Audio interview: why leadership? what’s so great about leading?

In today’s interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me about differences in leadership between in a business environment and outside of business, in particular how my seminar relates to them. Note that the ability to lead differs from leading. I list a few reasons having the awareness and skills to lead others and yourself benefit anyone. You don't have to lead or take a leadership position to get those benefits. Small interface: [audio:https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_leadership.mp3] Large interface:[videofile]https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_leadership.mp3[/videofile]

Continue ReadingAudio interview: why leadership? what’s so great about leading?

North Korean Strategy: what won’t change things

Before suggesting ideas that I believe can change things, I'll post some things I think won't change much in the long term. I pointed out what appears the dominant strategy for North Korean decision-makers Stabiility: to maintain its geographical dominance Loyalty: to maintain its support from its citizens All other decisions are subordinate to this strategy or irrelevant. I expect the North Korean government will resist any action that threatens those two principles. And I expect only actions that affect those points will make much difference (though many small actions in other areas may collectively make a big difference). I…

Continue ReadingNorth Korean Strategy: what won’t change things

North Korean strategy: how does the world look to North Korean leaders?

I have found people outside North Korea quick to express feelings of moral outrage, indignation, and injustice by judging North Korean leaders. They call them monsters, bad, evil, and so on. I have found such judgment counterproductive to influencing others (as well as my own well-being). If you don't like what's happening there and want to change it, expressing judgment may make you feel better, but you sacrifice ability to change things. I guarantee decision-makers there don't consider themselves monsters, bad, or evil. If you say they are, you polarize the situation, contribute to them digging in their heels, and…

Continue ReadingNorth Korean strategy: how does the world look to North Korean leaders?

Occupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 4: Bloomberg taking sides polarizes situation

After finishing the first three posts in this series I found the first link returned on searching "bloomberg occupy wall street" quoted him Tuesday in the Daily News. Reporters are motivated to play up controversy, so I figure the reporter may have taken the quotes out of context. Based on what I read, I see Bloomberg increasing the polarization, taking sides, and missing his opportunity to lead. As a leader, I think the opportunity is not to delve into what people are saying, except to make sure it's legal and non-violent, but to support their right to speak, as long…

Continue ReadingOccupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 4: Bloomberg taking sides polarizes situation

North Korean strategy: what do North Korean leaders want?

Last post I pointed out the stakes to individual North Korean decision-makers. That perspective implies North Korean decision-makers are part of a larger system they have little control over and have little choice not to follow their roles within it without grave risk to themselves and everything they care about. With so little choice, what do they want? What do they pursue? Of course they want material prosperity and security, like anybody else. Kim Jung Il famously buys hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cognac annually. As individuals, they probably want to rise through the ranks, but probably in…

Continue ReadingNorth Korean strategy: what do North Korean leaders want?

Occupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 3: recommendations

Okay, now we understand the situation. What can be done? As I wrote yesterday, people don't want to protest. They want their voices heard and to understand and agree with the process they're talking about. The opportunity for the Mayor of New York City is to follow a three-fold path Support the right to speak freely in his city Recognize the need for order and non-violence Support the city's great tradition of active participation in politics First, acknowledge protesters' right to free speech... Stating clearly there are multiple issues at play, only one of which is law and order in…

Continue ReadingOccupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 3: recommendations

North Korean Strategy: from the leaders’ perspective

To understand how leaders in North Korea decide how to implement the strategy I've described in the past few posts, you have to look at the situation from their perspective. When a business decides its strategy, it formally deliberates and decides it. For the management team to mess up on implementing it may result in the company losing money, market share, and so on. Messing up badly can result in being fired and possibly losing their jobs and even personal savings. But you don't risk bodily harm or risk your life. When an authoritarian ruler messes up strategy, they risk…

Continue ReadingNorth Korean Strategy: from the leaders’ perspective

Occupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 2: the New York City Mayor’s opportunity

Following yesterday's context... Bloomberg has done a lot for the city. I like the increased bike lanes and pedestrian zones in Times Square, Herald Square, and Madison Square that have appeared under his leadership, for example. But personally I remember him most for what I saw as his lack of leadership during the 2004 Republican convention in New York City. People wanted to protest non-violently. The police refused permission to meet in Central Park, where larger groups had met before. The mayor’s voice was largely silent. 500,000 people intended to speak their minds non-violently. The police both prevented it and…

