Leadership

• 
  HarvardBusiness.org

• Of Goldman Sachs, the Yankees, and Level Playing Fields

  Ron Ashkenas

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:06 pm

  Have you noticed that the two most successful teams in New York City both engender passionately mixed emotions of admiration and contempt? One team is the New York Yankees, the storied baseball franchise that just won its 27th World Series title — when no other team has won more than 10 times. The Yankees have the largest revenue stream thanks to their own cable television network, a new billion-dollar ballpark, and owners who can afford the highest-paid players in baseball. (These players, in turn, generate yet more revenue.) The other team is Goldman Sachs, the legendary investment…

• Stop Wasting Time on Voicemail

  Gina Trapani

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:43 am

  Every time you make or receive a phone call that involves leaving or listening to a message, you're wasting time. You can't write as fast as people speak, so transcribing phone numbers, addresses, and other information from a voicemail message is tedious. When you have to leave a voicemail for someone, you're forced to listen to Robotic Voice-Mail Woman trod through the instructions on how to wait for the tone before you can start. There are two ways to cut this unnecessary voicemail overhead out of your day: 1. Get your voicemail messages transcribed automatically and emailed to you. Instead…

• What Innovators Can Learn from Bill Belichick

  Scott Anthony

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:09 am

  Even non-football fans probably heard about Bill Belichick's "blunder" of a call on Sunday night. Believe it or not, the call — and the firestorm that followed — has important lessons for innovation managers. A quick recap. The New England Patriots led the Indianapolis Colts by six points with two minutes to go. It was fourth down, the ball was on the New England 28 yard line, and the Patriots needed just two yards for a first down that would almost certainly have sealed a victory. Conventional wisdom called for a punt, but Coach Belichick decided to go for it. After the Patriots…

• Summoning the Courage to Tear Down Walls

  Whitney Johnson

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:31 am

  On November 9th, the world rejoiced in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. The anniversary was occasion for me to reflect on walls that have fallen for me in my career but also about the kind of conviction that's needed to break down walls — be they miles of concrete in a former Communist area or invisible but no-less-apparent in an office setting. One thing I wondered is whether the Berlin Wall would have fallen without President Reagan's speech? Possibly. Probably. But not as quickly. And yet, according to The Wall Street Journal, the State Department,…

• Can Good Journalism Also Be Profitable?

  Harvard Business IdeaCast

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:54 am

  Featured Guest: Umair Haque, director of the Havas Media Lab and author of the Edge Economy blog on HarvardBusiness.org.

• 
  Forbes.com: Managing news and reports

• Dorothy Parker, Et Al., Teach Us About Committees

  18 Nov 2009 | 12:55 pm

  What the Algonquin Round Table got right.

• How To Hand Out Bonuses--Or Not--In A Grim Year

  16 Nov 2009 | 11:41 am

  You may lose employees if you don't do it right.

• The New Face Of Workplace Discrimination

  12 Nov 2009 | 12:46 pm

  You probably do it yourself. Here's how it happens.

• Why The Pursuit Of Innovation Usually Fails

  9 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pm

  It's not what we're trained for as leaders or how our businesses are set up to work.

• How Do You Lead When All The News Is Bad?

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

  To start with, communicate, empathize, make some sacrifices and communicate more.

• 
  SmartBrief on Leadership

• Was heart disease the real Mummy's Curse?

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  The ancient Egyptians may not have had fast food or boardroom burnout to contend with, but they were far from healthy, scient -More- CFO - Chief Financial Officer LAMBDA LEGAL

• The best innovators are those who share their ideas

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  Innovation is all about learning -- but the best innovators are just as focused on teaching, writes William C. Taylor.  -More- 

• Why Detroit finally went on a diet

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  GM, Ford and Chrysler have long been seen as Toyota's flabby, out-of-shape siblings -- but industry experts say the Big Three -More- 

• How much does the U.S. really owe?

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  The total volume of debt being generated by the U.S.  -More- 

• The 12 paths to power and profit

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  To maximize profits, writes Mia de Kuijper, your company needs to identify its "power node" -- the unique source of strength  -More- 

• 
  Leading Blog: A Leadership Blog @ LeadershipNow

• Lead Your Boss

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:26 pm

  A can-do person himself, Theodore Roosevelt once advised, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Roosevelt’s admonition is easier said than done. Most of us are not in a position to implement sweeping change by the wave of our hand. And some of us are in a counterproductive culture where sticking your head up is a good way to get it knocked off. But we can learn to do what we can, with what we have, from where we are. It means that we must learn the art of leading from the middle—from among rather than from in front. And if we are honest, in most contexts, we find…

• Changing Generational Expectations on Leadership

  19 Nov 2009 | 11:35 am

  Earlier this year La Piana Consulting issued a report as a part of their NonprofitNext Initiative, that explores the key trends shaping the future of the social sector. They identify five trends: Demographic Shifts Redefine Participation, Technological Advances Abound, Networks Enable Work to Be Organized in New Ways, Interest in Civic Engagement and Volunteerism Is Rising, and Sector Boundaries Are Blurring. The report states, “In this changing environment, transformation is not optional. The future will demand a collective rethinking of what it means to be an organization, how individuals…

• Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership

  17 Nov 2009 | 12:30 pm

  Derailed is about the traps you and I can fall into. Sometimes they are the result of the sense of entitlement that leaders can fall prey to. Sometimes they are the result of thinking and behavior that has worked (we think) in the past, so why change it now. Sometimes they are the overuse of a strength that we have yet to discipline. Sometimes we don’t even have a clue and so we get derailed and go around blaming others and asking “Why me?” It can happen to anyone. And it is something we have to constantly be sensitive to because these traps are character issues that can disqualify us…

• Confirmation Bias

  15 Nov 2009 | 11:57 am

  In the Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig writes about the specific application of a general issue: confirmation bias. It is a never-ending battle that affects all of us and is worth reading for the reminder. He offers specific ideas to counteract its pull that can be applied to whatever you are doing. Here are a few edited excerpts from Ignoring the Yes-Man in Your Head to introduce the issue: In short, your own mind acts like a compulsive yes-man who echoes whatever you want to believe. Psychologists call this mental gremlin the "confirmation bias." A recent analysis of psychological studies…

• The Seven Deadly Sins of Leadership

  12 Nov 2009 | 4:35 pm

  Peter Drucker never wrote a book about leadership, but his thoughts about it are sprinkled throughout his 40 books and hundreds of articles. Bill Cohen has extracted these ideas and presented them in Drucker on Leadership. To Drucker, leadership was a calling and he set very high ethical standards for those that chose to lead. Character traps like losing sight of why you are leading, selfishness and the abuse of power often derails leaders. Drucker hoped, writes Cohen, “that by making these traps explicit he could help leaders avoid falling into them.” Cohen gathered Drucker’s thoughts…

• 
  Management-Issues : News

• Keeping top talent in a down economy

  19 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  How do organizations boost the performance of employees when times are so tough? Stuart Crainer hears from Sylvia Ann Hewlett that ignoring your best people leads to the evaporation of loyalty and trust as alienation and disengagement sets in.

• The dangerous ego of authority

  18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  People parading their positional authority with an air of superiority rarely command the admiration they think they're getting. After all, how much respect do we give people who rely on the phrase "because I said so" to motivate? They should drop the ego and build some real leadership skills, instead.

• Will China be the next subprime disaster?

  17 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Is China an economic miracle or a disaster waiting to happen? That depends who you ask.

• Get lost!

  16 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  In the midst of the upheaval that seems all around us, it's not surprising that so many of us feel a sense of anxiety and hopelessness. But these challenges also have much to teach us about ourselves – if we choose to stop, explore and ask for the teaching.

• Three cheers for the pointless survey

  11 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  You may not have noticed, but another casualty of the recession has been the utterly pointless workplace survey. When times were good, not a week would pass without a press release plugging things like "the twelve most bizarre excuses for being late for work". Not any more.

• 
  How to Change the World

• The Perfect Interview Test

  GuyKawasaki

  21 Nov 2009 | 10:12 pm

  Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon, authors of I Hate People!, have figured out a quick way to interview job candidates. The solution is easy: watch how they cross the street. I’m a “wader,” by the way.

• The 19 bloggers Inc. thinks you should read

  GuyKawasaki

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:20 pm

  Inc. named 19 bloggers that you should read. We’ve aggregated them all in one place: Inc19.alltop.

• How to Get Found

  GuyKawasaki

  4 Nov 2009 | 3:29 pm

  The reality is that people and technology is getting better and better a blocking out unwanted interruptions—aka, “marketing.” Brian Halligan is the CEO of HubSpot, and he explains in my post on the American Express Open Forum “how to get found.” It’s all about creating great stuff and letting Google et al do what they do: find great stuff.

• How I tweet

  GuyKawasaki

  2 Nov 2009 | 8:47 am

  By popular demand (and some complaints), I’ve done a FAQ with myself about how I tweet. Hope this helps you use Twitter for your business too. I explain how I use ghostwriters and why I repeat my tweets among other “unusual” practices.

• Current Twitter Demo Script

  GuyKawasaki

  28 Oct 2009 | 2:26 am

  This is the set of links that I used to demo Twitter by going down through this list to show why Twitter is such a valuable marketing tool. Introduction Home page Profile page Monitor Search Guy Kawasaki or Alltop Starbucks VIA introduction Search for “Prius” or “Civic” Sell Dell Outlet Kogi BBQ Support Comcast Cares Engage JetBlue Virgin America Fandango Prospect Camaro Camaro near Palo Alto Advanced searches Surfing or skateboarding (shows how to eliminate extraneous results such as “surfing the web” How I Tweet - Find Alltop MyAlltop helped me find this.

