a tale from gotham city

one fine day, the principal of gotham high school frowned while looking at an exam script and asked the teacher, “how did this student end up in his final year in school, and yet failed his greek?”

“oh, but u are the one who promoted bruce at each level over the years?”

it is not well-known that batman studied greek in school, a compulsory subject in gotham city, but failed each year till his graduation year in gotham high school.

“Lego 30160 Batman Jetski.” by STICK KIM is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

resistance is futile

it’s been a while since we revisited (the conception) of borg queen. as a novice, the first time i encountered the borg queen is in the classic movie – First Contact – which i have watched countless times.

(source https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/Star_trek_first_contact_poster.jpg )

oh yes, just to add another (my) #qotd that comes to mind:

“If it appears in shows, TV, movie, internet, or otherwise, it happens in the real world (with 99% confidence interval).”

(Tan, 2021)

that’s all for now (:

on leadership

was reading two books in preparation for an opportunity to extend the lifelong learning experiences, and here are a few quotes (with emphasis added) that appeared in the first book which i found personally meaningful:

“You’re recently promoted. You’re now a vice-president or a provost or a department supervisor. Now the work begins. You haven’t arrived, and you’ve only begun to travel. In the same way, having children means only that the work of becoming a parent has begun. The biological event is very different from the love and commitment, the skinned knees and dirty diapers …… the sacrifices for tuition and music lessons, the laughter and the tears — these kinds of things add up to earning the title ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad’. One becomes a leader, I believe, through doing the work of a leader. It’s often difficult and painful and sometimes even unrewarding, and it’s work …… I hope that you, too, will discover that so much of leadership is music from the heart.”

(De Pree, 2008, p.9-10)

“The promises we make as leaders must resonate with our beliefs and values. Otherwise they ring false, and people know it. In our lives as leaders, we frequently find ourselves in situations where skill and technique fail us. At times, professional qualifications simply aren’t enough. We need to resort to deeper resources, resources beyond technique and the jargon of seminars, resources rooted in our beliefs and values. It behooves us, then, to find our voices.

(De Pree, 2008, p.28)

“Vision is the basis for the best kind of leadership. A vision exists somewhere when teams succeed. Instinctively, we most of us follow a leader who has real vision and who can transform that vision into a meaningful and hopeful strategy. I’m not talking here about next quarter’s sales targets — that is no vision. But the tenders of visions are often lonely, usually unpopular, and frequently demand that others change. People with a vision injects ambiguity and risk and uncertainty into our lives. They embark on voyages to new worlds.”

(De Pree, 2008, p.31-32)

“Moving up the hierarchy does not confer competence. This is hard to keep in mind …… A promotion likely to pan out produces temporary incompetence, the kind of awkwardness that always comes before deeper understanding. The only appropriate response to a promotion is ‘Good grief, have I got a lot to learn now!‘”

(De Pree, 2008, p.34)

“In a way, leadership is as delicate as Mozart’s melodies. The music exists and it doesn’t. It is written on the page, but it means nothing until performed and heard. Much of its effect depends on the performer and the listener. The best leaders, like the best music, inspire us to new possibilities.

(De Pree, 2008, p.38)

Reference:
De Pree, M. (2008). Leadership jazz: The essential elements of a great leader. New York: Crown Business.