I recently took a trip to Guangzhou China to attend the Canton fair which is held twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall. The fair attracts almost a quarter million buyers and over 13,000 exhibitors in the five day period (Canton Fair, 2008). My goal for visit was to study the vendors and products represented in the fair, check the prices on certain items, and most importantly understand how the Chinese business operate.

Upon my arrival, I was stunned by the sheer size of the Pazhou complex. There was no doubt that this was one of the largest buildings I had ever been in. With 5.7 million square feet of exibit space, it puts even some of the biggest US airports to shame. This particular fair was dedicated mostly for IT and Electronic products, something that I have real interest in. There were exhibits for everything from wires, fuses, switches, TVs, mobile phones, to huge industrial power generators, buses, bulldozers and backhoes. There were anywhere from ten to twenty vendors for any product that one might be looking for.

I had the advantage of staying at an apartment with some local businessmen who work as “sourcing agents” for buyers all over Asia and beyond. During my stay there, I also got to meet buyers from India and Nepal who had been visiting China for several years. I took this opportunity to casually interview both the buyers and the agents on how the export business works. I was shocked by some of the stories they told me about their own experiences. Here are some of the lessons that I learned that can definitely be used Competitive Intelligence in the future. It should however be noted that my research was only from the Guangdong province. Though the business practices may be similar in other provinces, further research much be done before generalizing these statements to other parts of China.

1. First of all, I was reminded not to do business with any party unless I visited the factory myself. It turns out that it is not uncommon for someone to falsify the existence of their own manufacturing facility, when in fact they are just middlemen. In fact there were several exhibits in the fair representing the same manufacturer, offering different prices for the same exact product made by the same company. I found out that by dealing with the factory directly, you could get much better prices.

2. Quality was another major issue. Having done business from other Asian countries, I knew that the quality control is not as strict there as it is here in the U.S. However, my jaw dropped when I heard that one of the businessmen received packages that were either empty or full of rocks. This does not happen with big reputable companies, but this is definitely something to watch out for. There are third party QC agents that will watch the goods while they are loaded in the shipping containers for a small fee. The average rate for having an agent to take care of quality and shipping of goods is about 1% of the value of goods. This seems like a very modest fee compared to the risk that it can mitigate.

3. It was interesting to find out that every product had a city that specialized in its manufacturing. For example, Senzhen has high tech factories that manufacture consumer electronic products and PC parts. Fuzhou is famous for its textile and wood products. For fashion jewelry products you need to visit Yiwu. Knowing the city where your products are made gets you closer to the manufacturer so that you can not only negotiate better prices, but also maintain quality by visiting the factory while your goods are being manufactured.

4. It turns out that bargaining is big in China. But, I also found out that you must be careful when bargaining. Because of the competition and the pressure from buyers demanding cheaper goods, some of the manufactures cut the costs by compromising with quality. For example, one of the manufacturers of Christmas lights offered to sell the goods at a lower cost, but the end product ended up being inferior in quality. The manufacturer was able to meet the lower price bid by using fewer strands of copper in the wire than what the standard quality was. It is important to make an agreement on both the price and quality when negotiating. When possible a sample must be signed and kept by both the manufacture and the buyer so that the final product can be compared against before the goods are accepted.

5. Use of interpreters is very common in Guangzhou. I found out that being an interpreter is a very lucrative job in the city not just because of the pay, but also because of the potential for commissions through the suppliers. These interpreters may have their own “preferred” vendors that they would like you to purchase the goods from. It is important that you do your own research on what places and vendors you would like to visit.

I have attempted to take the information that I found talking to people in China, analyzed it, and presented it in this paper hoping that it will be useful to anyone wanting start doing business in China.
 
Bibliography
Canton Fair. (2008, 24 April). Retrieved April 26, 2008, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_Fair

Myburgh, S. (Mar/Apr2004, Vol. 38 Issue 2). Competitive Intelligence. The Information Management , 46-55.

Leadership is a set of qualities that people possess that allows them to influence others around them to the point that they want to follow his or her vision. Historically, leadership has been synonymous with power. People like Napoleon, George Washington, Ronald Reagan, and Winston Churchill were all great leaders with enormous power to change the world. But today in the knowledge and information driven world, “business is a war of ideas where the power to innovate and promote new products is the new basis of leadership” (Mitch McCrimmon).

Leadership qualities can come from birth, but they can also be learned through experience and practice. Sometimes we confuse a leader with someone who is extrovert. Being an extrovert can be a good asset for a leader, but it is not required. A person might be an excellent leader at work, but when they are in a social circle, they may step back and let others be the leader. So, a leader does not have to be leading 100% of the time. We can have an effective situational leader that steps up at the most opportune time and makes a difference. Oxford English Dictionary defines leadership as “the position of a group of people leading or influencing others within a given context” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989), which I very much agree with.

There are various types of leadership styles. Throughout history we see heroic leaders that have fought and won important battles, or stopped nations from going to battle. They are usually the center of attention and power and people are drawn to them for vision and protection. Manz and Sims call this type of leaders “Strong Man” leaders. The other type of leader is someone who has the power to influence other people to follow their visions. They may not necessarily hold much power (Wray, 2008), but their charismatic qualities makes people emotionally connect to them, and want to follow. This type of leader can be categorized as the “Visionary Hero” (Manz & Sims, 1995, p. 215).

Strong man, Visionary, and Charismatic leadership all work to an extent. These leadership styles work great in an ideal situation where the market competition, the economy, and jobs are stable. Unfortunately, the real world is more chaotic. It is not uncommon for leaders, even at the C levels to change jobs every five years. If people are too dependent on one leader to provide vision, the absence of that leader might shake the foundations of that company. “A strong, visible and energetic leader may spur different psychological response. Some individuals may become overly dependent upon the leader, and in some cases whole organizations become dependent. Everyone else stops initiating actions and waits for the leader to provide direction …” (Nadler & Tushman, 1995, p. 111) A solution to this problem would be to raise up leaders within the company so that anyone can step up to the challenge when the opportunity arises. “A Leader should be like a boat with swimmers all around it. And the swimmers are the followers who balance the boat” (Shivkumar, 2008). In this analogy that Shivkumar uses, the followers are the ones that provide stability to the boat. The swimmers can still stay afloat until another boat arrives.

