Leadership

Just finished Steve Jobs biography, and I can't help but process his leadership ability, skills, and styles.

In the short 10 years of my professional career, I have come across every style of
Leader.

First was Wayne Willegas at celebrity cruises, he was the VP of marketing for the majority  of my time there. He was a warm, welcoming guy with an open mind for ideas and even though I was young he was always encouraging of my ideas and my efforts.

Next I moved onto an advertising agency run by two Jewish women in Miami. These women had owned and operated the agency for over 20 years and the one and only client for that 20 years was Sandals resorts. I came into my management role here, and found a very hostile environment. Every time I was in front of them, it felt like I was in front of a firing squad. They would fire away questions, and I would scramble to answer having to learn to be quick on my toes. These women micro managed every aspect of the business, and would one day scrutinize certain things only the next day to completely overlook them and find them irrelevant. They were hard to please, and easily distracted. However, there was a redeeming factor of feeling like you were family. They would ask about personal things, and actually listen and offer advice. It was a strange place to work, very stressful...but it taught me so many invaluable things. Despite the rigor, I wouldn't change it for the world.

Finally I find myself in Monaco with the most laid back of bosses. There are months at a time that no one in the office sees him or even knows where he is. There is a complete lack of communication, and the general direction of the company is unclear. However, it's his way of making you figure things out for yourself. No hand holding, no judgments once you do actually see him. Just, an ease about him that we will figure it out in due time. Yes, this creates all sorts of red flags for me....for example how do we pay our overhead when we haven't had revenue in nearly 6 months? Among other questions.

But what has all of this taught me? What is the lesson to be learned here? What is the best leadership style? How do I want to format my own leadership style?

I wish I had the answers to all these questions. As I hit 30 next year, I want to be on the right path and moving towards a bright future...but at this time I seem to only know that what works for me doesn't necessarily work for anyone else. And with each employee that I manage, my leadership style seems to adjust in small ways in order to facilitate a good working environment.

Decor do-over

While I'm stuck at the office, and the time is moving slower than a snail because all I want to do is break out and drink some beers in Munich I've focused my attention to Pinterest and the amazing world of decorating.

For me, a house/apartment/flat/mansion is never fully finished.  Even if you've lived there for years, it's still evolving with the addition of some art here or a new piece of furniture there.

Currently for our apartment in Monaco we are at a standstill because we just spent the last of our budget on random decorations so that when my parents visit next week it doesn't look like we live in a small, scary unfurnished box.  Which is more or less what it looked like prior to the purchases.

But I'm dreaming about the day, who knows when it will be, that we move back into our townhouse in Miami Beach.  Oh, how much I miss our townhouse despite that fact that we're upside down on the mortgage and that my hubby and I nearly divorced fighting over the mortgage payments when we were struggling with our careers 2 years ago.  So for now, our townhouse is occupied by a lovely couple (I'm sure, however I've never met them)....but when we move back I can't wait to get my hands on that place and transform it.

For our living room, I've decided I want a big, cozy, cushy, L-shaped couch to be the anchor of the room. Something like this...although white would be a disaster for our dogs, so maybe a nice grey color:

I even like the layout of the frames, however I do not like the ottoman and the media stand is totally wrong for my industrial loft feeling townhome. Anyways, couch yes love the idea!

Next, for the guest bath.  I love the idea of 2 shower curtains framing the shower!! I'd like to move the door and make it look more like this:

 Next, the master bedroom. I want a big cushy, tall bed and this gorgeous color scheme would be so delightful. It feels so much more grown up than what we had before.  I think it's the pattern the foot stool at the end of the bed really makes a statement. Wow it's so perfect!  Now if only we had this much space.

And a thought for the master bath, not the color but the sink layout:

 
Next our guest room, which was previously our office but will hopefully (o dear God, I pray) be the baby room by the time we move back to Miami. I'm hoping for boys...so I think something like this would be just amazing! And funny enough this is the exact layout of the guest room...I suppose it was meant to be.  Plus, this way we can still use it as a guest room with a fold out couch. Just have the baby sleep in our bedroom in the pack-n-play while the guest is visiting. Love LOVE LOVE this!

Finally, the upstairs patio.  We lived in our townhome for nearly 5 years, and never fully utilized the amazing space on our upstairs patio.  Yes, we had a hot tub which took up 30% of the space, but the other 70% was never furnished.  I will NOT make that mistake when we move back!  Here's my version of what that space will look like(plus, lots of gorgeous pillar candles with melted wax all over the place):

OK, that's all for now.  I will stop by day dreaming and get back to work....only one more hour, I think I can make it until tomorrow (the last work day until Munich).  Au revoir!

Muich Countdown

Happy Monday everyone!  We're off to Munich in just 3 short days, and how am I suppose to work when we plan on checking out all these amazing things:

1. Munich Olympic Stadium
2. Schloss Nymphenburg Palace
3. Neue Pinakothek Art Museum
4. Oktoberfest
5.  Andechs Monastery
6. Dachao Concentration Camp

Think we can fit it all in, plus Michelin Starred dinners and lunches in just 4 short days?  We shall see....CAN NOT WAIT! 

Fashion Friday

It's Fashion Friday, and with the cooler evenings here are some inspirations for looks that I will be trying this weekend:

Super cute stuff right?  Now go & enjoy your weekend!

PS. Munich countdown...just 6 short days.  Cannot wait for Oktoberfest!

2012 Monaco Yacht Show

Well it's that time of year here again in Monaco.  The 2012 Monaco Yacht Show!!  Yay, this amazing show brings more revenue to the Principality than the even the Formula 1 GP that takes place here.  We wandered around yesterday and saw some pretty amazing things.

1.  Refrigerated and heated marble table tops.
2. Speakers made of marble, that can even be used outside!
3. The most amazing hand made, custom made carpet I've ever seen.
4. A wall with a built in wave, which looked as if it was moving...but it's an optical illusion.
5. Really handsome men from the yachting industry.

O yea and there were tons and tons of yachts.  Yachts that make my apartment in both Monaco and Miami Beach look like a doll house.

Here are some pics....Enjoy!

Some of the yachts!

The Upper Deck Lounge, totally decked out with the most amazing chandeliers I've ever seen!

Just a little boat we're thinking of getting (yea right!).

You should definitely consider coming to see this amazing spectacle next year.

Weekend in Review

Ah, Monday is here again and another weekend has FLOWN by!

Here's a review of the weekend --

Friday: Went into Nice to do some decor shopping and ended up being invited on someone's boat in the Port of Nice for dinner.  It turned out to be a great evening with friends, and dinner was wonderful!

Saturday:  I offered to help set up our church picnic, so we drove to the amazing house to get things organized.  We were pleasantly surprised that basically everything was set up, all we needed to do was add some chairs to the area we wanted to hold the service.  Since the set up was so quick, we took advantage of the mountain air and went for a quick hike.  The rest of the afternoon we spent just taking care of errands (grocery, cleaning, etc).

This is the gorgeous house!

Here is where we set up for the church service

This was the view from our hike. STUNNING!

Sunday:  Church picnic was today, and it went very smoothly.  Everyone seemed to have a nice time and the weather was absolutely perfect.


All-in-all, it was the perfect weekend (minus the fact that it was too short)!

PS.  Munich countdown:  10 days!!

Good Morning Monaco

It's a beautiful Friday morning overlooking Port Hercule in Monte-Carlo.  Happy weekend everyone!