What is the Quran about according to Fazlur Rahmans book Major Themes Essay

What is the Quran about according to Fazlur Rahmans book Major Themes of the Quran - Essay Example This paper presents the major Qur’anic themes as Rahman presents theme as they are organized in chapter order. Rahman synthesizes the major themes logically rather than chronologically and the Quran has been allowed to speak for itself and interpretation has been used only as necessary for joining together ideas. In this classical work, Rahman unveils the Qur’an’s focuses on issues of God, society, revelation, and prophesy in such admirably logical manner (Rahman 6). In other words, Qur’an, which is referred to as the last, revealed Word of God the Book talks about God, His relationship with a man, man-to-man relationship and man relationship with nature. According to Rahman, the Qur’an must always be read with the spirit of wholeness and a sincere attempt to seek pure guidance (Rahman, 5). Additionally, the Holy Book is regarded as a complete code of life taking into account that Islam is but a complete way of human life and so Qur’an is its source of guidance on the mundane lives. Moreover, Rahman explains that the Qur’an’s teachings are no t restricted to a particular nation or a specific era but for the global community. The Book provides comprehensive piece of legalization in addition to the moral principles as a way of ensuring cordial human relationship with one another. It also explains the afterlife concept of Eschatology, Satan, and Evil. The Book is organized based primarily on the major themes. The theme of God opens the first chapter of Rahman’s book discussing the necessity of God, His Unity and its implications. According to him, the Qur’an is a document aimed at man and so it is no treatise about God and His nature. However, the elaboration about God’s existence is strictly functional, in the sense that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe (Rahman 1). Additionally, God judges man either individually or collectively and He metes out to him merciful

Pharaphrasing the Purple Hibiscus Essay Example for Free

Pharaphrasing the Purple Hibiscus Essay Kambili and Jaja both come of age in Purple Hibiscus as a result of their experiences. The book opens with Jaja rebelling against his devout Catholic father by skipping communion on Palm Sunday, an important religious holiday. The following chapters detail the events that culminate in Jaja’s defiance. The book is narrated by Kambili three years after this incident. Since she has been stunted by the severe punishments of her father, Kambili barely speaks. Her narration is striking because it can be concluded that she finds her own voice throughout this ordeal. Both Kambili and Jaja take steps towards adulthood by overcoming adversity and being exposed to new thoughts. Part of growing up is building your own identity by choosing which paths to follow. In Enugu, the only path Kambili and Jaja are allowed to follow is Papa. He writes out schedules and severely punishes them when they stray. When Kambili and Jaja visit their Aunty Ifeoma in Nsukka, they are astonished by what they find. Though her home is small and devoid of luxuries, there is love and respect. Her children Amaka and Obiora are allowed to question authority and choose their own paths. Obiora, though he is three years younger than Jaja, is articulate and protective. He has been initiated into Igbo culture by performing a rite of manhood. Jaja was not allowed to participate and is ashamed that he is lagging behind his cousin. In Nsukka, Jaja is encouraged to rethink his allegiances and make his own decisions. Aunty Ifeoma encourages Kambili to reconsider her stance on Papa-Nnukwu. As she has been taught by Papa, her grandfather is a heathen. But when she searches his face, she sees no signs of godliness. After witnessing his innocence ritual, Kambili questions the absolute rule of her father. Both Kambili and Jaja take major steps towards adulthood by claiming their individuality. Religion There is a contrast between Father Benedict and Father Amadi. Priest at Papa’s beloved St. Agnes, Father Benedict is a white man from England who conducts his masses according to European custom. Papa adheres to Father Benedict’s style, banishing every trace of his own Nigerian heritage. Papa uses his faith to justify abusing his children. Religion alone is not to blame. Papa represents the wave of fundamentalism in Nigeria that corrupts faith. Father Amadi, on the other hand, is an African priest who blends Catholicism with Igbo traditions. He believes that faith is both simpler and more complex than what Father Benedict preaches. Father Amadi is a modern African man who is culturally-conscious but influenced by the colonial history of his country. He is not a moral absolutist like Papa and his God. Religion, when wielded by someone gentle, can be a positive force, as it is in Kambili’s life. Papa-Nnukwu is a traditionalist. He follows the rituals of his ancestors and believes in a pantheistic model of religion. Though both his son and daughter converted to Catholicism, Papa-Nnukwu held on to his roots. When Kambili witnesses his morning ritual, she realizes that their faiths are not as different as they appear. Kambili’s faith extends beyond the boundaries of one religion. She revels in the beauty of nature, her family, her prayer, and the Bible. When she witnesses the miracle at Aokpe, Kambili’s devotion is confirmed. Aunty Ifeoma agrees that God was present even though she did not see the apparition. God is all around Kambili and her family, and can take the form of a smile. The individualistic nature of faith is explored in Purple Hibiscus. Kambili tempers her devotion with a reverence for her ancestors. Jaja and Amaka end up rejecting their faith because it is inexorably linked to Papa and colonialism, respectively. Colonialism Colonialism is a complex topic in Nigeria. For Papa-Nnukwu, colonialism is an evil force that enslaved the Igbo people and eradicated his traditions. For Papa, colonialism is responsible for his access to higher education and grace. For Father Amadi, it has resulted in his faith but he sees no reason that the old and new ways can’t coexist. Father Amadi represents modern Nigeria in the global world. Papa is a product of a colonialist education. He was schooled by missionaries and studied in English. The wisdom he takes back to Nigeria is largely informed by those who have colonized his country. He abandons the traditions of his ancestors and chooses to speak primarily in British-accented English in public. His large estate is filled with western luxuries like satellite TV and music. Amaka assumes that Kambili follows American pop stars while she listens to musicians who embrace their African heritage. But the trappings of Papa’s success are hollow. The children are not allowed to watch television. His home, modernized up to Western standards, is for appearances only. There is emptiness in his home just as his accent is falsified in front of whites. Over the course of the novel, both Kambili and Jaja must come to terms with the lingering after-effects of colonialism in their own lives. They both adjust to life outside their father’s grasp by embracing or accepting traditional ways. Nigerian Politics Both Kambili and the nation are on the cusp of dramatic changes. The political climate of Nigeria and the internal drama of the Achike family are intertwined. After Nigeria declared independence from Britain in 1960, a cycle of violent coups and military dictatorship led to civil war, which led to a new cycle of bloody unrest. Even democracy is hindered by the wide-spread corruption in the government. In Purple Hibiscus, there is a coup that culminates in military rule. Papa and his paper, the Standard, are critical of the corruption that is ushered in by a leader who is not elected by the people. Ironically, Papa is a self-righteous dictator in his own home. He is wrathful towards his children when they stray from his chosen path for them. In the wake of Ade Coker’s death, Papa beats Kambili so severely she is hospitalized in critical condition. Both in Nigeria and in the home, violence begets violence. Kambili and Jaja are kept away from the unrest at first. They witness protests, deadly roadblocks, and harassment from the safety of their car. But when they arrive in Nsukka, they are thrust into political debate. Obiora says the university is a microcosm for Nigeria – ruled by one man with all the power. Pay has been withheld from the professors and light and power are shut off frequently. Medical workers and technicians go on strike and food prices rise. There are rumors that the sole administrator is misdirecting funds intended for the university. This is a parallel to what is happening in the country at large. Kambili and Jaja now understand firsthand the struggle of their cousins. The personal becomes political, and vice versa. Silence Several characters are gripped with silence throughout the novel. Kambili suffers the most, unable to speak more than rehearsed platitudes without stuttering or coughing. Her silence is a product of the abuse that she endures at the hands of her father. Kambili does not allow herself to tell the truth about her situation at home. When her classmates taunt her for being a backyard snob, she does not explain that she does not socialize out of fear. She is not allowed to dally after school lest she be late and beaten. She finally learns how to speak her mind when she is taunted continuously be her cousin Amaka. Aunty Ifeoma encourages her to defend herself and only then can Amaka and Kambili begin their friendship. Kambili begins to speak more confidently, laugh and even sing. The titles of the second and fourth section are Speaking With Our Spirits and A Different Silence. Kambili and Jaja communicate through their eyes, not able to utter the ugly truth of their situation. Mama, like her daughter, cannot speak freely in her own home. Only with Aunty Ifeoma can she behave authentically. The silence that falls upon Enugu after Papa is murdered is, as the title suggests, different. There is hopelessness to this silence like the one that existed when Papa was alive. But it is an honest silence. Mama and Kambili know the truth and there is nothing more that can be said. Jaja’s silence betrays a hardness that has taken hold of him in prison. There is nothing he can say that will end the torment he experiences. The tapes that Aunty Ifeoma sends with her children’s voices are the only respite he has. Silence is also used as punishment. When Kambili and Jaja arrive in Nsukka for Easter, Jaja refuses to speak to his father when he calls. After the years of silence that he has imposed upon his children, they use it as a weapon against him. The government also silences Ade Coker by murdering him after he prints a damning story in the Standard. When soldiers raid Aunty Ifeoma’s flat, they are trying to silence her sympathies with the rioting students through intimidation. Silence is a type of violence. Domestic Violence On several occasions, Papa beats his wife and children. Each time, he is provoked by an action that he deems immoral. When Mama does not want to visit with Father Benedict because she is ill, Papa beats her and she miscarries. When Kambili and Jaja share a home with a heathen, boiling water is poured on their feet because they have walked in sin. For owning a painting of Papa-Nnukwu, Kambili is kicked until she is hospitalized. Papa rationalizes the violence he inflicts on his family, saying it is for their own good. The beatings have rendered his children mute. Kambili and Jaja are both wise beyond their years and also not allowed to reach adulthood, as maturity often comes with questioning authority. When Ade Coker jokes that his children are too quiet, Papa does not laugh. They have a fear of God. Really, Kambili and Jaja are afraid of their father. Beating them has the opposite effect. They choose the right path because they are afraid of the repercussions. They are not encouraged to grow and to succeed, only threatened with failure when they do not. This takes a toll on Jaja especially, who is ashamed that he is so far behind Obiora in both intelligence and protecting his family. He ends up equating religion with punishment and rejects his faith. There is an underlying sexism at work in the abuse. When Mama tells Kambili she is pregnant, she mentions that she miscarried several times after Kambili was born. Within the narrative of the novel, Mama loses two pregnancies at Papa’s hands. The other miscarriages may have been caused by these beatings as well. When she miscarries, Papa makes the children say special novenas for their mother’s forgiveness. Even though he is to blame, he insinuates it is Mama’s fault. Mama believes that she cannot exist outside of her marriage. She dismisses Aunty Ifeoma’s ideas that life begins after marriage as â€Å"university talk.