Most of us know Pixar Animation as the world leader in producing animation movies, but lesser known are the stories of exemplary leadership and team work that brought about the success of the company. In his excellent work “Superteams”, noted author Khoi Tu documents the initial days of Pixar Animation when the company was struggling to stay afloat in spite of having some of the best minds in the animation industry. No story about Pixar is complete without mentioning the core leadership team of Pixar from its initial days – 3 stalwarts of the industry – Steve Jobs, Ed Catmull, John Lasseter. These were the 3 leaders who led Pixar in times of hardship and transformed the struggling company into an animation powerhouse.
Author: naren@hybreed.co
Customer service is like common sense, when it comes to organisational growth and success. With social media taking over the marketing world by storm, a small oversight can end up making your brand go viral for all the wrong reasons. And, as they say, the internet is forever.
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Every individual aspires to live a happy and healthy life. The desire to be happy means we often put forth great effort, but later we find ourselves trapped in a world of our own creation. These problems are the results of our attempts to live a blissful life. In other words, the things we try to do for our personal happiness are the very things making us unhappy. So the point is: how can one attain ultimate peace and live a life full of satisfaction?
Introduction
For every FocusU family member, checklists are an irreplaceable part of life. So, when I came across a book titled “The Checklist Manifesto,” I knew I had to read it. The book was a pleasant surprise in every possible way. Written by a renowned surgeon Atul Gwande, this book deals with the idea of solving complex problems across a broad spectrum of issues ranging from both personal and professional issues.
The writer starts by narrating a story about a deadly infection that was killing the patients in a hospital and how a simple checklist saved the lives of thousands of people. On any given day in the United States alone, there are thousands of people admitted to intensive care. Each ICU has a host of things like anesthesia, breathing tubes, tubes for fluids, antibiotics, and medicines. And more often than that, variables are usually hard to manage and cause some serious infection. How to avoid this infection? Why is this infection happening? Are we doing something wrong? Finally, a checklist was created and was put to a test.
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The Secret to Team Motivation: Finding a Larger Purpose
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Recently I received an opportunity to attend a training workshop as a participant. The program started with a brief on the day’s plan, with two speakers facilitating the entire show. I was all set to learn something new as a participant. I enjoyed the whacky energizers; they enthused passion in the room and I was impressed! Overall, I was waiting to learn more. In the back of my mind, my inner trainer was also evaluating and anticipating each move of the trainer. I thoroughly enjoyed the complete experience.
A few days back I read the book, “Ubuntu” by Stephen Lundin & Bob Nelson. The key message of the book – for me, resonated with some people I know and to some extent with some of our Indian philosophy as well. The book narrates an interesting story of an organization, which was struggling to reach the top even after putting every right process in place. What then, was the issue?
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When the pandemic outburst put a halt to our lives, digital media helped establish a new normal. Today organisations across industries are focused on facilitating remote work. More than 74% of employees prefer remotes working and believe that it’s the new normal.
Continue reading “Planning a virtual team building session? Watch out for the following.”
One of the very inspiring movies about building a good team in trying circumstances.
The name of the movie is inspired by a poem written by William Ernest Henley. Nelson Mandela has stated that this was the one poem that inspired him and kept him going through all his years in prison at Robben Island. The poem goes like this:
Continue reading “Team Building Lessons From A Movie: Invictus”