A purpose of the life of a True Leader

Thank you ALL who have contributed to the answering on my question!

Its so great that 27 people wanted to discuss about the topic. There are many various opinions came up.
Few answers were very good, so I couldn't choose the ONLY Best one.

I have made a Summary of your thoughts.

Please find it bellow.

A purpose of the life of a True Leader*
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A true leader is a "model" of perfection. His purpose is:

• To provide a space for the people: Leadership should not be an ego trip
• To play a role of a 'facilitator' rather than a 'director'
• To allow people to own their true power as leaders of their own destiny
• To add direction and purpose to his associates
• To create a vision and achieve a goal with the help of the team
• To determine if the other people share this vision or
• To attract people whose direction is the same as his
• To support and guidance of his or her followers
• To have moral responsibility to be a valuable guide
• To put his or her followers in a position to win/succeed
• To see the unique potential of each individual
• To open the doors of opportunity for them
• To inspire them to step into the opportunity
• To make their followers 'independent' and responsible for their decisions and act
• His personality is portable, easily transposed on others
• To take a commanding in the very critical situation
• To positive influence the followers
• To catalyze the people’s motivation

*Note: the original question:

A purpose of the life of a True Leader is to give a direction/purpose of the life to following him people.

True or false?

All opinions are appreciated.

Thank you All participanted to the discussions: Luck vs Hard-work, powered by LI Q&A!

I am happy to present a summary of our "common work".
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*Luck vs Hard-work

Everything is balanced in the world. By getting something you are giving something back: there are no "free lunches".

For the getting a success you have to pay a price:

1. Work hard to be prepared for your "chance of luck ". Looking for opportunities
2. Positive energy attract positive energy ( luck). The more positive we are, the more good things happen to us
3. " Making friends" who are already "there": networking, networking, networking
4. Defining a goal and direction, contributing daily to your dream you will be blessed by higher powers by intuitive solution, right matchmaking, extra-energy
   

There are short-cuts "available":

1. High risky illegal and unethical. The price: fear of revealing, prison, tear away from society
   
2. Low risky: pre-scheduled low profile "stable success". No luck/opportunities are needed. Low bottom line as a result

Quick luck is existing:
Winning in lotto is bringing a short-term luck, but unfortunately there is a high probability of the "bill coming" later on

Any success in the context of a career or campaign is a stepping stone, which is already scripted by higher powers.
The key issue is a quality of investment in yourself you have done prior to this point.
Coming to the fancy corporate title with "empty hands" you will provide disappointment to the people and damages to the business.

Coming with toolbox of skills you will deliver satisfaction and pride to your employees/shareholders and a good chance to get a luck again and again.

*Luck vs Hard-work

Have you noticed that some people are becoming leaders, reaching goals, getting success very easily without visible effort and some people are working very hard the whole life and still are far behind the "lucky" ones?

What is the hidden reason for the quick success?

are there any "receipts" to become a "lucky" one?

or... is it needed the quick success?

Logic vs Intuition

Thank you All who has participated in the answering the question!

I have got 26 answers from the people around the world which I have summarized and presented it bellow.

Please give your comment and enjoy!

*Logic vs Intuition:

Different people have different levels of capabilities in logic / intuition. People with analytical background- more by logic and generalists-more by intuition.

An "average" decision-maker is using the both: logic and intuition. Logic is less risky, better understandable ( explainable to other people) and more comfortable for people with financial, analytical mind-set. Logic as a part of the brain function is providing just a narrow portion of "reality"and is working OK if the decision-maker should analyze only few deliverables.

When we are coming to the complex situation with tens and hundreds analytical results and figures the logic method becoming too slow and not competitive.

However, on another hand, using ONLY intuition without "proper skills" is a great risk of failure. Intuition is for Masters: the basis for it is a solid education, training and past experiences. Accumulative result of the successful "logical" decisions is bringing an "Art" ( intuition) in decision making process ( as Kasparov's championships in chess ).

Intuitive thinker has unique capabilities and advantages in life and business and ending up far ahead of "logical thinker".

In the most sophisticated cases the great "intuitive thinker" has an opened informative channel to the cosmos. He is "feeling" the right answer by his soul.
The cosmos is much larger than human-being brain: the broader vision is giving a chance to see things differently and in larger scale.

The intuition is helping to build a long-term strategy, relationship development, politics, etc.

