kering setelah seharian berpuasa. Glukosa itu
suadah cukup mengenyangkan, sehingga setelah sholat maghrib, tidak akan
berlebihan apabila bermaksud untuk makan lagi.
Menjelang sore hari, menu Rasulullah selanjutnya adalah cuka dan minyak zaitun.
Tentu saja bukan cuma cuka dan minyak zaitunnya saja, tetapi di konsumsi dengan
makanan pokok, seperti roti misalnya. Manfaatnya banyak sekali, diantaranya
mencegah lemah tulang dan kepikunan di hari tua, melancarkan sembelit,
menghancurkan kolesterol dan memperlancar pencernaan. Ia juga berfungsi untuk
menncegah kanker dan menjaga suhu tubuh di musim dingin.
Ada kisah menarik sehubungan dengan buah tin dan zaitun, yang Allah bersumpah
dengan keduanya. Dalam alquran, kata at tin hanya ada satu kali, sedangkan kata
az zaytun di ulang sampai tujuh kali. Seorang ahli kemudian melakukan
penelitian, yang kesimpulannya, jika zat-zat yang terkandung dalam tin dan
zaitun berkumpul dalam tubuh manusia dengan perbandingan 1:7, maka akan
menghasilkan ahsni taqwim, atau tubuh yang sempurna, sebagaimana tercantum
dalam surat at tin. Subhanallah! Syaikh Ahmad Yasin adalah salah seorang yang
rutin mengkonsumsi jenis makanan ini, sehingga wajarlah beliau tetap sehat,
kuat dan begitu menggentarkan para yahudi, meskipun lumpuh sejak kecil. Kalau
saja beliau tidak lumpuh, barangkali sudah habis para yahudi Israel itu.
Di malam hari, menu utama Rasulullah adalah sayur-sayuran. Beberapa riwayat
mengatakan, belaiau selalu mengkonsumsi sana al makki dan sanut. Anda kenal
nama tersebut? Di mesir, kata Dr. Musthofa, keduanya mirip dengan sabbath dan
ba`dunis. Masih tidak kenal juga? Dr. Musthofa kemudian menjelaskan, secara
umum sayur-sayuran memiliki kandungan zat dan fungsi yang sama, yaitu
memperkuat daya tahan tubuh dan melindunginya dari serangan penyakit. Jadi,
asalkan namanya sayuran, sepanjang itu halal, Insya Allah bergizi tinggi. Maka,
para penggemar kangkung dan bayam tidak usah panik. Para pedagang tauge juga
tidak perlu pindah haluan. OK?
Disamping menu wajib di atas, ada beberapa jenis makanan yang disukai
Rasulullah tetapi beliau tidak rutin mengkonsumsinya. Diantaranya tsarid, yaitu
campuran antara roti dan daging dengan kuah air masak. Jadi ya kira-kira
seperti bubur ayam begitulah. Kemudian beliau juga senang makan buah yaqthin
atau labu manis, yang terbukti bisa mencegah penyakit gula. Kemudian beliau
juga senang makan anggur dan hilbah.
Sekarang masuk pada tata cara mengkonsumsinya. Ini tidak kalah pentingnya
dengan pemilihan menu. Sebab setinggi apapun gizinya, kalau pola konsumsinya
tidak teratur, akan buruk juga akibatnya. Yang paling penting adalah
menghindari isrof, atau berlebihan. Kata Rasulullah, cukuplah bagi manusia itu
beberapa suap makanan, kalaupun harus makan, maka sepertiga untuk makanannya,
sepertiga untuk air minumnya dan sepertiga lagi untuk nafasnya (al hadis).
Ketika seseorang terlalu banyak makanannya, maka lambungnya akan penuh dan
pernafasannya tidak bagus, sehingga zat-zat yang terkandung dalam makanan
tersebut menjadi tidak berfungsi dengan baik. Imbasnya, kondisi fisik menjadi
tidak prima, dan aktifitaspun tidak akan maksimal. Dr. Musthofa menekankan
bahwa assyab`u ,yang berarti kenyang itu bukan al imtila` , atau memenuhi.
Tetapi kenyang adalah tercukupinya tubuh oleh zat-zat yang dibutuhkannya,
sesuai dengan proporsi dan ukurannya. Jadi ini penting; jangan kekenyangan!
Kemudian Rasulullah juga melarang untuk idkhol at thoam alatthoam, alias makan
lagi sesudah kenyang. Suatu hari, di masa setelah wafatnya rasulullah, para
sahabat mengunjungi Aisyah ra. Waktu itu daulah islamiyah sudah sedemikian luas
dan makmur. Lalu, sambil menunggu Aisyah ra, para sahabat, yang sudah menjadi
orang-orang kaya, saling bercerita tentang menu makanan mereka yang meningkat
dan bermacam-macam. Aisyah ra, yang mendengar hal itu tiba-tiba menangis.