• 
  Women's Leadership Exchange Blog

• Learning Leadership from the New York Yankees

  7 Nov 2009 | 5:24 am

  I’m in ecstasy. My NY Yankees won the World Series. And they did it 9 minutes before my birthday. I got the best birthday gift money can’t buy. My happiness caused me to reflect about why I love the Yankees so much. The answer popped ino my head - because of their leadership. Okay, I am a leadership fanatic, maybe not as much as a Yankee fanatic, but, I am obsessed with always looking at why and how people lead. Small businesses and corporations alike might consider looking at the success of the NY Yankees and ask the same questions. So here’s my assessment on why I believe the NY…

• Change the World by Changing the Gender Gap

  31 Oct 2009 | 10:45 am

  Mathematics and statistics used to be boring to me. Then, my husband introduced me to the TV Show “Num3rs,” which is about how mathematics helps solve crimes. It’s an engaging show, based on true stories, about 2 brothers, one a mathematician and the other an FBI agent, who combine their work effectively to successful solutions, even sometimes saving lives. Recently “Num3rs” has interjected a female mathematician, also the love interest, who gets to show her prowess, solidly disputing former Harvard University President Larry Summers’ claim that “women aren’t good at math and…

• Reinventing How You Sell

  25 Oct 2009 | 6:03 am

  Recently I attended a workshop presented by Tony Smith, CEO of VSA Consulting Group,one of the best business coaches I've ever had. Tony had a tremendous impact in my growing my marketing communications company prior to my founding Women's Leadership Exchange. He also gave me the tools I needed to realize my dreams of impacting the growth of women-owned/led businesses which resulted in the creation of WLE. If Tony is presenting, I never want to miss it. I always gain tremendous value. His presentation was entitled "Loving, Learning, and Mastering the Art of Selling." Tony asked us…

• Do Women Know Their Place?

  9 Oct 2009 | 9:08 am

  Today's headlines reminded me AGAIN that things are far from equal in the power suites of America. What's worse is so many men are not even aware of the language they use. It just comes naturally to them. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was told by the National Republican Congressional Committee that she needed to be put "in her place"for her views on Afghanistan. I'm sorry to say I remember being told that on various occasions when I was growing up. I was told that I needed to know "my place" in speaking out in a man's world. Leadership positions in the real world were just not for women,…

• It Seems We All Need Anger Management

  16 Sep 2009 | 4:26 pm

  After writing in my blog about Serena's on-court outburst and post-apology, it seemed everything I read is about yet another celeb or high-profile person flaring up with anger! We all know it started with Joe Wilson on the floor of the house during the President's speech. Then it was Kanye West grabbing the mike and rudely interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech claiming Beyonce deserved to win more. Of course, the media was abuzz about Jon saying he despised Kate, mother of his eight kids. And then to top it all off my beloved Yankees got in a physical fight on the field at the new…

• 
  Learned On Women by Andrea Learned

• Male Competitiveness: Nurture Not Nature

  Andrea

  13 Nov 2009 | 10:52 am

  Though the findings in a recent Slate piece are nothing new on the face of it, the body of research on gender and competitiveness should be looked at with new eyes.  As the writer, Ray Fislar, put it: Like many gender differences, the “competitiveness gap” is taken as simply human nature. Surprise, surprise.  It turns out, there are environments (in this case – tribes) where women have become the more competitive gender.  So, like a few other supposed “male traits,” competitiveness is more nurtured than natural. Why did Fislar’s piece catch my eye…

• UK Dell’s Brilliance: Women Mentoring Men

  Andrea

  10 Nov 2009 | 3:45 pm

  I just saw this mentioned on twitter* and because it is such a brilliant program, I was compelled to post right away.  Dell is taking a step, starting with the UK apparently, to do a sort of reverse gender, reverse role mentoring program.  As described in a recent issue of PeopleManagement.com (with UK spellings): The reverse mentoring programme, which was piloted for six months in the EMEA region last year, aims to give male bosses an insight into the challenges women face in the workplace, helping more women into senior roles. Participants in the pilot met at least once a month, usually…

• Flaunting Socially Responsible Consuming

  Andrea

  10 Nov 2009 | 8:54 am

  We are at an interesting crossroads in consumer culture.  Where luxury purchases used to be the ultimate sign of affluence or, at least, aspiring affluence, more consumers now may be driven to make conspicuously conscious purchases.  According to research co-authored by Aronte Bennett and mentioned in her MediaPost article, corporate social responsibility (CSR) seems to be becoming a strong motivator influencing consumers today – even in these bad economic times.  As she put it: In a variety of experiments, our research found that consumers like CSR-associated products for two…

• Bridging Gender, Consumer Behavior & Social Responsibility

  Andrea

  3 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

  A few trends are aligning that have already and individually been making a difference in the world of marketing.   They have to do with consumer gender, corporate responsibility and values-based humans (as consumers and employees).  While addressing these will be challenging for marketers, I believe it will be worth it.  What those trends represent is likely to be the most rewarding business and cultural shift we’ll experience in our lifetimes. The separate trends I see now combining to cause that shift include: 1) A new perspective on gender, and how it influences consumer behavior.

• Open Your Feminine Mind To The Power of Sustainability

  Andrea

  28 Oct 2009 | 8:36 am

  What if I told you that one of the most successful converts from traditional manufacturing to sustainable manufacturing had a big clue for you?  Would your brand take an interest in more seriously committing to a sustainable business approach?  One more question: what if changing your ways had to do with moving your mind toward its more feminine sensibilities? Here’s what that convert, Ray C. Anderson, Founder and Chairman of Interface (and well-known sustainability proponent) writes of male/female, left/right brain thinking in the afterword to his book, Mid-course Correction (in…