In his essay titled Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu talks about leaders being like a Midwife where “the wise leader does not intervene unnecessarily. The leader’s presence is felt, but often the group runs itself” (Lao-tzu, 1995, p. 70). By allowing the followers to lead themselves, when a job is done, there is a sense of confidence instilled upon them that makes them strive for more.

In my opinion, a leader should not just passively let other people lead when the situation arrives. The leader should be proactive and intentional about trying to build other leaders. According to a survey done by John C. Maxwell during a leadership seminar, he found 85% of respondents attributed their leadership skills as coming from the influence of another leader. Only 10% of the participants said that their leadership skills were a natural gift for them, and 5% said that they came from working through a crisis. Even though this research was done on a small scale, it shows us that the most effective way to develop leaders is for other leaders to help them through the process. By raising multiple leaders, an organization breaks free from its dependence on a single leader figure. Empowering employees in this manner allows even people in the lower organizational structure to operate beyond the phenomena, facts, and data level in the scale of knowledge and work towards understanding the information and eventually gain wisdom (Gillette, 2002, p. 12).

Leadership tools:

Having a great leader is only a part of the puzzle. A leader also needs tools and resources that help him or her make the correct decisions and lead the group in territories that have never been charted before. One good way to gather this kind of information needed to make informed decisions is through Competitive Intelligence (CI). Competitive Intelligence (CI) is the ethical process of collecting, analyzing and applying information about the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and intentions of competitors in competitive arena (Miller, 2001, p. xi). Competition in any market is inevitable. Having already assembled the information about the market and your potential competitors gives you the advantage to succeed.

CI can be gathered through various means. The World Wide Web is a great resource for starting the initial research as long as the information comes from a reliable source. Even the competitor’s corporate website, press releases, prospectus and annual reports can be of great value. There are also paid services through companies like Lexis Nexis, S&P, Dow Jones Hoover’s that provide invaluable information for competitive analysis. When possible, the CI should be gathered and distributed proactively instead of on a per request basis. In order to do this, there needs to be a proper method for storage and retrieval of intelligence information. This is where the process of Knowledge Management comes into play.

Role of Knowledge management:

Knowledge management is the process that defines the proper methods for gathering, storing, and retrieval of information. In the field of Competitive Intelligence every piece of data about the competitor is valuable. This information must be stored in a database and easy access must be provided to it using a web portal so anyone that has the right privileges to view it may do so. The information must be kept current by updating it on a regular basis. Having a Knowledge Management (KM) system like this reduces the load of the CI analysts so that they can spend more time doing research.

The input for the KM systems should come from multiple sources. The leaders of the companies are great resource for gathering intelligence for the KM system because they are also the ones that are in contact with customers, competitors and other stake holders.

Strategic use of Information:

A good CI Knowledge Management system provides a great tool for the leaders of the company to make strategic decisions. This information can be used against the competitors to get ahead in the market. Other times it may be a more strategic move to form a partnership with the competing company, or even merge, for greater benefits for both parties.

It is much more common for businesses to find the weakness of a competitor and then attack it. Even though this is a valid strategic move, according to Roberts, this just makes the competitor realize their mistakes and come back stronger. A better strategy, according to Robert, is to find the strengths of the company and try to excel in those areas. “Attacking a competitor’s weakness only leads to marginal changes in the market position. Significant gains can only be made by attacking the heartbeat of that competitor’s strategy (Robert, 1997, p. 153).

According to Dr. Gillete, in the scale of Knowledge, information exists in 6 levels:

1. Wisdom
2. Understanding
3. Information
4. Data
5. Facts
6. Phenomena

Information starts out as phenomena, which is simply an idea. It then moves up the chain until it becomes wisdom, which is the ability to discern and make judgment calls (Gillette, 2002, p. Table 2).
One can separate a mediocre leader from someone that is outstanding by looking at what level of the scale of Knowledge they operate in. Knowledge workers tend to hover at the Data and Information level and sometimes at the Understanding level. Only a good leader can operate at the level of wisdom and guide the company’s future.

Conclusion:
Leadership comes in different styles and forms. There is not a single style of leadership that will work in every situation. Depending on the culture, ethics, and legal grounds, one should be able to practice various leadership styles. Even though there are differences, there are a few qualities that are common to all. An effective leader is able to build strength using the workers as the foundation. They are also able to use information strategically and make decisions that are based on wisdom and lead to ultimate success of a company.

References

(1989). Retrieved March 31, 2008, from Oxford English Dictionary: http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50130907?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=leadership&first=1&max_to_show=10

Breeding, B. (2001). CI and KM Convergence: A Case Study at Shell Services International. In J. E. Prescott, & S. H.
Miller, Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence : Lessons from the Trenches (pp. 45-68). New York: John Wiley & Sons, INC.

Gillette, J. E. (2002). A practical framework for understanding KM. In Knowledge Management Strategy and Technology (pp. 1-22). Boston and London: Arctech House.

Lao-tzu. (1995). Tao Te Ching. In T. J. Wren, The Leader's Companion: Insights on leadership Through the Ages (pp. 69-71). New York: Free Press.

Lunsford, S. (2008, March 5). Organizational Leadership: Group Accomplishment through Outstanding Culture. Retrieved March 31, 2008, from CICS Weblogs: http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/solunsford/2008/03/organizational_leadership_grou.html#more

Manz, C. C., & Sims, P. H. (1995). SuperLeadership: Beyond the Myth of Herioc Leadership. In T. J. Wren, Leader's Companion. Insight on Leadership Through the Ages (pp. 212-221). New York: The Free Press.

Miller, S. H. (2001). Corporations Get Smart. In J. E. Prescott, & S. H. Miller, Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence: Lessons from the Trenches (pp. xi-xv). New York: John Wiley & Sons, INC.

Mitch McCrimmon, P. (n.d.). What is Leadership? Retrieved April 1, 2008, from Leadersdirect: http://www.leadersdirect.com/leadership.html

Nadler, D. A., & Tushman, M. L. (1995). Beyond the Charismatic Leader: Leadership and Organizational Change. In T. J. Wren, The Leader's Companion. Insights on Leadership through the Ages (pp. 108-113). New York: The Free Press.

