Leadership Lessons From The Social Network: Teamwork

The movie, The Social Network, is a powerful portrayal of how the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and his team, started out with a dream and a $1000 start-up, to become the youngest billionaire in the world. At the point of writing, Facebook is valued to be worth at least $50 billion, and this would mean that she is worth more than eBay, Yahoo, and Time Warner. This is a very impressive result given the fact that Facebook was launched in February 2004.

There are also plenty of lessons that this movie can teach us about leadership and team management, and this is the final series of the trilogy. There may be certain information in the movie that had been exaggerated to increase the excitement level, as even Zuckerberg himself, calls The Social Network "inaccurate". Hence I would take all these information with a pinch of salt and relate most of the lessons learned, from the movie itself, and not from real life.

In this article, I will share about teamwork and how it can help you unlock the true potential as a leader.

Proper Delegation of Work. The whole team can only do well when you know what their job scopes are. In one of the scenes in the Social Network, Mark Zuckerberg wanted to expand The Face Book, and he directed his team on their roles, and what they were supposed to do. And when the two ladies who were present in the living room, asked if they could help in any way, he declined them without much thought because at that moment, he knew that he didn't require their help in any way. On the other hand, he specifically told the others what their tasks were.

Even the Winklevoss brothers had specific roles for their team. And they knew that they were deficient in a particular talent when their programmer left the team to concentrate on his studies. Hence when news broke out that Zuckerberg was able to shut down the Harvard traffic with his "prank", they immediately reached out to him and shared with him their ideas so that he could work for them.

Once you know what your team is supposed to be made up of, you would be able to find the right person for the job. You need to set stretched and measurable goals for them and you also need to be informed of the progress. Effective delegation is not merely pushing away the jobs that were meant for you. Effective delegation is to ensure that the person with the right skill does what he or she knows best.

For example, let's presume that you intend to increase your customer base with a promotional blitz. Firstly, you need to know who your team members are in this project. Secondly, you then need to identify who does what, and their deliverables by a certain time. Thereafter, Jane must come up with the product packages and links with other partners, and John must reach out to X advertising companies with the marketing materials. Hence once the planning stage is over, the real action must start so that the project starts to roll with momentum from all parties.

Build Quality Relationships First, then Your Business. Now, not every partner will work together initially. It's your job to iron out the differences. And fast. In The Social Network, Eduardo Saverin had his own ideas in ensuring success of the company. However, Mark Zuckerberg had his own ideas too. And while, Saverin was Chief Financial Officer in the business, Zuckerberg proceeded to pull Sean Parker, founder of Napster into the team. Parker and Saverin were portrayed to have mutual dislike for each other and when your teammates distrust each other, unless you find time to sort things out, many issues will simply be swept under the carpet and it will fester.

As a leader, you need to take the time to understand your partners in the business because people want you to understand their aspirations and dreams. They want you to understand what they are good in, and where they can fit in with regard to projects. Why would you want to place a person with zero knowledge in sales without first training him? And have you spent the time to understand if he even likes sales? So by investing time to understand your core team members in the business, you would be building quality relationships.

Hence understand your team, and they will learn to understand you. It will definitely take time and that's the fun and rewarding part in building a team.


cheers,
Mark

GIants of Asia Series

The Giants of Asia series is the latest leadership book that I am reading so that I can understand more about the great minds of our Asian Leaders.



The author, Tom Plate, tries to reach into the psyche of these two great leaders who managed to transform their third world countries that was handed to them by the British in 1965, into the developed economic powers that you see today.

Describing both ‘Giants of Asia’ as two peas in the proverbial pod, Mr Plate pointed out that they actually have much in common despite their sometimes cold relationship.

They worked out daily for health benefits, and often have to make painful decisions for the better of their country men.

While they have both made hard decisions that many of us, Singaporeans or Malaysians would complain or whine about, but then again, would you be able to make a better decision than them in that particular scenario?