† Mama has not been liberated and withstands the abuse because she believes it is just. Ultimately, she poisons Papa because she can see no other way out. The abuse has repressed her to the point that she must resort to murder to escape. Nature/Environment The book’s namesake flower is a representation of freedom and hope. Jaja is drawn to the unusual purple hibiscus, bred by a botanist friend of Aunty Ifeoma. Aunty Ifeoma has created something new by bringing the natural world together with intelligence. For Jaja, the flower is hope that something new can be created. He longs to break free of his Papa’s rule. He takes a stalk of the purple hibiscus home with him, and plants it in their garden. He also takes home the insight he learns from Nsukka. As both blossom, so too do Jaja and his rebellion. Kambili’s shifting attitudes toward nature signify her stage of transformation. During one of the first times she showers at Nsukka, Kambili finds an earthworm in the tub. Rather than coexisting with it, she removes it to the toilet. When Father Amadi takes her to have her hair plaited, she watches a determined snail repeatedly crawl out of a basket. She identifies with the snail as she has tried to crawl out of Enugu and her fate. Later, when she bathes with water scented with the sky, she leaves the worm alone. She acknowledges that God can be found anywhere and she appreciates its determination. In the opening of the book, Kambili daydreams while looking at the several fruit and flower trees in her yard. This same yard, a signifier of wealth, leaves her open for taunts of â€Å"snob† at school. But here she fixates on the beauty of the trees. When she returns from Nsukka after her mother has miscarried, Kambili is sickened by the rotting tree fruit. The rot symbolizes the sickness in the Achike household but also that Kambili is seeing her home with new eyes. Like the trees, she is trapped behind tall walls. Weather also plays a role in the novel. When Ade Coker dies, there are heavy rains. After Palm Sunday, a violent wind uproots several trees and makes the satellite dish crash to the ground. Rain and wind reflect the drama that unfolds in the Achikes’ lives. Mama tells Kambili that a mixture of rain and sun is God’s indecision on what to bring. Just as there can be both rain and sun at the same time, there are good and evil intertwined. In nature, Kambili gleans that there are no absolutes. Papa is neither all good or all bad, her faith does not have to be either Catholic or traditionalist, and she can challenge her parents while still being a good child. * 1-310-919-0950 * Log In | * Sign Up * 1) Five major issues explored in purple hibiscus are; domestic violence, oppression, religion, education and love. 2a) Adichie uses a narrative point of view to explore the theme of domestic violence. The book is narrated in the first person by a 15 year old who is directly affected by domestic violence. Because of her young age she is quiet honest and this allows her to paint a great picture to the audience of the brutal abuse that Eugene bestows upon his family. This is as a result of her sensitive, intelligent and observant nature. 2b) Oppression is explored through narrative point of view. Adichie uses the point of view of Kambili to show the audience how oppressed the country is not only in the Achike household but the whole of Nigeria. Again Kambili’s honesty and good descriptions help to give the readers an idea as of how oppressed the country and Eugene’s household really is. 2c) Adichie uses narrative point of view to explore the theme of religion. She uses this because Kambili the narrator is exposed to different kinds of religion, such as, fanatic Catholics, liberated Catholics and Traditionalists. Again, it is Kambili’s observant nature that helps to give the readers a good idea of what all of the practices are like. Kambili’s narration is also used to show the great impact that religion has on life. 2d) Education is also explored through narration. In the narration Kambili has an encounter with her father and Kambili’s father’s past gives us an idea of how important he thinks education is. 2e) Love is also explored through narration. Although Kambili is a 15 year old through her narration we are able to see that she loves father Amadi. The love however is immature in because they have known each other for a very short time. Although the love narrated is not very mature it is still love. Adichie uses narration to show the audience that Kambili is in love and Adichie uses her narration to give us some hints of this love. 3a) Adichie bring out [continues]

The Secret Language of Leadership Steve Denning

The Secret Language of Leadership Steve Denning Selected in 2000 as one of the worlds ten most admired knowledge leader, Steve Denning is an award winner for the books  «The secret language of leadership » and  «the leaders guide to storytelling ». He studied law and psychology in Sydney University and then went to Oxford in the UK for a law postgraduate degree. He worked in organization in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia and was until 2000 the program director Knowledge Management at the World Bank. In the book the Secret Language of Leadership, the steps that have to be achieved to become a successful leader are to get the attention, to stimulate desire, to reinforce the reason and to continue the conversation. To reach those, a leader has to use six enablers that will be describing in our analysis of the language of Leadership: key enablers. Articulating a clear, inspiring goal Stephen Denning starts his explanation of the key enablers of the language of Leadership by a quote o George Bernard Shaw: This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.† This quote shows us the importance we give on the recognition of the actions we can do or the goal we can reach. We will now analyze how important it is to articulate a clear, inspiring goal. Stephen Denning illustrate the chapter, Articulating a clear, inspiring goal, of his book; with the example of the company Apple. Steve Jobs the creator of Apple had created chaos in his company because even if he is a brilliant person he was not an inexperience chairman.   A new CEO took his place in 1983, John Sculley, who was a star manager of other big companies as Pepsi. Even if Sculley did a good job on stabilizing the corporation and rationnalized the products, the Apple staff was no supporting him. Sculley wanted to implement a shift in Apple life by producing low cost computers like Dell, but the staff was not interested in becoming just another computer company. They wanted to follow Steve Jobs goal of creating cool, innovative electronic products, a purpose that for themselves was worthwhile in itself. John Sculley was forced out in 1993, his instrumental goals were not embraced and he was not successful on inspiring Apple staff to pursue new goals energetically and enthusiastically. What the staff wanted was to pursue Apple original purpose, which was more seductive for them as they came into this company for those values. Michael Spindler, Sculleys successors met the same fate. Steve Jobs came back as the CEO of Apple, and he didnt try to change the company purpose, which he settled many years before. We now know the success of Apple, Steve Jobs became a great CEO and he spread the world with his initiate focus, which was designing cool, innovative electronic products. Apple is a success story and Steve Jobs is often associate to this success, even when he has medical trouble it has an important impact on Apple stock exchange. Steve Jobs is so link to Apple that every launching of his product and every keynote he does make a huge buzz. In my opinion and especially in the market of new technologies when a company his created with a new concept, a brand new idea, a new way to work and projection in the future; the people who mean to work for those values are so convince that it is what you have to reach that they wont consider any other proposition.   Sculley and Spindler did not take into consideration what was Apple staff considerations and first goals; it is why we ask them to quit the company. It is complicated to change the main purpose of a business and the common goals and ideas of a whole staff when there are extremely committed to it. Before making changes in a company you have to define a clear vision and history of what people working in are sensitive and committed to. 1. Articulating a Worthwhile purpose In this part, Stephen Denning set up the problematic of the importance of enduring enthusiasm. He is wondering why Steve Jobs could generate enduring enthusiasm while John Sculley couldnt. Stephen Denning take the example of two kids playing piano, one child loves it, its a joy for her to play, it fills her life with meaning and she wins prizes. Her joy of playing is even more important that the prizes or recognition she could get. An other child is forced by her parents to play, she has a natural aptitude for music but do not enjoy it so much. Those two girls have a different view on this activity, the first one feels energized and enthusiastic and the second one is bored. Stephen Denning link this example with the practice of sharing knowledge in the organization, which is called knowledge management. Some people within the organization commit their working lives to making the best knowledge available to those who need it. They are honest and open to others. The source of their own personal growth is from the knowledge they spread within the organization, the benefits for them is the inherent value of sharing knowledge itself. Some people are practicing knowledge management on their own, it is to bring more money into the company, but for those who want to share their knowledge, they will find reward in the essential fact that the knowledge will be share. Stephen Denning says: A principal difference between these two different ways of viewing an activity is that when the activity generates sustained enthusiasm, the activity is being pursued for its own sake, not merely to achieve some instrumental or external good such as money, status, prestige, power, or winning. The perceived inherent worth of the activity being undertaken is foundational.