A good manager has at least 10 good qualities

RECENTLY I wrote about 10 qualities of a good employee, which prompted quite a few people to ask
about the attributes of a good manager.

There isn't a magic formula for good management, of course, but if you're a manager, perhaps these tips
will help you be more effective:

1 Choose a field thoughtfully. Make it one you enjoy. It's hard to be productive without enthusiasm.
This is true whether you're a manager or employee;

2 Hire carefully and be willing to fire. You need a strong team, because a mediocre team gives mediocre
results, no matter how well managed it is. One mistake is holding on to somebody who doesn't measure
up. It's easy to keep this person on the job because he's not terrible at what he does. But a good manager
will replace him or move him to where he can succeed unambiguously;

3 Create a productive environment. This is a particular challenge because it requires different

approaches depending on the context. Sometimes you maximise productivity by giving everybody his
or her own office. Sometimes you achieve it by moving everybody into open space. Sometimes you use
financial incentives to stimulate productivity. A combination of approaches is usually required. One
element that almost always increases productivity is providing an information system that empowers
employees.

When I was building Microsoft, I set out to create an environment where software developers could
thrive. I wanted a company where engineers liked to work. I wanted to create a culture that encouraged
them to work together, share ideas and remain motivated. If I hadn't been a software engineer myself,
there's no way I could have achieved my goal;

4 Define success. Make it clear to your employees what constitutes success and how they should
measure their achievements. Goals must be realistic. Project schedules, for example, must be set by the
people who do the work. People will accept a "bottoms-up" deadline they helped set, but they'll be
cynical about a schedule imposed from the top that doesn't map to reality. Unachievable goals
undermine an organisation. At my company, in addition to regular team meetings and one-on-one
sessions between managers and employees, we use mass gatherings periodically and E-mail routinely to
communicate what we expect from employees. If a reviewer or customer chooses another company's
product , we analyse the situation. We say to our people, "The next time around we've got to win.
What's needed?" The answers to these questions help us define success;

5 To be a good manager, you have to like people and be good at communicating. This is hard to fake. If
you don't enjoy interacting with people, it'll be hard to manage them well. You must have a wide range
of personal contacts within your organisation. You need relationships - not necessarily personal
friendships - with a fair number of people, including your own employees. You must encourage these
people to tell you what's going on and give you feedback about what people are thinking about the
company and your role in it;

6 Develop your people to do their jobs better than you can. Transfer your skills to them. This is an
exciting goal, but it can be threatening to a manager who worries that he's training his replacement. If
you're concerned, ask your boss: "If I develop somebody who can do my job super well, does the
company have some other challenge for me or not?" Many smart managers like to see their employees
increase their responsibilities because it frees the managers to tackle new or undone tasks. There's no
shortage of jobs for good managers. The world has an infinite amount of work to be done;

7 Build morale. Make it clear there's plenty of goodwill to go around and that it's not just you or some
hotshot manager who's going to look good if things go well. Give people a sense of the importance of
what they're working on - its importance to the company, its importance to customers;

8 Take on projects yourself. You need to do more than communicate. The last thing people want is a
boss who just doles out stuff. From time to time, prove you can be hands-on by taking on one of the less
attractive tasks and using it as an example of how your employees should meet challenges;

9 Don't make the same decision twice. Spend the time and thought to make a solid decision the first
time so that you don't revisit the issue unnecessarily. If you're too willing to reopen issues, it interferes
not only with your execution but also with your motivation to make a decision in the first place. People
hate indecisive leadership; However, that doesn't mean you have to decide everything the moment it
comes to your attention. Nor that you can't ever reconsider a decision.

10 Let people know whom to please. Maybe it's you, maybe it's your boss, and maybe it's somebody
who works for you. You're in trouble and risking paralysis in your organisation when employees start
saying to themselves: "Am I supposed to be making this person happy or this other person happy? They
seem to have different priorities."

