Stylin'

Working on a paper about my leadership strengths and weaknesses (withhold your laughter, please) and one of the components is a social styles survey, for which many of my friends and colleagues contributed feedback. So, I thought I'd share the results. According to the survey, and your comments, I have an expressive style. 

People with Expressive Style focus their attention on the future with intuitive visions and outspoken spontaneity. They can be seen as imaginative and createve as they react with others. Expressives can generate enthusiasm. Their behaviour can be intensely stimulating, exciting and fun for those who get caught up in an Expressive's dreams. They tend to make decisions quickly based on how they feel about a situation. They appear warm and approachable, yet competitive for recognition and involvement in relationships. Some see the Expressive's behaviour as flighty, impractical and overly emotional. Because of their desire to act on opinions, hunches, intuitions, rather than hard facts, expressive behaviour can lead to mistakes and frequent changes of direction.

Interesting results and some of it resonates strongly, other parts less so. Great feedback for the future though. The other categories were analytical, driving and amiable. I'm hoping that expressive is like Austin Power's "Mojo," but it also reminds me of what my dear mother used to say, "Tim, why does everyone we meet make fun of you?"0

What do you think? 

Sunday Reading

Two quick posts of good weekend reading that happen to be from Rotman profs:

• Why it is your fault the Leaf's stink, by Richard (Rick) Powers
  
• Wake Up Toronto, by Richard Florida

Incidentally, there are profs with names other than Richard.

Unvarnished

On Wednesday, I was lucky that a friend talked me into attending this speech at Rotman (despite a few deadlines and some group work hanging over my shoulder). Having been in the business of working with corporate executives and CEO's on messaging and media relations, it was refreshing to hear RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie speak frankly and openly about their business, strategy in general and his view on the future. As a former colleague would say, it was an "unvarnished" view.

Beyond some of the quotes in the article, my other favorites included his summary of strategy as being fairly simple and they "just keep doing the same thing" as well as not so subtle criticisms of Apple without referencing it by name. He questioned the ability of companies that have succeeded in other areas like operating systems or computer hardware to translate those skills into the mobile handset market.

A few other observations:
* Balsillie's downplaying of the importance of the consumer sector.
* He attributed the success of the blackberry largely to the company's relationships and the ease of integration with business IT services (specifically for IT managers).
* He noted how much he has learned in the past 10 years and joked about how little he actually knew after his MBA (to laughs from the audience).

Speaking of smart honest people, here is another one's interpretation of the last election.

Creative Class

Very cool post from Richard Florida about his move to Rotman. I think the reference to Roger Martin as Finance Minister is also interesting. I expect we will continue to see his influence at both the provincial and federal level.

More random thoughts

I'm starting to really enjoy this format, it eliminates the need for, you know, paragraphs.

1. Take a read. Sometimes the unreported is the most significant. Unfortunately it goes unreported and there isn't enough time for John Tory to sleep over at every Ontarian's house.
2. I will find it personally agonizing to not visit my local Future Shop tomorrow.
3. Entering week three of the MBA (and 33.3% through Q1 already) we have recently studied decision making models in Integrative Thinking. One interesting concept is the value of the status quo in individual decision making. Given the vacuum of information on Ontario's proposed electoral changes, I wonder if that will tend us towards a "No" vote. Check it out at the Globe and Elections Ontario's microsite.
4. An activist Finance Minister starts promoting a single regulator and now combining the two largest exchanges. Both good moves for a stronger and more internationally Canadian financial market, especially at a time of (temporary) parity. More importantly, a refreshing move to show leadership and push an issue forward, instead of simply following the crowd.
5. They aren't making any more of it. (Also see GTA Real Estate?)
6. Dyson can run with the last news of the night.

My iTunes just hit the slow jazz section, which is a clear sign of time to crash.

Linear schminiear

This week I began an exciting, intimidating and slightly overwhelming new challenge - candidacy for a Masters in Business Administration from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

You say: "Wait a sec, Tim. Aren't you a poli sci major and a corporate flack (read: public relations consultant.)?"

Correct. And I firmly believe believe that my background in corporate communications, government relations and technology combined with an excellent business education in finance and management will give me a unique career niche. That, in part, is why I was attracted to Rotman.

Previously, I had the brief opportunity to work with the Dean, Roger Martin, who has arguably made Rotman the top business school in Canada and a global contender. In that instance, I was impressed by his unconventional approach to problems like tuition deregulation in Canada and other public policy questions.

Dean Martin has pioneered a new guiding philosophy for Rotman and business education in general called Integrative Thinking - the premise being that modern business problems are rarely solved within the silo of a single expertise and instead require the overlapping skills of multiple disciplines.

BusinessWeek Magazine in fact has recognized him as one of the world's B-school All-stars:

"The University of Toronto's Roger Martin, for example, is pioneering a design-oriented business philosophy. His theory—namely that, to succeed, corporate managers should become flexible problem-solvers, not sophisticated number-crunchers—is making waves worldwide." - BusinessWeek.com

That is the type of education from which I will be able to apply the great experiences in politics and consulting and passionate interest in technology that I have had in my professional and education life and prepare for the future.

I look forward to keeping you up to date. For now, I need to learn about accounting, balance sheets and basic finance...