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Archive for June, 2011

Design – Very Good

In terms of hardware, Nokia N97 is a perfect, polished phone. Thick clicks tablet with a firm snap open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. View screen is at an angle to the keys, like the HTC Touch Pro 2. In general, the phone has a solid structure, from 1 to snappiest slides we’ve ever used, and a good fit and finish, which makes the N97 recognizable as the top of the list Nseries. A person has only three buttons: Send, end and menu keys, although we believe that you can use one or two might be “back” in advance. Otherwise, we like clean, stylish looks like that does not depart from the standard ports or external control, like other touch screen phones, and not seek to look too minimalist for our taste.

Nokia N97 improves very little on the border with the first major phone company tablet, Nokia 5800. Compared with the far superior model, as well as everything else with a touch screen (3G Apple iPhone, Palm, prior and HTC Touch Diamond 2 are obvious examples), the interface Nokia N97 seems amateurish and basic, as if Nokia made just You can add a touch Symbian S60 OS. There are no transition animations between screens and applications. Most applications use on-screen buttons and menus, when a simple gesture of command would be more convenient and intuitive. He just does not look impressive, and though we can forgive the less expensive, the music concentrated Nokia 5800, bearing in mind, Nokia N97 costs more than twice as much, we had hoped for more.

To its credit, Nokia, touchscreen interface is often more useful than the aesthetic. Initial screen is a simple collection of panels widget, and although they never looked great, they offer many useful functions. Facebook Widget report incoming messages and partial renewal of the status of friends. The same will be by e-mail widget. There is a widget for managing music, weather widget, and so on. Nothing revolutionary, but Nokia allows you to customize the widgets and their location and the phone offers a tempting link to download the screen widget, we hope that means more will be offered soon, as a developer support is growing.

Calling – Good

Accordance with their tradition of solid, Nokia N97 has a number of strengths and good call quality. We tested the phone AT & T’s 3G-network in the Greater Dallas, and we were very impressed with the sound quality during calls. Our callers reported a clear, bright sound of our voices, and we heard our end of the conversation easily. Phone constantly told the full 7 bars AT & T service during the test. Battery has been particularly impressive, given the competition. With its huge 1500 mAh battery, our review of the Nokia N97 unit was able to start 6 hours of talk time, while we used the AT & T’s battery hogging HSDPA network. Nokia phones also do a good job of processing power, yet they are not used. Even aside for a while, N97 did a good job on his detention in standby mode.

For contacts and addresses, you can use the included Nokia Ovi Suite for synchronizing contacts, but we prefer to use Nokia’s free Mail for Software Exchange. Although it lacks some security, we appreciate the phone Windows Mobile, MfE synchronized our test unit to our corporate address book. We would, Nokia N97 will jump directly to the search for contacts, when we started typing a name on the home screen, but the contacts are still easy to manage, when we were synchronized with the server.

Nokia N97, like most phones Nokia Weve tried, just can not get voice dialing rights. In 10 attempts, N97 guessed the correct name only once, and once again suggested that the correct name, as the third choice in the list. Otherwise, the speaker independent voice dialing a complete bust. Conference calling was easy, thanks to large, on-screen buttons on the screen dialing. Nevertheless, even with a few useful buttons, the phone offers very little control of information during a call. While other phones offer a touch-sensitive spots, adaptive menus during a call, Nokia N97 sticks to the bare basics, with some ugly monochrome button to download.

Messages and keyboard – Good

As the top of a telephone line in the arsenal of Nokia Nseries, and the first with a full keyboard QWERTY, it is surprising that Nokia is not included in the Nokia N97 with a great message on board. There is support for a very simple SMS and MMS client. There is no threaded text messages to help keep track of conversations, is a simple application of a frame with no frills. There are no instant messaging clients on board. Generally, we recommend that you download third-party applications for IM on Symbian phones, but Ovi Store, so that the new platform, contains no instant messaging, which will work with touch Nokia N97. There is an application Facebook, which works with the widget on the main phone screen. We wish there were more social networking messaging applications, especially on Twitter, and MySpace widgets for our main screen, as well.

The best messaging feature on the Nokia N97, for us it was Mail applications Exchange, but even that does not come close to the exchange of experiences on the phone Windows Mobile. We could not dig in our folders, view HTML e-mail or quickly manage and delete useless messages.

Keyboard Nokia N97 and the beautifully wide, and it was easy enough to print. We believe that Nokia can do better, but between this and the same side of the slide Nokia E75, we prefer the keys on the Nokia N97. Even with 4-way keypad buttons are much larger, and every letter gets its own soft and elastic key. Space strange pushed aside, but we are accustomed to this arrangement surprisingly quickly. In any case, we would like more keys, with some labels and, possibly, dedicated line number. But the keyboard was the best part about messaging on Nokia N97.