What is undeniable would be their vision for their respective countries, and their determined attitude to ensure that their countries were not left behind in the economic upheavals of the post war period.

As a Singaporean, I am often faced with many pressures and stress such as a high standard of living and highly-strung education system. But I tell myself, "Why whine? Did I whine when I was out searching for MSK (mas selamat kastari)back in the army? If I had to go out and lead my company and whine, would that solve any problem? No! I did it because it was my duty to ensure that he wasn't in our training area!

Therefore instead of focusing on the "troubles" that we face in current live, I am very focused in making a change in first myself, and thereafter for people to see and learn.

So, what we can learn from these two giants is really great leadership management, and I am determined to come up with a book that can capture their leadership essence so as to relate it to the younger audience. In the meantime, do enjoy these books!


The books ‘Doctor M: Operation Malaysia’ and ‘Citizen Singapore: How to build a nation’ both written by Tom Plate is available in major local bookstores.

Leadership Lessons From The Social Network: Effective Work Habits

The movie, The Social Network, is a powerful portrayal of how the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and his team, started out with a dream and a $1000 start-up, to become the youngest billionaire in the world. At the point of writing, Facebook is valued to be worth at least $50 billion after the injection of capital from Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies. What is symbolic about these injection of funds from investment companies and banks shows the increasing might of Facebook, and her abilities to transform the social media scene as we know it.

There are also plenty of lessons that this movie can teach us about leadership and team management, and this article is the second part of three. Now, because there may be certain information in the movie that had been exaggerated to increase the excitement level, hence I would take all these information with a pinch of salt and relate most of the lessons learned, from the movie itself, and not from real life.

So in this article, I will share about some work habits that can help leaders reach their potential.

Know your resources around you. In the movie, Zuckerberg was able to assemble a group of people to help him achieve his goals. He first approached Eduardo Saverin, to invest in this company because Saverin had the financial capability at that point to do so. He then went about to task the people around him on their roles and responsibilities. He knew that he needed more people so that he can leverage on their capabilities, and he sought more employees. This is the hallmark of a business leader as he fully understood the power of leveraging. If he was just one person, he could only do X amount of work, and now that he has more team members, he could do more than just X amount of work. Essentially he knew the resources he had around him and set out to find a network of people who could help him reach his goals.

Once you know your available resources, the next priority would be to plan the composition of your team and leverage on them. Building of cross-functional teams in this aspect would help as you have a diversity of talents for your team to capitalize on.

Settle for a mediation when push comes to shove. In The Social Network, Zuckerberg was advised to settle both law suits through a settlement. The lawyer opined that the settlements, in the scheme of things may just be a speeding ticket. Indeed, when you are faced with an impending lawsuit, you confidently think that you have all the answers and solutions to the challenges posed by the other party. But the truth of the matter is that lawsuits, lawyers and the court are merciless. Even when you are under oath, the questions that the prosecutor fire at you will be fiery and intimidating. Everything that you stand for will be stripped as you are torn apart in the courts.

Don't fight every fire that comes along your way. When you learn to prioritize your challenges, you are building more time and chances for yourself so that you can last in the long run. And always remember to document your administration because one day it will save you.

Work Smart. In The Social Network, Saverin, Facebook's co-founder, was an intelligent financial analyst who profited from oil trading and stocks in school, and he was portrayed as not working smart enough on his assigned task. Instead of being open-minded to the possibilities of venture capitalists funding the company, he was fixated on using advertising as the only way to fund the company. He travelled daily on public transport such as trains so that he could reach his prospects. In the movie, you would be able to see how his ideas often get brushed aside by Zuckerberg, and these differences were some reasons that cause them both of them to drift apart. Zuckerberg on the other hand, was open-minded on VCs funding the company and he saw the possibilities of such leveraging. By working smart, and not hard, you are leveraging on this important element called time. And because time equals money, shouldn't you be ensuring that you make money by leveraging on time?