• 
  Great Leadership

• How to Maximize Collaboration and Reach Consensus in Under an Hour

  19 Nov 2009 | 2:57 pm

  In my last post, I described 5 decision making options leaders can choose, depending on the amount of time allowed and input and buy-in needed.This post will describe a process a leader can use to help a group reach an efficient consensus decision.First of all, it’s important to define what’s meant by “consensus”.Here’s a definition that’s worked for me:“Consensus is a decision that every member of the group has had input to, understands, and is willing to support.”Note that consensus does not mean that everyone agrees with the decision 100%. It mean’s they’ve had their…

• 5 Decision Making Options for Meeting Leaders

  16 Nov 2009 | 5:04 pm

  Leaders often need to make hard decisions.Our current president recently said “by the time something reaches my desk, that means it’s really hard. Because if it were easy, somebody else would have made the decision and somebody else would have solved it. So typically, if something’s in my folder, it means that you’ve got some very big, difficult, sticky, contradictory issues to be wrestled with.”Yes, it can be lonely at the top. But it doesn’t always have to be. There are times when a leader may want to involve others in the decision making process.There are five ways a leader can…

• Should Leadership and Management Development be a National Priority?

  12 Nov 2009 | 2:47 pm

  Thanks to Adi Gaskell, from CMI and a regular Great Leadership reader and commenter, for bringing this November 10th press release to my attention. He says “It's been very popular here in the UK with the likes of the BBC and Daily Telegraph running stories on it. I think it could run well on your blog.”I did a Google news search and it looks like the U.S. press hasn’t picked up on it yet, so consider this breaking news. Might even be a first for Great Leadership. (-:Has the leadership “crisis” gotten so bad that we need to turn to the government for help? It apparently has in the…

• 7 Elements of a Great Leadership Development Workshop

  11 Nov 2009 | 4:08 pm

  Whenever I’m designing a leadership development workshop, I’m always aware of the cost of pulling 20 or so supervisors, managers, or executives away from their work for anywheres from 4 hours to 4 weeks. The biggest cost of any training program isn’t the instructors, travel, facilities, and food. It’s not even the salaries of the participants. The most significant cost, and often overlooked, is the lost opportunity cost. For every hour a manager, or salesperson, or programmer, spends in a classroom, that’s one hour of lost productivity. For executives, the opportunity cost is even…

• Getting Beyond Survive To Thrive At Work

  8 Nov 2009 | 6:10 am

  Guest post by Eileen Habelow:According to Randstad’s 2009 World of Work survey, an alarming number of workers surveyed (83%) feel fortunate to have a job. Why do I say alarming?While this sentiment might simply be an expression of gratitude for some, I believe it is just as likely that this response reflects a distinct undertone of survival mentality – just grateful, just thankful, just fortunate.So, what is the impact of survival mentality? Survival mentality tends to put people into a defensive mode – a reactive and protective stance. When employees are in survival mode, they are…

• 
  Philanthropy Journal - Management/Leadership Articles

• Boosting your workplace ‘resilience’

  19 Nov 2009 | 8:06 am

  With recession-related pressures plaguing nonprofits and their employees, now is the time enhance your ability to confront and overcome the inevitable challenges and missteps.read more

• Ideas that work: Preparing for year-end audits

  13 Nov 2009 | 6:57 am

  In addition to determining financial accountability, preparing for an audit provides valuable information that can be use for planning, grantwriting and reporting, and even public relations.read more

• It’s time to focus on ‘return on mission’

  2 Nov 2009 | 7:43 am

  The recession has taken a toll on nonprofits and now is the time for boards to adopt a ‘return on mission’ stance and champion efforts to build capacity.read more

• Letting a nonprofit’s founder go

  22 Oct 2009 | 9:15 am

  When it’s time to replace a founding executive director, should you make her a permanent voting member of the board? read more

• Ideas that work: Improve your world, one process at a time

  16 Oct 2009 | 7:49 am

  Business-process improvement can help nonprofits reduce redundancy and use their valuable time more efficiently.read more

• 
  Education Week: Leadership And Management

• Hispanics Ignored in Texas Standards, Board Told

  19 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pm

  Sixteen of 162 historical figures that must be covered in social studies are Hispanic, in a state where Hispanics are 40 percent of the population.

• Conn. Schools Shift Strategy on Swine Flu, Staying Open More

  19 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pm

  Despite a handful of school closings last month when a second wave of swine flu hit the state, superintendents overall now seem to be showing more restraint when deciding whether to close.

• U.N. Says More Children in School and Fewer Dying

  18 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pm

• Parents' No-Homework Deal Stirs Debate in Canada

  18 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pm

• Police Hold Off on Ruling in Michael Scott's Death

  18 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pm

  Scott owned the gun found under his body and tests showed he had gun residue on his left hand from firing a weapon, firming up what police believe was a suicide.

• 
  The Practice of Leadership

• Research finds leadership skills inadequate to meet current and future demand

  George Ambler

  16 Nov 2009 | 11:29 pm

  New research from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) which surveyed 2,200 leaders from 15 organizations, in three countries between 2006 and 2008 produced some interesting findings. The research project was designed to answer the following questions: What leadership skills and perspectives are critical for success now and in the future? How strong are current leaders in these critical skills and perspectives? How aligned is today’s leadership strength with what will be the most important skills and perspectives in the future? A comparison of the leadership strength from the research…

• Leaders Take Risks!