Continue ReadingOccupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 2: the New York City Mayor’s opportunity

Occupy Wall Street and leadership, part 1: the context

This series of posts will present easy, low-risk-of-error, high-chance-of-success actions that would-be leaders can do. As always in this blog, it begins with context and an overview of the relevant principles as I see them. So far, the movement has revealed a stunning lack of leadership all around. People ask who is leading the movement. Great question, but the protesters are only one place lacking leadership. While most people point out the protesters’ lack of leadership, I am more stunned by two other cases of absent leadership: the government’s response and the changes to the financial system that prompted the…

Continue ReadingOccupy Wall Street and leadership, part 1: the context

North Korean Strategy: the North Korean government’s sustainable competitive advantages

I'm using the lens of business strategy to understand the North Korean government's strategy. That lens applies, partly because of the similarities between business and political competition, but mostly because North Korea's situation is so simple. The three main relevant factors in competitive strategy are Keeping out competition -- to have a sustainable competitive advantage -- dominates strategy. Dominating geographically is often an effective strategy for a sustainable competitive advantage. Customer captivity is another effective strategy for a sustainable competitive advantage. What is a sustainable competitive advantage? This value investing site put it succinctly for businesses A sustainable competitive advantage…

Continue ReadingNorth Korean Strategy: the North Korean government’s sustainable competitive advantages

North Korea strategy: the players and their motives

First a few caveats before I paint the broad strokes for the perspectives and motivations for the major players as they relate to North Korean strategy. I haven't studied international and public affairs. I believe, nonetheless, that the broad strokes below describe the important aspects of the strategic situation. Perhaps I'm speaking out of ignorance, but I believe history backs me up: how else can you explain a regime maintaining power with no resources defying major global powers to build nuclear weapons, counterfeit the dominant powers' currency, deal arms and drugs, and oversee the preventable deaths of ten percent of…

Continue ReadingNorth Korea strategy: the players and their motives

There will never be a periodic table of emotions, part 2

Continuing yesterdays' post... In the examples above, the categorization schemes worked because they categorized something with an underlying structure -- the photon and its wavelength, the atom and its nucleus and electrons, natural selection and DNA, the (so far) fundamental particles and the laws governing their interactions. But not everything with patterns has an underlying structure. Let's look at anatomy, for example. As we'll see, it will reveal a lot about emotions and motivations. Notice that despite common characteristics across life, no one has created a periodic table of anatomy. Why not? Because anatomy has no underlying structure like those…

Continue ReadingThere will never be a periodic table of emotions, part 2

There will never be a periodic table of emotions, part 1

Discovering the periodic table of the elements told us wonders about chemistry and pointed the way toward understanding atoms. Figuring it out pointed the way toward tremendous understanding and improving our lives. We found similar structures that revealed underlying structure in the spectrum of light, life's family tree, the standard model of particle physics, and others. Wouldn't it be great to find such a structure for our emotions and motivations? Wouldn't we expect discovering such a structure reveal our emotional system and create tremendous progress in psychology, personal development, achievement, motivation, and well-being? Why can't we find such a structure?…

Continue ReadingThere will never be a periodic table of emotions, part 1

North Korea strategy: the playing field and major players

The playing field for North Korean strategy, which reduces the number of relevant players, simplifies North Korea's strategic situation more than almost anything else. Few other nations see such a combination of global importance and simplicity. The map below, from Wikipedia, shows nearly everything you need to know about the playing field. North Korea shares borders with three countries: China, South Korea, and Russia. Farther to the east lies Japan. No other countries are close. For a few reasons, mainly that North Korea developed nuclear weapons and its involvement in the Korean War, the United States is involved. Within North…

Continue ReadingNorth Korea strategy: the playing field and major players

North Korea strategy: a primer on strategy

If you want to plan something non-trivial, you need a strategy. If you don't know what strategy is, you can't make a good strategy. I've read one book that covers strategy better than any other -- Competition Demystified: a radically simplified approach to business strategy, by Bruce Greenwald and Judd Kahn (I haven't read On War yet but I have read Porter). While it focuses on business as opposed to political or military strategy the principles are similar. Competition Demystified's first chapter defines strategy, describes its importance, outlines its main principles, and begins the process of creating a strategy. On…