There is software available on-screen keyboard, if you do not want to open the phone, but we would suggest avoiding them at all costs. The worst of them was a split grid keys arranged in alphabetical order, not QWERTY fashion, which was divided between two pages of letters. This was easily the least useful on-screen keyboard we’ve ever used on any phone.

Multimedia – Good

For multimedia playback, Nokia N97 packs a serious hardware, but can not quite manage the interface and applications to address all of these powers. The phone comes with a whopping 32 GB of internal memory and a capacious as any phone on the market, but you can also top it with a card N97 16GB MicroSDHC, resulting in a total of 48 GB. The phone uses a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, so that we could use our own headphones. Or, the phone also comes with an FM transmitter on board, as well as stereo Bluetooth for wireless multiple kinds of music. Music transfers are made through MicroUSB for USB 2.0. We love the richness of standardized parameters, as well as the opportunity to charge the phone while transferring songs via MicroUSB.

The music player itself is not impressive, mostly the same old player we’ve seen on the Symbian phones for years, is now palpable. There was not cool CoverFlow or scroll through album art is not interesting visual effects and gestures. The player did a good job basic music playback, with large buttons and simple display. Nevertheless, we would like it look more modern. We evaluated the widget on the home screen, but lacked the precise control over our library and playback. There are several equalizer effects and stereo for better sound, but we also brought on board the phone speakers. Other recent phone Nseries, in particular, Nokia N85, could sing louder and better sound.

Video player application and basic barebones more than music, but as a music player, he got the job. The player was able to handle our videos, if they are properly formatted, and it is unfortunately exclude or DivX codecs H.264 video. Basic MP4 files play without problems, and the phone did a good job to reduce the size of the larger 640 x 480 pixel VGA video size is shorter than the height of 360 pixels on the screen in Nokia N97. Nevertheless, we are disappointed that Nokia has removed some of the most popular codecs for this phone, as his large, clear screen could make the video power.

Web browsing – Good

Nokia Nseries devices are always impressed by his ability to view web pages as well as the Nokia N97 does a great job, but the transition to touch did not add new features, and some of our favorites is now missing. Mini-map is not, replaced by a simple increase in the slide, which adds a few extra steps to view Web pages long. T-Mobile G1 uses a tangible sort of mini-map, and we wish Nokia would have gone this route. Browser pages rendered very nicely. Our own page looked perfect on the phone. However, as CNN and the New York Times refused to offer their full desktop version of our Nokia N97 review unit, and there was no way to change the way the browser describes itself (table against mobile phones) in the settings. While the page is loading quickly whether we used the 3G HSDPA network, or your own home Wi-Fi umbrella, we still want your browser has been more responsive. Shaking the pages, or simply double-clicking to enlarge the text is always produced a slight delay, and we want these gestures just spring into action.

Nokia N97 comes packed with Flash Lite 3.0, which means that the phone can play videos directly from YouTube page online. In fact, although the phone seems to come out with a special attachment YouTube, this is only a link to YouTube page for mobile devices. Viewing the desktop version of YouTube on Nokia N97-browser, we can play videos in the Web page itself, and the Nokia N97 did a better job handling Flash content than any other mobile phone we’ve seen. Pages are slowed down to stop while the video was playing, but video playback is fully watchable, if not smooth.

Camera – Good

After so impressed with the camera on the Nokia N85, we descended to a 5-megapixel shooter on the Nokia N97. Photos still looked very good on this phone. Colors are generally accurate and bright, and we were able to achieve some interesting depth of field effect of the lens with autofocus. In low light treatment was very poor, while a dual LED flash did very little to help the situation. Even in the best outdoor lighting, paintings, which have not been close look at the dirty full crops, like oil, but not detailed shot. With more low-light detail completely disappears, white balance, jumps ship and noise problems to assume.

Record video on our performance Nokia N97 review unit was not bad. You can record videos in VGA or full resolution, or it may cut the vertical bits to 640 by 360 pixels per line resolution screen. In any case, the videos were a little block and fuzzy-looking, but far superior Dreck available on most cameraphones. Nokia N97, as all phones Nokia Nseries, but also has some useful boot options. We had no trouble uploading our photos on our site Flickr, although we wish the phone can handle the queue, instead we have to wait through each load to transfer to another.

GPS navigation – Good

For navigation GPS, Nokia N97 uses Nokia Maps. This is a nice app mapping, and it works well for turn-by-turn directions, but he obviously is not ready to touch in the N97. First of all, peace on the opening screen, maps of the spins in the wrong direction when you touch it. In general, the cards were not very responsive to touch input. Roads headers also cut the phone, so we usually do not know if we were to take the highway heading east or west, if we are following the actual route of driving, and do not read signs.

Viruses and malware are getting smarter and smarter, disguising themselves as valid anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, when really, they’re just the opposite and nasty to boot! Here is how to get rid of the Advanced Spyware Detect Malware from your computer!

