The Story of U.S. Business Is the Story of Real Estate THE STORY of American business is the story of real estate — a story of more than 200 years of claiming, seizing, developing, settling, and speculating in vast areas of land. Even though business histories often give more attention to the history of the manufacturing industry, real estate has been the more dominant factor. Wealthy colonials organized massive land companies well before the American Revolution. Land had been the source of power and wealth in the Old World, and so for Europeans, the vast acreage of the New World held great promise, whether for farming, housing, or other ends. The early colonial years included land charters and grants, such as those to William Penn and George Calvert, but these often went to absentee landlords. From the outset, ambitious American colonists well understood that buying land and waiting for the population to increase was a path to riches. Dating the beginning of true American business correlates not to the first mills or manufactories but to the Ohio Company of Virginia, which was formed in 1748 to acquire hundreds of thousands of acres of land. Many of its shareholders and administrators — Virginia’s elite, including George Washington — were born on American soil. The American Revolution itself was in large part about land, as land speculators including Washington and Patrick Henry bristled under edicts imposed on colonists in 1763 and 1773 that restricted their ability to buy and settle on lands west of the Appalachians. Rights to the land instead were...
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Leading Thoughts for August 19, 2021 IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. April Rinne on how to thrive in a fast-paced world: “In an upside-down world that coaxes, cajoles, and coerces you to run ever faster, your key to true success and growth is to do the opposite: learn how to run slower. “The old script says we must run faster to keep up. But a world in flux has different race conditions because the finish line keeps shifting. Whether it’s business demands, home and family priorities, responsibilities to juggle, relationships to nurture, or relentless uncertainty to decipher: the faster we run, the more we run without resting or reflecting or even paying attention, the worse our results will be over time.” Source: Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change II. American educational philosopher Robert Maynard Hutchins, former chancellor of the University of Chicago, with a timely comment on a return to critical thought: “As the Renaissance could accuse the Middle Ages of being rich in principles and poor in facts, we are now entitled to inquire whether we are not rich in facts and poor in principles. Our bewilderment has resulted from our notion that salvation depends on information. The remedy may be a return to the process of rational thought.” Source: Robert Maynard Hutchins, Convocation Address 1933 * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas...
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15 Attributes of Positively Energizing Leaders WHEN YOU HEAR the term positive leadership, it is easy to get cynical and think it is all happy-talk and disconnected from reality. But it isn’t. In fact, it is about those attributes that energize us and help us to deal with reality in a productive way. In Positively Energizing Leadership, Professor of Management and Organizations at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Kim Cameron, says it is about “how to capitalize on an inherent tendency in all living systems to orient themselves toward light or life-giving positive energy. It is known as the heliotropic effect. It is a “concept adapted from a phenomenon typically ascribed to how plants respond to the sun’s rays.” Cameron applies it here to the social and organizational sciences. “The kind of positive energy that most accounts for flourishing in individuals and in organizations is called relational energy.” Relational energy is brought to you by virtuous actions like generosity, compassion, gratitude, trustworthiness, forgiveness, and kindness. Mandating that employees behave positively, think happy thoughts, or be cheerful when they are depressed, anxious, or experiencing emotional pain produces false positivity. It is inauthentic, disingenuous, dishonest, and untrustworthy. It denies reality, which is the opposite of virtuous responses in trying times. It is these virtuous responses that build the relational energy that moves an organization forward in good and bad times. It is real, and we naturally respond positively to them—the heliotropic effect. Importantly, these demonstrated behaviors “lead to the only kind of...
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The Courage to Lead with Character and Resiliency TAKING ON A POSITION of leadership comes with assuming risk, encountering organizational challenges, and being a moral role model for an organization. I believe a person who is not willing to make the sacrifice to take on such a role should step aside and let someone else do it. Three attributes that are critical to taking on the mantle of leadership are decision-making, resiliency, and character. Leaders must have the courage to make decisions with well less than perfect information. Jack Welch, who led General Electric as its CEO from 1981 to 2001observed that mid-level leaders at GE struggled with having the courage to make a decision. Rarely does a leader have the luxury of making a decision with 100% of the information available. Still, a leader must decide. If a leader waits while trying to gain perfect information, he or she will lose an opportunity. Leaders who have led organizations for almost any period of time all have one thing in common. They have had to face adversity at some point and guide the organization through challenging waters. This takes resiliency on the part of a leader, and it takes a leadership approach that helps build resiliency among the team and the organization itself. Character is the foundation of leadership. Although toxic leaders might achieve some success over the short term, it is character-based, servant leaders with strong values who gain sustained success and results. Escape To Freedom A soldier I met at a Vietnam War commemoration ceremony...
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Leading Thoughts for August 12, 2021 IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Mark C. Thompson and Bonita S. Thompson on taking action in a crisis: “Challenges don’t come neatly packaged the way we planned them. So when you’re taken by surprise—and you don’t have the tools or support that you’d counted on—the first thing to think about is not what you’ve lost but what tools you still have. Start where you are. Figure out what you do have and use that to your advantage. When in doubt, take stock and then take action. “People who are able to act during a crisis—even in the slightest way—are not as likely to experience post-traumatic stress syndrome. Action is what creates healing. By the same token, if we are overwhelmed by the size or difficulty of any task, taking some action toward the solution will mellow the overwhelm. We will be better equipped to manage our emotions after even a few small actions.” Source: Admired: 21 Ways to Double Your Value II. John Wooden on self-control: “Leadership starts with self-control. Remember, control of your organization begins with control of yourself. When you lose control, you sanction the same behavior for those under your leadership—the team. There is never an excuse for violating this imperative, and when you do, your credibility and consistency as a leader diminish accordingly.” Source: Wooden on Leadership * * * Look for these ideas every...
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