Robert, M. (1997). Strategy Pure and Simple II: How Winning Companies Dominate their Competitors . New York: McGraw-Hill.

Shivkumar, D. (2008, March 21). European Renaissance and the Information Renaissance: Derivatives of Leadership Part 2. Retrieved March 31, 2008, from CICS Weblogs: http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/dsivakumar/2008/03/european_renaissance_and_the_i_1.html#more

Wray, A. (2008, January 29). How Princes Should Keep Faith. Retrieved March 31, 2008, from CICS Weblogs: http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/amwray/2008/01/how_princes_should_keep_faith.html

Wren, J. T. (1995). Leader's Companion: Insights on leadership through the ages. New York: The Free Press.

Competitive Intelligence (CI) is the ethical process of collecting, analyzing and applying information about the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and intentions of competitors in competitive arena (Miller, 2001, p. xi). Competition in any market is inevitable. Having already assembled the information about the market and your potential competitors gives you the advantage to succeed.

Competition comes in various forms and it is not possible to fend off all competition at the same time. A company should use CI strategically, and decide which competitors to target. Sometimes, it may be wise for a company to take a step back, and not compete at all (Robert, 1997, p. 143).

Gathering Intelligence:

As long as the process is ethical, there is no single correct way of gathering CI. The competitor’s website, prospectus, or annual report is usually the best place to start. Web search engines can also be a good resource as long as the authenticity of the source can be verified. There are also pay for use services like Lexis Nexis, Dow Jones, Hoover’s, Standards & Poor’s, and NEWSEDGE that provide intelligence for various disciplines (Breeding, 2001, p. 53). Before a report is produced from this information, it is vital that the researcher know who his audience is. The CEO of the company may use CI differently than a salesman. Knowing who the user is and how the information is going to be used will provide the most accurate information.

In order to offer maximum benefits, the CI department needs to operate proactively instead of reacting only to individual requests. Having the information on hand saves time and resources.

Once a piece of intelligence is gathered, it must be stored for easy access by all authorized parties. This is where Knowledge Management comes into play. The key to successful implementation of Knowledge Management Systems are “information reusability and self-access features. Once the information is compiled, it is sent to a central place (where it is constantly updated) and is ready to be accessed a second, third, fourth….time. Each additional time it’s accessed, the cost to assemble the information is virtually nothing” (Breeding, 2001, p. 55). The Knowledge Management system can be setup as an intranet/internet portal that is protected and available only to authorized company personnel.

The CI information must be continually updated. Outdated and incorrect CI information is worse than having no intelligence at all. A significant amount of a CI analyst’s time should be spent on reading news articles and news alerts, and keeping the CI knowledge system up to date.

CI in global economy:

In today’s world, competition comes from domestic as well as international players. In order to gather intelligence on a foreign company, the CI analyst must overcome several challenges, cultural differences being one of the biggest factors. In order to accurately evaluate a piece of data, the CI analyst needs to understand the cultural norms and local rules and regulations. An action that is that is acceptable in United States may be against the law in other countries or vice versa. “For example, unless it is authorized by a court order, intercepting a competitor’s faxes or cell phone calls is viewed to be both illegal and un-ethical in the United States – a practice sometimes associated with CI that remains above the law in variety of other countries (Blenkhorn & Fleisher, 2005, p. 7).

The CI analyst must also be aware of the political situation and stability of the country when doing business globally. The United States has enjoyed a stable government for a long time. However, in countries like Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Nigeria, the political situation has historically been unstable, causing violence and unexpected business closures. Having critical CI like this can help the company decide whether it should try to penetrate these markets or not.

Strategic use of Information:

Having a good CI of the marketplace does not necessarily make a company successful. The strategists of the company need to review the CI carefully and make decisions about how to play the game of competition. A natural business move might be to find all the flaws and weaknesses of the competitor and attack them in those areas. This may prove to be effective in the short run, but according to Michael Robert, this strategy only makes the competitor recognize those weaknesses and come back stronger (Robert, 1997, p. 153). A better strategy, according to Robert, is to find the strengths of the company and try to excel in those areas. “Attacking a competitor’s weakness only leads to marginal changes in the market position. Significant gains can only be made by attacking the heartbeat of that competitor’s strategy (Robert, 1997, p. 153).

Even in the same industry, for example, the automobile industry, the manufacturers are competing against each other on various grounds. Although they are all after the market share, not all companies are in direct competition. “To understand the competitor’s strategy for being there, one needs to identify each competitor’s driving force and business concept” (Robert, 1997, p. 152) Toyota is out there to beat GM in the market share and become the world’s largest car company. On the other hand, Honda’s driving force is its engine technology. Volvo’s target markets are families with children that are looking for safe cars whereas BMW caters to drivers that demand performance.

A new entrant in the car business might strategically choose to avoid direct competition by manufacturing small electric vehicles that give very good gas mileage. The Smart car has done just that. By differentiating themselves from the rest, Smart cars are gaining popularity in urban areas where commuting and parking are major issues. Subaru, on the other hand, has taken up the challenge to go head to head with Volvo in offering safer cars. Instead of building on the weaknesses of Volvo, Subaru decided to offer only all wheel drive technology in all their models. Subaru targeted Volvo in one of their advertising campaigns by showing a Volvo car crashed into the wall and the passengers walking away uninjured. On the bottom of the ad was a Subaru stopped one yard from the wall. The caption read “If you want to be in an accident, buy a Volvo. If you want to prevent an accident, buy a Subaru” (Robert, 1997, p. 156). By directly attacking the strength of its competitor, Subaru has gained a lot of trust with consumers as being one of the safest cars available.

Conclusion:

There are lots of different ways to gather CI and manage it using Knowledge Management Systems. But, the success of the company relies on how effectively they are able to use this CI. In certain cases, it makes sense to back out of the competition and choose a different market. In other cases, one needs to attack the strength of the competitor directly to make significant gains. In either case, one needs to target a single competitor at a time. Starting a war on two fronts is never a good strategy.