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* The full question was the following:

Logic vs Intuition

On my MBA studies I have been told: " Most CEOs in the largest US corporations drive their business by Intuition".
What is your personal experience in small, mid, large companies: is decision making done by logic or intuitively?

What do you believe the most important quality of a successful leader is?

Matthew Clulow, Canada, asked the following question in LinkedIn:

What do you believe the most important quality of a successful leader is?

He got answers from 75 people, which is 6 times more than average question.

Most of the people replied that the successful leader is a guy with those qualities as integrity, genuineness, courtesy, optimism, trust, etc. In some of the answers was mentioned self-confidence, innovation skills, passion.

Janne pointed out that a good leader has to pick up the right messages. Mission, vision and chosen strategy will lead to the right path. Listening will help.

In my personal perception a leader, capable to reach a goal (goals) supposed to have a Talent to Manage people.

A Leadership does not exist without people.
A guy with excellent qualities but without people is just an individual with strong personality.

Successful leader, which is capable to reach his goal, has a talent to manage people, i.e. to allocate his human resources in the right place and right time in accordance to the people's skills.

For the "Ideal" successful leader People are the most valuable asset.

Do you have your own opinion to share?

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Just click here to Join.

Hope to see you in the group,
FinRusGateway Team

What is Success?

One year ago we opened the blog Gateway To Your Success dedicated to success stories of life and business.

Since that time I became a user of LinkedIn Questions & Answers.

This tool gives a great ability to gather business intelligence interacting with people living on the other side of the planet. The LinkedIn Questions & Answers is free of charge and available for any member of the network.

I have found several interesting questions about Success.

One of those was generated by Sanjeev Himachali:

According to you, what is Success? Whom do you consider as a successful Person? Are you Successful?

He got 21 answers.

Here are few samples of the definition of the Success from the people answered:

• Success is an ability to align actions with objectives
• Success is reaching ones targets (both personal and professional)
• Success is the absence of fear to try new things
• Success is cultivating efforts to achieve your objectives and make your dreams come true
• Success is Winning
• Success is not the absence of failure but a man's triumph over it

Please see all answers on this LinkedIn question.
Have a succesfull year 2008!

Merry Christmas! Happy and Prosperous New Year 2008!

Merry Christmas! Happy and Prosperous New Year 2008!

Hyvää Joulua ja Onnelista Uutta Vuotta 2008!



FinRusGateway team

Congratulations Finland!

Today, 6th of December, Finland is celebrating 90th Anniversary of Independence.

In 31.12.1917 V.I. Lenin, Josif Stalin and Lev Trotsky signed the official papers of Independence of Finland from Russia.

Finland's Independence Day is a public holiday.
Tonight Finnish President Tarja Halonen is organizing an official party, where quests can have a party and celebrate the Anniversary.

Finland has been part of European Union from 1.1. 1995.

Read more about Finland.

Congratulations Finland, let's celebrate today!

Where to go in St.Petersburg

I made a very nice 3-days trip to St. Petersburg the last July.
Here are some beautiful places which I recommend to visit.
St.Petersburg is cheerful place, full of positive energy.

See my recommendation list bellow.

1. Peterhof
Petergof is a must place to visit. A park which Peter Great started to build and Ekaterina II continue to develope.

Reserve full day or at least half of day.
The best visit would be on sunny weather. This marvellous park is also possible to reach by boat.

2. Tvarskoje Selo, Puskin 

- Small city Puskin is about 1 hour drive to south from St.Petersburg.
Really very nice place to visit. Beautiful park  and renovated castle
of tsar.








3. Vasiljev's Island

Island in RiverNeva. Splendid view to the Erimitage and to all other buildings close to Neva. The Park
and beautiful catedral. Nikola II and some other russian tsars buried in to catedral.

4. Boat trip in River Neva

I recommend strongly to take boat close to Nevski Prospekt. On the boat trip you really just can feel closer all those beautiful places. And at the same time You will have full

Enjoy Your time in St. Piter!

Have a nice Mid-Summer!

Hyvää Juhannusta!

Happy Mid-Summer!

Juhannus, Mid-summer holiday is dedicated to longest day of summer.
It's widely celebrated in Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Denmark, Sweden,
Finland and Estonia, but found also in France, Italy, Portugal, USA and Canada.

If you are interested to read more.