Step 1

Before you dive in, be sure to print this how-to on your printer or have it available while removing the Advanced Spyware Detect Malware program. This way, you have it to look off of if you need some extra guidance.

Step 2

The most important thing to have in order to remove the fake Advanced Spyware Detect Malware software is MalwareByte’s Anti-Malware software. This can be obtained for free through the resources section link below. It is free, no cost, and may remove the Advanced Spyware Detect Malware software as well as other viruses, trojans and spyware you may not have been aware of!

Step 3

Download the file onto your desktop, and then click the MalwareBytes icon to load up and install the software.

Step 4

When the install is complete, you should have two checkbox options–update and launch. You’ll want to make sure both are checked before continuing on.

Step 5

Once the update is complete, you will be led to the main screen. On the Scanner tab, click “Perform Quick Scan.” If you have a little more time on your hands, go ahead and do the full scan, but the quick scan should pick up the Advanced Spyware Detect Malware Program files on its own.

Step 6

When the program is done scanning your computer for viruses, a message box will come up saying that the scan is complete. Click OK to continue.

Step 7

On the next screen, click “Show Results.” What you see may surprise you!

Step 8

Make sure all the results are checked in the check mark. Once they have all been checked, click “Remove Selected.”

Step 9

Doing so will allow the program to delete the files associated with the Advanced Spyware Detect Malware spoof program as well as any other malware, trojans, viruses, or spyware the program may have found while scanning. In doing so, the program may ask to restart the computer in order to continue. Go ahead and let it restart, and if you want extra protection, it might not be a bad idea to do one more “Quick Scan,” just in case. Never hurts to be extra thorough.

Step 10

You can now close the program, and you should be free of the Advanced Spyware Detect Malware Program. No matter what you call it, whether you call it a trojan, virus, malware, spyware, whatever, you definitely don’t want it on your computer!

Words of Advice

* If you are an avid internet browser, be sure to run this program on a regular basis, preferably doing a full scan on a weekly basis. Quick scans can be done at any time you notice unusual computer activity.

10. Forza Motorsport 3

Forza Motorsport 3 is a racing video game developed for Xbox 360 by Turn 10 Studios. It was released in October 2009. It is the sequel to Forza Motorsport 2 and the third installment in the Forza Motorsport series. The game includes over 400 customizable cars (and another 5 in the bonus pack) from 50 manufacturers and over 100 race track variations with the ability to race up to 8 cars on track at a time.

Forza Motorsport 3 includes a large variety of Xbox Live content and options available to online gamers. This is based around a completely redesigned “storefront”. It allows gamers to create car designs, setup files, logos and sell them via the “storefront” to other gamers. Further flexibility is available, allowing players to select how many of each car design or logo will be available. The storefront feature is not available to Xbox Live Silver members. Xbox Live users are also able to buy and sell cars via the “auction house.” Cars are put up for a certain amount of time and for a certain amount of in-game currency. Players can choose to out-bid each other in order to buy a car. -Wikipedia.org

9. NHL 11

NHL 11 will be the 20th ice hockey video game in the NHL series, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the series. It is developed by EA Canada and will be published by EA Sports. The game will be released on September 7, 2010. New expected clubs in the game are AIK Ishockey in Elitserien, which managed to qualify for the 2010–11 Elitserien season.

This will mean that Rögle BK will be removed from the game, as they failed to qualify for the 2010–11 Elitserien season. Also included for the first time will be the sixty teams from the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). It is confirmed that CHL teams will also be a part of the Be A Pro and Be A GM modes, rather than simply being playable in “Play Now” games, like some of the European leagues. -Wikipedia.org

8. Halo 3: ODST

Halo 3: ODST (originally Halo 3: Recon) is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft. It was released on the Xbox 360 video game console worldwide on September 22, 2009, and in Japan, two days after. Players assume the roles of elite human United Nations Space Command soldiers known as “Orbital Drop Shock Troopers” or ODSTs during the events of Halo 2 and Halo 3. There are two modes of play: in the game’s campaign mode, players explore the ruined city of New Mombasa to discover what happened to their missing teammates in the midst of an alien invasion.

In the “Firefight” multiplayer option, players battle increasingly difficult waves of enemies to score points and survive as long as possible; the Halo 3 multiplayer experience is contained on a separate disc packaged with ODST. New copies of the game also contain access keys to the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta release, which activated May 3, 2010.  Bungie initially conceived ODST as a small side project to produce in the lull between Halo 3′s completion and Halo: Reach. Instead of featuring recognizable characters such as armored protagonist Master Chief, the developers focused on the ODSTs.