References

Blenkhorn, D. L., & Fleisher, C. S. (2005). The State of Our Understanding of Research and Practice in Competitive Intelligence and Global Business. In D. L. Blenkhorn, & C. S. Fleisher, Competitive Intelligence and Global Business (pp. 3-16). Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.

Breeding, B. (2001). CI and KM Convergence: A Case Study at Shell Services International. In J. E. Prescott, & S. H. Miller, Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence : Lessons from the Trenches (pp. 45-68). New York: John Wiley & Sons, INC.

Miller, S. H. (2001). Corporations Get Smart. In J. E. Prescott, & S. H. Miller, Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence: Lessons from the Trenches (pp. xi-xv). New York: John Wiley & Sons, INC.

Robert, M. (1997). Strategy Pure and Simple II: How Winning Companies Dominate their Competitors . New York: McGraw-Hill.

Charismatic leaders are able to get people to rally behind the leader’s vision and move them towards the goal that the leader has set forth. However, in the current world that we live in, we need leaders to go beyond this. We need leaders that can, in a sense, “pass on the genes”, raising more leaders like themselves. This paper explains why it is important for leaders to cross this boundary and become a “Super Leader” (Nadler & Tushman, 1995, p. 108).

When we think about a charismatic leader, we picture a person who is able to get people to follow his or her dreams and visions, not by force, but because of the shared values and goals with which the followers can identify. These leaders have an aura around them that generates energy and excitement, creating a bond that makes the followers want to commit to the vision that the leader has set forth. Charismatic leaders are also confident in their ability to lead and succeed. “Charismatic leaders demonstrate empathy – the ability to listen and understand, and share the feelings of those in the organization. They express support for individuals. Perhaps most importantly, the charismatic leader tends to express his/her confidence in people’s ability to perform effectively and to meet challenges” (Nadler & Tushman, 1995).

As the economy and our workplace changes, so does the role of a leader. Even one generation ago, it was very common for a person to spend their entire career in one company. Companies like GM, Ford, IBM, Kodak, Boeing, and AT&T were the backbone of the economy and were very stable sources of employment. A charismatic leader would have worked great in this culture as they would not only provide the vision but also have enough time with the company to allow them to make sure that the visions were followed through to completion.

Times of Change:

The work situation in today’s fast paced world is quite different than even a few decades ago. The competition in today’s global economy is fierce. GM, Ford and Chrysler no longer enjoy the market share that they held back in the 1970’s and 80’s. Toyota just surpassed Chrysler and Ford, gaining 15% of the total U.S. market share, and is expected to surpass GM in the near future (Taylor, 2007).

Kodak, another U.S. born company, has also seen competition from Japanese counterparts like Nikon, Canon, and Fuji in its electronics, film, and print processing markets. Kodak has also suffered greatly because of the transition from film to digital negatives. Even though Kodak continues to manufacture consumer digital cameras, it has totally lost the market share of professional equipment.

We are also moving from a manufacturing based economy to service and informational economy. According the U.S. Department of Labor, “Service-providing industries will generate almost all of the employment gain from 2006 to 2016 and will provide more than three-quarters of all jobs in 2016” (Employment Projections: 2006-16 Summary, 2007). This shift in the job marketplace is making it easier for people to change employment. A knowledge worker, for example a software engineer, can easily change jobs (and even industries) without any downtime, as opposed to a factory worker who is trained to work on a car assembly line. It is not uncommon for a working professional to get a new job every five years. This “job hopping” is taking place not only at the worker level, but also with the leaders of the company.

The loss of a leader can be very tough, especially if the leader was charismatic. The same charisma that made the company shine could break the company when the leader leaves. “A strong, visible and energetic leader may spur different psychological response. Some individuals may become overly dependent upon the leader, and in some cases whole organizations become dependent. Everyone else stops initiating actions and waits for the leader to provide direction …” (Nadler & Tushman, 1995, p. 111).

Beyond charisma:

Today’s organizations need leaders need more than charismatic qualities. In order to continue the success of an organization, a leader needs to lead others to lead themselves (Manz & Sims, 1995, p. 213). Manz and Sims call this SuperLeadership. While a charismatic leader’s source of wisdom comes mostly from his visions, a SuperLeader draws his/her wisdom mostly from the followers. Followers’ response to a SuperLeader is stronger as it is based on commitment and ownership of the organizational direction. On the other hand, followers of a charismatic leader make emotional commitment to the leader’s vision, which can easily be broken (Manz & Sims, 1995, p. 215).
The theory that SuperLeadership works better than charismatic leadership is further confirmed by John C. Maxwell’s informal research on how people become leaders. The results of Maxwell’s survey during a leadership conference can be summarized in table 1 (Maxwell, 1998, p. 133):

By raising multiple leaders, an organization breaks free from its dependence on a single leader figure. Empowering employees in this manner allows even people in the lower organizational structure to operate beyond the phenomena, facts and data level in the scale of knowledge and work towards understanding the information and eventually gain wisdom (Gillette, 2002, p. 12).

Conclusion:
Both charismatic and SuperLeaders are able to drive the success of an organization. While charismatic leadership depends on the vision of a single person, SuperLeadership draws from the strength of the followers. In the long run, an organization with SuperLeaders stands a better chance of surviving the ups and downs in the market. Without the transfer of knowledge and leadership from a charismatic leader to his or her followers, this type of leader and is bound to disappoint the followers some day and eventually fail the organization

Bibliography

Employment Projections: 2006-16 Summary. (2007, 12 4). Retrieved March 1, 2008, from Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.nr0.htm

Gillette, J. E. (2002). A practical framework for understanding KM. In Knowledge Management Strategy and Technology (pp. 1-22). Boston and London: Arctech House.

Manz, C. C., & Sims, P. H. (1995). SuperLeadership: Beyond the Myth of Herioc Leadership. In T. J. Wren, Leader's Companion. Insight on Leadership Through the Ages (pp. 212-221). New York: The Free Press.

(1998). The Law of Reproduction. It Takes a Leader to Raise Up a Leader. In J. C. Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Follow Them and People Will Follow You (pp. 133-141). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Nadler, D. A., & Tushman, M. L. (1995). Beyond the Charismatic Leader: Leadership and Organizational Change. In T. J. Wren, The Leader's Companion. Insights on Leadership through the Ages (pp. 108-113). New York: The Free Press.