“apa yang membuatmu menangis, wahai bunda? tanya para sahabat. Aisyah ra lalu
menjawab, dahulu Rasulullah tidak pernah mengenyangkan perutnya dengan dua
jenis makanan. Ketika sudah kenyang dengan roti, beliau tidak akan makan kurma,
dan ketika sudah kenyang dengan kurma, beliau tidak akan makan roti. Dan
penelitian membuktikan bahwa berkumpulnya berjenis-jenis makanan dalam perut
telah melahirkan bermacam-macam penyakit. Maka sebaiknya jangan gampang tergoda
untuk makan lagi, kalau sudah yakin bahwa anda sudah kenyang.
Yang selanjutnya , rasulullah tidak makan dua jenis makanan panas atau dua
jenis makanan yang dingin secara bersamaan. Beliau juga tidak makan ikan dan
daging dalam satu waktu dan juga tidak langsung tidur setelah makan malam,
karena tidak baik bagi jantung. Beliau juga meminimalisir dalam mengkonsumsi
daging, sebab terlalu banyak daging akan berakibat buruk pada persendian dan
ginjal. Pesan Umar ra Jangan kau jadikan perutmu sebagai kuburan bagi
hewan-hewan ternak!. Ayam, kambing, lembu, kerbau semuanya masuk. Kan kasihan
tuh, tetangga nggak kebagian. Hehehe nggak ding! Maksudnya itu tidak baik bagi
kesehatan.
Jadi begitu, saudara-saudara. Ini barangkali baru sedikit. Masih banyak pola
hidup sehat ala Rasulullah yang bisa kita pelajari. Kali ini, Dr. Musthofa
memang khusus membahas menu makan dan cara mengkonsumsinya. Dari sini kita bisa
tahu bahwa ternyata Rasulullah sangat memperhatikan masalah gizi dan menu
makanan. Dan di tengah mengaburnya semangat untuk mengikuti sunnah rasul, ini
bisa menjadi spirit untuk memulai menghidupkannya kembali. Apalagi menu-menu
tersebut terbukti bisa dipertanggungjawabkan secara kesehatan. Nah, masih
kurang ilmiah?
(disarikan dari Ceramah Umum ghidza`unnabi oleh Prof. Dr. Musthofa Romadlon di
Wisma Nusantara, Kairo. Mesir)tulisan ini ditulis oleh Muhammad As'ad Mahmud,
Lc.
www.bangdha.multiply.com
Selengkapnya...
A Leadership Secret: Replace Goals With Processes Using The Shared Dream
I bring leadership processes that help leaders get more results faster continually. The results will come in a specific length of time. The results will go beyond what the leaders are achieving now. The results can be measured, validated, and used as springboards for even more results. The results can be translated into money saved/earned. The results can't be achieved without the help of Leadership Talks. And yet ...
Yet ... getting this big jump in results scares many leaders and can lead to burn out in the people they lead.
You'd think leaders would welcome such results. No such luck. Here's why: They see results as a point not a process.
Seeing results in this way prevents you from getting the more substantial results you're really capable of. Look, results are limitless. Those who don't know that don't know much about leadership. Those who believe that must believe in the process-reality of results.
Let's look at the difference between a goal and a process. You've been dealing with goals and processes your whole career, but it's important to your success to see the difference in leadership terms.
A goal is the result or achievement toward which effort is directed. A process is a continuous series or actions or changes. A goal can hinder results. (The word goal derives from an Old English word, "gaelan" meaning "to hinder.") A process can multiply them.
I worked with the head of the head of manufacturing of a global company. Responding to relentless cost cutting pressures, he was continually setting formidable quarterly stretch goals on quality and productivity.
The line workers were meeting the goals; but upon reaching one summit of goals, they inevitably faced another (the next quarterly goals) and were getting burned out.
I suggested that to avoid this burn out, they look at the results not in terms of quarterly goals but in terms of processes. I gave him a two-step process to do it.
(1) Define your goals. The manufacturing division had to deliver numbers to corporate, productivity increases, quality advancements, etc. Those numbers were goals they had to absolutely meet. Meeting them was vital to their jobs and careers.
Viewing them as the right goals and adhering to their commitment to meet those goals are necessary first steps in translating those goals into processes.
2. Apply the Shared Dream. The Shared Dream can be one of the most powerful tools in leadership. Yet few leaders I know are aware of it, if not in name at least in activity.
Leadership processes are the best processes, and the Shared Dream is one of the best of the best. Because it is one key way we can translate results into processes.
Translating results into processes involves:
*a team effort; it cannot be done simply by fiat.
* the ardent commitment of all parties concerned, people can't be left out or left behind.
*continual and systematic support, evaluation and monitoring of the processes.
*the application of the Shared Dream.
What is the Shared Dream? It is simply the uniting of your vision as a leader and the dream of the people you lead then using the union to get great results.
For instance, the manufacturing division was supposed to get 3 to 5% reduction in costs per year, irrespective of inflation
To make the yearly goals, the division had to meet quarterly benchmarks. The problem was that the cost reductions were the division's and the company's vision, not really the line-workers dream.
The employees dream, we found out through a number of facilitated on-the-site meetings, was predominately job security. (That was a pretty obvious finding but one we needed to nail down with interactions with the employees.) Lower cost overseas manufacturing was cutting into the company's margins. The threat was real that they would close shop in the states and take the manufacturing overseas.