I don't pretend that these are the only 10 approaches a manager should keep in mind. There are lots of
others. Just a month ago I encouraged leaders to demand bad news before good news from their
employees. But these 10 ideas may help you manage well, and I hope they do

Top 10 Qualities of a Project Manager

What qualities are most important for a project leader to be effective? Over the past few years, the
people at ESI International, world leaders in Project Management Training, have looked in to what
makes an effective project leader. With the unique opportunity to ask some of the most talented project
leaders in the world on their Project Leadership courses ESI have managed to collect a running tally on
their responses. Below are the top 10 in rank order according to frequency listed.

Inspires a Shared Vision

An effective project leader is often described as having a vision of where to go and the ability to
articulate it. Visionaries thrive on change and being able to draw new boundaries. It was once said that a
leader is someone who "lifts us up, gives us a reason for being and gives the vision and spirit to
change." Visionary leaders enable people to feel they have a real stake in the project. They empower
people to experience the vision on their own. According to Bennis "They offer people opportunities to
create their own vision, to explore what the vision will mean to their jobs and lives, and to envision
their future as part of the vision for the organisation." (Bennis, 1997)

Good Communicator

The ability to communicate with people at all levels is almost always named as the second most
important skill by project managers and team members. Project leadership calls for clear
communication about goals, responsibility, performance, expectations and feedback.
There is a great deal of value placed on openness and directness. The project leader is also the team's
link to the larger organisation. The leader must have the ability to effectively negotiate and use
persuasion when necessary to ensure the success of the team and project. Through effective
communication, project leaders support individual and team achievements by creating explicit
guidelines for accomplishing results and for the career advancement of team members.

Integrity

One of the most important things a project leader must remember is that his or her actions, and not
words, set the modus operandi for the team. Good leadership demands commitment to, and
demonstration of, ethical practices. Creating standards for ethical behaviour for oneself and living by
these standards, as well as rewarding those who exemplify these practices, are responsibilities of project
leaders. Leadership motivated by self-interest does not serve the well being of the team. Leadership
based on integrity represents nothing less than a set of values others share, behaviour consistent with
values and dedication to honesty with self and team members. In other words the leader "walks the talk"
and in the process earns trust.

Enthusiasm

Plain and simple, we don't like leaders who are negative - they bring us down. We want leaders with
enthusiasm, with a bounce in their step, with a can-do attitude. We want to believe that we are part of an
invigorating journey - we want to feel alive. We tend to follow people with a can-do attitude, not those
who give us 200 reasons why something can't be done. Enthusiastic leaders are committed to their goals
and express this commitment through optimism. Leadership emerges as someone expresses such
confident commitment to a project that others want to share his or her optimistic expectations.
Enthusiasm is contagious and effective leaders know it.

Empathy

What is the difference between empathy and sympathy? Although the words are similar, they are, in
fact, mutually exclusive. According to Norman Paul, in sympathy the subject is principally absorbed in
his or her own feelings as they are projected into the object and has little concern for the reality and
validity of the object's special experience. Empathy, on the other hand, presupposes the existence of the
object as a separate individual, entitled to his or her own feelings, ideas and emotional history (Paul,
1970). As one student so eloquently put it, "It's nice when a project leader acknowledges that we all
have a life outside of work."

Competence

Simply put, to enlist in another's cause, we must believe that that person knows what he or she is doing.
Leadership competence does not however necessarily refer to the project leader's technical abilities in
the core technology of the business. As project management continues to be recognised as a field in and
of itself, project leaders will be chosen based on their ability to successfully lead others rather than on
technical expertise, as in the past. Having a winning track record is the surest way to be considered
competent. Expertise in leadership skills is another dimension in competence. The ability to challenge,
inspire, enable, model and encourage must be demonstrated if leaders are to be seen as capable and
competent.

Ability to Delegate Tasks

Trust is an essential element in the relationship of a project leader and his or her team. You demonstrate
your trust in others through your actions - how much you check and control their work, how much you
delegate and how much you allow people to participate. Individuals who are unable to trust other people
often fail as leaders and forever remain little more that micro-managers, or end up doing all of the work
themselves. As one project management student put it, "A good leader is a little lazy." An interesting
perspective!