Taylor, A. (2007, March 7). Americas best car company. Retrieved March 1, 2008, from CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/03/19/8402324/index.htm

The European Renaissance was an era of travel and discovery of new land. It was during this time that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas and made it possible for Europeans to settle in this new found world. The European Renaissance also gave birth to geniuses such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo who made tremendous contributions in the fields of science and art.

In my opinion, a leader during the European Renaissance would have been expected to lead by example. People were engaged in learning things that they had never encountered before. They needed leaders to take them to these new levels, and they needed this to be done in a practical way. They had not had access to personal learning, so they were in need of mentors to actually educate them and show them what was possible. A leader would have been required to have the skills that would allow him to train his followers. People needed to learn to read. They needed to learn how scientific processes worked. A leader at that time could not just be concerned with ideas. Instead, he had to be able to work with people who wanted to learn, and to be willing to get his hands “dirty” and get the job done. A leader during that period would have played just as big of a role in mentoring the people as he would as a visionary.

Shift to information age
Currently, we are living in another period of change - The Information Renaissance. The invention of computers and more specifically the ability to network them has brought a paradigm shift in the way we think and value information and communication. We are a no longer confined by geographical boundaries. The Internet is transforming us from being a national to global community. As more countries build their infrastructure and start participating in the global market, it is affecting the world economy. Countries that used to rely heavily on industrial economy are now shifting more towards information and communication economy. This phenomenon is evident in USA more than anywhere else. Just like the pioneers rushed for gold, in this Information Renaissance era, we are rushing to gather as much information as we can. The value of information and communication is made clear by corporate giants like Google, Yahoo, AOL, AT&T, and Viacom.

As we transition into this new Information age, the leaders of our society also need to transform themselves to the new ways of doing things. They need to have a broader perspective on the world and take into consideration the impact of social and cultural values. A leader needs to be aware that the leadership values favored in the west, “i.e. a stress on individual, the confidence in market process, and the focus on managers, are not well-received in many parts of the world.” (Wren, 1995, p. 250). The strategies that have worked historically most likely will not work when applied to a global economy.

Practical use of information
In order to understand the Information Renaissance, it is helpful to get a clear definition of Information. According to Dr. Jay Gillete:

Information is a set of applied data. That is, data that are applied for useful purposes to the information user. Information is useful data. To define it informally: information is news you use. Information value is intrinsically relative to the user – that is, data in stock market tables are useless to you if you have not invested in the market. But, if you have, then data in the stock tables can be turned into information for you, if you understand them. (Gillette, 2002, p. 9)

A practical use of information usually goes through five stages:
1. Access
2. Filtering
3. Storage
4. Retrieval
5. Using

(Gillette, 2002, p. 16).

A good leader of the Information Renaissance needs to be adept in all of these steps. The following table shows a few examples of how a leader might implement these steps in a corporate setting:

In reality, these steps actually operate in cyclical fashion. When certain information is applied in the real world, the results from this step are actually stored, filtered, and accessed later for use in a different situation. The diagram below illustrates the various steps involved in information processing.

Conclusion:
Through the years we have seen leaders of every type. However, it has been essential for each of these leaders to be relevant to the time in which they lived. As the world moves from one stage to other, the leaders must change and learn to adapt.

The Information Renaissance period that we currently live in has made the world a much smaller place. It has also changed the economy of the world, bringing in more players from the East. For leaders to be effective, they must be aware of cultural differences and be able to use these differences in positive ways rather than letting differences separate people and hinder productivity.

The amount of information that we generate is growing exponentially. It is believed that one week of The New York Times contains more information than what an average person living in the Middle Ages would have been exposed to in their lifetime. In order to take advantage of this information, a leader must be able to access, filter, and store this information so that it can be retrieved and used later. Anyone not willing to change and learn will perish.

Bibliography:
Gillette, J. E. (2002). A practical framework for understanding KM. In Knowledge Management Strategy and Technology (p. 9). Boston and London: Arctech House.

Wren, J. T. (1995). Leader's Companion: Insights on leadership through the ages. New York: The Free Press.

When I think about leadership, the people that come to my mind are the CEOs and CFOs of the Fortune 500 companies that have been successful in running a profitable business. They create niche markets for their products and services, making them stand out from the competition. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Rupert Murdoch are prime examples of such people. I also think about strong political figures like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, who played very instrumental roles in shaping the history of this country.

A search on Google revealed the top 20 leaders that have shaped the political and social fabric of our times. Some of the more famous (and obvious) nominations included Ronald Reagan, Franklin Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, and Margaret Thatcher. The list also went on to include some people that I didn’t know, like David Ben-Gurion, Lech Walesa, and Margaret Sanger (Leaders and Revolutionaries, 1998). Among the more controversial names in the list were Adolf Hitler and Ho Chi Minh. All of these leaders have something in common. At some point or the other, these leaders have campaigned for power, trying to convince people to follow their lead. Some used their charismatic qualities while others used force to get people to rally behind them. Mahatma Gandhi, who also made the top twenty list, was different from the rest.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in India on October 2, 1869. He was raised and educated under British rule. Gandhi attended University College London where he studied law. Gandhi spent the early part of his career in South Africa working as a contractor. Gandhi returned to India in 1915 and became involved in the issues and politics of the Indian people. “His causes included gaining independence of India from Great Britain, Hindu – Muslim unity, and the end of untouchability” (Wren, 1995, p. 72).

However, it was not what he did as much as the approach he took to the problems he faced that made him loved by so many people. Gandhi believed that “the politics of passive resistance nonviolence should be effective in any situation” (Rushdie, 1998). He used this nonviolent approach to resist and “fight” against the British occupation and opression. Millions of people were inspired by his example and tried to emulate him. Instead of building onto this success, Gandhi disclaimed followers. He also disliked holding power in an office and asked his people to avoid it unless it was clearly for a greater good (Wren, 1995, p. 75).