† For Stephen Denning the enthusiasm toward an activity is important, because if you are enthusiastic for an activity, you will be for the own sake of this activity and not for some other instrumental goals. I totally agree with this vision, as I consider than even if you can be successful for an activity you dont really like, you wont have the same interest and implication to that activity that if youre really enthusiastic about it. When you are a leader your are face to certain situation that if you are not enthusiastic about what you are doing it will be difficult for you to find solutions or it will take you more time to do it, or you will not act you should do. The enthusiasm you could have for an activity can have influence on the people you are working with. The have feelings and can perceive if you are running for instrumental goals or if you find happiness on the own sake of an activity. It is an element to recognize basic leaders to outstanding ones. In some situation, Stephen Denning   take the example of prisoners in a concentration camps, people can find psychic energy to create meaning for their lives.   The people who are able to find inherent value in whatever they are doing are sometimes called â€Å"autotelic personalities†: they have the capacity to be intrinsically motivated by almost any activity. It is a great advantage of being able to find value in what you are doing and to be motivated in whatever you do, but I am sceptical on the degree of enthusiasm of those people. I agree in the fact that you can motivate yourself for some activities that you are not really into it, but I think their might be a difference in the level of implication and enthusiasm for activities that really fit to you and you personality and vision that the one which are not. Stephen Denning define the characteristics of activities that can generate sustained enthusiasm: The participants in the activity can see themselves making progress toward something that is good for its own sake, additional effort is a joy and not a burden. The participants experience their own personal growth and development as part of the activity. A balance between ability level and challenge—the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult—is also conducive to enthusiasm. The participants see themselves as contributing to, raising the sights of, and enhancing the efforts of other people pursuing the same activity. Ideally, the activity should bring some positive instrumental benefits: income, status, prestige. But even without that, it should at least be without negative instrumental effects. If those four elements are in place, there are chances that enthusiasm can be sustained. We can also notice that the primacy of goals pursued for their own sake in transformational leadership does not mean that instrumental benefits are unimportant. In practice, instrumental benefits reinforce the pursuit of goals for their own sake. Instrumental goals are complementary to enthusiasm and the pursued of goals by their own sake. But you have to remember that even if instrumental benefits are important, if you placed them first, enthusiasm is likely to die. You always have to consider the inherent value of the activity. For Stephen Denning: â€Å"One central aspect of the language of transformational leadership is therefore to articulate goals and activities in terms that can be viewed by participants as worthwhile in themselves, not merely pursued because they lead to instrumental benefits.† This is a fundamental quote that resume the importance of articulating a clear, inspiring goal. Those facts are true for leaders, but it is also true for corporations, they are most inspiring when they pursue large goals that are worthwhile in themselves. In this book, we find the example of Toyota, their goal is to: â€Å"to enrich society through the building of cars and trucks.† Also the example of Johnson Johnson who defines the companys responsibilities as first, to the consumers and medical professionals using its products, second, to employees and managers, third to the communities where its people work and live, and fourth and last, to its stockholders. Or Costco, their goal is to provide its members quality goods at low markups. Transformational leaders present their goals as larger than any particular task or organization or time-bound objective.   Stephen Denning take the example in politics: â€Å"Thus Abraham Lincoln can be assassinated, but his vision of a nation pursuing a new birth of freedom lives on. John F. Kennedy can be shot, but his vision of changing race relations in the United States is implemented by his successor. Martin Luther King Jr. can be murdered, but a whole nation continues the work that he started.† It is true that Goals that are articulated as worthwhile in themselves enhance the possibility of sustained enthusiasm, and hence the possibility of transformational leadership. But, articulating the goal as worthwhile in itself doesnt mean that listeners will necessarily see it in this way. Enthusiasm and finding reward in the activity your are pursuing is important, you find more energy and capabilities of reaching your goals and you know that when an activity is pursued for its own sake, the activity never ends. You are so convinced of the meaning and the importance of the activity that you want to reach a level of excellence, the activity will have no limits. It is what give us excitement when we are doing something we are convinced to do. In my opinion to be a good leader you should look for those feelings and excitement in an activity that will fulfill you needs. Or if you want to become a good leader it is the way you have to perceive an activity, you have to tend to those attempt. We are now going to see the importance of setting priorities among goals. 2. Setting Priorities Among Goals Leader fails a lot because they dont have a clear and inspiring goal or have too many of them. Leadership is such a demanding activity that any one individual can probably pursue no more than a couple of significant change ideas at any one time. It is essential to set priorities. Selecting a goal, or at most several goals, and then persevering is a requirement for success as a transformational leader. Stephen Denning take the example of Ronal Reagan, who was a single mindedness leader and politician.   He success was mainly based on a relatively small number of goals : defeating the Soviet Union and reducing taxes and the size of government. What I learn for the chapter tow of the part two of   The secret language of Leadership, is the importance of commitment and enthusiasm toward an activity in order to embrace inspiring goals that will be define clearly and focus on some   domains, in order to make the activity a success. The leaders own story Committing to the goal Stephen Denning starts this third chapter by pointing out the fact that Abraham Lincoln did not begin his presidency as a transformational leader. By definition, transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms individuals. It is often associated with ethics and involves long-term goals. Transformational leadership focuses on the process by which the leader engages with followers, and together create a connection that raises each of them to higher levels of motivation and morality. A transformational leader must be attentive to follower needs and motivation, and tries to help followers reach their full potential. It requires long term strategic planning, clear objectives, a clear vision, the efficiency of systems and processes According to B.M. Bass, one of the leading theorists on transformational leadership, the leader transforms and motivates followers by: making them more aware of the importance of task outcomes, inducing them to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the organization or team, and activating their higher order needs. Transformational leadership is concerned both with the performance of followers as well as developing them to their full potential. What make Stephen Denning says that Abraham Lincoln did not begin his presidency as a transformational leader is that he was explicit in declaring that he had no intent to abolish slavery to his earlier speeches. Its explicit goal was to preserve the Union at that time, which mad sense as there was no consensus for abolishing slavery. But soon, in 1862, nearly 2 years after the beginning of his presidency, he came to the view that the Union could not be preserved without abolishing slavery. Stephen Denning says: â€Å"Privately, he continued to argue that his goal remained the pragmatic one of preserving the Union. But publicly, Lincoln became a leader in a moral cause.† In December 1862 Abraham Lincoln made a speech to the Congress: We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We—even we here—hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free—honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just—a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.† This speech symbolize the moment when Lincoln became a transformational leader, he justified his action on instrumental and legal grounds. This new vision, based on moral grounds, Lincoln showed that it was something worthwhile in itself. With this changes Lincoln is proclaiming a new Union who want to restrain slavery, who will fulfill the promise of liberty. We can say that Lincoln is a transformational leader after this participation in the Congress in December 1862 because he stimulates people to want to do something different, inspiring them to higher levels of aspiration. Abraham Lincoln gives a new vision of what the United States should sand for: â€Å"government of the people, by the people, for the people† Stephen Denning came to the point of studying politicians as leaders. 1. Politicians as Leaders We often think of our politicians as leaders. But they are more oriented on the acquisition and retention of political office rather than being worried about people moral values and inspiring them to change. But if they do care, they usually survive in the world of politics. A successful politicians is one who is willing to fight, to attack the establish order, who is flexible. And who is able to preserve a public image of being honest, compassionate, moral and devout. Stephen Denning notice that: â€Å" Retaining power is principally about listening to the electorate. â€Å"If you want to get elected, learn to speak,† said Tom Daschle, former Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate. â€Å"If you want to stay elected, learn to listen.† It is difficult to understand the commitment to change of politicians and also ambiguous, because you are not 100% sure of what drive them to the commitment of their goals. Stephen Denning says that we should not be surprised of the lack of leadership in politics because nothing in the terminology of politics suggests that the people are electing â€Å"leaders†. Also that politicians have qualities like containing conflicts, guiding forces of change by giving direction, value and purpose but that it is not necessarily the qualities of a transformational leader. I agree with the fact that politicians have qualities and that it is not the sign of a transformational leader. But when you choose to elect a politician, you would like him to manage your country and maybe to make yourself more aware of the importance of task outcomes, for your own self-interest, you might want his politician to be concern of developing the population to its full potential. But it is that in reality that does not happen that much, or will we know it and we would live in a perfect world or close to the excellence ! 