Leadership Lessons from “The Godfather”

The Godfather is one of the most well-known, highly viewed movies in recent history and Marlon Brando gives a powerful and chilling performance as Vito Corleone. Though we certainly aren’t endorsing violence or crime, and don’t think that business should be run like the Mafia, there are several business lessons and general themes that translate into a business setting, especially for those in leadership positions.  Here are some essential lessons to take from the Godfather himself:

1. Build a community: “Someday, and that day may never come, I’ll call upon you to do a service for me” –Vito Corleone. Vito does a great thing by creating a strong community among those that he’s helped, and the same can be done with your business. Helping your contacts out is a good way to create strategic partnerships that can help companies navigate challenging markets and contributes to overall success.
2. Hold People Accountable: “What’s the matter with you? I think your brain is going soft.” –Vito Corleone. Patience and understanding do have a definite place in business, but it is important to stay focused on completing goals and achieving results. Ongoing tolerance of low-performing people and products eats away at the success of the entire company.
3. Be Decisive: While Vito takes this a bit to the extreme by killing one of his family members, he does set quite the example in how a boss should be decisive and quick to make important decisions. Hesitation can lead to missed opportunities so be sure to execute your decisions decisively
4. Spend time with your family: “Do you spend time with your family? Because a man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.” – Vito Corleone. To be a successful leader, a person needs to be connected to other people and hobbies outside of work to give them perspective. It’s easy to let work consume your whole life, but it is important to find a comfortable balance.

Vito Corleone is one of the most memorable movie characters of all time. He epitomizes the persona of a thug, a gangster, but also a skilled business man. While not all of his actions will help you in your job (most will probably get you fired), there are real life and business lessons that can be taken from the movie. Never seen The Godfather? You are missing out. Watch it here on TumTiki now and let us know what other lessons your learned from the film.

(Inspired by this article from Fast Company)

Top 10 Valentine’s Day Movies

Happy Valentine’s Day from Frontier!

Whether you’re spending Valentine’s Day with the one you love, your family, or your friends, you can always finish off Valentine’s Day with one of these great movies, all of which are available on TumTiki!

1. When Harry Met Sally

2. The Notebook

3. Casablanca

4. Dirty Dancing

5. Breakfast at Tiffany’s

6. Ghost

7. Love Actually

8. Notting Hill

9. Moonstruck

10. Don Juan DeMarco

What are your favorite romantic movies?

 

TumTiki’s Golden Tiki Contest

Think you know Hollywood?

Then we’ve got the contest for you! TumTiki is offering a simple and sweet contest for a chance to win an iPad 2 just for accurately predicting the best actor, actress, and best picture at the Oscars!

You can make your predictions here! Once you’ve made your predictions watch the Oscar-related movies, clips, and videos to get badges! If you get enough badges you could win prizes too!

Contests ends February 26, 2012 at 7:00pm.

Watch & Win with TumTiki!

In November we launched TumTiki, and what better way to welcome our new fans than with a contest, where you can win $500 in prizes!

So guess what? There are THREE separate contest you can enter between January 6 and January 23, 2012! And all you have to do is login to your TumTiki account and watch one, two or three full-length episodes provided by Showtime! Get to watching – you can choose between House of Lies, Shameless and Californication!

And don’t forget to connect with TumTiki on Twitter & Facebook!

Must be 18 or older, and a resident of one of the 50 United States. Click here for Official Contest Rules.

Happy New Year from Frontier: Our 10 “Bests” of 2011

In the spirit of the new year, we wanted to take a look back at our achievements for 2011! Here are our top 10 of 2011:

1. Red Cross Partnership

In 2011 we partnered with the Red Cross across Washington & Oregon to support the local chapters of the American Red Cross! Throughout the year we supported the Red Cross by donating blood, creating CPR awareness, and sponsoring events such as the Real Heroes  Breakfast.

2. OMSI Partnership

In Oregon we teamed up with the Oregon Museum of Science Industry (OMSI) to sponsor a gaming exhibit! The exhibit showcased early arcade classics and the latest in virtual reality, 3D and thought-interface technology.

3. Get Your League in Gear

This summer we teamed up with former Seattle Mariner and Major League Great Jay Buhner to bring you Get Your League in Gear! The program was designed by us, Frontier Communications in partnership with 710 AM ESPN Seattle, 97.3 KIRO-FM, and Kimmel Athletic Supply to provide $1,000 to six local Little League and youth baseball/softball organizations. Click here for the winners of the 2011 Get Your League in Gear program!

4.  Local Engagement

This year we participated in hundreds of events in our Washington, Oregon, and California communities! By sponsoring these events we are able to continuously give back to our local communities. In Washington-state we sponsored the Providence General Foundation’s Festival of Trees which, together with our contribution, helped to raise $610,000 for the Children’s Services Center!

5. Pick Your Bowl Game

We opened this contest up to all Oregon and Washington residents! Anyone residing in Oregon and Washington were eligible to enter to win a trip to the college bowl game of your choice. Congratulations to Sami Spaulding of Tigard, Oregon, who was our lucky winner!