The Soul of St. Petersburg

By

Petteri Hannonen

Last night I came back from St. Petersburg, Russia. Each and every time it feels a bit more difficult. The city, where I never planned to visit, has become like a home for me. It is a rather interesting feeling for a Finn.

My love affair with the city started in January 2005. Then I traveled to St. Petersburg to study (and work) for few months. While being there, I had a chance to live in a local family. My Russian family was extremely far away from New Russians, and the only way to communicate was to speak Russian. For once there was a chance to see and experience something very different, to be a part of a normal St. Petersburg family and their everyday life.

This time my trip was also a bit unusual. I went to the Venice of North for so many reasons – to have some business negotiations, to perform live the first time in Russia with our rock band (Dusha Pitera, www.myspace.com/dushapitera) and to visit friends. Once again, on my way back to Finland I thought that time flies too fast.

Our concert was held in a local rock/art club, called Manhattan (www.manhattanclub.ru). It was a real pleasure to notice that the place was quite crowded. Naturally, I was a bit stressed, how people would react – we are Finns but we perform only in Russian language. After our first song I knew that our concert would be a true success – the audience was with us all the way, even singing with us during the last songs! After the concert feelings were just unbelievable. People were extremely happy and satisfied, and the art director of the club wanted us to come back again during the summer, etc.

St. Petersburg has something for all. I always recommend interacting with locals as much as possible, and getting away from the stereotypical “tourist supply” as quickly as possible. I found my St. Petersburg that way. Naturally it might take quite a lot of courage, but it is worth of it. Trust me in that. In the end, I am a Finn, who thought that he would never visit Russia…

… and now I’m questioning, is my home here or there…

Petteri Hannonen

The Art of outsourcing

I have always wondered why everything should be done by yourself. People think that they know and can do things better than someone else. I often try to think other way around: "Someone else can do this task better than me and more cost efficient"

3 things to consider before starting outsourcing:

1. Experience. It's good that you have experience about job ( task) which you want to outsource. The task here could be anything: for example software module or project management. Experience can come from some other people as well.

2. Briefing. Which kind of ideas you have about the outsourced task? Before starting the outsourcing describe and document what you except from the outsourcing process and end results. Describe also responsibilities of outsourcing parties.

3. Management. You have to manage yourself (or ask someone you trust to manage) the process. The quality of the process should be on the good enough level.

The 7 Hottest Wireless topics in 2007

Based on our observations in CTIA 2007 Wireless there are 7 Hottest Wireless topics in 2007:

1. Mobile eMail
2. MobileTV
3. Mobilecontent (Personalized content: Blogs, Videos)
4. VoIP
5. Mobile Map Services / Location based services
6. Voice recognition
7. Smartphones

What is Your own list?

Our Mobile Life - What is not wireless to You?

Our lifestyle has changed a lot. I remember the time then my friend said that he is not going to have a mobilephone ever. That was the year 1995.

Now in 2007 he called from shop that he is going to change his mobile phone to the latest model. He asked which phone he should buy that it would have synchronized business calendar and radio. This just shows that most people cannot live without mobilephone.

In CTIA Wireless 2007 which was held in Orlando Florida USA, there were over 2000 exhibitors, mainly from USA. Some companies even came from Europe and Finland. We met lot of phones' manufactures, cellular operators, software vendors and value-added service providers.

In the show most of the people have been using their BlackBerry:s and other Smartphones for the fast communication ( except these two participants in the picture who are still fans of fixed phone lines).

Wireless Factors - enlarging your network

If you want to Exchange information in Wireless industry and enlarge your contact network you can join to Wireless Factors with following link:
www.wirelessfactors.com

There is also discussion groups in Yahoo
For Russia
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Wirelessfactorsrussia/

For Finland
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Wirelessfactorsfinland/

The Wireless Factors Linkedin group is the first step to helping companies and individuals improve the quality of relationships, the effectiveness of their efforts and their productivity within a developing industry. Wireless Factors is proud to be the first wireless industry group on Linkedin.

Success stories of Life and Business

We decided to open new blog dedicated to success stories of life and business as well.
It's nice to read about things which are inspiring. It's also possible to get new ideas while you are writing about inspiring things.

Of course we would also like to readers to enjoy the ideas and stories written here.
If you have success stories to tell, please write to us:
janne.mikkola@finrusgateway.com

Welcome and succesfull year 2007!
Janne