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pm

  Photo by schoschie   The act and practice of leadership is a risky undertaking. Leadership is the act or bringing about positive change. This requires leaders to initiate, to blaze new trails, to venture into the unknown and unexplored terrain. All of this entails risk. Kouzes and Posner in their bestselling book, “The Leadership Challenge” describes it this way: “Leaders are pioneers – people who are willing to step out into the unknown. They are people who are willing to take risks, to innovate and experiment in order to find new an better ways of doing things.” Leaders take…

• 10 reasons why you’re going to fail!

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:50 am

  I can across a really stunning post on failure by Tony Morgan, “10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail” that is really worth sharing, so here is Tony’s list… 10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail It’s not your passion. If it doesn’t make your heart beat fast or cause your mind to race when you’re trying to sleep, you’re probably doing the wrong thing. You don’t have a plan. You need a vision, and you need to identify specific steps to make that vision become reality. That includes a financial plan. (I happen to believe you need direction from God on…

• The 2009 Most Influential Business Thinkers

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:45 am

  Forbes.com released their 2009 “The Most Influential business Thinkers”  results. The consulting firm CrainerDearlove compiled this list of today’s top thinkers, by surveyed 3,500 people and a panel of experts to determine the 2009 edition of the Thinkers 50, the fifth edition of a biennial list of the most influential living management thinkers. This years results are listed below.   Rank Name 2007 Rank Country Day Job 1 C.K. Prahalad 1 India/U.S. University of Michigan Academic 2 Malcolm Gladwell 18 Canada New Yorker Columnist 3 Paul Krugman U.S. Princeton Academic 4…

• Keeping your goals in focus

  George Ambler

  30 Aug 2009 | 1:39 pm

     Photo by kevindooley The article “For This Guru, No Question Is Too Big” from the NY Times discusses the work of the best selling business author Jim Collins. Given the popularity of Jim Collins the article discussed how he allocates his time, which is as follows: “… in a corner of the white board at the end of his long conference room, Mr. Collins keeps this short list: Creative 53% Teaching 28% Other 19% That, he explains, is a running tally of how he’s spending his time, and whether he’s sticking to a big goal he set for himself years ago: to spend 50 percent of…

• 
  Talking Story with Rosa Say

• Tickle Your Toes

  Rosa Say

  21 Nov 2009 | 12:13 pm

  My goodness. In doing my Weekly Review this weekend I had that moment. You know the one: The moment you realize Thanksgiving is mere days away, which means that holiday season is here whether you are ready for it or not, which means there are only six weeks left to the end of one year and beginning of another one. 6 Fridays from now, it will be January 1, 2010. I’m not freaking out about it… I’m not freaking out about it… I’m not freaking out about it. If I say it enough, I won’t. Right? The cure for thinking about 6 Fridays From Now is living within the…

• Shy About Your Success?

  Rosa Say

  19 Nov 2009 | 2:20 am

  Don’t be! As 2009 draws to a close, many of us are dealing with an uninvited visitor who is angling for an invitation to our holiday celebrations. I cannot call this visitor a guest because I do not welcome it as I would welcome a guest: It is an unsettling emotion called Guilt About What We Have (when others don’t have it). It has been a tough year for many, and the year’s end is not bringing about the closure we had hoped for: 2010 will continue to be challenging in several ways. However adversity can be a very good thing. It makes us very choosy and deliberate, and it…

• Tacit Approval: Don’t you dare give it!

  Say Alaka‘i

  12 Nov 2009 | 2:20 am

  Tacit approval has come up in my coaching discussions with managers three times over the last week, and this will not be a strike-out for us! Let’s play ball… What is it? Let’s say you are the manager. Tacit approval happens when: a) a direct-report of yours does something wrong b) you become aware of it c) that direct-report and/or others within your workplace are aware of both a) and b) d) you do nothing about it and let it slide As a result, you have given tacit approval for that wrong which was committed. Your silent message to everyone else can be interpreted in several…

• Should we follow you?

  Say Alaka‘i

  10 Nov 2009 | 2:20 am

  When you are one who aspires to be a leader, you must constantly ask yourself one central question: Why would anyone choose to follow me? In the business environment, the question becomes: Why would anyone choose to Ho‘ohana with me? The answer must be because they believe in you and admire the path you have chosen, and they believe you will guide the right way for them as well. You have what it takes to capture their belief, and you deliver what it takes to honor it. You are willing to be an authentic and vulnerable leader, and you eagerly will shoulder the responsibility that comes with…

• PUEO Reaching for College

  Rosa Say

  8 Nov 2009 | 3:19 pm

  I wanted to share a follow up to my last posting (Students Need the Life Skill of Caring and Speaking Up) which would be more inspirational and promising, and this past weekend I spent some time searching for what is right within our school system versus what is wrong. I found something within my stack of mail, the school bulletin published by Punahou School. (Fall09 Issue online) An excerpt: Clarence T.C. Ching PUEO Program at Punahou School Puts College Within Reach By Beverly Creamer “The Clarence T.C. Ching PUEO Program at Punahou School – PUEO stands for Partnerships in Unlimited…

• 
  Seth's Blog

• The magic rule of seven (and the banality of alphabetical order)

