Another Big Step for Women

Rosa Parks, 1955

Manal al-Sharif, 1955

Since that day in December 1955 when one black woman refuse to give up her bus seat to accommodate the white passengers, many women have followed suit in defying convention. That lady was Rosa Parks, and her decision to say NO when the bus driver commanded her to give up her seat to white passengers, has given so many people - women and men alike - the courage to fight back for what they believe is their right.

We have inspirational women all around us - women who dare say no when needed, knowing well how much trouble it would eventually get them into.

Today, The Success Chronicles says Kudos to Manal al-Sharif, for saying no to the traditional Saudi belief that women cannot drive an automobile without consulting her male guardian. This belief, which also bans women from listening to music has been practised in Saudi Arabia for generations.

CNN.com showcased the story of Al-Sharif, who was trained to belief that listening to music was a sin. One day, she decided to, without a male guardian's permission, listen to her brother's cassette, and the Backstreet Boys song "Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely" playing at that time sounded like a message she had always needed to hear. No more isolating herself in a lonely world - get out there and do something.

That one song, that one instance, gave her the courage she needed to go one step further in defying convention. She drove a car. And just to rub it in, she posted her endeavor on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT-3I5jg1xg)

I think it is a big step for women all over the world. We are a nation of our own. Women all over, of all nations have their own stories, no matter where they were born, how rich or poor they are, their choice of careers or their decision to start families. And together, we must know how to find strength from each other's stories.

Today, Manal al-Sharif is the strength many of us need. She is not merely a woman who dared to stray from the norm - she is a message to all us ladies out there, to be brave, be bold and to defy convention - because we can, and because sometimes, we must. Fight for what you believe is true. Fight for what is your right.

Thanks Manal - you have taken another big step for us women all over the world.
Thanks for being an inspiration.

Spain, in need of Savoiurs

Barcelona FB, Spain

Rafael Nadal, Spain

Lots of news enveloping the European nation of Spain today. CNN.com reported that the 100 billion Euro bailout of Spain's financial institution. This monetary aid could not have come at a better time, as this move could be the one that saves the Euro from diminishing from existence. The Euro, which has been in trouble since a few months ago, no thanks to the economic plunge which hit the European nations, could be in even more danger with the Greece elections just a week away, which could spell out the country's exit from the eurozone.

As we speak, Rolland Garros is currently a very heated up arena, now with Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Spain's Raphael Nadal currently at each other to win the French Open title. The world tennis numbers 1 and 2 respectively are going at it with all they have, with Nadal currently in the lead. If Nadal wins, it would be his 7th win on the clay court. Though Djokovic is not to be taken as a light competitor, Nadal is always somewhat extra motivated when playing the French Open. Well, if Nadal clinches the title, it's a much needed win for Spain, so despite my deep belief and support in Djokovic...I have to say Vamos, Nadal!

In about two hours, Spain will meet Italy to face off in the Euro Cup 2012. With Spain's super striker David Villa out of the picture, the fans are left wondering if Fernando Torres can carry the former champions to another win. It is always exciting to see players from arguably two of the best teams in the world - Barcelona and Real Madrid - work together to bring fame to their nation. With Iker Casillas as the goalkeeper, it's good luck all the way for Italy. Barcelona's own, Gerard Pique, Xavi Hernandez, Cesc Fabregas and Real Madrid's Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa will have to work together to provide Spain that much needed win - more as a motivation for the country than anything else.

Well, looks like it is an important day for Spain and Spaniards alike.

With all that negative financial news, one can use with a win or two.

Vamos Spain!

Behind Every Successful Richard is an Eve

Eve and Richard Branson

I have had many parents call me up for the Young Entrepreneur Camp I organize annually, and ask if the camp can help their shy children. And based on the number of similar calls I receive, I'm guessing that there are a lot shy kids around.

So, if you are a mother of a shy child, what would you do?
Some parents apologize to people, saying "Sorry, my son is so shy" or "Oh dear, I'm truly sorry, she is just shy". If you approach this challenge this way, then read on.

Eve, mother of Richard was faced with this challenge years ago. She realized that her young child was extremely shy and would hide behind her dress and just refuse to speak to adults. It became so bad, it was disabling. One day, after a shopping trip, Eve asked her son to get out of her car about 3 miles away from home, and find his way home on foot. "What if I get lost?!" asked the bewildered child. "Well then, you'd have to ask for directions from the adults you meet along the way".

10 hours late, Richard came home. And his shyness was cured. He had asked many people for directions on how to get home (and stopped for awhile to play with bugs), but when he got home, he was a different child.

Today, this young boy is Richard Branson.
And he thanks his mother everyday for that experience he will never forget.