Gandhi’s approach is clearly opposite from the advice that we would get from most leadership textbooks and yet he was a very effective leader. So, what really is leadership and what are the qualities of a leader?
In my opinion, a leader is a person who has the power to influence people to make them believe in a shared vision. This decision by the followers has to be made freely without the use of threat or pressure. When a person uses threat to make the people follow him, that person becomes a tyrant and not a leader.

Corporate Leadership:

In a corporate world, a leader is the momentum behind the company. The leader provides magnitude and direction for the company. A good leader also has the ability to make his people think beyond their personal success and work for the greater good of the company. An effective leader also knows how to manage the people below him. A leader needs to know how to work with people, “keeping them bonded and eager to move forward. That means setting a direction, communicating it to everyone who will listen and keeping people psyched when times get tough” (Robbins, 2002).

Leadership and Management skills are hard to separate. Yet, I am of the belief that one is not necessarily a subset of the other skill. All leaders have some form of management skill. Similarly, all managers play, to some extent, the role of a leader. The following diagrams will help us illustrate this better:

Instead of trying to fit one role inside the other, I believe that there are some traits that are shared between the two (Figure 1). An ideal leader, in theory, would contain all the traits of a manager and hence the two circles would overlap. In the same way, an ideal manager would also have most of the leadership skills, so the circles would overlap again (Figure 2).

A leader or a manager is not static. They can also change their roles based on the circumstances. So, it is also necessary to add the circumstance as a variable to the model (Figure 3). Given the right circumstances, the manager or leader can assume more or less of the role of the other person.

Conclusion:

Leaders come in all shapes and forms and there is no list that can describe all the qualities of a leader. Historically, we have seen our leaders using various methods to corral their followers. Though the characteristics of a person’s leadership may vary, a common trait is seen in successful leaders; they are able to motivate others to be a part of their vision. This is seen in a business world when a CEO is able to encourage employees to take action that lead to the financial profitability of the company. It is also seen in the life of Mahatma Gandhi who, despite having no desire to be put on a pedestal, became an inspiration to millions of people who participated in the non violence movement to free India from British rule.

Bibliography

Leaders and Revolutionaries. (1998, December 8). Retrieved January 21, 2008, from Time: http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/#

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2008, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi

Robbins, S. (2002, November 18). Difference between managing and leading. Retrieved January 16, 2008, from Entrepreneur.com: http://www.entrepreneur.com/management/leadership/article57304.html

Rushdie, S. (1998, April 13). Leaders & Revolutionaries. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from Time: http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/gandhi.html

Wren, J. T. (1995). Leader's Companion: Insights on leadership through the ages. New York: The Free Press.

With all of these benefits, it is no wonder that email is so widely used and so popular. Yet sometimes problems arise in using email. One of the big problems that I have seen arises from the fact that because you can’t hear inflection or tone of voice in an email, there can often be miscommunications. You can’t always tell if someone is joking around or being sarcastic when you read an email. Sometimes things come across sounding very harsh or blunt because you can’t use your tone of voice to soften the message.

So, should we stop using email altogether to avoid these problems? Definitely not. Instead, it is important that we remember to be extra sensitive to how things sound to the person reading the email. As we’re composing it, we should try to think of how they might interpret what we’ve written. If we are joking around, we need to be sure that it is clear that we are doing so. If we feel like the subject is a very sensitive one, we may even want to consider talking to the person face to face and saving email for more casual and less touchy subjects. That way the person we’re talking to can read our body language and tone of voice and receive the message that we’re trying to send rather than an unintended one.

There are a few models that try to explain what constitutes human communication. A classic example is the Shannon Weaver model which is a mainstream physical science approach. The Shannon-Weaver model explains communication in terms of source, encoder, channel, decoder and receiver. Other than noise that may interfere with the signal transfer, this model does not come even close to how humans communicate. This theory explains how digital and analog devices work but it falls short when it comes to explaining human communication. A better approach consists of three models of human communication

(i) Sender - receiver model
(ii) Receiver model
(iii) Communication behavior model

The sender-receiver model is the strictest of the three and claims that communication has to be intentional, and the receiver must receive the information. The Receiver model accepts any form of communication as valid, whether intentional or not, as long as the receiver receives the information and understands it. There is a chance for misinterpretation of information, but it is still communication. The Communication behavior model is the least strict in its definition, and accepts all forms of communication even if the receiver does not perceive the intended message (Littlejohn, 2001, p. 6-9).

"All theories are abstraction. They always reduce experience to a set of categories and as a result always leave something out" (Littlejohn, 2001, p.19). Since no theory can reveal the whole truth, maybe a better approach would be to use the right theory in the right context.

As a working results driven professional in the information and communication science industry, getting the intended message out to the receiver is extremely important. So, my theory would be closest to the sender-receiver model, but with a twist. In my model, the communication is valid whether is intentional or not as long as the receiver understands the message and interprets it correctly. I would like to call it the Sender-Receiver Interpretation model. Besides theories, there are other things that are important in becoming a good communicator. One of those essential elements is active listening. "The art of listening is a part of human communications. We allow ourselves to become so busy that we don’t' hear the sender speaking to us” (Byrd, 2007). Here Byrd is not literally saying that the receiver did not hear anything, but rather misinterpretation or incomprehension of the intended message. In human communication, being listened to is just as important as speaking. An infant cries so that he or she can be heard. "Communication encompasses a person's lifetime, from the very first breath to the last as a need to be heard understood, and to understand others" (Hile, 2007).

As technology, culture and environment changes so should the models and theories of communication. The internet has brought a new realm in communication that most theorists in the book would not even have considered as means of communication. "Human communication over the years has grown to incorporate not only face to face interaction, but also communication via computers and other portable devices... Now even emotions can be sent virtually through the use of emotion icons, thus allowing the evolution of this realm of communication (Antoine, 2007).

"Good theory development is a constant process of testing and formulating (Littlejohn, 2001, p. 25). So, for a theory to stand the test of time, it needs to evolve with time.