2. CEOs as Leaders Stephen Denning takes the example of Alan Klapmeier in Cirrus Design, a manufacturer of private aircraft. Alan wanted to introduce a new innovation that would change the industry, but its board of directors stopped him because they just completes a market research highlighting that this product elicited the least interest. Later Klapmeier convinced his board of directors, the innovation was introduced and it became a success. The decisive issue for the board of directors was not if the innovation was worthwhile but it was the institutional preoccupation. Stephen Denning says: â€Å" If a firm can focus its efforts on activities valuable in themselves where it has, or can develop, an edge over its competitors, social responsibility can become not a drag on the firms profitability but rather a strategic business opportunity. Companies can do well while doing good.† He also highlight the fact that is easier to pursue an inherently worthwhile purpose in a privately held corporation rather than in a publicly held corporation as their business tend to be faire-weather corporate citizens, they are under continuing pressure to grow and do whatever is profitable. Furthermore, pursuing goals that are both worthwhile and profitable doesnt remove the inherent tensions between the pursuit of worthwhile activities and the goal of enhancing the bottom line. We can see that it is not easy for a CEO to be a leader, it depends of the environment, the context; it is why a leader as to be flexible and can adapt easily to the environment. We can also say that in publicly own companies they have the same tools as private own companies so they can try harder to pursue an inherently worthwhile purpose by develop a challenging and attractive vision, together with the employees and translate it to actions, express confidence, decisiveness and optimism about the vision and its implementation, realize the vision through small planned steps for its full implementation. But we also have to balances with the fact that objectives are not the same in private and publicly own companies. Speaking to the CEO (NB: people of power will be called CEO) Leadership is here approached through change. The main question rose by the author is â€Å"How to communicate disruptive new ideas to people with great power†. This implies the question of the HOW of course, which is one of the Management science and research main concerns but there is also here a dimension not that often developed, its the communication with people having power. We often hear how to be a leader and get your team and â€Å"N-1† to do things but it is not that often that the target of power people (CEO) is approached. The key idea expressed here is â€Å"understanding†. The author emphasis on the human part of every individual and on the importance of the context. He thinks the person as an individual but part of a global scheme. To lead correctly you have to explore deeper and learn about personal individual. What are their preferences, hopes, manners, fears The idea here is to understand how people work inside, what trigger them. Because if you can understand the deeper needs of an individual you cant then easily figure out the proper way to communicate with him. You have then greater chances for him to listen to you and then to believe you. 1. Garry Williams and Robert Miller theory The author then develops a theory by Gary Williams and Robert Miller. They have agreed on 3 main leaders categories (80%): the charismatic, the skeptics and the followers, and they. then talk about thinkers and controllers (20%) Leaders needs: For charismatic: the boldness of idea should be featured For skeptical: need to hear the message from a person he trusts For risk averse follower: need to be reassured other people do it do Controller and thinkers: need details Trust Issue: The question of trust is developed. They distinguish here in the game of trust two different parties: the people in the inner circle of trust of the leader and the others. Inner Circle Not yet †trusted† Has the CEOs attention Sponsors the interaction Can be perceived as an opponent Can be perceived as irrelevant If so wont be listened to When aware of that, the challenges are easier to identify. The problem is here to focus on the CEOs interests and to make him believe in the idea you want to present to him by making it a part of himself. Committing to change The author uses here a powerful expression â€Å"Commitment mind, body and soul†. He explains here that to him the only way for a leader to succeed is to commit fully to an objective. The leader is here expected to â€Å"see intensively even obsessively, to feel it†. Being committed 100% is crucial for the leaders effectiveness, but the real problem is not to get him to convince the other but to get him passionate about the goal and get it to become a part of him. Because if strongly and intimately convinced he will be able to take the goal/company or team to a higher level. The leaders feelings stressed out? Feelings are often considered in Leadership theories, how to connect with people to make them do what is needed for the common goal (often the company)? But what I think is extremely interesting here is the consideration made to the leaders feelings. The question is not how to deal with the teams feelings but to analyze what thrive the leaders and how they handle their emotions. The Author here develops a little paragraph on how stressful it can be for a leader to become a leader. The two mains reasons to this stress would be : Steve Denning then points out the famous and classical world Leaders such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Kennedy who so intimately convinced had to pay the price of their life for their causes. To conclude this discussion I found important to highlight the phrase p79 telling that â€Å"its an opportunity to lift their game to a new level† because to me it sums up very well the basic structure of leadership that is to say the dimension of a vision. 2. Howell Raines leadership tale Steve Denning choose to introduce this chapter with a story: â€Å"The Howell Rainess leadership tale†. He tells us more about Howell Raines, former executive editor of the New York Times and the kind of leader he is and how he lived and tried to implement is change strategy. To sum up, Raines wanted the times to be the first on the news, with bigger and more original stories covered by what he called â€Å"overwhelming force†. He was familiar with the firm and the staff and had strong backing from his boss. One of the first thing is did was to use his right of fire and hire to create the dream team he had in mind. He did implemented change and got the Times to win a Pulitzer but after 19 months he was dismissed because of one of his reporter accused of plagiarism. The underlying reason was a bit different though, he was told to have â€Å"lost the newsroom†. What happened here is that despite his vision and that he strongly believed in what he intended to implement, he had failed to win â€Å"the hearts and minds â€Å"of his staff. He did not listened to his people enough and was perceived as very intimidating and aggressive. He did not succeed in taking other with him in his change strategy mainly because he underestimated his change strategy and its interaction with the staff. New audience: The author here develops the concept of audience evolution. Communication and management as we know it now is pretty recent in human history. â€Å"Once upon a time† people were not considering work like they are now. They had no specific expectations except earning money and would not even think work as a way of making them feel better, important and individually considered. There are 3 notions I will highlight that I think are crucial to understand this change of audience expectations: Quest for happiness: Nowadays we are in what I call the endless happiness quest, everyone wants and have to be happy by any means, and it of course includes work. People have more skills, are more educated and therefore expect more. They want something in return. New relation to authority figures: Another important thing that changes a lot the way the audience is acting is that we nowadays have a new relation towards authority, in private spheres (Family with your parents) and public spheres (at work with your boss). This is very important to keep in mind to understand why the audience acts in a certain way and what it expects. Expansion of diversity: We are dealing with more and more differences between people: â€Å"gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, life style, age group and geographical location† Understand that new audience: The problem is that dealing with different people means that you wont reach them with the same tools. What is the common point to every single individual? We are humans. And what is common to every human being? Emotions. Whatever we do, wherever we come from we are driven by emotions, whether we try to hide them or we work with them we are all emotional. This is what the leader has to use: Emotions. He has to keep in mind that we are all different, have different goals, ambitions, perspectives and needs but a way to get us to understand the other and get involve in change or in a project is to use our emotions, the one that thrives us to go to â€Å"another level†. The author emphasis a 2 dimensions individual with a surface and a deeper world. To make something of someone you have to go to the deeper world, and for this you have first to get to know the individual personal story. They question. They explore. They intuit. They wander. They mingle. They live in it. They listen. They watch.† Its a matter of imaginatively reaching out and getting inside the subjective world of the people who need to change and getting a sense of what it is like living in that world, so that the leaders feel its logic and power and order and compelling harmony† Finding and encouraging New leaders Steve Denning develops an idea that I find particularly interesting it is that leaders cant work alone. No matter how charismatic and how committed he is to his vision an idea he will need the others to make change happen. He speaks about middle hierarchy and calls them â€Å"evangelizers†. He then makes a parallel with Raines story and how he failed involving his staff in his change strategy. He ends that chapter with the concept of Narrative intelligence required for understanding the story of the change idea and the audiences story†. 