You cannot be an entrepreneur or a business person or succeed in any career if you are shy - or unable to share your thoughts with others or work in a team.

I for one, believe that an entrepreneurial attitude and business sense, if instilled in kids at a young age, will teach them the essence of life. Success come easily to whole-rounded individuals.

If you are a parent, here are some very important life lessons you can teach your kids:

1- Teamwork.
No matter what your child grows up to be, understanding the essence of teamwork if pivotal. Learning about teamwork is more than just listening to a lecture on why geese fly in a V shape. Theoretically, everyone is a good team player - but the raw truth is that many people cannot work in teams. A good way to start kids off in teams would be to put them in team sports.

2- Support their Skills.
From a very young age, you will know what your child is interested in. I like to spend time learning about human psychology by watching TV shows - and one of my favourites is Jon and Kate Plus 8 (now just Kate Plus 8), a story about a family of one set of twins and one set of sextuplets. I like how Kate, the mum, knows exactly what her kids are into. One boy loves trying to make things fit. He loves Lego. Another boy loves to make sure everything is organized properly before he plays his games, and picks up after himself. One girl simply loves attention, and gravitate to people naturally. So when you see your kids have certain interests, support them. In an interview I had with Norman from KRU, he shares how his father bought him a guitar at a very young age because he realized his boys loved music. There are many stories out there that prove the important roles parents play in moulding their children into successful people.

3- Etiquette and Respect for Others
Once, during my camp, I had a very aggressive 9-year old. He would strive to win every challenge, but I began to realize something in him - he lacked the element of respect. He pushed the girls in his team around, would speak rudely to the facilitators, but would only do so when I was not looking. In front of me, he was an angel. When his team did not win the final challenge, he was really angry. He came up to me, and in the heat of things, said "If we lose everything, then I'll tell my father never to send me to this camp again!". Why is having etiquette and respect so important? It may be true that when you rudely swerve in front of others in traffic or use the emergency lane when driving may get you to work on time, it is plain rude. Why succeed on someone else's expense when there can always be a win-win. This is an extremely important lesson to teach kids - and the best way is through leadership by example.

Every successful individual has stories to share about their parents.
While some rave about how their parents have helped them succeed, others share how their parents never gave them any support.

Of course, in the current day and age that we live in, doing what Eve Branson did to her son might not be the safest thing in the world. It's not what she did, really. It's why she did it; and we can definitely emulate the way she thinks.

The ball is in your court, so choose wisely!

This post is dedicated to all mothers and fathers, all the Eve Bransons who defied convention and sometimes gone against what they believed, to support their children to become the successes they are today.
Happy Mothers' and Fathers' Day!

Think KFC Before Quitting

Have you ever felt like quitting? Throwing in the towel? Like you've just had about enough?

STOP!

Have you heard of the KFC story?
If not, you must read this before deciding to give up.

Harland Sanders was quite contended with his little restaurant, where he served his fried chicken for a living. Things were going so well, he added a motel by his restaurant. When he was 45, the Governor of Kentucky awarded him with a Colonel title for his fabulous cooking skills. Things were going so well!

Then, IT happened. The government decided to build an expressway just in front of Sanders' restaurant and motel, making accessibility to the restaurant, an impossibility. He had to shut down, in fear of irrecoverable losses. So, he sat at home and received government support in the form of a meagre $105 a month.

During this time, Sanders' felt that there was definitely more to life than just sitting at home doing nothing. It was then, that Sanders' decided to do something he knew how to do so effortlessly - fry chicken! He grabbed a pan, some oil and lots of chicken, threw them into his car and drove off, he didn't know where to.

Quite directionless, he decided to stop at the first restaurant he came upon - and he tried to sell his chicken. "Just take them" he'd say, "and pay me if the customers like them". The restaurant owner tasted the fried chicken, agreed that is was amazing - but said no to him. No to free chicken.

So, he went back into his car and approached the next restaurant. Here too, the owner loved the fried chicken - but said no thanks to Sanders.

So Sanders went back and repeated this to every restaurant he came across that day.
But the days turned to weeks and the weeks to months, and months to years - no one wanted to sell his fried chicken. He continued the same routine - sleep in his car at night, and sell chicken in the daytime.

Let me ask you a question now :
If you were Colonel Sanders, how many restaurants would you have approached before quitting?
How many NOs would have been too much for you? 10? 50? 100?
How many days would you have stayed in your car before you decided that you've had just about enough and drive home to that $105 a month pay check?
How many more people would you have approached?

Do you know how many restaurants Colonel Sanders approached before finally hearing a YES?
1009. That's correct. He approached 1009 restaurants persistently until a restaurant bought his fried chicken. And he kept on going!