While sometimes the opportune time is important, the question would be, are you open-minded enough to accept such ideas?


cheers,
Mark

Leadership Lessons From The Social Network: Desire and Faith

The movie, The Social Network, is a powerful portrayal of how the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and his team, started out with a dream and a $1000 start-up, to become the youngest billionaire in the world. At the point of writing, Facebook is valued to be worth at least $50 billion. They have so far resisted the call to go public, and the move to be funded by venture capitalists, or to be funded by wealthy individuals, corporations, and banks, has ensured that founder Zuckerberg remained in total control of the company.

There are also plenty of lessons that this movie can teach us about leadership and team management, and I would start off with this first part of three. Now, because there may be certain information in the movie that had been exaggerated to increase the excitement level, hence I would take all these information with a pinch of salt and relate most of the lessons learned, from the movie itself, and not from real life.

So in this article, I will share about having desire and faith.

Desire and Faith

Don't let emotional revenge be the thing that fuels your passion. Zuckerberg's initial mischief was to create a viral website to poke fun at ladies, because in The Social Network, he was portrayed as having broken up with his girl friend. However, he was placed under academic probation as a punishment because he hacked into the servers of so many houses and towards the end of the movie, it seemed that the lady still had not forgiven him. In the movie, Sean Parker, founder of Napster, shared with Zuckerberg the reason he founded Napster, which was to boast to the girl he liked that while he couldn't play lacrosse, he was cool in his own way too. He never got the girl in the end too.

There is also a quote from the movie that mentions that the internet is not written in pencil, but in ink, whatever we write, do or say in the internet is published and shown. Remember that there are always consequences to what you do, and how you react to any events, would determine the right outcome.

If your desire is for a worthwhile reason, you would be able to sustain this desire through faith. However if the desire is fuelled by negative reasons, chances are that the effort would be futile.

Laser aim focus on your dreams because it will become a reality.When Zuckerberg was bitten by the creative bug, he worked on the Facebook project with total commitment. He was determined to get it started and would not let anything get into his way. When the other programmers were writing the various codes while developing Facebook, they were "wired-in" and would not even be distracted by door bells and people questioning them. Simply put, they shut out all other distractions to reach their goal.

Are you able to aim on your dreams with a laser focus, by shutting out all other distractions? Once your team has aligned themselves to your goal, can your team do the same and be focused too?

Don't be afraid to roll out your project first and then improve on it continuously. Zuckerberg never saw his Facebook project as being completed. He didn't even know what it would be. He just knew that it would be cool. He likened the concept of Facebook to style and fashion, and just like fashion, there is no "finished product". You see, nothing is ever finished in the business world. Whether is it building of a brick and mortar shop or an online webpage, innovations and improvements must continue.

That is why some people use the term, "Ready, Fire, Aim". In shooting, when you aim for too long without firing or taking action, your eye muscles actually tire, and you lose concentration.

Ideas are just ideas, until there is massive action. The Social Network also described how the Winklevoss twin brothers kept harping on Zuckerberg stealing their idea of a Harvard.edu exclusive club. But they never realized that they kept talking and talking about it. While it was true that some of their previous programmers left the team, if they were really focused and believed in their own idea, they would have gone ahead to do it by hook or by crook. They had a distraction, and that was rowing. Because money was at their disposal, they thought that they could use money to buy talent while they concentrated on their own goals, which was to take part in the Olympics. While there is nothing wrong with aiming to participate in the Olympics, it is their blatant disregard of creativity and talent that caused them to lose out in this race.

Do you have that crazy idea that you keep thinking about? So what are you going to do about it? The best time to start action is now. As Sir Richard Branson would say, "Screw it. Just do it."

Then defend your dreams with your life. As though everything hinges upon it. Zuckerberg fought all the lawsuits and defended himself strongly because he believed in his actions and goals. He knew that there was no one in the mediation room who could even come close to his intellect and capability to design and come up with the Facebook. And he was right. The x-factor was that he placed his heart, mind and soul into creating this baby, and he was not intending to go down without a fight.