3.Steve Denning vision of leadership Why Do People Change Their Minds? Stephen Denning explains us that there are 3 ways for people to change their mind: by actual experience, by observed experience, and by symbolic learning. Actual Experience: The way we are living and experiencing things around us can change the way we think about them, mostly because of the feelings we have when experiencing those things. When you feel a strong emotion doing something, you trend to pay attention to it and to remember it more easily and longer than when you dont feel anything. Observed Experience: Actual experience is not the only way to learn from experiences, observing events can have the same emotional effect as real-life experiencing. In the public arena, 9/11 changed the way many people viewed terrorism. Symbolic Learning: Most of the time the learning of an idea communicated symbolically is not as powerful as an experience but it can have similar physiological reactions. In the author case, the combination of direct experience, observed experience, and symbolic learning led to his spending a large part of his life devoted to international development. 1. Changing minds through direct or observed learning: The more immediately people are involved in an actual or observed experience, the more meaningful the learning will be, and the more impact they will have. Direct or observed learning in a business environment can be: acting, conversations, visits, role-playing, simulations, prototyping, training, Advantages of experiential learning (direct or observed): Emotions are involved Participants make up their own opinion (durability of the change) Experiential learning is more effective than passive learning Limits of experiential learning: Leaders dont always have the power to change peoples actual experiences Most of the leaders falls on the use of language as a way to change peoples mind 2. Persuading people to change through language Methods of persuading people change their minds Abstract Narrative Direct and explicit Appeal to reason through detailed evidence and arguments Narratives in which the object is to have the listener live the story as fully and movingly as possible Indirect and implicit Appeals to intuition, through cues, signs, heuristics and manipul The Secret Language of Leadership Steve Denning The Secret Language of Leadership Steve Denning Selected in 2000 as one of the worlds ten most admired knowledge leader, Steve Denning is an award winner for the books  «The secret language of leadership » and  «the leaders guide to storytelling ». He studied law and psychology in Sydney University and then went to Oxford in the UK for a law postgraduate degree. He worked in organization in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia and was until 2000 the program director Knowledge Management at the World Bank. In the book the Secret Language of Leadership, the steps that have to be achieved to become a successful leader are to get the attention, to stimulate desire, to reinforce the reason and to continue the conversation. To reach those, a leader has to use six enablers that will be describing in our analysis of the language of Leadership: key enablers. Articulating a clear, inspiring goal Stephen Denning starts his explanation of the key enablers of the language of Leadership by a quote o George Bernard Shaw: This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.† This quote shows us the importance we give on the recognition of the actions we can do or the goal we can reach. We will now analyze how important it is to articulate a clear, inspiring goal. Stephen Denning illustrate the chapter, Articulating a clear, inspiring goal, of his book; with the example of the company Apple. Steve Jobs the creator of Apple had created chaos in his company because even if he is a brilliant person he was not an inexperience chairman.   A new CEO took his place in 1983, John Sculley, who was a star manager of other big companies as Pepsi. Even if Sculley did a good job on stabilizing the corporation and rationnalized the products, the Apple staff was no supporting him. Sculley wanted to implement a shift in Apple life by producing low cost computers like Dell, but the staff was not interested in becoming just another computer company. They wanted to follow Steve Jobs goal of creating cool, innovative electronic products, a purpose that for themselves was worthwhile in itself. John Sculley was forced out in 1993, his instrumental goals were not embraced and he was not successful on inspiring Apple staff to pursue new goals energetically and enthusiastically. What the staff wanted was to pursue Apple original purpose, which was more seductive for them as they came into this company for those values. Michael Spindler, Sculleys successors met the same fate. Steve Jobs came back as the CEO of Apple, and he didnt try to change the company purpose, which he settled many years before. We now know the success of Apple, Steve Jobs became a great CEO and he spread the world with his initiate focus, which was designing cool, innovative electronic products. Apple is a success story and Steve Jobs is often associate to this success, even when he has medical trouble it has an important impact on Apple stock exchange. Steve Jobs is so link to Apple that every launching of his product and every keynote he does make a huge buzz. In my opinion and especially in the market of new technologies when a company his created with a new concept, a brand new idea, a new way to work and projection in the future; the people who mean to work for those values are so convince that it is what you have to reach that they wont consider any other proposition.   Sculley and Spindler did not take into consideration what was Apple staff considerations and first goals; it is why we ask them to quit the company. It is complicated to change the main purpose of a business and the common goals and ideas of a whole staff when there are extremely committed to it. Before making changes in a company you have to define a clear vision and history of what people working in are sensitive and committed to. 1. Articulating a Worthwhile purpose In this part, Stephen Denning set up the problematic of the importance of enduring enthusiasm. He is wondering why Steve Jobs could generate enduring enthusiasm while John Sculley couldnt. Stephen Denning take the example of two kids playing piano, one child loves it, its a joy for her to play, it fills her life with meaning and she wins prizes. Her joy of playing is even more important that the prizes or recognition she could get. An other child is forced by her parents to play, she has a natural aptitude for music but do not enjoy it so much. Those two girls have a different view on this activity, the first one feels energized and enthusiastic and the second one is bored. Stephen Denning link this example with the practice of sharing knowledge in the organization, which is called knowledge management. Some people within the organization commit their working lives to making the best knowledge available to those who need it. They are honest and open to others. The source of their own personal growth is from the knowledge they spread within the organization, the benefits for them is the inherent value of sharing knowledge itself. Some people are practicing knowledge management on their own, it is to bring more money into the company, but for those who want to share their knowledge, they will find reward in the essential fact that the knowledge will be share. Stephen Denning says: A principal difference between these two different ways of viewing an activity is that when the activity generates sustained enthusiasm, the activity is being pursued for its own sake, not merely to achieve some instrumental or external good such as money, status, prestige, power, or winning. The perceived inherent worth of the activity being undertaken is foundational.† For Stephen Denning the enthusiasm toward an activity is important, because if you are enthusiastic for an activity, you will be for the own sake of this activity and not for some other instrumental goals. I totally agree with this vision, as I consider than even if you can be successful for an activity you dont really like, you wont have the same interest and implication to that activity that if youre really enthusiastic about it. When you are a leader your are face to certain situation that if you are not enthusiastic about what you are doing it will be difficult for you to find solutions or it will take you more time to do it, or you will not act you should do. The enthusiasm you could have for an activity can have influence on the people you are working with. The have feelings and can perceive if you are running for instrumental goals or if you find happiness on the own sake of an activity. It is an element to recognize basic leaders to outstanding ones. In some situation, Stephen Denning   take the example of prisoners in a concentration camps, people can find psychic energy to create meaning for their lives.   The people who are able to find inherent value in whatever they are doing are sometimes called â€Å"autotelic personalities†: they have the capacity to be intrinsically motivated by almost any activity. It is a great advantage of being able to find value in what you are doing and to be motivated in whatever you do, but I am sceptical on the degree of enthusiasm of those people. I agree in the fact that you can motivate yourself for some activities that you are not really into it, but I think their might be a difference in the level of implication and enthusiasm for activities that really fit to you and you personality and vision that the one which are not. Stephen Denning define the characteristics of activities that can generate sustained enthusiasm: The participants in the activity can see themselves making progress toward something that is good for its own sake, additional effort is a joy and not a burden. The participants experience their own personal growth and development as part of the activity. A balance between ability level and challenge—the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult—is also conducive to enthusiasm. The participants see themselves as contributing to, raising the sights of, and enhancing the efforts of other people pursuing the same activity. Ideally, the activity should bring some positive instrumental benefits: income, status, prestige. But even without that, it should at least be without negative instrumental effects. If those four elements are in place, there are chances that enthusiasm can be sustained. We can also notice that the primacy of goals pursued for their own sake in transformational leadership does not mean that instrumental benefits are unimportant. In practice, instrumental benefits reinforce the pursuit of goals for their own sake. Instrumental goals are complementary to enthusiasm and the pursued of goals by their own sake. But you have to remember that even if instrumental benefits are important, if you placed them first, enthusiasm is likely to die. You always have to consider the inherent value of the activity. For Stephen Denning: â€Å"One central aspect of the language of transformational leadership is therefore to articulate goals and activities in terms that can be viewed by participants as worthwhile in themselves, not merely pursued because they lead to instrumental benefits.† This is a fundamental quote that resume the importance of articulating a clear, inspiring goal. Those facts are true for leaders, but it is also true for corporations, they are most inspiring when they pursue large goals that are worthwhile in themselves. In this book, we find the example of Toyota, their goal is to: â€Å"to enrich society through the building of cars and trucks.