6. What Fuels Your Summer

Gas prices were high this summer, so Frontier Communications West Region decided to hold a contest where our Facebook followers could submit a photo describing “What Fuels Your Summer?” and would be entered to win a $250 gas card!

7. Investing in Broadband Expansion

As part of our ongoing commitment to expanding broadband service, we invested over $22 million in Washington, Oregon, and California to enhance overall network performance in the last year. These investments also provided broadband access to over 49,000 households!  We are committed to the communities we serve and will continue to invest in our network to support the needs of our customers.

8. Metro Ethernet Expansion

This past year we expanded our Metro Ethernet service to over 50 markets – including Washington and Oregon. The expansion addressed the ever-increasing bandwidth-heavy needs of our mid- and large-size business customers. Our Metro Ethernet service is a scalable solution offering business customers customizable, secure, and reliable solutions that include next-generation Internet access and wide area networking. The service also delivers voice, data, video and other applications at speeds up to 600 times faster than current ADSL or cable connections!

9. Investing in Our Employees

Frontier has a long standing people priority – we believe in employing domestic employees who live, work and volunteer in the communities we serve. This past year we have brought 500 jobs back to the US from India, expanded our Everett, Washington Call Center to support over 125 Universal Representatives, and through our priority military hiring program we have added 150 veterans and military reservists to the more than 1,500 veterans in our workforce today.

10. Launch of TumTiki

In November we launched TumTiki, an online video site with the largest library of any web destination site! TumTiki features more than 700,000 free TV episodes, movies, original web series, professionally-produced clips and local programming; with premium movies and episodes for rental. We are so excited about TumTiki, so don’t forget to find TumTiki on Facebook and Twitter!

Thank you for your continued support and we are looking forward to another great year!

Tired of malls, crowds and traffic? Try a Holiday Weekend Movie Marathon!

Top Holiday Movies

Holidays are a time to spend with friends and family, bonding over sugar cookies and hot chocolate while sitting by the fire and sharing memories.  After catching up with loved ones, bellies full of good food, what is better than sitting down on the couch to enjoy a festive holiday movie? Well, we’ve got some great news for you!  Not only can you rent, buy or live stream these movies from TumTiki.com, but we’ve given you our top 10 holiday movie picks! So here they are (in no particular order):

– National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

It’s the Griswold family… what’s not to love? The perfect family: mom, dad, one son, one daughter, and a lovely house in the ‘burbs.  It’s perfect – until you add in trying to celebrate the “most fun-filled old fashioned family Christmas,” complete with the in-laws…

– Miracle on 34^th Street

Need proof that Santa exists? Look no further than Miracle on 34^th Street where the Macy’s department store Santa, Kriss Kringle, proves he’s the real deal!

– A Christmas Carol

This movie isn’t a thriller, but it is narrated by Vincent Price, who just happens to be the chilling voice in Michael Jackson’s Thriller! This literary favorite is brought to life in this black & white version production.  So join along and hear the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. And you can watch it for free right here.

– It’s a Wonderful Life

A man who seemingly has everything going against him takes a step back to look at his life and realizes that he is really blessed even though things don’t always go right. Just remember, every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings!

– A Christmas Story

All little Ralphie wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder BB Gun, and although his mother, his teacher, and even a Mall Santa are seemingly conspiring against him by telling him that he’ll just “shoot his eye out,” Ralphie persists in his campaign for his ultimate Christmas gift.

– The Santa Clause

S.C. – does that stand for Scott Calvin or Santa Claus? If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Santa fell off your roof while delivering gifts on Christmas Eve, this movie has all the answers.

– Elf

If you consider the main food groups to be candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup, then this is the movie for you! This family-friendly Christmas movie will have everyone laughing out loud!

– How the Grinch Stole Christmas

There are two versions to this holiday classic, and you can’t go wrong with either of them!  Choose from the 2000 release starring Jim Carrey or the 1966 animated version.

– A Charlie Brown Christmas

Who doesn’t love a story with a boy and his dog? In this Charles Schultz animated Christmas Classic you can watch a heartwarming tale which has become a tradition for so many! And don’t forget, now you can have your very own Charlie Brown Christmas tree!

What Do You Think?

Do you agree with our list of Holiday favorites? Do you think we left any out?

Frontier Launches TumTiki, The Biggest Collection of TV, Movies and More!

Frontier has launched TumTiki, the largest online library of any web destination site.  TumTiki is available to anyone with internet access and features the largest library of premium TV episodes, movies, web original clips, and local content, of any destination site.   More than 700,000 free TV episodes, movies, original web series, professionally-produced clips and local programming directly within TumTiki.com, without redirecting to another site; and premium movies and episodes for rental. TumTiki partners with online video services like Hulu and Amazon.com, and the library includes videos from major networks, including ABC, NBC, Fox, Food Network, Bravo, FX, Syfy, HGTV, AMC, National Geographic, Oxygen, Comedy Central and TBS; and, in some markets, news and content from local TV affiliate stations. Find out more at www.tumtiki.com!