Once you are thoroughly committed to your dreams and goals, defend your ideals with your life. Your team can see how much you value your dreams and goals, and model after you too.

cheers,
Mark

Discover Your Leadership Style

1st Dec 2010. A date that I would always remember.

It was the day that my publisher, passed me by book cover, and told me it would be distributed to major bookstores by Christmas day!

Wow... finally!

Currently, I am also preparing for more activities so that more people would know about the book.

Have already secured a live interview with Singapore's premier news station,938fm Live, The Living Room, so please listen out for it!


cheers,
Mark

Books on Leadership

I was searching on the internet for inspirational leadership quotes for my upcoming book when I stumbled upon this site on Leadership.

The author Patty Inglish has revealed the top 5 books on leadership which she felt would could influence the mass effectively.

Top 5 Books on Leadership

So I felt that these books could be shared to you all as well.

Indeed, many people like to find out how they manage themselves better as leaders before they can go about to lead others. For it is said, change yourself first, and the world will change.

It should be a never-ending search to make yourself a better leader, and you can start by reading up on successful leaders!

cheers,
Mark

Effective Business Teams-How Diamonds Can Help

Everyone likes to be successful and to be in a winning team. However success takes time and as a leader, you must be prepared to put in a lot of work to build the right foundation for your winning team.
If you have just assembled a team, it is like graphite or pencil lead, soft and breakable because this is the start stage. Theoretically speaking, graphite could metamorphose into diamonds with extreme pressure and heat.
Therefore your team has the potential to also produce sparkling results like diamonds with appropriate pressure. You would then be able to unravel a shiny attractive and desirable diamond with perfect colour, cutting, clarity and carat.
To find out how diamonds can help you build an effective business team, you would just have to read on.

1. Colour. Diamonds within the colourless range are the most rare and valuable of all the colours.
Just like the colourless diamond, your team should be colourless. If your team members are able to offer honest and constructive feedback to one another without fear, you would have built the basic foundation of transparency.
2. Cut. The cut of a diamond does not refer to only its shape, but how effectively the stone can reflect light back to your eye. A well-cut diamond will appear brilliant and fiery; while poorly cut stones can appear dark and lifeless, regardless of colour or clarity.
Just like the reflective diamond that went through the vigorous process of polishing and cutting by its maker, its end result would be that of sheer reflective brilliance.
Your team must thus be able to go through all these external pressures as well as internal pressure. Legal Laws, uncooperative clients, demanding work schedules, and all these would exact a toll on the team. But if you can treat all these problems as gifts, then everyday would be Christmas.
So do not wish for the problems to go away, but rather wish that your team and you were better in terms of skills and knowledge to overcome it.
3. Clarity. Clarity is a term used to describe the absence or presence of flaws inside or on the surface of a diamond or other gemstone. A perfect stone with perfect clarity--clearness--is rare, and most flaws that do exist in jewellery grade diamonds cannot be seen without looking at stones through a jeweller's magnifying loupe.
And just like that rare perfect stone, you should not crack your head to develop a fully perfect team. Once you accept that there would always be flaws in a team, you are able to build on these, as a good team is one which leverages on each other strengths and improve each other weaknesses.
4. Carat. Carat is a measure of weight. You could say that the bigger the diamond, the heavier and bigger the carat.
Just like the diamond that is of optimum size and weight, the products that you create together with your team must be optimum for the market. Too small or unnoticeable, and the products would be mistaken for yet another one in the market. Too big or expensive, and you would not appeal to the masses, but only to the most ostentatious crowd.
Always remember that service for the mass leads to greatness. That would enable your goods and services to gain enough ground support and finally enough momentum to sustain itself for the future.

In summary, your team is a reflection of yourself. When you take them under your wings to nurture them, it is always good to understand each team member, and have clear and specific goals set aside for them. This is the sparkling diamond-like quality of a true leader.

a fictitious story in the making...