In conclusion, we see that no single theory can completely explain all aspects of human communication. We might have to be selective on what theory to apply based on the research we are trying to do. For someone studying the science of sound, its production, transmission, and reception, the Shannon-Weaver model might be the perfect choice. On the other hand, someone interested in communication in a business setting might want to look at the Sender-Receiver model with special attention to non-verbal, cultural, and social influences. We also need to master our listening skills, just as much as we do on our verbal skills. Change is inevitable. So, in order to practice good communication in this ever changing world, we need to be open to new views, idea, and technology. As Darwin suggested, only the ones that can adapt to changes will survive.

References

Peters, John Durham (1999). Latin Roots of "Communication". Retrieved August 25, 2007 from
University of Colorado, Department of Communication Web site:
http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Theory/latin.htm

Littlejohn, S. W. (2001). Theories of Human Communication (7th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth/Thomas Learning.

Antoine, K (2007, September 18). Human Communication. Retrieved October 21, 2007 from
Ball State University, Center for Information and Communication Sciences Web site:
http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/kaantoine/2007/09/human_communication.html

Hile, D (2007, October 21). Defining Human Communication in my Terms. Retrieved October
21, 2007 from Ball State University, Center for Information and Communication
Sciences Web site:
http://www.cicsworld.org/dehile/2007/10/defining_human_communication_i_1.html

Byrd, J (2007, October 13). Human Communications. Retrieved October 21, 2007 from Ball
State University, Center for Information and Communication Sciences Web site:
http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/jbyrd15/2007/10/human_communications.html

Leonardo Da Vinci was a product of the European Renaissance. He was born in Florence, Italy, the city considered to be the birthplace of the European Renaissance, on April 15, 1452. Little is known about the childhood of Leonardo. By the age of fourteen, Leonardo was already apprenticing under one of the most successful artist of that time, Andrea di Cione, who produced great talents such as Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Credi. During this apprenticeship, in addition to learning the artistic skills of drawing, painting, sculpting and modeling, Leonardo was also exposed to the details of drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, plaster casting, and leather working.

One of Leondardo Da Vinci's most well known artworks is his painting of The Last Supper. The painting depicts the last meal shared by Jesus and his disciples before his crucifixion. He is equally famous for his painting of the Mona Lisa with her elusive smile that has amazed people for centuries.

Leonardo kept journals during his lifetime, and filled over 13,000 pages with notes on his scientific work. He was very interested in anatomy and did drawings of muscles, skeletons, and organs. He was one of the first people to do a scientific drawing of a human fetus in utero. Da Vinci's notebooks also included ideas for many inventions. He was interested in the idea of flight, and made plans for various flying machines including a helicopter and a hang glider. Many of his ideas were thought impossible at the time. However, today many of his ideas have actually been found to be more feasible than they were thought to be during his own time, and have been influential in the designs and plans of engineers and scientists even today.

Wikipedia (n.d.). Leonardo da Vinci. Retrieved Novenber 29, 2007 from
, Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci

It will probably be a surprise to most of us to find out that only 20% of a total page load time is actually spent on fetching the HTML document from the web server. The remaining 80% of the time is actually spent on the front end, downloading all the components required for the page. This includes images, css, Flash, scripts etc. Focusing on the hardware is solving only 20% of the problem.

The engineers at Yahoo did some extensive research and came up with a list of Best Practices to use to speed up your website:

1. Make fewer HTTP requests
2. Use content delivery network
3, Add an expires header
4. Gzip components
5, Put stylesheets on the top
6. Put scripts at the bottom
7 Avoid CSS expressions
8, Make JavaScript and CSS external
9. Reduce DNS lookups
10. Minify JavaScripts
11. Avoid redirects
12. Remove Duplicate Scripts
13. Configure Etags
14 Make Ajax cacheable.

Yahoo has also released an add-on called YSlow for Firefox that helps developers monitor the performance of their website and make changes to speend them up.

I personally have found these best practices very helpful. EVen though it is hard to implement all the best practices, just even a few changes has drastically changed the performance of some of the websites tha I have worked on. I would recommend YSlow to anyone who builds a website as a hobby or a profession.

Yahoo (n.d.). Exceptional Performance : Best Practices for Speeding
Up Your Web Site. Retrieved Novenber 29, 2007 from , Web site:
http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html

It is hard to remember the not so distant days when we had to wait for the evening news to find out what the next day’s weather would be. It is hard to imagine that we used to have to wait for the newspaper to arrive to get results of elections or late breaking news. Now, with the internet, so much information is available so quickly.

The way that we do research has been totally revolutionized. Students used to have to use annually published encyclopedias along with whatever books were available through their local library and inter-library loan to do their research. Needless to say, searching card catalogs, filling out book loan requests, and getting the resources that were needed was a very time consuming process. Now the internet is able to provide students access to the catalogs of many libraries within minutes. Students are also able to access many documents and sources online without having to check them out. Newspaper archives are readily available, making it unnecessary to search through boxes of microfilm and microfiche. Changes such as these save not only time, but also money, because of reduced printing and storing costs.

The internet itself is going through a revolutionary period. Instead of just providing static information for users to read, it is becoming more interactive. We see more and more websites providing applications on the web using Web 2.0 technology that is replacing desktop applications and electronic gadgets. We can now create and save documents, print and share photos, download music, upload videos, keep track of banking records, listen to voicemail, and print fax documents - all on the internet.

But this is just the beginning of a era in the information and communication world. We are truly living in the Information Renaissance.

(i) Using the wrong version of the EMS software
(ii) Lack of sufficient training
(iii) Lack of appropriate technology

Many of Cornerstone’s problems have come about due to the use of the wrong version of the EMS software. Though EMS is capable of doing many things that Cornerstone would like to do, the EMS Lite software that they are currently using lacks many of these capabilities. Cornerstone would like to be able to be more selective in choosing which items in the calendar are published to their website. Currently, it is an all or nothing situation. They can publish the entire calendar, including details such as who is working at the front desk, or publish none of the events in the calendar. The current calendar also lacks the ability to search for a particular event or filter the results by event type, room, or other parameters. Some of these advanced features actually exist in other EMS software. For example, the ability to filter the event pages in Virtual EMS appears to be available in the EMS Professional and EMS Enterprise versions. In addition, the new versions of EMS Lite (and higher) feature capabilities that allow searching by both categories and keywords.