† Also the example of Johnson Johnson who defines the companys responsibilities as first, to the consumers and medical professionals using its products, second, to employees and managers, third to the communities where its people work and live, and fourth and last, to its stockholders. Or Costco, their goal is to provide its members quality goods at low markups. Transformational leaders present their goals as larger than any particular task or organization or time-bound objective.   Stephen Denning take the example in politics: â€Å"Thus Abraham Lincoln can be assassinated, but his vision of a nation pursuing a new birth of freedom lives on. John F. Kennedy can be shot, but his vision of changing race relations in the United States is implemented by his successor. Martin Luther King Jr. can be murdered, but a whole nation continues the work that he started.† It is true that Goals that are articulated as worthwhile in themselves enhance the possibility of sustained enthusiasm, and hence the possibility of transformational leadership. But, articulating the goal as worthwhile in itself doesnt mean that listeners will necessarily see it in this way. Enthusiasm and finding reward in the activity your are pursuing is important, you find more energy and capabilities of reaching your goals and you know that when an activity is pursued for its own sake, the activity never ends. You are so convinced of the meaning and the importance of the activity that you want to reach a level of excellence, the activity will have no limits. It is what give us excitement when we are doing something we are convinced to do. In my opinion to be a good leader you should look for those feelings and excitement in an activity that will fulfill you needs. Or if you want to become a good leader it is the way you have to perceive an activity, you have to tend to those attempt. We are now going to see the importance of setting priorities among goals. 2. Setting Priorities Among Goals Leader fails a lot because they dont have a clear and inspiring goal or have too many of them. Leadership is such a demanding activity that any one individual can probably pursue no more than a couple of significant change ideas at any one time. It is essential to set priorities. Selecting a goal, or at most several goals, and then persevering is a requirement for success as a transformational leader. Stephen Denning take the example of Ronal Reagan, who was a single mindedness leader and politician.   He success was mainly based on a relatively small number of goals : defeating the Soviet Union and reducing taxes and the size of government. What I learn for the chapter tow of the part two of   The secret language of Leadership, is the importance of commitment and enthusiasm toward an activity in order to embrace inspiring goals that will be define clearly and focus on some   domains, in order to make the activity a success. The leaders own story Committing to the goal Stephen Denning starts this third chapter by pointing out the fact that Abraham Lincoln did not begin his presidency as a transformational leader. By definition, transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms individuals. It is often associated with ethics and involves long-term goals. Transformational leadership focuses on the process by which the leader engages with followers, and together create a connection that raises each of them to higher levels of motivation and morality. A transformational leader must be attentive to follower needs and motivation, and tries to help followers reach their full potential. It requires long term strategic planning, clear objectives, a clear vision, the efficiency of systems and processes According to B.M. Bass, one of the leading theorists on transformational leadership, the leader transforms and motivates followers by: making them more aware of the importance of task outcomes, inducing them to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the organization or team, and activating their higher order needs. Transformational leadership is concerned both with the performance of followers as well as developing them to their full potential. What make Stephen Denning says that Abraham Lincoln did not begin his presidency as a transformational leader is that he was explicit in declaring that he had no intent to abolish slavery to his earlier speeches. Its explicit goal was to preserve the Union at that time, which mad sense as there was no consensus for abolishing slavery. But soon, in 1862, nearly 2 years after the beginning of his presidency, he came to the view that the Union could not be preserved without abolishing slavery. Stephen Denning says: â€Å"Privately, he continued to argue that his goal remained the pragmatic one of preserving the Union. But publicly, Lincoln became a leader in a moral cause.† In December 1862 Abraham Lincoln made a speech to the Congress: We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We—even we here—hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free—honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just—a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.† This speech symbolize the moment when Lincoln became a transformational leader, he justified his action on instrumental and legal grounds. This new vision, based on moral grounds, Lincoln showed that it was something worthwhile in itself. With this changes Lincoln is proclaiming a new Union who want to restrain slavery, who will fulfill the promise of liberty. We can say that Lincoln is a transformational leader after this participation in the Congress in December 1862 because he stimulates people to want to do something different, inspiring them to higher levels of aspiration. Abraham Lincoln gives a new vision of what the United States should sand for: â€Å"government of the people, by the people, for the people† Stephen Denning came to the point of studying politicians as leaders. 1. Politicians as Leaders We often think of our politicians as leaders. But they are more oriented on the acquisition and retention of political office rather than being worried about people moral values and inspiring them to change. But if they do care, they usually survive in the world of politics. A successful politicians is one who is willing to fight, to attack the establish order, who is flexible. And who is able to preserve a public image of being honest, compassionate, moral and devout. Stephen Denning notice that: â€Å" Retaining power is principally about listening to the electorate. â€Å"If you want to get elected, learn to speak,† said Tom Daschle, former Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate. â€Å"If you want to stay elected, learn to listen.† It is difficult to understand the commitment to change of politicians and also ambiguous, because you are not 100% sure of what drive them to the commitment of their goals. Stephen Denning says that we should not be surprised of the lack of leadership in politics because nothing in the terminology of politics suggests that the people are electing â€Å"leaders†. Also that politicians have qualities like containing conflicts, guiding forces of change by giving direction, value and purpose but that it is not necessarily the qualities of a transformational leader. I agree with the fact that politicians have qualities and that it is not the sign of a transformational leader. But when you choose to elect a politician, you would like him to manage your country and maybe to make yourself more aware of the importance of task outcomes, for your own self-interest, you might want his politician to be concern of developing the population to its full potential. But it is that in reality that does not happen that much, or will we know it and we would live in a perfect world or close to the excellence ! 2. CEOs as Leaders Stephen Denning takes the example of Alan Klapmeier in Cirrus Design, a manufacturer of private aircraft. Alan wanted to introduce a new innovation that would change the industry, but its board of directors stopped him because they just completes a market research highlighting that this product elicited the least interest. Later Klapmeier convinced his board of directors, the innovation was introduced and it became a success. The decisive issue for the board of directors was not if the innovation was worthwhile but it was the institutional preoccupation. Stephen Denning says: â€Å" If a firm can focus its efforts on activities valuable in themselves where it has, or can develop, an edge over its competitors, social responsibility can become not a drag on the firms profitability but rather a strategic business opportunity. Companies can do well while doing good.† He also highlight the fact that is easier to pursue an inherently worthwhile purpose in a privately held corporation rather than in a publicly held corporation as their business tend to be faire-weather corporate citizens, they are under continuing pressure to grow and do whatever is profitable. Furthermore, pursuing goals that are both worthwhile and profitable doesnt remove the inherent tensions between the pursuit of worthwhile activities and the goal of enhancing the bottom line. We can see that it is not easy for a CEO to be a leader, it depends of the environment, the context; it is why a leader as to be flexible and can adapt easily to the environment. We can also say that in publicly own companies they have the same tools as private own companies so they can try harder to pursue an inherently worthwhile purpose by develop a challenging and attractive vision, together with the employees and translate it to actions, express confidence, decisiveness and optimism about the vision and its implementation, realize the vision through small planned steps for its full implementation. But we also have to balances with the fact that objectives are not the same in private and publicly own companies. Speaking to the CEO (NB: people of power will be called CEO) Leadership is here approached through change. The main question rose by the author is â€Å"How to communicate disruptive new ideas to people with great power†. This implies the question of the HOW of course, which is one of the Management science and research main concerns but there is also here a dimension not that often developed, its the communication with people having power. We often hear how to be a leader and get your team and â€Å"N-1† to do things but it is not that often that the target of power people (CEO) is approached. The key idea expressed here is â€Å"understanding†. The author emphasis on the human part of every individual and on the importance of the context. He thinks the person as an individual but part of a global scheme. To lead correctly you have to explore deeper and learn about personal individual. What are their preferences, hopes, manners, fears The idea here is to understand how people work inside, what trigger them. Because if you can understand the deeper needs of an individual you cant then easily figure out the proper way to communicate with him. You have then greater chances for him to listen to you and then to believe you. 1. Garry Williams and Robert Miller theory The author then develops a theory by Gary Williams and Robert Miller. They have agreed on 3 main leaders categories (80%): the charismatic, the skeptics and the followers, and they. then talk about thinkers and controllers (20%) Leaders needs: For charismatic: the boldness of idea should be featured For skeptical: need to hear the message from a person he trusts For risk averse follower: need to be reassured other