Cool Under Pressure

In a perfect world, projects would be delivered on time, under budget and with no major problems or
obstacles to overcome. But we don't live in a perfect world - projects have problems. A leader with a
hardy attitude will take these problems in stride. When leaders encounter a stressful event, they consider
it interesting, they feel they can influence the outcome and they see it as an opportunity. "Out of the
uncertainty and chaos of change, leaders rise up and articulate a new image of the future that pulls the
project together." (Bennis 1997) And remember - never let them see you sweat.

Team-Building Skills

A team builder can best be defined as a strong person who provides the substance that holds the team
together in common purpose toward the right objective. In order for a team to progress from a group of
strangers to a single cohesive unit, the leader must understand the process and dynamics required for
this transformation. He or she must also know the appropriate leadership style to use during each stage
of team development. The leader must also have an understanding of the different team players styles
and how to capitalise on each at the proper time, for the problem at hand.

Problem Solving Skills

Although an effective leader is said to share problem-solving responsibilities with the team, we expect
our project leaders to have excellent problem-solving skills themselves. They have a "fresh, creative
response to here-and-now opportunities," and not much concern with how others have performed them

Telephone Call
Given these limitations, here are a few things that might help you.

• The real, essential key to telephone conversation lies in one simple secret. And here it is:
Tone. The tone of someone’s voice is a real tell-all secret as to how well you’re doing. But it
all starts with your tone. You need to be especially attentive to the tone that you use and
then be finely tuned into the tonal response of your prospect. More about that later.
• Listen for background noise on the other end of the line. This simple, little secret can
provide you real insight into how much attention your prospect is really paying to you and
your message. Do you hear conversations? How about the tell-tale sound of a computer
starting up or shutting down?
• Always ask for permission to conduct a relatively lengthy phone conversation. Saying things
like, “Do you have a few minutes that we might talk” can go a long way toward
guaranteeing a more responsive hearing on the other end.
• When sending a prospect correspondence that will serve as a source of linkage for a later
conversation always be sure to enclose a letter that includes as its last sentence, something
like this:
 “In the absence of hearing from you in the next _____ days, I trust that you will be receptive
to accepting my phone call shortly after that ___ day period.”

If you don’t hear from your prospect place your call and assume that they are expecting
your call.

• Never forget that all sales presentations are a two way street. It is extremely easy to
dominate the conversation on the phone because you have no way to judge the non-verbal
response of prospects. However, by engaging them and allowing them to respond, converse
and play an active role in the sales process you will be able to judge their energy level,
interest, excitement and involvement with you, your offer and your opportunity.

In our business, a large percentage of the sales that we make are done over the phone. Through
the years I have noticed that our most effective salespeople always tend to do the following 8
things when they are successful with tele-selling. Here they are:

• They make or return phone calls at precisely the exact time they have committed to doing
so. Not even 2-3 minutes late!
• They always pre-plan the phone call and make notes of the specific items they want to
cover.
• They call ahead to confirm their phone appointment or send a note reminding the prospect
of their upcoming call along with an agenda of items to be discussed.
• They develop positive, productive relationships with people who qualify or screen phone
calls.
• They are persistent without being obnoxious, pushy or overly aggressive.
• They always have a follow-up strategy for each phone call they make.
• They take notes of the phone conversation so there is a permanent record of the items.
• They send a thank you note expressing their gratitude for the time taken and interest
shown by the prospect.

How to Start a Conversation with 3 Super Body

Language Tips
Body Language Training - Using body language to enhance how you start a conversation can lead
to great conversation. You do not have to say much just a look or a movement can speak volumes
for you.

Using body language to enhance how you start a conversation can lead to great conversation.

You do not have to say much just a look or a movement can speak volumes for you.

This is especially useful in situations where you can not seem to get a word in or where you are unsure
of how to start a conversation.

