How to save a life - The Fray

I can't stop listening to this.
I picked it up on Grey's Anatomy show.
Enjoy ;)

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Death is Nothing at All

Death is nothing at all.

I have only slipped away to the next room.

I am I and you are you.

Whatever we were to each other, 

That, we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.

Speak to me in the easy way

which you always used.

Put no difference into your tone.

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed

at the little jokes we enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.

Let my name be ever the household word

that it always was.

Let it be spoken without effect.

Without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.

It is the same that it ever was.

There is absolute unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind

because I am out of sight? 

I am but waiting for you.

For an interval.

Somewhere. Very near.

Just around the corner.

All is well. 

Henry Scott Holland (27 January 1847 – 17 March 1918)

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We must disenthrall ourselves - Abraham Lincoln

"We can succeed only by concert. 

It is not "can any of us imagine better?" but, "can we all do better?" 

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. 

The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. 

As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. 

We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

Abraham Lincoln, address to Congress, December 1862

Abraham Lincoln, 1863

I couldn't find a better quote for my new team. 

These words are from one of Abraham Lincoln's famous statements. 

Leadership is hard, the task ahead of us is humongous, succeeding in such hazy times is even more arduous... 

The key word for all of us (executives, managers, individual contributors etc...) is to DISENTHRALL because success is a recipe that combines genius,  luck, hard work and open mind.

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Readings 20-02-2012: A Katumba, N Ribadu, Napoleon

• The Congolese Kingmaker is dead. The Economist's blog Baobab features an article regarding the sudden death of Augustin Katumba, a trusted advisor to Congolese President Joseph Kabila who was widely perceived as the "brain" behind the presidency.

• The return of Nuhu Ribadu, the pioneer Executive Chairman of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who has been recently appointed Chair of the Task force for petroleum revenue. According to African Arguments, this move signals a will for Nigerian president to fight corruption not only in the oil sector but elsewhere. According to Jeremy Weate, the petro state - largely under the presidential and state governors discretion -  is the "engine-room of corruption" that prevents any form of good governance by killing any good will at its roots.

"the underlying cause of corruption  is the structure of Nigeria’s quintessential “petro” state.  There are a number of characteristics of the petro-state we can point to.  Firstly, it features a broken social contract in the form of a rupture in the relationship between taxation and accountability. Royalties and taxes paid by international oil companies are direct contributions to the federal coffers, by-passing the citizenry. As the government has no need to rely on internally generated revenue, it has no incentive to engage with accountability actors such as civil society organisations.  It is therefore close to impossible to apply accountability pressure into the system of governance. In Nigeria ministers never resign."

• "Que peut-il ? Tout. Qu’a-t-il fait ? Rien." Bear is Cool quotes Victor Hugo's description of "Napoleon, le petit". Any resemblance?

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"Chaque jour est une vie" Thanh Nghiem

Ci jointe la video d'une amie Thanh Nghiem au TEDx, une histoire inspirationnelle qui demontre son concept de la pollinisation ou le partage des savoirs qui s'articule autour de notions simples mais complexes:

• le souci permanent de l'autre, 
• la main sur le coeur qui veut que l'on partage tout et en premier lieu le savoir, 
• le courage de remettre en cause les ordres etablis dont les plus durs que sont nos vies confortables.

Des ors de McKinsey ou elle fut la premiere femme Partner a l'age de 30 ans, Thanh nous relate son changement de vie, son appel a aller au dela du pouvoir et du nomadisme vain, pour fonder une ONG, Angenius, dans une quete de sens qui replace l'etre humain au centre de la reflexion et de la demarche.

A sa suite, ecoutons la nous narrer cette energie qui est la sienne au service de la connaissance. La mise en oeuvre positive des atavismes familiaux qui vous predisposent a la reussite. Une histoire familiale riche qui montre un combat sans fin pour le savoir et que Thanh reprend avec succes. Gageons que par cette pollinisation du savoir, elle transmet le flambeau recu de sa famille et passe la ligne avec brio.

Truculent, ironique et profondement emouvant ce voyage a l'interieur d'une trajectoire reajustee pour le bien des hommes. "Chaque jour est une vie" lui disait sa mere dans son combat pour le "jour de plus". Apre est le chemin, mais beau est le terme et chaque jour comme la vie se vaut d'etre embrassee avec passion et devouement.

Thanh, Kudos et courage pour ce combat digne que tu menes avec ce sourire espiegle et cet a propos subtil qui sont autant de signes chez les gens dont l'intelligence est un plaisir a voir mais surtout a emuler....

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The Joy of Quiet

‘All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.’ ~Blaise Pascal


Leo Babauta makes in a recent post a praise for the "joy of quiet" as an enabler for meditation and soul-searching.

"Being alone is another pleasure we too often neglect. 

When we are alone, we go on the Internet or TV to see what else is going on, what others are doing or saying, instead of just being alone. 

This isolation is a necessary thing, that allows us to find ourselves, to learn to be content with little instead of always wanting more.

Can you practice being alone, being still, being quiet? 

Just a little at first, then perhaps a bit more. 

Listen, watch, learn about yourself. 

Find contentment. 

Need nothing more".

Our inner self has so much to tell us, if only we could let it talk to us and enjoy the quiet like we enjoy the gatherings with people we've been out of touch for a while. We owe it to ourselves as to others. A simple Joy, a Quiet one...

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In 2012, Work To Your Strenghts !

Ca fait long !!! Happy New Year to my beloved readers and followers.  Let's jump start this New Year with our good resolutions and my warmest wishes. I wish you to be endeared by your entourage, success in all your endeavors through sheer luck and hard-work. Last but not least, may you become even better at what you do best.

 That brings me directly to the topic of my post.

What's the best way to develop your work life effectiveness? An open question for all of us. While browsing the web trying to look for some self-help books, I found on the Happy-Manager this quote from the Panasonic founder, Konosuke Matsushita:

“Be yourself. 

Once you know what you like to do, 

what you are good at, 

then all you have to do is work hard at it.”

 

The site even proposes 15 questions/suggestions to help you think about how to improve your work life effectiveness. It's worth the read, especially if you're trying to discover your true self, which can't be done overnight and remains an evolving process that lasts until our last day. (Pure guess regarding the last sentence).

Again, Excellente et Tres Heureuse Annee 2012.

Sanaga.

Photo source: Guantanamo seabee, Steel Worker 2nd Class Rejuny Caswell By Kelly Gary, via Wikimedia Commons

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3F's, customer sales viewed by IT

Find the Customer, Fuck the Customer, Forget the Customer.


Another one from our droll C.I.O and his peculiar sense of humor ;)


source: Bear is Cool

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Myriam Makeba - Kulala (Live Version)

A mother laments for the death of her son who drowned in the river.
Powerful and riveting funeral poem.


Live version from Myriam Makeba's Paris concert in 1977.

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Success comes in CANS not CANT'S

Success comes in CANS not CANT'S
Some even contend that success comes in all forms...


Source image: Things We Forget

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