people do it do Controller and thinkers: need details Trust Issue: The question of trust is developed. They distinguish here in the game of trust two different parties: the people in the inner circle of trust of the leader and the others. Inner Circle Not yet †trusted† Has the CEOs attention Sponsors the interaction Can be perceived as an opponent Can be perceived as irrelevant If so wont be listened to When aware of that, the challenges are easier to identify. The problem is here to focus on the CEOs interests and to make him believe in the idea you want to present to him by making it a part of himself. Committing to change The author uses here a powerful expression â€Å"Commitment mind, body and soul†. He explains here that to him the only way for a leader to succeed is to commit fully to an objective. The leader is here expected to â€Å"see intensively even obsessively, to feel it†. Being committed 100% is crucial for the leaders effectiveness, but the real problem is not to get him to convince the other but to get him passionate about the goal and get it to become a part of him. Because if strongly and intimately convinced he will be able to take the goal/company or team to a higher level. The leaders feelings stressed out? Feelings are often considered in Leadership theories, how to connect with people to make them do what is needed for the common goal (often the company)? But what I think is extremely interesting here is the consideration made to the leaders feelings. The question is not how to deal with the teams feelings but to analyze what thrive the leaders and how they handle their emotions. The Author here develops a little paragraph on how stressful it can be for a leader to become a leader. The two mains reasons to this stress would be : Steve Denning then points out the famous and classical world Leaders such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Kennedy who so intimately convinced had to pay the price of their life for their causes. To conclude this discussion I found important to highlight the phrase p79 telling that â€Å"its an opportunity to lift their game to a new level† because to me it sums up very well the basic structure of leadership that is to say the dimension of a vision. 2. Howell Raines leadership tale Steve Denning choose to introduce this chapter with a story: â€Å"The Howell Rainess leadership tale†. He tells us more about Howell Raines, former executive editor of the New York Times and the kind of leader he is and how he lived and tried to implement is change strategy. To sum up, Raines wanted the times to be the first on the news, with bigger and more original stories covered by what he called â€Å"overwhelming force†. He was familiar with the firm and the staff and had strong backing from his boss. One of the first thing is did was to use his right of fire and hire to create the dream team he had in mind. He did implemented change and got the Times to win a Pulitzer but after 19 months he was dismissed because of one of his reporter accused of plagiarism. The underlying reason was a bit different though, he was told to have â€Å"lost the newsroom†. What happened here is that despite his vision and that he strongly believed in what he intended to implement, he had failed to win â€Å"the hearts and minds â€Å"of his staff. He did not listened to his people enough and was perceived as very intimidating and aggressive. He did not succeed in taking other with him in his change strategy mainly because he underestimated his change strategy and its interaction with the staff. New audience: The author here develops the concept of audience evolution. Communication and management as we know it now is pretty recent in human history. â€Å"Once upon a time† people were not considering work like they are now. They had no specific expectations except earning money and would not even think work as a way of making them feel better, important and individually considered. There are 3 notions I will highlight that I think are crucial to understand this change of audience expectations: Quest for happiness: Nowadays we are in what I call the endless happiness quest, everyone wants and have to be happy by any means, and it of course includes work. People have more skills, are more educated and therefore expect more. They want something in return. New relation to authority figures: Another important thing that changes a lot the way the audience is acting is that we nowadays have a new relation towards authority, in private spheres (Family with your parents) and public spheres (at work with your boss). This is very important to keep in mind to understand why the audience acts in a certain way and what it expects. Expansion of diversity: We are dealing with more and more differences between people: â€Å"gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, life style, age group and geographical location† Understand that new audience: The problem is that dealing with different people means that you wont reach them with the same tools. What is the common point to every single individual? We are humans. And what is common to every human being? Emotions. Whatever we do, wherever we come from we are driven by emotions, whether we try to hide them or we work with them we are all emotional. This is what the leader has to use: Emotions. He has to keep in mind that we are all different, have different goals, ambitions, perspectives and needs but a way to get us to understand the other and get involve in change or in a project is to use our emotions, the one that thrives us to go to â€Å"another level†. The author emphasis a 2 dimensions individual with a surface and a deeper world. To make something of someone you have to go to the deeper world, and for this you have first to get to know the individual personal story. They question. They explore. They intuit. They wander. They mingle. They live in it. They listen. They watch.† Its a matter of imaginatively reaching out and getting inside the subjective world of the people who need to change and getting a sense of what it is like living in that world, so that the leaders feel its logic and power and order and compelling harmony† Finding and encouraging New leaders Steve Denning develops an idea that I find particularly interesting it is that leaders cant work alone. No matter how charismatic and how committed he is to his vision an idea he will need the others to make change happen. He speaks about middle hierarchy and calls them â€Å"evangelizers†. He then makes a parallel with Raines story and how he failed involving his staff in his change strategy. He ends that chapter with the concept of Narrative intelligence required for understanding the story of the change idea and the audiences story†. 3.Steve Denning vision of leadership Why Do People Change Their Minds? Stephen Denning explains us that there are 3 ways for people to change their mind: by actual experience, by observed experience, and by symbolic learning. Actual Experience: The way we are living and experiencing things around us can change the way we think about them, mostly because of the feelings we have when experiencing those things. When you feel a strong emotion doing something, you trend to pay attention to it and to remember it more easily and longer than when you dont feel anything. Observed Experience: Actual experience is not the only way to learn from experiences, observing events can have the same emotional effect as real-life experiencing. In the public arena, 9/11 changed the way many people viewed terrorism. Symbolic Learning: Most of the time the learning of an idea communicated symbolically is not as powerful as an experience but it can have similar physiological reactions. In the author case, the combination of direct experience, observed experience, and symbolic learning led to his spending a large part of his life devoted to international development. 1. Changing minds through direct or observed learning: The more immediately people are involved in an actual or observed experience, the more meaningful the learning will be, and the more impact they will have. Direct or observed learning in a business environment can be: acting, conversations, visits, role-playing, simulations, prototyping, training, Advantages of experiential learning (direct or observed): Emotions are involved Participants make up their own opinion (durability of the change) Experiential learning is more effective than passive learning Limits of experiential learning: Leaders dont always have the power to change peoples actual experiences Most of the leaders falls on the use of language as a way to change peoples mind 2. Persuading people to change through language Methods of persuading people change their minds Abstract Narrative Direct and explicit Appeal to reason through detailed evidence and arguments Narratives in which the object is to have the listener live the story as fully and movingly as possible Indirect and implicit Appeals to intuition, through cues, signs, heuristics and manipul

Mix of Pagan and Christian Ideas in Beowulf :: Epic of Beowulf Essay

The Mix of Pagan and Christian Ideas in Beowulf Beowulf was written in England around 1000 AD. "This provides us with an idea of a poem that was written during a time when the society had converted from paganism to christianity"(Cohen 138). "We know that paganism did exist alongside Christianity during the approximate era that Beowulf was composed"(Hall 61). "The Christian influences were combined with early folklore and heroic legends of dramatic tribes, early Beowulf scholars began to investigate whether or not Christian and biblical influences were added later to originally pagan influences"(Hall 61). "The Christian elements are almost without exception so deeply ingrained in the fabric of the poem that they cannot be explained away as the work of a reviser or later interpolator"(Klaeber 2). The fact that the two values are so closely intertwined in the poem, I believe that is the reason Beowulf has both Christian and pagan influences. The pagan elements in the epic poem Beowulf are evident in the characters superhuman personifications. Beowulf is depicted as a superhero. Beowulf takes it upon himself to save the Danes from Grendel. In his battle with Grendel, Beowulf chooses not to use weapons; he relies on his super strength. During the fight, Beowulf's strength takes over and Beowulf wrestles with Grendel until he is able to rip one of the monster's arms out of its socket. Superhuman feats also appear in the fight with Grendel's mother. When Beowulf enters the water, he swims downward for an entire day before he sees the bottom. He does this without the use of oxygen. During the battle with Grendel's mother, Beowulf realizes that Unferth's sword is useless against the monsters thick skin. He grabs an enormous sword made by giants, almost too heavy to hold and slashes through the monster's body. This superhero strength continues into the battle with the dragon. By this time, Beowulf is an old man. He stands up to the dragon and wounds him. Although Beowulf is fatally wounded himself, he still manages to deliver the final blow that kills the dragon. Grendel is also seen as a superhuman monster. Grendel has no knowledge of weapons so he too depends on his extraordinary strength to destroy his enemies. The dragon is also seen as a super powerful adversary. "As in most pagan folklore, the dragon is a much used enemy of the hero of the story"(Greenfield 87).

