My new book has been published. It pays tribute to freedom, truth, and the dignity of the human soul. It’s my way of thanking America for saving me and my family, and giving me the opportunity to thrive. I wrote it to help others seek genuine freedom and find joy. Available on Amazon now: Pursue Your Freedom and Happiness.
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Leadership
Character is the Most Important Trait
by Chris Banescu –
Life has taught me and continues to teach me that character is the most important trait we should look for in others. If a person does not have character, nothing else matters. This is true in our personal and professional lives. It’s true in our friendships and family relationships. It’s true in business, academia, politics, religion, and all other fields of human endeavor.
In virtually all of the business and leadership courses I have taught for over two decades, the subject of character inevitably comes up. Students ask me or I ask them about the most important characteristic or quality (they can only pick one) they should look for when working for anyone, partnering with someone in a venture, or hiring great employees. [Read more…]
Southwest Airlines Schools American Airlines on Treating Pilots Fairly and Decently
by Chris Banescu –
The Boeing 737 MAX disaster provides us with an opportunity to evaluate some leadership qualities of top executives at two major U.S. airlines, Southwest and American. The CEOs of these corporations have chosen fundamentally different responses to their pilots and employees who were negatively affected by the extended grounding of the 737 MAX planes.
One CEO shows himself to be a man of character and integrity. The other one not so much. Southwest Airlines’ top leader, Gary Kelly, is treating the company pilots fairly and decently. American Airlines’ CEO, Doug Parker, could care less about the concerns of their pilots. [Read more…]
Pain of Discipline vs Pain of Disappointment
by Chris Banescu –
“There are two pains in life. There is the pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment. If you can handle the pain of discipline, then you’ll never have to deal with the pain of disappointment.” ~ Nick Saban
We all pay a price for the lack of discipline. Whether it’s our physical or mental health, spiritual well-being, character, family life, career situation, financial status, friendships, or business condition, we always suffer if we don’t do the essential work to either improve, adapt, or deal with the changing circumstances of our life. The longer we avoid consistently doing the right things for ourselves, our families, and/or businesses, the worse things will get. We will feel the inevitable physical and psychological pains that arise when we let things slide and refuse to do the daily necessary work. [Read more…]
Esri: Solid Revenues, Conservative and Systematic Growth, No Layoffs, No Downsizing
by Chris Banescu –
“We have 9,000 employees worldwide and $912 million n revenue. In our 43 years, we have never missed a quarter. We’ve never had any layoffs; we’ve never had any downsizing. It’s just been very conservative, systematic growth.” ~ Jack Dangermond
A few years ago Inc.com magazine interviewed Jack Dangermond the co-founder of Esri, a global corporation that supplies geographic information system software, web GIS, and geodatabase management applications. Dangermond highlighted the company’s stellar and systematic growth despite its conservative management style and lack of any layoffs in its 43 years of operation. [Read more…]
Courage is the Virtue that Makes All Other Virtues Possible
by Chris Banescu –
Courage is the virtue that makes all other virtues possible. Courage helps us develop and sharpen our character. Courage is what enables us to practice all the other virtues, especially when doing so exacts a significant cost in our personal life, professional career, or business.
It’s not enough to know and believe in the virtues. We must act on them. Belief in, intellectual affirmation of, or knowledge of the virtues alone is not enough to develop our character. We must practice them! And this is where courage comes in and helps us to take appropriate action.
All courageous speech and conduct must be grounded in reality, ethics, and integrity. Our words and actions must support and defend truth, goodness, justice, and righteousness. This is important, because unethical, corrupt, or wicked individuals can also use courage to support evil purposes and unrighteous goals.
Wisdom needs to accompany courage. [Read more…]
Manners, The Lubricating Oil of Organizational Relationships
“Manners are the lubricating oil of an organization. It is a law of nature that two moving bodies in contact with each other create friction. This is as true for human beings as it is for inanimate objects. Manners – simple things like saying “please” and “thank you” and knowing a person’s name or asking after her family – enable two people to work together whether they like each other or not.
Bright people, especially bright young people, often do not understand this. If analysis shows that someone’s brilliant work fails again and again as soon as cooperation from others is required, it probably indicates a lack of courtesy – that is, a lack of manners.” ~ Peter F. Drucker