So, there was a gap between vision of the division leaders, constant cost reductions, and the dream of the division workers, job security.
Of course, you might say that cost reductions were in fact all about job security. But the employees didn't see it that way. "That's the malarkey the suits feed us," said one worker.
The idea was to have them move from being goal-oriented to being process-oriented. That change of viewpoint needed a change of commitment.
Without a Shared Dream, with the goals not transformed into processes, people were getting burned out, going through the motions, anger, suppressing, tired, wanting out.
The division leader got together with the employees in a number of on-the-job meetings and talked about their dream. They came up with the idea that if their manufacturing was competing in the world market place, the best way to compete was to become "world class" manufacturing enterprise.
The people researched the requirements of being world class manufacturing, using top world manufacturers are benchmarks. They came up with eight quantitative measures that defined "world class." These measurements included continual productivity and quality increases, speed of throughput, etc.
By the way, when I say "people" I mean this came from the rank and file. Representatives of workers groups participated.
Together, the leaders and rank and file, put together action programs to meet those targets. Those action programs were processes. In essence, they put together a Shared Dream. They changed results into processes.
"Let's meet those targets together!" is a Shared Dream if they and you want it badly. It's not a Shared Dream if it's your vision - you have to get quarterly decreases.
Your vision is not motivational unless it matches their dream. Just because it is your vision does not mean it is their dream. Don't confuse your order for their dream. A gap between vision and dream handicaps organizations.
Here is the Shared Dream process.
-- Define Your Vision
-- Define their dream.
-- Combine the vision and dream to get the Shared Dream.
-- Test the Shared Dream.
-- Describe the rewards and punishments of achieving or failing to achieve the Shared Dream.
-- Make the final cut at describing the Shared Dream.
-- Implement the Shared Dream as a trigger for turning goals into processes.
-– Monitor and evaluate the progress.
One might say, "That's a lot of trouble to go through. Why don't you just tell them what they have to do and make them do it?"
But that's the point. Your ordering them is far different in terms of results outcomes than their motivating themselves to make it happen. And it won't happen unless you go through the rigorous process of turning their goals into processes using the Shared Dream.
Selengkapnya...
How To Remember Things
What's the biggest problem with memory tricks? Remembering to use them, of course. There are many memory techniques that work well, but you'll forget them when you need them most - unless you make using them a habit. So when you take the time to learn a technique, use it until it becomes automatic. Here are some to try.
Using a Story-List
I went to a party as a child. There was a game that involved looking at a table covered in 15 various items. After a few minutes, we were taken to another room, and each child was given paper and a pencil. We had to write down as many items as we could remember. I recalled seven or eight, but one boy won the prize by remembering all 15 items
Years later I learned why he won. His father taught him a simple trick that none of us other kids knew. The technique is to tie the items together in an imaginative story. For example, what if you want to remember a list of the following things: Soap, milk, honey, fork, and flowers.
Start a vivid story in your imagination, adding each item to it as you go: At the sink, you reach for the SOAP. The soap dish is full of MILK, so you wash your hands in that. Then you comb HONEY into your hair with a FORK, and finally pick up a bouquet of FLOWERS and smile at the mirror. Say each item while mentally reviewing your "movie," and you'll remember all five things, even the next day.
Some Other Memory Tricks
Tell yourself to remember. When you learn a person's name, for example, tell yourself, "remember that". This signals your unconscious mind to rank this input as more important.
Know WHY you want to remember something, and HOW you'll remember it. To remember a person, for example, ask why they'll be important to you in the future, imagine where you'll see them next, and connect that to anything you notice about them. Seeing the importance of remembering really helps, and additional associations (where you expect to see the person next) set the memory more firmly in your brain.
Do you ever forget where you put your car keys? You've probably tried retracing your steps, at least doing it in your imagination. This can work well, but even better is to prevent the forgetting beforehand. When you set the keys on the chair, see yourself walking in and setting the keys on the chair. You won't forget where they are.
There are many more of these memory tricks. If you want them to be useful, though, don't just read about them. Make a memory technique or two into a habit, starting today.
Selengkapnya...
Gitar Google Bisa Digenjreng Kembali
Denting Piano, kala-jemari menari. Nada merambat pelan, di kesunyian malam. Saat datang rintik hujan, bersama sebuah bayang yang pernah terlupakan. Itu adalah denting pianonya Iwan Fals. Kalau ini denting gitar dari Google.
Pada tanggal 9 Juni yang lalu, Google menampilkan doodle berupa gitar yang bisa dipetik dan digenjreng. Sayangnya doodle ini hanya tampil selama 24 jam.
Karena banyak respon, kini doodle gitar kembali hadir dan bisa digenjreng sekali lagi di:
google.com/logos/2011/lespaul
Gitar bisa dipetik pakai mouse atau dengan pejet keybord misal angka 1234 dst. Sesangkan untuk menggenjreng hanya bisa pakai mouse.
Doodle ini memperingati Les Paul, seorang gitaris dan pencipta lagu jazz. Tapi belum pernah dengar lagunya juga, tahunya satria bergitar Rhoma Irama
Source
Selengkapnya...