"The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership." -- Gen (Ret) Colin Powell


Alpha Company had trekked across the humid Temburong jungles of Brunei, for more than 2 days.

Furthermore, they had already accomplished the arduous task of ascending Mount Biang the day before and managed to reach the peak, lock stock and barrel. However, the bitter cold, coupled with the lashing rain which lasted throughout the long night, had started to take its toil on the officers and men. They broke camp, and started the descent of Mount Biang late at around 0730hrs. By this time, the temperature had risen, and the morning heat was starting to unsettle even the most hardened of the soldiers. As the overhead foliage covered their heads, the oppressing humidity got worse as they trekked their way down the reverse side of the mountain. The undulating terrain also meant that even though they were suppose to descend, they could still be climbing up. For an elite infantry company like Alpha, they were also carrying all their field packs, light and heavy weapons, food and ration with them. Each soldier could be carrying an equipment load of 25 to 30 kg.

“Sir, how far before we reach the river?” the tired front scout asked his young lieutenant. All ears and eyes were now transfixed on their platoon commander. The officer looked at his men and answered, “At this rate, another two hours.”

“LTA Malcolm!” a high pitched voice wailed from the back of the troops like a screaming banshee. “You better push your platoon harder! They are dragging my entire company down!”

Malcolm winced at that whiny voice. That was their officer commanding of Alpha Company, Captain Daniel. He was the most well loved person in the company. Everyone loved to hate him.

“Come on guys, you heard OC, we need to push on. We have to cross Batu Apoi river before 1200hrs today. From there, we still need to cross the 7 knolls to the enemy's objective. That would take another six hours,” Malcolm rallied his platoon. The men gnashed their teeth and cursed loudly, before getting up from their high kneel position.

“Bloody hell, load so light still talk so much,” one soldier muttered, obviously referring to Captain Daniel.

“Get him to carry my machine gun la!” cursed another soldier.

The blatant dislike for their officer commanding was evident from their constant swearing for the next two hours, and it stemmed from his highly authoritative management style. Wrong, make it dictatorial style.

Essentially, he controlled them with an iron first, always making them report back to camp by 1900hrs on Sunday nights and never letting them book out before 1700hrs on Saturdays. All medical cases whether genuine or not, were treated with the highest suspicion and all soldiers had to be screened by him first before the decree to visit the medical centre, was given by him. Even with blistering feet after field camps and long marches, he would get the sergeants and officers to conduct runs with the men, within the hour of returning to base camp. It was also rumored that he had thrown a chair at a soldier in a fit of anger. Of course, by the time this news reached the masses, the chair had become a cupboard.

“Haven't you heard? Captain Daniel threw a cupboard at xxx before le.. Crazy man!”

But there was no doubt that Captain Daniel was a hard man. He was even stricter towards the commanders of his company. Officers would be screamed at and sergeants would get charged with extra duties for the smallest of reasons. In any case, the soldiers of Alpha Company were none the impressed. In fact they were getting pissed.

“Medic!” a voice suddenly shot out in the jungle. “Call the medic!”

Malcolm hastily signalled his platoon to halt. They were very near the river now and such disturbances were dangerous. Any crossing sites would be patrolled heavily by enemy defenders. He turned around and immediately whispered on his aging radio communication set, "Ah Yan, Malcolm here. What happened?" No reply from his fellow platoon commander.

“Ah Yan, Ah Yan. Come in. Come in. What happened?” Malcolm continued.

There was a crackle of static sound and a voice urgently replied ".... Sting!..... Hurt...now!"

It did not take a rocket scientist to comprehend the distorted message. Someone had been hurt by an insect sting. Stings in this tropical environment were never taken lightly. In people who are allergic to bee stings, a sting may trigger a dangerous anaphylactic reaction that is potentially deadly. The victim needed medical help fast. It was obvious that this military training had started to turn horribly wrong.