  Seth Godin

  22 Nov 2009 | 3:35 am

  If you approve or create online forms or deal with consumer interactions, I hope you'll think about the following:1. If you have more than seven items in a pull down list, you have failed.Human beings have no trouble keeping seven ideas in their head (hence the seven digit phone number). So, if asked you, "what's your favorite kind of music among: polka, reggae, ska, jazz and country" you can probably juggle those ideas in your head all at once. But if I asked you to pick among 25 movies in a list, it's a lot harder, because you have to keep going back and forth to see if you've got it…

• Benefit of the doubt

  Seth Godin

  21 Nov 2009 | 2:11 am

  It's almost impossible to communicate something clearly and succinctly to everyone, all the time.So misunderstandings occur.We misunderstand a comment or a gesture or a policy or a contract.And then what happens?Well, if we're engaged with someone we like or trust, we give them the benefit of the doubt. We either assume that what they actually meant was the thing we expected from someone like them, or we ask about it.If we're engaged with a stranger or someone we don't trust, we assume the worst.The challenge, then, is to earn the benefit of the doubt. How many of your customers, prospects,…

• The amateur scientist (that's us)

  Seth Godin

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:41 am

  Many people buy a car (probably their single biggest discretionary purchase) based on slamming a door, kicking a tire and judging the handshake of a salesperson.We choose a surgeon based on the carpeting in his office and a politician by his hair cut.During the first week of swine flu vaccines in New York, most parents (more than half!) chose to keep their kids out of the program.Interviewed parents said things like, "I'm not sure it's safe," and "I wanted to see if it affected other kids..."No mention of longitudinal studies or long-term side effects. No science at all, really, just rumors…

• Embracing lifetime value

  Seth Godin

  19 Nov 2009 | 2:46 am

  If you walk into a company-owned cell phone store to sign up for a contract, what are you worth?Given the huge gross margins at AT&T and Verizon and the standard two-year contract, I think it's easy to figure on more than $2000 in lifetime value.If you ran a business where a customer represented an additional $2,000 in profit, how would you staff? How long would you make someone wait? If staff costs $25 an hour, how long would that extra person take to pay off?Few businesses understand (really understand) just how much a customer is worth. Add to this the additional profit you get from a…

• Some books for November

  Seth Godin

  18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  Random thoughts from all over for those of us hungry for new ways to think. This month's list is here. The previous list was blogged in September.

• 
  CEO Blog - Time Leadership

• The Vanishing of a Species

  Jim Estill

  9 Nov 2009 | 8:14 am

  I read a book called The Vanishing of a Species? A Look at Modern Man's Predicament by a Geologist, written by Peter Gretener on the weekend.The book was published posthumously and had been written mostly in the 1970s. It's largely a compilation of opinions and views on what impact man is having on the world and what it means for us.The book is divided into three parts. Yesterday, where we were... Today, where we are..Tomorrow - where we might go..He quoted from George Gaylord Simpson, a paleontologist whose research contributed heavily to our understanding of evolution, "Man was certainly…

• Good For Business

  Jim Estill

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:30 am

  "Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of - for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. " -SocratesI recently read a book called Good for Business: The Rise of the Conscious Corporationby Andrew Bennett, Cavas Gobhai, Ann O'Reilly and Greg Welch.The gist of the message in the book is that it's smart for business to be socially [and environmentally]…

• Getting Results: Five Absolutes for High Performance

  Jim Estill

  2 Nov 2009 | 9:03 am

  I recently read Getting Results: Five Absolutes for High Performance by Clinton O. Longenecker and Jack L. Simonetti.Everyone of course is interested in getting results, so although the book does have a short chapter on why we need results, I don't think we need to be sold.The book comes up with five absolutes to get results:1. Get everyone on the same page - Focus on the purpose of your organization.2. Prepare for battle - Equip your operation with tools, talent and technology.3. Stoke the fire of performance - Create a climate for results.4. Build bridges on the road to results - Nurture…

• New York Marathon

  Jim Estill

  1 Nov 2009 | 5:27 pm

  Even though it is only 8:30, I am tired. I ran the NY Marathon today.The day started at 5. Up to catch the bus to Statten Island. This involved walking about 8 blocks from the hotel in a light rain. Then wait a bit on the bus, drive for about an hour (made the marathon seem like a long way). Then we got unloaded into a waiting hour for about 3 hours. It was about 45 degrees F.The grounds where people waited were wet (although the rain had stopped by then) so I stood. More creative people had shower caps over their shoes. Many brought plastic to sit on.I knew we would be waiting so I had a…

• Growing @ The Speed of Change

  Jim Estill

  30 Oct 2009 | 4:52 am

  I recently reread Growing @ the Speed of Change by a friend of mine, Jim Clemmer. When I say I recently reread it, I actually read it before it was published to give comments to the author. See my FTC Disclosure. The subtitle is Your Inspir-actional How-To Guide for Leading Yourself and Others Through Constant Change. One thing I love about Jim Clemmers' books (and he is a prolific author), is his liberal use of quotations, such as:"knowing is not enough, we must apply, willing is not enough, meanwhile we must do.."Goeth 1749- 1832 The basic theme of the book is how to thrive in turbulent…

• 
  The Tom Peters Weblog

• Leadership as a Sacred Trust

  Shelley Dolley

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:44 am

  In the latest installment of The Little BIG Things video series, Tom describes leadership as a sacred trust. He says that the decision to lead is the decision to be responsible for the growth and development of your fellow human beings. You can find the video on the top of the right column here on the front page of tompeters.com, or by clicking here. If you'd like to see previously posted videos in the series, be sure to visit our Video page (direct link to TLBT video series).

