As we enter the main stretch of a historic presidential campaign in America, there is much that he can teach the two candidates. I've always thought of what you are about to read as Madiba's Rules (Madiba, his clan name, is what everyone close to him calls him), and they are cobbled together from our conversations old and new and from observing him up close and from afar. They are mostly practical. Many of them stem directly from his personal experience. All of them are calibrated to cause the best kind of trouble: the trouble that forces us to ask how we can make the world a better place.
Respectfulness towards others is the key to a more civilized workplace
The challenge for life at work is this: how to be a "business" person and a "human being" at the same time. How to be compete, yet cooperate; be hard-nosed, yet ethical; keep one's nose to the grindstone, yet still take time to "see" and acknowledge others; be professional, yet personal; to make a profit and yet not be greedy.
Time Management and To-Do Lists are less effective at coping with work overload
I have to draw this article by Linda Stone in The Huffington Post to your notice, because it gives one of the best explanations I have come across on how to be become truly more productive in times when you simply have too much to do ("Is it Time to Retire the Never-Ending List?").
Most people try to cope with ever more demanding jobs and escalating targets by working longer hours. Sometimes it seems to be the only way, even if the impact on lives and relationships is almost wholly negative. But what if responding to workplace pressure in that way is dealing with the wrong issue - trying to manage and extend time, when what you need to be doing is managing your energy levels?
Educators may sometimes feel they are in a race against several clocks-the class period, the school day, the semester, the academic year, high school exit exams and so forth-as they prepare students for academic success. What can district leaders do to appropriately address issues of time and time management? How can they ensure that what is most important-student learning-is not at the mercy of things that are less urgent? As leaders weigh their options, research offers some important reminders.