Another problem that Cornerstone faces lies in integrating Microsoft Outlook with EMS Lite. EMS provides an optional module that integrates its event scheduling features directly into Microsoft Outlook. This can be added on to the current software to completely eliminate this problem.

Currently, there is a large amount of manual work that must be done in order to make Cornerstone’s schedule available on the web. According to their documentation and features list, EMS actually has the capability to reduce some of this time consuming manual work. EMS offers regularly scheduled free training sessions and web seminars (“webinars”) which can be an extremely valuable and low-cost or even no-cost method for updating users on using EMS effectively. By offering this training to Cornerstone’s staff members, it is quite likely that their use of the EMS software would be more efficient, saving them a good deal of both time and energy.

Another challenge that is currently keeping Cornerstone’s scheduling from operating more smoothly is the lack of appropriate technology. Because each staff member has Outlook installed on his or her individual computer, there is no way for the staff to share their various calendars, contacts, and tasks. If Cornerstone would setup a Microsoft Exchange server, they could eliminate this lack of integration. Rather than having to maintain their own hardware and software, Cornerstone could make use of a hosted Exchange server. This would allow them to avoid the need for extra IT personnel.

Additionally, a number of resident organizations call Cornerstone their home. Current residents include the Community Center for Vital Aging, ECI Chamber Orchestra, Magic City Music Men, Masterworks Chorale, Muncie Ballet Studio, Muncie Masonic Association, and Third Age Theatre. For these organizations, Cornerstone Center for the Arts serves as a meeting place, rehearsal space, office, and home.

With its many classes, rentals, and resident organizations, Cornerstone is an extremely active and busy place. During the interview it became even more apparent that scheduling rooms and meeting places for all of these events is a huge challenge for Cornerstone and its directors. Currently, Cornerstone manages its schedule and room reservations using EMS Lite. EMS Lite is a desktop application that allows a reservationist to manage meetings and events that take place in a facility. At Cornerstone, a room reservation request can come from many different sources. A person could call in or send an email to reserve a room. A room request could also come from a staff member desiring to use the space for a meeting, class or extracurricular activity. A lot of times, there is a gap between when the reservation request is made and when it is entered into EMS Lite. This has caused the rooms to be overbooked, creating tensions both internally and with the clients.

Cornerstone also uses an add-on interface called Virtual EMS to publish the events calendar on its website. Currently, this is a manual process for Cornerstone which requires the records from EMS Lite to be exported to Virtual EMS by the administrator. Administrators seem to have very little control over what records are exported to the web. This causes unnecessary details to be published on Cornerstone’s online calendar.

Cornerstone’s staff heavily relies on Microsoft Outlook for communication both internally and externally. Outlook is installed as a standalone program on individual staff computers without an Exchange Server, making it impossible for the staff to share their calendar, contacts, and tasks. The fact that information cannot be easily shared seems to be one of the main reasons why some of the staff members have not adopted the use of Outlook for their managing their meetings and schedules. The other reason that some of the staff members do not use Microsoft Outlook Calendar is due to the lack of integration of EMS Lite with Outlook. They do not want to maintain their calendar in two different systems.

In French, Renaissance means rebirth. The Renaissance is believed to have started in the rich cities such as Florence, Milan and Venice in Italy, and from there to have spread to the rest of Europe. “It encompassed the revival of learning based on classical sources, the rise of courtly and papal patronage, the development of perspective in painting, and advancements in science.”

One very important invention during the Renaissance was the printing press. Johann Gutenberg is credited with the invention of the printing press. The printing press made it possible to reproduce books much more easily and quickly than handwritten manuscripts. This resulted in books becoming less expensive and more accessible for common people. Literacy became much more widespread during this time. The development of the printing press also contributed to the establishment of scholarly journals which allowed scientists to share their discoveries with others in their fields. This, in turn, led to a scientific revolution. People no longer simply trusted the church to explain everything for them. Instead they began to place increased value on experimentation and scientific proof. It was during this period that people favored the scientific method as the process of discovery. Empirical evidence based on scientific observation and mathematics was favored over Aristotelian principles. This new scientific method led to advancements in the fields of astronomy, physics, anatomy and biology.

The Renaissance period gave birth to geniuses such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who made tremendous contributions in the fields of art and science. Artists such as these began “making observational drawings of anatomy and nature.” The art of this time featured new levels of realism, especially in regard to perspective.

The Renaissance period was also a time for new ideas on religion. With greater interest in science, along with increased literacy, people were no longer limited to following the thinking of what the church leaders told them. Humanism, which affirms “the dignity and worth of all people” was very popular and influential as well. It affected people’s view of the relationship between God and man. It also influenced theologians of the time, including Martin Luther, whose 95 Theses challenged the authority of the Catholic Church and led to the Reformation.

Cyber Essays (n.d.). The European Renaissance. Retrieved
Novenber 20, 2007 from , Web site:
http://www.cyberessays.com/History/24.htm

Wikipedia (n.d.). Renaissance. Retrieved Novenber 20, 2007 from
, Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance

Wikipedia (n.d.). Humanism. Retrieved Novenber 20, 2007 from
, Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism

As scientists we love numbers and theories. So here is one:
For simplicity sake, let’s say that Arya has hundred words in her vocabulary (even though that number is much higher now). If she uses one word to express herself, she has to choose from hundred different possibilities. You may be wondering, big deal. But, let’s see what happens when she uses more than one word. In order to use two words, for example, “big bus”, she has one hundred options for the first word and another one hundred for the second, giving ten thousand combinations. The following chart shows how this number grows exponentially as she puts more and more words together:

#Words   Total combination of words
1                     100
2                     10000
3                     1000000
4                     100000000
5                     10000000000

Even with only 5 words in a sentence and a vocabulary of 100 words, we are up to 10 billion combinations. That’s right, ten billion! I realize that this is less than the 50 trillion calculations that ORNL Jaguar supercomputer can do per second, but I think she is getting really close.

So, is Arya really smart (I would like to think so), or is it because she spends most of her time with her mom that makes her the way she is? Maybe we could do an experiment that would give us the "right" answer.

Stay tuned for more postings on this topic. For now, if you want to see Arya's progress, you can visit her own blog .