• My Heart (and Body) Are in San Francisco, God's Gift to City-hood!

  19 Nov 2009 | 5:53 am

  I spoke at an Inc. magazine event last night in San Francisco, commemorating the winner of an entrepreneur-to-be contest with a hearty financial prize. Incidentally, in the name of Chinese ubiquity, much on our minds these days, the event is sponsored by the powerhouse Chinese B2B outfit—Alibaba. In preparing, I put together a list of ten key factors that I believe characterize entrepreneurial excellence ... Entrepreneurial Excellence TEN "Insane" Passion for and commitment to the idea. Can explain the idea in Simple English and Excite others about its Uniqueness in ONE MINUTE (or…

• Cool Friend #144:Bob Waterman

  17 Nov 2009 | 1:13 am

  If you're a fan of Tom's first book, In Search of Excellence, don't miss reading this interview with his coauthor, Bob Waterman. We're glad to add Bob as a Cool Friend, and we all enjoyed working on this interview. (Yes, he does share a few secrets about what went on during the writing of the book.) I think the most fascinating aspect is examining another path taken from the same jumping-off point. Bob was no less successful than Tom, just not as publicly. He describes to Erik how ISOE/In Search came to be and what he's been up to since then. Bob also talks about his involvement with the…

• Excellence Slides: Press Ganey

  17 Nov 2009 | 1:02 am

  Today, Tom met with about 2,000 health care senior execs, mostly from hospitals and hospital systems in National Harbor MD, right outside of Washington D.C., hosted by Press Ganey, researchers and consultants who provide solutions and resources to their clients to help them provide high quality health care. Press Ganey is significant because of their focus on this one industry. As their website states: "Health care is a unique industry in which success is not measured simply by financial returns. The most successful health care organizations act upon the needs of all customers [doctors,…

• Excellence Slides: Seminarium Ecuador

  16 Nov 2009 | 8:10 am

  The slides I'm posting are for an event that took place last Wednesday. Tom's been all over the world and had Internet access, but the mountains of Ecuador proved too big an obstacle. We hope he enjoyed several days of being out of touch. In a scenic location. Sounds good to me. The event was the Seminarium Ecuador in Quito, short for San Francisco de Quito, the capital city. Be sure to look at google maps, wikipedia, and other websites to learn more about this fascinating place. It's in the same time zone as Boston, but worlds away. If you attended the Seminarium, please give us your…

• 
  Leadership Turn

• Quotable Quotes: Lies

  Miki Saxon

  22 Nov 2009 | 1:30 am

  Lies. These days it seems that everybody lies. Politicians, but that’s not new; corporate honchos, way more than previously; religious leaders, in the name of CYA; parents, for their kids own good; kids, because they’re kids; and on and one. Richard Bach believes that the worst lies are the lies we tell ourselves, while Mark Twain believes there are three types of lies, there are lies, damned lies and statistics. I like that; I’ve always thought that statistics are like the Bible, you can spin them to support any view. Adolf Hitler said, Make the lie big, make it simple,…

• Seize Your Leadership Day: Bad Leadership

  Miki Saxon

  21 Nov 2009 | 1:30 am

  There is a dangerous assumption out there that ‘leaders’ are chuck full of positive traits and on the side of the angels, but I’m here to tell you that it ain’t necessarily so. Just as leaders come in all shapes, colors and sizes they come with a wide variety of traits, not all of them positive. But it seems as if succession is tough all over. Italian police have caught the Sicilian Mafia’s number two, the latest in a string of top-level arrests that has given the crime group that once terrified Italy problems with rebuilding its leadership. The hero CEO who will…

• Real Leaders Are Fair

  Miki Saxon

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:30 am

  Is your company fair? Is fairness part of your MAP? Are you fair to your people? How often have you heard (or said), “That’s not fair!” People accept that life isn’t fair—more or less. Whereas you can’t walk away from life, but it’s relatively easy to walk away from a company or manager you perceive as unfair. What do people expect within the business world in terms of fairness? The obvious is that they don’t want to be shafted a la Enron. However, fairness refers to more than the obvious, most often to the company/manager doing what they said they would do, i.e.,…

• Leadership’s Future: Leadership Through Initiative

  Miki Saxon

  19 Nov 2009 | 1:30 am

  Last summer I coined a term to describe those who are chronologically, but not psychologically, Millennials; I called them aMillennials and there are more around then you might think. Today I saw a great story about two aMillennials who showed their leadership by taking the initiative and convincing their university to provide comparable classes at a prison. Four years ago, in fact, Wesleyan balked at a proposal to install such a program. Two students, Russell Perkins and Molly Birnbaum, who had volunteered in prisons as students, revived the idea last year when they were seniors and figured…

• Wordless Wednesday: A Great Mindset

  Miki Saxon

  18 Nov 2009 | 1:30 am

  Now take a look at modern business smarts Your comments—priceless Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL Image credit: *Zephyrance – don’t wake me up. on flickr Post from: Leadership Turn

• 
  Management Craft

• The Value of Simplicity - Do You Know What Simple Feels Like?