This is not just a success story to read and feel warm about.
Think about it - this man almost quit. He could've been satisfied just living by with the $ 105 check he received. But he didn't.

It's all about how far you will go.

How far will you go to lose that stubborn kilos off your body? Daily exercise? Eating only healthy food?

How far will you go to get that job of your dreams, no matter what 'people' tell you?

Ask yourselves:
How far will you go before you quit..
And when you decide to quit, think KFC.

Good luck!

What We Can Learn About Leadership from Mona Lisa Smile

I wouldn't categorize myself as a 'die-hard' fan of Julia Roberts, but every so often, we chance upon an actor or actress that just shine in their role. They do not try to hard to play the part, but somehow, their acting simply resonates with your inner being. You start feeling like you're in their shoes, and you start rooting for them. For me, these talented individuals include Gerard Butler in 300, Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia...and Julia Roberts. I think Julia Roberts' movies are life-transforming - Erin Brockovich was inspiring; Eat, Pray, Love was refreshing; and Mona Lisa Smile was what made me want to break the norms of conventional education and teach my students that being different is something good.

About Mona Lisa Smile
This movie depicts a story about tradition, values and one’s own principles. Set in 1953, this movie revolved around Katherine Watson, an art lecturer who was hired into Wellesley College, an all-girls college which values tradition and beliefs. Katherine was very anxious for her first day in class, and her students didn’t make it any easier when they had come to class, with full knowledge of what is taught, as they had memorized the entire textbook.

Katherine thought this very unusual, and she felt intimidated by her students – the students were as such because they were conditioned by their families and college traditions to act the way they did in the classroom. Katherine came back to class the other day, with art that students had not seen before. This act surprised the students very much, as they were not used to a new challenges, and as this was not the norm.

Katherine moved on, treating her students with respect and friendliness, trying to pull them away from the norm of the concept that women’s priorities are to be a good mother and wife. She strived to teach the students that there is more to life than meets the eye, or than what they were supposed to believe about themselves. Katherine also had to fight the college’s age old traditions with her principles and beliefs, by having to go against her colleagues, the principal and the board of directors.

Leadership and the Symbolic Frame
When this movie is looked at from the Symbolic Frame point of view, the question which can be asked, is that of whether Wellesley College was looked at as a theatre or a temple?
Katherine Watson had a very controversial student in her class named Betty Warren. Betty was also influential as her mother is in the College Board of Directors. It was obvious that Betty showed no inhibition to display her power many a times. In one instance, Katherine Watson was teaching a class, and in barges Betty Warren with all her pomp and glitz, making an impressionable entrance back to school after recently tying the knot. The conversation was as follows:

Betty Warren – “Don't disregard our traditions just because you're subversive”
College as a Temple - Here, Betty is reminding her lecturer that college traditions should be respected, and not simply gone against as pleased. Betty got married, and that is an important element in a lady’s life – becoming a good mother and wife – and she expects Katherine to respect that
Katherine Watson : “Don't disrespect this class just because you're married”College as a Theatre- To which, Katherine responded as above. Katherine sees the college as a theatre, where she is playing the role of a lecturer, and Betty and the other students, playing the role of students. And no matter who Betty was or what she did in her personal life, in Katherine’s class, she should be a student.

Katherine Watson, the Symbolic Leader

Symbolic leaders like Katherine can be identified through their leadership by example, symbols, vision and stories. Katherine always told her students to “Look beyond the paint”. She has always wished to instill in her students that the image created about them by their forefathers are not necessarily true today.

She wanted the students to look beyond the paint to value the art better, to look beyond what they feel they are worth and see what they are truly worth, she wanted them to look beyond the surface of their image, and look for more challenges in life. She did this by encouraging their thought processes and by asking for feedback.. She proved that her action was louder than her words, when she decided to leave Wellesley to seek new challenges, and not to conform to the role the college had about her.
Katherine also often communicated her vision to her students. "I thought I was headed to a place that would turn out tomorrow's leaders, not their wives" she often chided, to remind her students that not only men can be leaders; that as women, they too must understand and embrace their birth right to be leaders. In 1953, an era which saw women as doting mothers, prim wives and proper ladies, the idea of women playing the role of leaders was unorthodox, unheard of and simply wrong.

Katherine did not see anything wrong with that, except for the fact that the college, an institution of education, was more focused on ensuring this tradition is kept alive, instead of educating the students to think and decide for themselves. Katherine spreads and communicates her vision that women can be good mothers and wives, but women can also focus on career at the same time.
Katherine Watson was a symbolic leader in many aspects

Sharmila is the CEO of the Professional Excellence and Lifelong Learning Centre. All the opinions expressed here are of her own, based on her personal experiences. She welcomes comments at sharm79@gmail.com