Story director Joseph Staten penned a detective story utilizing film noir designs, settings, and characters. Composer Martin O’Donnell abandoned his previous Halo themes to create a quieter, jazz-influenced sound. During development, the planned expansion grew in scope to that of a full-sized game. Release marketing for the game included a tie-in comic, live-action trailers, and print and web advertisements. -Wikipedia.org

7. UFC Undisputed 2010

UFC Undisputed 2010 is a mixed martial arts video game featuring Ultimate Fighting Championship properties and fighters developed by Yuke’s and published by THQ. It was released on May 25, 2010, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and for the first time PlayStation Portable. It is the second game to be released under THQ’s 2007 agreement with the UFC and it is a sequel to the successful UFC 2009 Undisputed.

A teaser trailer of the game was shown on December 12, 2009 at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards, where UFC 2009 Undisputed was named the Best Individual Sports Game, showing a first look at The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights contestant Kimbo Slice. The full roster was announced April 27 on Gamespot.  Between February and March, James McSweeney, Marcus Jones, Brendan Schaub and Roy Nelson were announced as the four bonus fighters as part of the Gamestop/Game pre-order bonus. -Wikipedia.org

6. Rock Band 3

Rock Band 3 is an upcoming music video game, and the third main game in the Rock Band series. As with previous games in the series, Rock Band 3 allows players to simulate the playing of rock music and other genres using special instrument controllers mimicking lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. Rock Band 3 expands upon previous games by including three-part vocal harmonies, previously used in The Beatles: Rock Band and Green Day: Rock Band, and support for a keyboard instrument; Harmonix will be providing a MIDI-compatible 25-key unit with the game.

Rock Band 3 will also feature a new “Pro” mode, which are designed as a learning tool to accurately mimic playing of real instruments: guitar and bass players will have to match specific fingering on frets and strings, drummers will have to strike cymbal pads in addition to snare and toms, and keyboardists will use precise fingering across the whole keyboard. MadCatz and Fender will be manufacturing controllers and add-ons to support the Pro mode. -Wikipedia.org

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5. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a stealth action video game developed by Kojima Productions for the PlayStation 3 console. The game was directed by Hideo Kojima and made its worldwide release on June 12, 2008, ten years after the release of Metal Gear Solid and twenty years after the North American release of Metal Gear. Guns of the Patriots received widespread critical acclaim, garnering perfect reviews and Game of the Year awards from several major gaming publications, including GameSpot, which claimed that the game is “technically flawless”. The game has been a financial driving force for Konami, helping the Metal Gear franchise reach 5 million units in the financial year of 2009. -Wikipedia.org

4. Madden NFL 11

Madden NFL 11 is an upcoming American football video game based on the National Football League published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It will be the 22nd annual installment in the Madden NFL video game franchise. It is expected to be released on August 10, 2010 in North America, and on August 13 in Europe. It will be released for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS and iOS platforms. The PS3 and Xbox 360 demos were released on July 27, 2010.

An all-new play-calling system, GameFlow, which attempts to create a more authentic situational game plan for you based on down and situation, which developers claim cuts the game time in half. This also includes headset enabled audio advice on how to execute plays. Other differences from previous games include a new kick meter, new audible system, and new locomotion animation system. Another addition is Online Team Play, which supports 3 vs. 3 cooperative play, with attribute boosts given as an incentive. You can also scout opponents in online head to head games. Lighting improvements, run blocking changes, new QB ratings, and a new “Swagger” rating have also been added.

EA also is headlining improvements to the visual and audio presentation, bringing in Gus Johnson to call play by play replacing Tom Hammond. Cris Collinsworth returns as color commentator. Winning the Super Bowl in the game, leads to your team getting a parade and a trip to Washington D.C. where your team’s star player will shake hands with President Barack Obama and present him a team jersey. -Wikipedia.org

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3. Splinter Cell: Conviction

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction is the fifth installment in the Splinter Cell video game series released in April 2010. The game was developed by Ubisoft Montreal, developers of Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and the sixth generation versions of Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Key members of the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas team, such as creative director Maxime Béland, also worked on the game. Gameloft released a handheld version of the game for the iPhone OS on May 27, 2010.

Splinter Cell: Conviction introduces a number of new gameplay features to the series, one of which is the “Mark & Execute” feature, which allows the player to mark specific targets, such as enemies or objects, and shoot them when they burst through a door or window. The player can choose to prioritize these targets, so that, for example, he could distract one guard by shooting out a light in his vicinity and then take out another guard. Another new feature is the “Last Known Position”, which occurs when the player breaks the line of sight of an alerted guard.

This creates a visual silhouette of where the guard thinks Sam is, allowing the player to strategically flank his enemies. Main target subjects can use the player’s abilities against them. The player can be taken hostage by the subject in co-op mode; the hostage’s partner can neutralize the subject by shooting them or grabbing them off his teammate. -Wikipedia.org

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2. MLB 2K10

Major League Baseball 2K10 or, in short, MLB 2K10, is a MLB licensed baseball simulation video game published by 2K Sports. MLB 2K10 was available for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii and Nintendo DS. The game was released on March 2, 2010.