Body language is a way to communicate without putting yourself at risk of saying something wrong.

You probably already use body language, but do not even notice it.
The following list shows the main points of body language that you should be aware of whenever you
wonder how to start a conversation.

1. Eye use:

People say that they can learn all about a person through their eyes. It is probably the most used part of
the body to communicate next to the mouth.

Your eyes can say many things, from rolling them to winking, you can display many messages with just
your eyes. Sometimes you may unaware of what your eyes are saying.

Be careful to not let your eyes say you are bored or not interested in a conversation. You should
maintain good eye contact to let others know you are listening.

2. Body moves:

Everyone has said hello with a wave of the hand or shown a lack of patience with a tap of the foot or
nodded in agreement.

Your hands, arms, feet and head can speak for in many cases. Crossing the arms, tapping the foot
rapidly or putting your hands on your hips can all say things that might not be too good.

On the other hand, clapping, tapping your foot to music or extending a hand shake can say great things.
Always be aware of what your body is saying.

3. Facial expressions:

Smiling can say more than words sometimes. You should be aware of your facial expressions at all
times. You may frown and be unaware of it.

Facial expressions can often be misinterpreted. A serious look of concentration may be seen as
disapproval. Just make sure you are using the rest of your body to speak as well and your facial
expressions should come across clearly.

Your eyes, body and face can carry on a whole conversation for you. You can speak volumes with a
simple movement. You can use body language to convey a message you may not otherwise want to
vocalize.

Knowing how to end or start a conversation with body language can come in handy if you do not have
time to carry on a conversation, but would like to acknowledge someone.

Body language can also share a feeling with someone so only the two of you know. Make sure your
body language is saying what you want it to.

Body Language Counts!

Body Language Training - Body Language has been beaten to death over the past decade. In
reality body language gives away your attitude and how you feel about your product. Body
Language also lets the other person know how confident you are. This article discusses some parts
of body language that will help you gain more sales!

Why communication through body language and appropriate language are crucial to networking
success?

I know most people take quick note of someone that has an attitude.

By that we mean that they look belligerent, like know-it–alls, and their ego hangs out like a sore thumb.

This is not the person you generally want to do business with.

That goes for language as well: you do not want to hang with someone that is negative, always plays the
victim and always is whining about one thing or another.

The fact that body language can work for you if you take time to listen to others is really important.

The act of listening changes your body language almost immediately.

So that you can understand what the other person is saying, you change from aggressive mode to
passive mode.

This type of body language makes others receptive to you, and they will want to tell their story to you.
However, when others want to tell their story, it is important that you gently nudge them in the right
direction.

You want them to tell you about their business pain, or what is not right with their company. It is
through analyzing what they are saying that you will gain bigger insights as to what needs to be
remedied, how you can help them with that part of their business.

After all, you are at the event to pick up solid leads that will give you both profit and relationships that
will last for quite some time.

What about language? The kind of language you should be using is: “Will you…”, “Have you
considered…”, “I’ll find out how I can help”, “I know someone that…”, even reiterating what they just
said is good.

You have now practiced and rehearsed, done the dress rehearsal, filmed yourself, done the critique,
worked with your director (yourself) and you have finally perfected the pitch.

It is now time to try it on a live audience with real people. The first thing is to make sure that what you
are pitching is appropriate for the audience at the event you have chosen to attend.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that
no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite.

