Today I would like to talk about a little known and quite hard to find podcast by John C Maxwell on the subject of leadership and economics. In the podcast he talks about how as leaders, our ability to influence others operates similarly to the principles of economics in regard to supply, demand, and incentive. When we are able to supply the needed demands (whether that’s specific skills, knowledge, experience, etc) our influence increases and we are able to incite others to action. Our influence increases when we are able to provide the most relevant value and therefore we become capital in whatever system we are working within.
 
In order to increase our influence and motivate other people we need to:

1. Identify what value or resource we can provide
2. Determine whom to provide that resource for and
3. Determine what the supply and demand for it is
 
Einstein said - try to become a person of value, not importance. This is something I took to heart long ago. I was never one for titles nor appearances but I have come to understand that much of the word doesn't operate this way and too often introverts like myself and possibly yourselves are mostly seen but not heard from and that is a great loss. To me - substance and getting the job done is more important than surface level appearances. Some of the people I respect the most provide great value as technical experts but in terms of their importance – to the outside world many would refer to them as merely an engineer. Well – to me engineers and technical experts are of great value. One need only look at the wonders of the industrial world to know this is the case. Technical people provide leadership too - technical advice and services which are a vital ingredient in the production and support of any companies product or service.

Now - providing value is all about what I am trying to do here with INTJ. The value – or resource I can provide will be you – my future HPC candidates. Firstly - I really don't like the word resource. Whenever anyone uses the word resource to describe a person I cringe. People are not and must never be treated as simply a means to an end. People are the end itself. As human beings – people can engage in resourceful behaviour but humans themselves are never resources. Resource is a word best used to describe anything without a conciousness. You know – things like land, offices, office supplies, desks, computer equipment and so on. Things that are used in the means of production by people to provide value.

So – the most important ingredient in the success of INTJ will be the highly capable people I am able to attract to provide HPC system administration and technical support to large Australian corporations, academic institutions and government departments.

In terms of the supply and demand ratio – there is high level of demand for experienced HPC professionals and a low supply. High demand and low supply in economics means higher prices.

Let's talk a little about the different kinds of capital. Intellectual capital is knowledge, insight and data. Intellectual capital is developed by studying and knowing your business. Knowing more about your business than others is important to developing a higher level of knowledge and insight. We need to think as much as we can about solutions and share them actively with others. Intellectual capital generation is a cumulative process which we as a company need to accumulate actively.

Social Capital

Social Capital refers to the relationships and services that we build up through a network. We value people and relationships and we look for the key motivator in each persons life. An important part of this is to become a net weaver (other people centred) and connect people together. At every opportunity we should seek to add value to others and accumulate social capital actively.

Experiential capital

Experiential capital refers to the wisdom that comes from raw experience. Experience comes from staying the cource and not hopping around. Each of us needs to find our niche and stay there. That's how we are able to provide other people with the capital they require to get the job done. We must all evaluate our experiences – evaluated experience – in others words – study and learning is the best experience. Doing something badly often teaches us the most important lessons which we can use in the future to perform better. It's important to reflect and ask questions:

1. What did I experience?
2. What did I learn?
3. Has anything changed?
4. Should anything change?
5. When can I share what I’m learning?

We must actively build on our experiences and not camp on them.

Talent Capital
Talent capital refers to the abilities one has to achieve a desired goal. Talent tells a person what you can do, attitude tells you what you will do. It's important to discover your top three strengths and also to declare your weaknesses.
Each of us must seek to stay in our strength zones and be mentored in the area of our strengths. Think Michael Jordan with basketball. This was his sporting area of strength in comparison to his efforts in baseball.
Think about and write down ways that your talent can add value to your team. Here in my startup INTJ I'm actively using my talents in programming, website development and media production to add further value to High Performance Computing in Australia. By bringing talented HPC professionals like yourselves closer to me – we all gain a collective advantage in comparison to the results we would have achieved without teaming up together. Stretch your strength areas and improve what you’re good at.

Creative Capital
Creative capital refers to the aptitude to merge ideas, communicate thoughts, ability and to think outside of the box. This startup of mine is a good example of the use of creative capital to build something and provide a resource that was not yet being provided in the Australian HPC marketplace.

What we need to do to produce creative capital is to develop a creative think team (ideas are the most important commodity). Continually ask, is there a better way to do what we’re doing, and is someone else doing it a better way.

Passion Capital
Passion energizes talent individually and collectively. Discover your strengths, let me know about them. When you find your passion, you find your energy (it’s what you are). Hang around passionate people, it’s contagious and then give your passion away (bring love and skill together).
 

 To Summarize
As a leader it's my role to create incentive through scarce resources, human capital and inspiration. It's my job to discover my chief capital. It may no longer be in providing technical hands on work in supercomputing. My chief skill – where I am going may very well be leadership, mentoring and allocation of talented HPC professionals like yourselves to work on the big problems that Australia needs to solve to stay competitive on the global stage.

Leadership should rarely have to use force (positional leadership is inferior to personal power). In my role at INTJ – it's my company and nobody suggested nor forced me to be up here talking to you today. I'm not seeking to use positional leadership (ie – my day job as a HPC system administrator) in my role here but to use my personal abilities, skills and talents to empower you – HPC candidates to provide high levels of value to our clients. It's my job to understand the scarcity of what we will have to offer and seek to serve what our clients need the most.

 The best advice you will get is to belong to something bigger than yourself. Work with others toward a common goal, find out what you do best and do it, do your part and take pride in doing it well and help to build something of lasting value.

That's it from me today Ladies and Gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed this discussion on the subject of leadership and economics. A little known podcast by John C Maxwell which I have borrowed from. Credit where it is due.

Until next time – all the best!

I'm Clarke Towson