“Make way! Make way!” The company and various platoon medics shouted as they attempted to push their way from their positions to the injured soldier. The soldier’s face was already swelling and he was experiencing breathing difficulties. The Company Medic looked at Private Ong and immediately instructed the platoon medics to assemble a stretcher for him. Alpha Company was already nearing the foot of Mount Biang and helicopter evacuation was impossible at this stage with the thick foliage towering overhead. Crossing the river was the only way the medics had to evacuate Private Ong, the injured soldier. Once there, they would be able to evacuate Private Ong by land rover or ambulance towards the nearest medical facility in the Temburong District.

“Malcolm!” screamed Captain Daniel as he bulldozed his way to him. “You jolly well protect the medical evacuation team! I still want all round security for them as they cross the bloody river! Make sure the company crosses the river tactically too! Get your security forces to do a proper reconnaissance of the crossing site before the medical team pushed forward without protection! You better make it happen!”

“Yes sir,” Malcolm answered meekly and proceeded to make things happen. Then it happened.

Private Abdul looked at his platoon commander and said, “Sir, I’m feeling giddy. I want to fall out.”

“Me too. My knees are hurting very badly. I can’t continue,” Lance Corporal Heng added.

Malcolm felt a lump rising in his throat. “Fall Out” meant not wishing to proceed with the mission and more importantly, it meant giving up on the platoon. “Guys, can you bear for just a while? Let’s cross the river first?” Malcolm pleaded.

“Cannot. Cannot. We really want to fall out,” Both soldiers replied.

“Erm.. me too. My back is aching and I can’t stand already.” Private Dinesh also added.

“What’s the problem! Why aren’t you guys moving on?!” Captain Daniel screamed.

“Can we move now? Private Ong needs medical help as fast as possible!” The Company Medic shouted.

Malcolm was beginning to lose his cool as the stifling pressure was getting into him. It did not help that the humid heat around the lower region of the mountain was now getting unbearable. He turned to the rest of his platoon, and shouted, “Who else wants to fall out?” He stood there stunned as several more hands shot up.

Captain Daniel stood there and wathced the scene unfold before his very eyes, and shook his head. Just then, Ah Yan and Spencer, platoon commanders of 1st Platoon and 3rd Platoon respectively, came running over and whispered to Captain Daniel. Now it was Captain Daniel’s turn to be stunned. “How.. how many?” he stammered.

“Sir, about fifteen of them from my platoon and about twenty from Spencer’s platoon wants to fall out. They indicated various medical reasons.” Ah Yan replied breathlessly.

This military training in Temburong, Brunei would be Captain Daniel’s last overseas trip as Officer Commanding of Alpha as he would be posting out to another appointment. He had already served more than 1 year with this company and with his experienced background in training soldiers and cadets the past four years, he was extremely confident that his high handed ways would reap benefits. After all, his command philosophy for the company was “Train Hard, Fight Easy.”

Daniel made a quick mental calculation and his face turned as red as a lobster immediately. More than two thirds of his company were falling out like flies. How was he going to capture the enemy objective with just a combined platoon size of about thirty odd men? He was in a fix because the safety of these conscript soldiers were more important than anything else. This was unlike normal training days whereby he could interrogate all of them. He was now in the middle of a training exercise! If he pushed them too hard and something bad happened, his head would be on the chopping board! He already had a Private Ong suffering from an allergic reaction from the insect sting. How was he going to explain to the Commanding Officer of the Battalion and the Commander of the Brigade?

His three young lieutenants looked at him and were very surprised at his visibly shaken look. They had never seen him in such a state.

Daniel waved his hands weakly and with beads of cold sweat dripping from his forehead, he told Malcolm and the rest to proceed as they deem fit. “Whosoever wants to fall out, just let them do it. I’m quite tired.” Then he fell silent.

His command philosophy had backfired, and his soldiers had finally rebelled against him.