New to the series is the “My Player” feature, a career mode in which the player shepherds a player’s career from the minors to the majors. Other features from the previous game have been improved or tweaked, including hitting and pitching. The game also features “MLB Today”, an online ticker that tracks real-life Major League Baseball news and scores. With the MLB Today feature you can also play the same game that is being played in the real MLB. For example, if the New York Yankees are playing the Boston Red Sox and C.C. Sabathia is pitching, in the game he will be pitching along with the same lineup that is being used.

GameZone’s Michael Lafferty gave the game a 7/10, saying “In the past, the 2K series was hampered by a lot of little things. The developers obviously put a lot of time in improving the overall gameplay and it shows. The new modes are fun but need some attention to iron out bugs, and there are some areas where the errors are just downright contrary to the game of baseball. On the surface, baseball seems a simple game, but to the baseball fan, the layers of complexity are what create that overall feeling that is Major League Baseball.” -Wikipedia.org

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1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles and the Microsoft Windows operating systems. Officially announced on February 11, 2009, the game was released worldwide on November 10, 2009.

It is the sixth installment of the Call of Duty series and the direct sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, continuing along the same storyline. It was released in conjunction with two other Call of Duty games: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized for the Nintendo DS, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex, a port of Call of Duty 4 adapted by Treyarch for the Wii console. In addition, a comic book series based on one of the game’s characters was also produced, entitled Modern Warfare 2: Ghost.

Modern Warfare 2 has received critical acclaim from professional reviewers, especially for its console versions. Review aggregator Metacritic holds the average review for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game at 94%, while the PC version is at 85%. Positive reviews cite a “compelling story mode, a slick package of mini missions and a multiplayer which is pretty much unparalleled in depth.”

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Executive Summary

The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership:

            Model the Way. Leaders model the way for their constituents.  To successfully illustrate the performance expected of others, a leader must first have guiding principles to follow.   A leader must clarify values.    This means opening up about values from within as well as values of the organization.  Knowing what you, as a leader will help you align your values with the company.  It will be easier for you to communicate those values with your constituents because when you speak you are also representing your company.  A person must “walk the talk” this is setting the example by going first.  Going first is exhibiting importance of things through taking actions.  It’s about “the power of spending time with someone, of working side by side with colleagues, of telling stories that make values come alive, of being highly visible during times of uncertainty, and of asking question to get people to think about values and priorities.”

            Inspire a Shared Vision. Leaders inspire a shared vision.  Leaders have to see beyond today and look ahead for future possibilities.  Theyenvision the future. But visions alone do not create successes.  Someone without followers is not a leader.  A leader must inspire a movement concurrent with the vision.   Leaders must gain commitment to an inspired vision not compliance.  They have to enlist others.  To do this, leaders must gain certain knowledge about their constituents such as people’s dreams, hopes, aspirations, visions, and values.  “Leadership is a dialogue, not a monologue.” People must trust that their leaders do have their interests at heart.  This vision should be shared with everyone and by everyone.  It should be talked about in detail.  Share the “whys”.  People need to know why they should follow you and your vision.

            Challenge the Process.  No process is set in stone.  Each process can enhance with a new perspective.  All leaders shouldchallenge the process. Look for ways to innovate, grow, and improve.  Listening to people in and around the organization will more than likely give opportunities for innovation.  Most leaders are not the “inventors as much as they are the early patrons and adopters of innovation”.  With innovation comes change involving experiments and taking risks.  Paying attention to the abilities of constituents to manage change is important to create a safe environment for taking those risks.  “Try, fail, learn. Try, fail, learn.  Try, fail, learn. Leaders learn from their mistakes and encourage others to do the same.

            Enable Others to Act.  To get amazing results, leaders must make it possible for people to take action.  Leaders foster collaboration. This means connecting all the players together on a project or team.  These players include peers, managers, customers, suppliers, citizens and all those you have a stake in the company.  Leaders know to produce these results people must feel empowerment and ownership. Leaders empower others by giving them responsibility to deliver.  Exemplary leaders strengthen others.  They build and teach capabilities to help make each person successful in their endeavors.  “Constituents neither perform at their best nor stick around for very long if their leader makes them feel weak, dependent, or alienated.”   A leader who builds confidence in people helps generate achievement beyond what people think is possible.

            Encourage Heart.  Being a sincere and caring leader boosts people’s spirit and brings them forward.  Recognizing contributions is a way leaders show they are grateful for their constituents’ assistance.  It’s a leader’s job to create a culture of celebrating values and victories.  This is not about ceremonies for show. It’s about linking rewards with performance.  These celebrations should be done for the benefit of others and the company.  Celebrations should showcase people for the efforts made that reflect the company’s values and core principles.

Leadership is a Relationship

            Leadership can be found in any one person.  It is not a magical gift.  It can be learned.  “Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire and those who choose to follow… A leader-constituent relationship that’s characterized by fear and distrust will never, ever produce anything of lasting value. A relationship characterized by mutual respect and confidence will overcome the greatest adversities and leave a legacy.”

