2011 | Mystic Madness

Archive for 2011

The Best Leadership Movies

Cinema has always been a great inspiration for great leaders. There are hundreds of movies that debate the topic of leadership. Through the strong cha...

Cinema has always been a great inspiration for great leaders. There are hundreds of movies that debate the topic of leadership. Through the strong characters they project, some movies have become real milestones for anybody who’s trying to become a leader. Of course you can learn much about being a leader by watching movies that present how not to be a leader. Also, if you want a complete knowledge of leadership movies you should not only focus on classics like Godfather, or Once upon a time in America, where the interworking of the Mob are portrayed through the perspective of the Leader, the one who earns everybody’s respect and has o take the tough life or death decisions. Some leadership movies portray how to be a mentor, which is just as important if you are looking to develop skills needed for team work at a big company. So the best leadership movies have to teach about how to earn respect through self example, how to be fair with everybody, how to have integrity, and how to mentor somebody. And here is my list of what I think the best movies are:

1. Braveheart. A classic, with Mel Gibson in the leading role. This movie portrays the fight of the Scots to liberate themselves form English rule. What are the reasons why I think this s one of the best leadership movies of all time? Well a number of reasons actually: First of all, the courage showed by the leader who will fight leading the charge alongside his men, but most of all because the power to inspire that William Wallace had. The power to convince everyone of his men, that their fight is just and that it is better to be dead than leave under someone else’s rule.

2. The Gladiator. Another great movie set in Ancient Rome, with Russell Crowe as the main star. This movie goes to show that you cannot let injustices go unpunished. With the price of his freedom, the main character seeks revenge and nothing can stand in his way. Again the main idea that can be extracted from this movie is that nothing should stand in your way once you have decided on a course of action, knowing that you have justice on your side.

3. Glengarry Glen Ross. In my pinion one of the best leadership movies of all time. The speech that Alec Baldwin gives in the movie is exceptionally well written and I believe it portrays perfectly the attitude of the bosses in corporate America towards their employees. It shows you how to motivate your employees and how to be ruthless at the same time. Sometimes a good leader needs to take the tough decisions and fire somebody no matter their relationship with that person. This speech shows you how to treat your employees based on their results alone and not their personality.

4. Remember the Titans. A great movie from my point of view that gives a great lesson about teamwork. It shows the story of an underdog college football team that gains success under the leadership of a great coach. This movie makes clear, that in a team not the individual is important, not the exceptional results of one member of the team, but only the team as a whole. An old saying states that a team is as strong as its weakest player, and I couldn’t agree with that more.

5. A few good men. One of the best leadership movies of all time because it shows the thin line between following orders no matter what, and doing the right thing. Sometimes there is a clear distinction between these two, but a distinction that you are not always able to perceive when you are in the middle of a tough situation.

6. Finding Forrester. A great movie that shows how a leader should also be a mentor. A great leader doesn’t solve everybody’s problems, but actually empowers his employees to solve their problems themselves.

7. Schindler’s List. A classic movie that debates the topic about being able to have a conscious even though you are under tremendous pressure from your superiors to do the wrong thing. In this case, the whole state of Nazi Germany was the oppressor who ordered the extermination of Jews, but it is with the help of great leader like Schindler that could make the difference between good and evil that some of them where saved.

These are what I consider to be the best leadership moves of all time. Of course the list could go on and on but I believe this selection covers every characteristic I consider a good leader should have: courage to take responsibility and to lead, the power to inspire, the power to have a conscious and not always follow orders blindly, the understanding that the team is important as a whole and not the individual.

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How To Have A Beautiful Kitchen

I have been working in the field of interior design for a couple of years now. One of the most common questions I am asked is what to do to have a beautiful kitchen? Well there are a number of steps you should follow, and I shall talk about them more in detail in the paragraphs that follow. What I do want to state first of all is that, as with everything that’s worth while, you need to take some time to figure out what works for you. Another very important point I would like to make is that if you can afford it always ask the advice of a specialist. If you cannot afford a specialist, than you should check out specialized sites or magazines in order to get the answers you are looking for. I don’t mean that you can’t do a good job by yourself, and I am not suggesting copying a kitchen straight form a magazine. I am just saying that you should take inspiration from great examples and transform them in your own personal way. So let’s go on and see what I believe the most important steps in creating a beautiful kitchen are:

1. Cleanliness. Most important of all, in order to have a beautiful kitchen you must always keep it clean. I know this might sound too obvious but I must stress the importance of this aspect because you need to take it into account even in the design phase. A very well thought out kitchen will be much easier to clean than one where this aspect wasn’t taken into consideration. The kitchen is the place that gets dirty the fastest out of every other room, and I believe that keeping it clean is the most important step you should take in order to have a beautiful kitchen.

2. Functional. A good kitchen should function properly. The needs of the person using it should be taken into consideration. For example if you have a limited amount of space and if you can afford only one long countertop: than this is the logical way you should organize the space: The fridge where you store the food, than countertop where you can take out the food from the fridge, the washer, to wash the food, another countertop to prepare the food, and at the other end the stove and burner. A functional kitchen is a beautiful kitchen.

3. Organized. A kitchen should be very well organized. Everything should be placed with the users needs in mind. Drawers where they are more useful, enough space to deposit everything you might need in a kitchen and flexible seating arrangements to suite the needs of everybody.

4. Matching color and textures. Once you get the practical side of the way, and your kitchen functions properly you can move on to the color scheme. There are a few things to consider here. One is the fact that a kitchen should scream health, so you can’t go wrong with a mostly white kitchen, maybe combined with black, and some accents with red. But a kitchen should also fit the type of personality you are, so for example if you are bachelor you can go with much bolder colors such as red. When it comes to textures my personal opinion is that you should stick to natural textures in the kitchen: wood, fabric, marble, and so on.

5. Accents. Accents will bring your kitchen alive. All you need to remember is to not go over the top. Stick with three accents as a maximum, and if it’s possible keep them from the same family. Nothing can ruin a beautiful kitchen faster than a over-cluttering with little objects that are meant as accents.

6. Space. Remember that space is the most important characteristic of any room. So you should always keep in mind the proportions of the room and buy furniture that fits and doesn’t seem out of place. You should also take into consideration the fact that you need extra space behind every chair, about a meter form the table so that everyone seated can get in or out form the table with ease.

7. Personalize. Don’t be afraid to personalize your kitchen. You can add little objects or sentimental gifts here and there as long as you don’t go overboard. Personalizing your kitchen will make it feel more snuggly and it will add to the overall effect of a beautiful kitchen.

These are some of the elements you need to consider while creating your new kitchen. Of course it doesn’t mean that if you follow these rules you will necessarily have a beautiful kitchen. This is why I feel I have to insist on the fact that if possible you should always ask the advice of an expert or at least browse through some magazines and some sites specialized in interior design.

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