Cottle-Taylor Analysis

Question 1: Cottle-Taylor A company’s marketing mix strategy is key to their success. Thorough analysis is needed to assure that product attributes, distribution strategy, communication strategy and pricing strategy are all in line with the company’s strategic goal. The following analysis is of Cottle-Taylor’s marketing mix strategy in India. Product Attributes: Cottle-Taylor has three product categories in order to reach their three market segments: 1) Low-End Manual, 2) Mid-Range Manual, and 3) Battery-Operated. The manual toothbrush designs include â€Å"a variety of colors; all styles included rubber grips† (HBR 6).In the Low-End category Cottle-Taylor produced 5 different products with varying characteristics ranging from soft bristles, to flexible necks for minimal gum irritation, to kid sized brushes. This category contains a basic toothbrush with no significant innovation. The Mid-Range category has two products that have slightly more advanced fea tures such as multi-angled bristles and tongue cleaner. The Battery-Operated is the most advanced category in terms of innovation and product characteristics. It contains two electric toothbrush models with rotating bristles that perform 3,000 strokes a minute.Distribution Strategy: Cottle-Taylor has three distribution tactics in order to penetrate the large dispersed retail scene in India: 1) 20 distributors that focus on the large retail outlets in urban cities, 2) 250 medium sized distributors serving wholesalers and retailers in semi urban areas, and 3) â€Å"seed† distributors who work with over 300,000 outlets in small villages across the country (HBR 7). In the retail outlets in urban cities Cottle-Taylor mainly supplies their Mid-Range and Battery-Operated models to capitalize on higher-income Indians who shop at supermarkets.Cottle-Taylor uses â€Å"seed† distributors to supply the numerous small villages with its basic line. They see no value in building rela tionships because there are too many small stores and â€Å"seed† distributors speak the language. However, communicating key selling points was hard and assuring their products were visible in the small cluttered stores was impossible. Communication Strategy: Cottle-Taylor had three key communication messages in India: 1) Persuading consumers to brush for the first time, 2) Increasing incidences of brushing, and 3) Persuading consumers to upgrade to Mid-Range or PremiumProducts (HBR 8). They allocated 12% of sales on the advertising budget, which broke down into 9% for advertisements and 3% for promotions. The main target demographics are men and women ages 20-35 in rural and urban areas that currently brush or don’t brush. It is important to build awareness and educate consumers on the benefits of tooth brushing and they did this through the use of TV, radio, billboards and prints ads. Pricing Strategy: Cottle-Taylor prices their toothbrushes in respect to their targ et segments.The low-end brushes range from . 22-. 35 cents, the medium-end ranges from . 52-. 98 cents and the high-end ranges from $1-11. In terms of driving success in India, Cottle-Taylor’s strategy is strongest in the area of communication. They successfully positioned and communicated to customers that they are â€Å"an authority on oral care† (HBR 5) and consumers hold their products in high regard. Partnering with IDA has given their brand great credibility and helped them become an industry leader holding 47% of the oral care market share.As shown in Exhibit 5, Cottle-Taylor has experienced 53% growth in market share for toothbrushes from 2004-2009 and 47% growth in oral care market share. They ran successful campaigns where, â€Å"among rural residents†¦those exposed to the campaigns were twice as likely to adopt tooth brushing within a year than those who had not been exposed† (HBR 5). In just five years they have almost dominated the oral care ma rket and a key contributor to their success is their communication strategy.Their weakest strategy in the marketing mix is product attributes. It appears Cottle-Taylor has not fully understood their market segments when designing products for India. Looking at exhibit 8, it is clear the majority of demand is for the Low-End Manual with 87% of sales. The least amount of demand is for the Battery-Operated brush with only . 5% of sales. With 80% of the population in India living under $2 a day, does it make sense to market a high-end expensive product in India?Exhibit 4 shows that a very small percentage of Indians have sufficient amounts of disposable income to spend on expensive toothbrushes. India has a very small concentration of high income and a very large number of people living in poverty. The Battery-Operated brush is mainly marketed in urban areas however, â€Å"in 2009 roughly 78% of Indians lived in rural towns and villages and 22% in urban settings† (HBR 3). This is a very small percent of the population they are trying to capture with the high-end toothbrush. Overall, this is a very comprehensive marketing strategy.Cottle-Taylor has segmented the market and created specific products for each market. As mentioned earlier, the high-end segment does not have significant demand, which insinuates the segments could have been analyzed more. With this said, Cottle-Taylor has done a good job at navigating the complex retail scene in India through their distribution strategy. It is clear that Cottle-Taylor has successfully marketed their brand through communications mediums because there is high brand awareness and favorable brand positioning.

whooping chough essays

whooping chough essays Whooping cough which is also known as Pertussis is caused by infection by the Bordetella Pertussis bacteria. It is a highly contagious bacterial disease that affects the respiratory system and produces spasms of coughing that usually end in a high-pitched whooping sound. In this report I will describe how Pertussis is spread, contracted, what treatments are available for it and the prognosis for the patient. I will also tell you about the many symptoms of the disease. Pertussis is caused by Bordetella Pertussis the bacteria invades the nose and throat and then the trachea followed by the bronchial tubes of the lungs. People usually contract the bacteria through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Then people inhale or come in contact with the infected saliva. People who have been immunized in the past may still develop infection but it is usually atypical or very mild that is another cause of whooping cough. The incubation period is usually about 7 days. Pertussis is a round shaped gram positive bacteria. Some of the symptoms of Pertussis include runny nose, coughing that may be dry or may produce sputum. Along with a fever usually 102F or lower. Severe coughing attacks that ends in a high-pitched crowing sound when inhaling or it will end in a high-pitched "whoop". The coughing spells may end in a momentary loss of consciousness and or vomiting. It also results in difficulty at breathing. It also can cause some people to have diarrhea. When some small infants have long spells of coughing they usually begin to cry which causes them to choke on there own tears. Pertussis can be treated by DtaP which is a vaccine that protects children against the disease. During epidemics, health care providers or others at risk may be advised to receive a booster dose of the vaccine. The immunization is not 100 percent effective and has slowly becomes less effective over the ...