The Ten Things Managers Need to Know fromThe Leadership Challenge

1.            Each leader should first know the values and principles important to him or her. Then he or she can relate those to the values and principles of the corporation and its employees.

2.            “Put your money where your mouth is”, “practice what you preach”, and “walk the talk”.  A leader must follow-through and lead by example.

3.            Take off the blinders and look for the future possibilities.  Start with your past to see where you and your team are going in the future.

4.            Shared visions of the future will gain commitment instead of compliance among team members.

5.            Leaders should take change head-on.  Change should be an adventure to broaden the company and create new ideas that motivate team members.

6.            Create a trusting environment that allows team members to be creative and take chances. Build from any mistakes; use these as successful steps in the right direction.

7.            Create interdependence among team members and use the “Golden Rule”. Help each team member to realize everyone is needed for the big picture.

8.            The strength of a leader is born in team members when leaders release control to them.

9.            Believe in your team members abilities and communicate that through recognition and feedback.

10.            Use celebrations, meetings, ceremonies, training sessions, etc.,  as opportunities to reiterate core values.

Full Summary of The Leadership Challenge

The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

            Dick Netell, America’s Consumer Call Center in Concord, California is an example of the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership in action.  He has the vision and the intuitive nature to use resources to turn a company around.  The authors, James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, of The Leadership Challenge Fourth Edition highlight Dick’s process in renewing an existing company’s fundamentals of vision, mission and future ideals.  Dick says, “Everybody wants to win. Everybody wants to be successful. Everybody comes to work to make a difference.”  With this insight Dick is able to conclude the underlying reason the call center was not fulfilling its potential.  The management had not tapped into the resources most important to a company—it’s team members.  Dick’s team was not focused on the possibilities.  Observing and listening, Dick was able to gain consensus from team members about the call center’s future.   Dick opened communication lines.  He solicited feedback about issues and performance of management.  He empowered his team to give thoughts and ideas for new opportunities to expand and create a better call center.  He fostered the atmosphere of winning.  Dick ensured the team members were kept up-to-date with news on accomplishments by having monthly status meetings where he gives a “you said, we did” report.  Dick’s motto Pride stands for Personal Responsibility In Delivering Excellence.   Dick still believes that “every day is opening day.”  He said, “It doesn’t matter what you did yesterday.  Each and every decision and action is a moment of truth.  You say something and what do people see?  The two have to be aligned.  It’s all about the video matching the audio.”  Dick is an awesome example of an extraordinary leader.  He carries out the Five Practices Kouzes and Posner present to leaders:

Model the Way

Inspire a Shared Vision

Challenge the Process

Enable Others to Act

Encourage the Heart

Another exemplary leader is the founder and Leader of Vision & Values of the SG Group in London, England, Claire Owen.  She believes when a leader takes an extra step to have a servant mentality the success of the team is far greater.  By creating an environment where leaders serve, it then translates to constituents to serving others and customers.  This example ties in to leading by example.  An environment where being at work is like “going to a coffee morning”, generates an atmosphere of trust and respect where new ideas occur and unordinary risks are taken.  However, Claire ensures constituents still uphold the values and expectations of the company to grow with vision. Claire’s leadership philosophy is a true statement of what makes companies succeed. “We are human beings,” she said. “We don’t have employees. We don’t have staff. We have people, and people have emotions, and people have needs.  If you are happy you do a better job. If you are excited about the business, and if you are excited about where it is going and what is happening in it, then there is a buzz, a physical buzz. It’s my job to create that kind of place.”

Credibility

            A leader must be honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and competent for others to willing want to be a follower.  “Credibility is the foundation of leadership.”  Constituents want to work for an honest leader.  When a constituent needs support it is important to trust the leader will step up and be the support needed.  Knowledge and abilities to lead are important for constituents to buy-in to the leaders visions.  A leader must show the capability to learn from others even from constituents.  Most important a leader must:  DWYSWD: Do What You Say You Will Do.

Clarify Values

            Before a leader can lead constituents in a company there must be expectations and values to follow.  But even before that, leaders must understand their own personal value.  Without your own guiding principles the path can potentially become foggy.  A leader must search out his important values.  Once he has established the values, it is more likely to be the guiding factor in business decision making.  These values also allow leaders to have more control over their lives. With recognizable values at the forefront of a leader’s mind, they are able to align their values with the values of the company. It is important for a leader to establish his values because eventually the act that the values are not his own will be revealed.  Constituents want to follow a genuine leader with values and beliefs of their own.  Leaders should promote values that represent the group for unity.  When these values are shared among the individual, the group, and the corporation synergy is exuded.  “Shared values do make a significant positive difference in work attitudes and performance:

They foster strong feelings of personal effectiveness.

They promote high levels of company loyalty.