She decided to find the best ways to get people’s attention, be creative in how she presented herself and
products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time.
 Economy
Ho Chi Minh City

The Vietnam War destroyed much of the economy of Vietnam. Apart from widespread destruction of
urban and rural infrastructure, heavy bombings and mines had savaged agricultural activities. Millions
of people were displaced by the conflict, and over two million people were killed. Upon taking power,
the Government created a command economy in the nation. Collectivization of farms, factories and
economic capital was implemented, and millions of people were put to work in government programs.
For many decades, Vietnam's economy was plagued with inefficiency and corruption in state programs,
poor quality and underproduction and restrictions on economic activities and trade. It also suffered from
the trade embargo from the United States and most of Europe after the Vietnam War. Furthermore, the
trade partners of the Communist blocs began to erode. In 1986, the Sixth Party Congress introduced
significant economic reforms with market economy elements as part of a broad economic reform
package called "đổi mới" (Renovation). Private ownership was encouraged in industries, commerce and
agriculture. In many ways, this followed the Chinese model and achieved similar results. On one hand,
Vietnam achieved around 8% annual GDP growth from 1990 to 1997 and continued at around 7% from
2000 to 2002, making it the world's second-fastest growing economy. Simultaneously, foreign
investment grew three-fold and domestic savings quintupled. Manufacturing, information technology
and high-tech industries form a large and fast-growing part of the national economy.

Urban unemployment has been rising steadily in recent years due to high numbers of migration from
the countryside to the cities, and rural unemployment, estimated to be up to 35% during non-harvest
periods, is already at critical levels. Layoffs in the state sector and foreign-invested enterprises,
combined with the lasting effects of a previous military demobilization, further exacerbated the
unemployment situation. In May 2006, Vietnam negotiated a bilateral trade agreement with the U.S.
that marked the completion of the bilateral negotiations with WTO members the country needed to
qualify for accession to the organization. Among other steps taken in the process of transitioning to a
market economy, Vietnam in July 2006 updated its intellectual property legislation to comply with
TRIPS. Vietnam's chief trading partners include Japan, Australia, ASEAN countries, the U.S. and
Western European nations. Vietnam was accepted into the WTO on November 7, 2006.

Gross Domestic Product (Billion VND) US Dollar Exchange

1980 57,130 2.05 Old Dong

1985 100,464 6.69 New Dong
1990 41,955,000 6,482.54 New Dong
1995 228,892,000 11,037.85 New Dong
2000 441,646,000 14,169.85 New Dong
2005 806,854,877 15,851.76 New Dong

Vietnam is still a relatively poor country with GDP of US$251.8 billion (est., 2004). This translates to
~US$3000 per capita. Inflation rate was estimated at 14% per year in 2004. The government has
contained this figure to 9.5% in 2005, and continues its efforts to avoid double digit inflation. The
spending power of the public has noticeably increased. The reason lies in the high prices for property. In
the capital of Hanoi, property prices can be as high as those in Tokyo or New York City. This has
amazed many people because the average income per capita of this city is around US$1,000 per annum.
The booming prices have given poor land owners the opportunity to sell their homes for inflated prices.
Tourism has become an increasingly important industry in Vietnam. There are over 3 to 3.5 million
annual visitors. Expatriate Vietnamese are an important source of financial and capital investment.

As a result of several land reform measures, Vietnam is now the largest producer of cashew nuts with a
one-third global share and second-largest rice exporter in the world. Vietnam has the highest percent of
land use for permanent crops, 6.93%, of any nation in the Greater Mekong Subregion [4][5]. Besides
rice, key exports are coffee, tea, rubber, and fishery products. However, agriculture's share of
economic output has declined, falling as a share of GDP from 42% in 1989 to 26% in 1999, as
production in other sectors of the economy has risen.

Languages
There have been many theories regarding the origin of the Vietnamese language. The most persuasive
one argues that the Vietnamese language previously belonged to the Mon-Khmer group of the Southeast
Asian linguistic system, it was later transformed into Viet-Muong language (or old Vietnamese
language) and then separated to form the modern Vietnamese language. In the present-day Vietnamese
language, many words have been proved to contain Mon-Khmer roots and to be phonetically and
semantically relevant to the Muong language.

Throughout a millennium of Chinese domination and under the Vietnamese feudal dynasties, the
official language was the Han, but the Vietnamese always demonstrated its strength for self-
preservation and development. The Han language was pronounced in the Vietnamese way, called the
Han-Viet way of pronunciation, and Vietnamized in various ways to create many commonly used
Vietnamese words. The diverse development of the Vietnamese language brought about the birth of a
system of writing scripts transcribing the Vietnamese language on the basis of the Han characters in the
13th century, called the Nom character.

