He who builds a museum must truly be a leader.

My old professor in Sports History, Prof.Dr.R.Renson always dreamt of a professional Sports Museum. After years of hardship he finally succeeded in creating probably one of the most interesting museums in the Benelux. He who builds a museum from scratch must truly be a leader, and most certainly a people manager.
Truth is, it was not the collection nor one outstanding object that took me by surprise. It were...the toilets.


(Don't hesitate to visit the museum, Sportimonium, Hofstade, Belgium and especially the unique Flemish Folk Games Garden)(www.sportimonium.be)

"Flanders fits you"

PMS CMYK RGB HEX RAL
Blauw 2945 100/45/0/14% 0/87/166 ID649F 5017
Paars 5135 47/64/28/0% 140/92/122 956E8E 4001
Oranje 153 0/46/100/18% 184/105/5 D18316 2000
Groen 356 95/0/100/27% 0/115/54 00853E 6010
Rood 704 0/90/72/29% 158/38/41 B42C33 3002
Geel 123 0/24/94/0% 252/201/23 FEC423 1004
Zwart Black 0/0/0/100% 0/0/0 000000 9005

What is this code?
This code is the new Flanders, the region in Belgium where I come from. The Government of Flanders decided to create a proper logo. Flemings can apply for the use of the logo in their own organisation, company or service. The figures above indicate the colorconfiguration of the logo for external printers. One sentence struck me when I read the press-kit. "The new logo is thus not the logo of the Flemish Government, but of Flanders, which is precisely why it can be used by any Flemish organisation or service for its own communication abroad.".
Baseline to go with the logo is in 4 languages: "Flanders fits you", "La Flandre vous va bien", "Flanderen passt zu dir", "Vlaanderen past je perfect".

Graphically speaking, the new logo is used as sub-logo, which means that it is subordinate to the logo of the relevant organisation or service itself. It is a qualitative label of origin, an “appellation d’origine”, which says: “This is from Flanders.”

End of 10 management lessons based on stories and jokes.

Looking at the mails I received regarding the "10 management lessons based on stories and jokes", it seems that these kind of lessons and parables are very popular amongst managers and leaders. Quite a few readers wrote they really learned something or at least had a good laugh with one of these 'management lessons'. Please keep sending your thoughts about the Impactroom blog!

Management Lesson 10/10 (India)

A man hunting tigers in India was suddenly surprised by a huge Bengal tiger - it was almost on top of him. The man raised his rifle and fired, but he overshot and missed. The tiger, frightened by the man and thrown off stride by the noise of the gun, leaped toward the hunter. But the leap was to wide, and he missed his prey.
The man returned to camp and spent several hours perfecting his aim for short distances and quick firing. On the following day, he again stalked the tiger. Finally, he spotted the beast at some distance. The tiger was practicing his short leaps.
Management lesson: Don' t think too soon you are ahead of your enemy/competitor.

Management Lesson 9/10

Several years ago, the founder of Wrigley Chewing Gum was on a flight from New York to his home in Chicago. The passenger in the next seat recognized the chewing gum tycoon and asked him a question. "Mr. Wrigley, I know your company enjoys over 90% of the chewing gum market. Yet, last week I read you are increasing your advertising budget by over 30%. With such a large share of the market, why do you continue to spend so much on advertising? Why not save that money or use it for something else?"
Mr. Wrigley replied, "How fast do you think this airplane is flying?" The man answered, "Oh, I guess about 600 miles per hour." Mr. Wrigley responded. "I think that's fast enough, don't you?" The man agreed that indeed, it was fast enough. "Well then," asked Mr. Wrigley, "why doesn't the pilot turn off the engines and save all that expensive jet fuel?"

Management Lesson 8/10 - "Where to Place Them"

Does your organization struggle with the problem of properly fitting people to jobs? Here is a handy hint for ensuring success in job placement. Take the prospective employees you are trying to place and put them in a room with only a table and two chairs. Leave them alone for two hours, without any instruction. At the end of that time, go back and see what they are doing.
If they have taken the table apart, put them in Engineering.
If they are counting the butts in the ashtray, assign them to Finance.
If they are waving their arms and talking out loud, send them to Consulting.
If they are talking to the chairs, Personnel is a good spot for them.
If they are wearing green sunglasses and need a haircut, Computer Information Systems is their niche.
If the room has a sweaty odour, perhaps they're destined for the Help Desk.
If they mention what a good price we got for the table and chairs, put them into Purchasing.
If they mention that hardwood furniture DOES NOT come from rainforests, Public Relations would suit them well.
If they are sleeping, they are Management material.
If they are writing up the experience, send them to the Technical Documents team.
If they don't even look up when you enter the room, assign them to Security.
If they try to tell you it's not as bad as it looks, send them to Marketing.