They facilitate consensus about key organizational goals and stakeholders.

They encourage ethical behavior.

They promote strong norms about working hard and caring.

They reduce levels of job stress and tension.

They foster pride in the company.

They facilitate understanding about job expectations.

They foster teamwork and spirit de corps.”

When values align creativity flows. Presenting values in a company is important to ensure team members find correlations between individual values and the values of the corporation. A leader should be able to speak with constituents and business partners about these values at any time.  Without understanding the values individually and corporately a leader cannot fulfill spoken promises.

Set the Example

            “Leading by example is how leaders make visions and values tangible. It’s how they provide the evidence that they’re personally committed. Setting the example is about execution.”  Leaders who teach by doing are exemplary.  A leader cannot expect performance from constituents that they are unwilling to perform themselves.  The actions leaders take prove the values they share with constituents.  If a leader values ethics, then the leader should uphold the ethics code.  Constituents will follow the behavior demonstrated by a leader with shared values.   A leader should spend time on the most important values by using every opportunity to reinforce the importance of the values.  “Sometimes leadership is just showing up.” Language used by leaders should convey the culture desired within the organization.  Also, raising questions like, “What have you done in the past week to improve so that you’re better this week than last?” will allow constituents to think about values is a way leaders give life to those values.  Feedback is another important tool to support values in performance. When Troy Hansen was vice president of AgDirect and Leasing, Farm Credit Services (FCS) of America, a leading financial services provider in Omaha, Nebraska, he proved the importance of feedback.  Troy’s team had a negative outlook on performance reviews so he took a chance and allowed his team to evaluate his performance first. “The feedback I received was kind of hard to hear,” Troy admitted.  He then added, “And that was really one of the benefits to the group. To take that personal risk; to model for the group that it’s okay to place yourself at personal risk and take that honest feedback. What I hoped the team members would come away with was a sense that it’s okay to be in that environment, that feedback is necessary for growth, and then to see how you accept that feedback and then what you do with it.” Sometimes vulnerability is a requirement for a leader.  For leaders to “set the example” telling stories is an excellent way to exalt another’s contribution to the common goal.  Telling stories gives constituents a memorable impression of behavior essential to the organization.  Stories can depict individuals who achieved a goal and staying true to values.  By telling stories about constituents, their peers are more likely to be motivated.  Telling stories and giving feedback “reinforce behavior you want repeated”.

Envision the Future

            Leaders are generally in a job “to do something”.  The reasons why leaders are contingent on doing something is the real need to know answers.  A leader’s individual aspirations are what fuel his future.  It is a common problem to only see situations that are happening in the now.  A leader must not allow any hindrances blocking his view.  A leader must maintain the sight of the long-term goal, the future.  “A leader should be thinking a few ‘moves’ ahead of the team and picturing the possibilities.”

Enlist Others

            For Keith Sonberg, director of site operations for Roche in Palo Alto, California, “it’s passion plus pride [that] equals performance.”  He says, “The leader’s job is to create an environment where people are passionate about what they’re doing and take pride in what they’re doing.  The end result will always be performance.” Sonberg is right.  In order to enlist others, there must be a setting to perpetuate passionate performance.   It’s more than just having an open environment.  Leaders must “appeal to common ideals”.  Knowing what is significant to constituents can propel organizations to the forefront in the marketplace.  Exemplary leaders…liberate the vision that’s already in their constituents.  They awaken dreams, breathe life into them, and arouse the belief that we can achieve something grand.”  It is a major responsibility for a leader to search out what makes constituents tick.  They want to feel a part of something bigger than their cubicle or city.  Constituents want to know their effort extends beyond the front yard.  Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream” was a major influencing endeavor to enlist others for a common vision.  His words by using imagery and conviction gave life to his dream.    When leading others in a common goal, a leader must use passion.  Passion evokes desire in constituents to reach for a brighter future.  Creating a mental image of what can be in the minds of others is important to perpetuate a company.  Leaders must generate positive communication with constituents and among constituents.  This also means expressing positivity through emotions of energy.  Being expressive to enlist other can have a memorable effect.

Search for Opportunities

            Progression is change.  Leaders should seek ways to “make things better, to grow, innovate, and improve.”  A first step to change is to take it head on.  Step up to the challenge and initiate the next step to develop. People more actively reach goals if they take initiative.  A leader must help others to be initiators.  This means training and preparation for constituents.  Leaders must invest their time with constituents to allow them to be confident to take on challenges.  Challenge is for the benefit of leaders and constituents.  It gives meaning and purpose to those who accept it.  Leaders encourage constituents to surpass their own expectations of capabilities. A leader must “exercise outsight”.  “When you take your eyes off the external realities, turning inward to admire the possibilities within your own organization, you may be swept away by the swirling waters of change.”  Leaders should keep an open view of the events taking place around the perimeters of their organization.