Under the French domination, Han characters were gradually eliminated and replaced by French that
was used in administrative, educational and diplomatic languages. Thanks to the National language that
boasts the advantages of simple figure, composition, spelling and pronunciation the modern Vietnamese
prose was actually formed and then accepted positive influence from the Western cultural language. The
National language characters were produced by some Western evangelists including Alexandre de
Rhodes; they cooperated with some Vietnamese to transcribe the Vietnamese language on the basis of
the Latin alphabet for using in evangelism in the 17th century. The National language characters were
completed and popularized to become a significant cultural tool. In late 19th century, publications were
published in the National language characters.

After the August 1945 Revolution, the Vietnamese language and the National language characters have
seized a dominating position and strongly developed and established itself as a multi-functional
language that has been used in every field, every educational level and has reflected every reality of life.
Today, thanks to the Revolution, some ethnic minority groups have their own writing scripts.

The Vietnamese language is characterized by mono-phonology with a concrete, abundant, acoustic and
imaginary vocabulary and a proportionate, rhythmical, lively, flexible, symbolic and emotional way of
expression, which tremendously facilitates artistic and literary creation. The Vietnamese dictionary
published by the Center of Lexicography in 1997 consists of 38,410 entries.

Literature
Parallel and deeply interacting with other cultural aspects, the Vietnamese literature came into being at
an early date, including two major components - folk literature and written literature. Folk literature
held a great significance in Vietnam and made immense contribution to preserving and developing the
national language as well as nourishing the people’s soul. Folk literary works were diversified by
mythologies, epics, legends, humorous stories, riddles, proverbs, folk-songs and so on... with many
colourings of Vietnamese ethnic groups.

Written literature was born roughly in the 10th century. Up to the 20th century, there had been two
components existing at the same time: works written in the Han characters (with poems and prose
demonstrating the Vietnamese soul and realities; thus, they were still regarded as Vietnamese literature)
and works written in the Nom character (mostly poems; many great works were handed down to the
later generations). Since the '20s of this century, written literature has been mainly composed in the
National language with profound renovations in form and category such as novels, new-style poems,
short stories and dramas... and with diversity in artistic tendency. Written literature attained speedy
development after the August Revolution, when it was directed by the Vietnamese Communist Party’s
guideline and focused on the people’s fighting and working life.

Admittedly, the whole Vietnamese nation likes poetry and composing poems - ranging from kings,
mandarins, generals to monks, feudal scholars, and even revolutionaries. A farmer, an old boatman, a
soldier all know some six-eight-word meters or satirical verses.

Regarding the content, the mainstream was the unyielding patriotic literature in every time and the anti-
feudalist literature that was often expressed through the plight of women. Another important theme was
the onslaughts against social vices. Great poets of the nation were all great humanists.

Modern Vietnamese literature has developed from romanticism to realism, from heroism in wartime to
all aspects of life, and scoured into ordinary life to find out genuine values of the Vietnamese people.

Classical literature generated such masterpieces as Truyen Kieu (Nguyen Du), Cung oan ngam khuc
(Nguyen Gia Thieu), Chinh phu ngam (Dang Tran Con), Quoc am thi tap (Nguyen Trai)... Vietnamese
had some brilliant female poets like Ho Xuan Huong, Doan Thi Diem, Ba Huyen Thanh Quan...
centuries ago.

In the Vietnamese modern prose, there were authors who could emulate with whoever in the world,
namely, Nguyen Cong Hoan, Vu Trong Phung, Ngo Tat To, Nguyen Hong, Nguyen Tuan, Nam Cao...
They were sided by excellent poets like Xuan Dieu, Huy Can, Han Mac Tu, Nguyen Binh... Regrettably,
great works that faithfully reflect the country and the times have yet to appear