Management Lesson 7/10

A man flying in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. Reducing altitude, he spotted a man on the ground and descended to shouting range.
"Excuse me," he shouted. "Can you help me? I promised my friend I would meet him a half hour ago, but I don't know where I am."
The man below responded: "Yes. You are in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above this field. You are between 40 and 42 degrees North Latitude, and between 58 and 60 degrees West Longitude."
"You must be an engineer," responded the balloonist.
"I am," the man replied. "How did you know?"
"Well," said the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost."
Whereupon the man on the ground responded, "You must be a manager."
"That I am" replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"
"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going. You have made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in the exact same position you were before we met, but now it is somehow my fault."

Management Lesson 6/10 (The Evolution of Authority)

Management Lesson 5/10

A sales rep, an administration clerk and a manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out in a puff of smoke.
The Genie says, "I usually only grant three wishes, so I'll give each of you just one."
"Me first! Me first!" says the admin clerk "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world." Poof! She's gone.
In astonishment, "Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of pina coladas and the love of my life." Poof! He's gone.
"OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager.
The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."
Management Lesson: Always let your boss have the first say.

Management Lesson 4/10 (India)

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold, the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy and soon began whistling from pleasure. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung and promptly dug him out and ate him!
Management Lesson:
1) Not everyone who drops s**t on you is your enemy.
2) Not everyone who gets you out of s**t is your friend.
3) When you're in deep s**t, keep your mouth shut!

Management Lesson 3/10

When the body was first made, all the parts wanted to be 'Boss'. The brain said, "I should be Boss because I control the whole body's responses and functions." The feet said, "We should be Boss as we carry the brain around and get him to where he wants to go." The hands said, "We should be the Boss because we do all the work and earn all the money."And so it went on and on with the heart, the lungs and the eyes until finally the a**hole spoke up. All the parts laughed at the idea of the a**hole being the Boss. So the a**hole went on strike, blocked itself up and refused to work. Within a short time the eyes became crossed, the hands clenched, the feet twitched, the heart and lungs began to panic and the brain fevered. Eventually they all decided that the a**hole should be the Boss, and so the motion was passed. All the other parts did all the work while the Boss just sat and passed out the s**t!
Management Lesson: You don't need brains to be a Boss - any a**hole will do.

Management Lesson 2/10 (India)

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy. "Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients." The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon the turkey was spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.
Management Lesson: Bulls**t might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Management Lesson 1/10 (India)

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?" The crow answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Management Lesson: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.

10 Rules To Manage Knowledge Workers

Late last year Eric Schmidt and Hal Varian published in Newsweek 10 Golden Rules that Google has implemented to help effectively manage knowledge workers.

1. Hire by committee
2. Cater to their every need
3. Pack them in
4. Make coordination easy
5. Eat your own dog food
6. Encourage creativity
7. Strive to reach consensus
8. Don’t be evil
9. Data drive decisions
10. Communicate effectively

As they mention in the article non of these items are new, nor are they really that revolutionary. The success of the items seems to be directly related to the way they are implemented.

Mostly Business

Every day at the end of the page (scroll down) there will be a daily business cartoon from Ted Goff.

Colin Powell: Leadership Lesson 20/20: "The Art of Leadership"

“Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.”

Colin Powell: Leadership Lesson 19/20: "Command is lonely"

Harry Truman was right. Whether you're a CEO or the temporary head of a project team, the buck stops here. You can encourage participative management and bottom-up employee involvement, but ultimately the essence of leadership is the willingness to make the tough, unambiguous choices that will have an impact on the fate of the organization. I've seen too many non-leaders flinch from this responsibility. Even as you create an informal, open, collaborative corporate culture, prepare to be lonely.