Continue ReadingNorth Korea strategy: a primer on strategy

How to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 3

[This post is part of a series on creating happiness and reward by understanding pleasure. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Two days ago and yesterday I described how seeing how easily you can create physical pleasure in your life shows how easily you can create emotional pleasure -- as much as you want. Today I'll go a step further -- how to create as much reward as you want. Remember, emotional reward is the feeling that everything in…

Continue ReadingHow to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 3

North Korea strategy: preview

"What can I do?" This question drives interest in North Korea perhaps more than any other after asking what it's like. Even people who know little about the rest of the world sense something about North Korea they'd like to help with. Nobody sees what they can do. The next few posts will cover what you can do. I believe you need to understand North Korea's situation from a strategic level both globally and regionally to see what you can and can't do and what may or may not work. I also believe you can learn the relevant overall situation…

Continue ReadingNorth Korea strategy: preview

How to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 2

[This post is part of a series on creating happiness and reward by understanding pleasure. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Yesterday I wrote about how to bring about emotional pleasure in your life. Today I'll clarify and explore the analogy physical pleasure : emotional pleasure :: physical environment  : social environment In particular, you can bring about emotional pleasure the same way you bring about physical pleasure, just with healthy social situations instead of healthy physical situations. By…

Continue ReadingHow to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 2

How to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 1

[This post is part of a series on creating happiness and reward by understanding pleasure. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] You may have heard the phrase that we aren't designed to be happy. I agree with the concept. More than that, since in the Model we consider not only happiness but emotional reward, other pleasurable emotions, and physical pleasure too, I would further say we aren't designed to feel physical or emotional pleasure either. By emotional pleasure I…

Continue ReadingHow to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 1

See Professor Srikumar Rao at the New School December 13, 6:30pm

Anybody who knows my material knows the debt I own Srikumar Rao for how much of it derives from his work, his class Creativity and Personal Mastery, and his books Are You Ready To Succeed? and Happiness At Work. I can't recommend his material enough. Here is your chance to see him in person. I am privileged to help organize his next talk with the Columbia Business School Alumni Club (all are welcome), which will be at the New School's Kellen Auditorium, December 13 at 6:30pm. Click here to register and for more information. From the alumni club web page:…

Continue ReadingSee Professor Srikumar Rao at the New School December 13, 6:30pm

An offer to the Freedombox community

My post on how Freedombox's pursuit of perfection is undermining its goals prompted some discussion. Hearing how people the Freedombox community wants to help end up supporting products we see as non-Free jolted my system. I believe constructive criticism helps, but my desire to contribute more led to the offer below. One person's response got me thinking about how I, as someone who doesn't write much software, can help. Diaspora is a decent example. They released something buggy, with minimal functionality, reasonably early on… yes, they were criticized for it’s quality at the time, but it got people using it…

Continue ReadingAn offer to the Freedombox community

The Method: transformations, stage 3: regular life

[This post is part of a series on The Method to use The Model -- my model for the human emotional system designed for use in leadership, self-awareness, and general purpose professional and personal development -- which I find the most effective and valuable foundation for understanding yourself and others and improving your life. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Eventually a transformation's new environments, beliefs, and behaviors synchronize completely with each other. The cycle you changed brings the…

Continue ReadingThe Method: transformations, stage 3: regular life

The Method: transformations, stage 2: support

Once the elements of a transformation start supporting each other the transformation starts to feel like it will take root. You may still feel some inertia, fakeness, and conflict between the old and new you, but decreasingly. Examples of elements supporting each other include After starting a new hobby (behavior) you start meeting others who do the same hobby People compliment you on losing weight People you meet in new circles of friends or colleagues have mutual friends Confirmation biases start reinforcing new beliefs and so on. You also start feeling reward from new cycles as the elements in them…

Continue ReadingThe Method: transformations, stage 2: support

Audio interview: the difference between my seminar and traditional business school leadership classes

In today's interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me about the differences between my course and a traditional business school leadership class. [sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/difference_between_MBA_leadership_course_and_my_seminar.mp3]

Continue ReadingAudio interview: the difference between my seminar and traditional business school leadership classes