Experiment and Take Risks

            Risks can be scary, but the pay-offs can be monumental.  Leaders need to be the first to plunge into the unknown.  By experimenting, leaders can achieve new results.  Constituents and leaders alike must be able to learn from experiences.  A leader must help people feel they are in a safe environment.  No one wants to be in trouble trying something new and failing.  In this environment more creative thoughts and experiments will occur.  Leaders must be effective listeners in order to learn from constituents and the company about new process.

Foster Collaboration

            Leaders who encourage team members to work interdependently foster collaboration.  A project should be accomplished when all participants have their part completed.  This means a leader must push for others to help out and cross boundaries to ensure a team view.  Collaboration will be greater than short-term benefits of working alone.  Competition and isolation can occur if team members are not concerned about the process as a whole. Leaders should exude trust to build the trust on their team.  Trust can take collaboration to a higher level.

Strengthen Others

            “Leaders move from being in control to giving over control to others, becoming their coaches and teachers.”  The strength of others comes from within.  When constituents are given more responsibility their own abilities are reinforced. Giving constituents to make the choices and decisions about projects enables the success of those projects.  Constituents will feel the accountability for the project because the result will be based on the decision he made.  This is ownership.  Ownership helps constituents feel commitment and pride in their work which strengthens the entire process. While giving responsibility to constituents, leaders should incorporate coaching to follow-up about progress, tips for improvement, and encourage the future ventures of constituents.

Recognize Contributions

            Leader’s most important role to constituents is guidance.  Recognition guides people to continue with the same behavior.  A leader should make use of the two words “thank you” and show appreciation for constituents.  In order to make the most of this recognition, a leader must understand what is encouraging to constituents.  Each person may value recognition differently.  A leader should take the time to get to know more about his constituents.

Celebrate the Values and Victories

            With values being clarified, now a leader can make the most of those values in action.  Celebration of shared values is a victory.  When constituents, companies, and leaders share values it should be celebrated.  Leaders must “be personally involved” to show their support for constituents.  This could simply be by having fun together or being out with constituents in the workplace.  Sometimes leaders can have big productions to celebrate wins in the company.  A leader should always use these opportunities to reaffirm the values being celebrated.

Leadership is Everyone’s Business

            “Leadership is about relationships, about credibility, and about what you do.”  A leader should recognize that to direct reports, you are the most important leader.  Leaders are to help problem solve, address concerns, and care about the values being executed.  The relationships created through direct reports and leaders are imperative for success.  Leadership can be learned.  To become a better leader, you must be the positive force in the world and apply the skills and abilities of leadership to your position. “The best-kept secret of successful leaders is love:  staying in love with leading, with the people who do the work, with what their organizations produce, and with those who honor the organization by using its products and services.

“Leadership is not an affair of the head.  Leadership is an affair of the heart.”

Personal Insights

Why I think:

With business conditions today, what the author wrote is true – because:

The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership are essential to stoke the fire in leaders.  These practices involve self-improvement and self-motivating thoughts that will make any leader ready make his mark.  Most institutions are more centered on people.  This book helps leaders see the techniques to inspire, encourage, and respect team members in meaningful ways.  The authors of this book research for years leaders of different styles.  The topics in this book are relevant to any workplace where there are people.

If I were the author of the book, I would have done these three things differently:

1.            The first chapter of the book hits all the high points and basically summarizes the need to know items right away. I would have put the first chapter last as a review of keys points.

2.            I would have given more step-by-step examples of what to say or do to exhibit The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.

3.            I would have spent more time in Chapter Two: Credibility is the Foundation of Leadership.  I think more detail in this chapter would genuinely inspire leaders to exemplify the characteristics of a leader practicing the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.

Reading this book made me think differently about the topic in these ways:

1.            I realized the actions of leaders today really have an effect on their constituents.  It can either motivate them to exceed expectations or cause disharmony among the company.

2.            I have a better understanding of how important it is for a leader’s actions to line up with his words.

3.            I did not realize trust fostered collaboration and risk taking.  It is important to gain trust for great things to happen in an organization.

I’ll apply what I’ve learned in this book in my career by:

1.            Using celebrations and recognition events to reiterate values and principles held by myself, the company, and constituents.

2.            I will have high expectations for my constituents to achieve high performance.  Because by believing in their abilities it instills confidence.

3.            Remembering to “stay in love with leading, with the people who do the work, with what the organizations produce, and with those who honor the organization by using its products and services” will keep my leadership challenge alive.

Here is a sampling of what others have said about the book and its author:

The consensus for The Leadership Challenge is that the research done by Kouzes and Posner is remarkable.  It is a motivational, inspiring book.  Those who reviewed the book referenced to the many stories depicting today’s leaders.  Some said if you have read previous editions of the book, then the fourth edition was not necessary because the authors present the same principles with new stories.  Overall, the reviews I found were in support of the leadership studies conducted by Kouzes and Posner.