  Lisa Haneberg

  18 Nov 2009 | 4:27 am

  I am just back from Bhutan and Thailand. I will post more about what I learned on the trip in the coming days, but here is just a quick thought. Simplicity is beautiful. We gunk up our lives and our work and our desks and our wardrobes and our friendships and our teams and our processes with more complexity and complication than is needed, I think. We need to experience simplicity to really feel it's power and pleasantness. I stayed for three days in a valley that has no electricity except for a few hours of solar power or power from small individual generators. The valley could have…

• The power of great mentorship - "Direction" from Lisa Edwards

  Lisa Haneberg

  13 Nov 2009 | 2:50 am

  Here is another guest post and story from Lisa Edwards called Direction. This one is profound - I love Lisa E's stories. You can also check out her book here. She makes a great point about how a bad experience or misfire can create a whole new opportunity. How can you use this story to further your goals this week? Direction “Keep looking up.”   Dick Damrow  All of us have a mid-life crisis at some point in our lives.  Some of us have it later in life, others have it early on. I was lucky.  My mid-life crisis happened in my early thirties. Several years before then, I had returned…

• Creating Accountability

  Lisa Haneberg

  10 Nov 2009 | 3:24 am

  Here's an interesting article about accountability from Bob Prosen on The Street called, Helping Your Company Win: The Innovators. He offers several ways we can assess our role and priorities and practices to improve clarity and accountability. Check it out.

• The Four Conversations: Communication That Gets Results

  Lisa Haneberg

  4 Nov 2009 | 3:23 am

  Over the last few weeks, I have been trying to get caught up on my business book reading - I was SOOO behind. I will be out of the country for the next three weeks, so I have cued up several posts about great books. These posts will be about books I recommend, because I don't have time to write about a book I would not recommend you buy.Sixty percent of all management problems result from faulty communication. ~Peter DruckerThis post is about a unique book called, The Four Conversations: Communication That Gets Results by Jeffrey Ford and Laurie Ford. I first met the Fords about 15 years ago.

• The Unforced Error - Why Some Managers Get Promoted While Others Get Eliminated

  Lisa Haneberg

  2 Nov 2009 | 3:55 am

  Over the last few weeks, I have been trying to get caught up on my business book reading - I was SOOO behind. I will be out of the country for the next three weeks, so I have cued up several posts about great books. These posts will be about books I recommend, because I don't have time to write about a book I would not recommend you buy.This post is about a very fun and helpful book called The Unforced Error by Jeffrey Krames (you can listen to the podcast I did with Jeffrey about his last book, Inside Drucker's Brain, here). I love this book - it is written with such style and texture -…

• 
  Three Star Leadership Blog

• How to measure leaders

  Wally Bock

  20 Nov 2009 | 11:27 am

  Should leaders be humble or flamboyant? Or should they just make a difference?

• 11/18/09: Midweek Look at the Independent Business Blogs

  Wally Bock

  18 Nov 2009 | 9:23 am

  Every week I select five excellent posts from this week's independent business blogs. This week, I'm pointing you to posts on what makes a great leadership development workshop, coaching, confronting bad performance, ethics, and a secret of leadership.

• Book Review: Lead Your Boss

  Wally Bock

  16 Nov 2009 | 1:48 pm

  ne of the most frequent questions managers ask in my programs is: "How can I influence my boss?" Now I can recommend John Baldoni's Lead Your Boss to answer that question.

• 11/15/09: Leadership Reading to Start Your Week

  Wally Bock

  15 Nov 2009 | 1:43 pm

  Here are five choice articles from the business press to start off your work week. I'm pointing you to articles about Tweeting in traffic, Macy's and its CEO, ways to improve boss-team member relationships, best practices in communication, and business heroes of the Twentieth Century.

• 11/11/09: Midweek Look at the Independent Business Blogs

  Wally Bock

  11 Nov 2009 | 1:07 pm

  Every week I select five excellent posts from this week's independent business blogs. This week, I'm pointing you to posts on the tension between righteousness and relationship, getting the most from 360 degree appraisals, making courageous choices, recurring crises, and managing Gen Y.

• 
  Life Beyond Code

• NaNoWriMo – Making a Dream Come True

  thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:11 pm

  This is story about a story that was made possible by NaNoWriMo. This is a THANK YOU post for NaNoWriMo and the wonderful people behind it. First, some background. For those of you who have followed me for a long time, you know that I started my writing journey when my first book (a murder mystery) was published a while ago (read story here). I have been fascinated by fiction for a LONG time. My first four books were fiction (murder mysteries, spy thrillers etc.) In the recent past, I have written business books and created a DVD program ( Beyond Code, Upbeat, TH!NKtweet and The Fulcrum…

• Wherever you are, you can make a difference

  thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)

  17 Nov 2009 | 3:33 pm

  Take a look at this cool video of a flight attendant on Southwest Airlines. Now, it’s hard to beat that for sure. Have a great day! ---Related Articles at Life Beyond Code:Ways to distinguish yourself – #118 Make a difference, however small it is…Difference between ordinary and extraordinaryDifference between a discovery engine and a search engineWays to distinguish yourself #106 – Increase investments in personal growth

• Thoughtfulness 101 – Robert Scoble

  thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)

  17 Nov 2009 | 2:29 pm

  I have written about thoughtfulness on this blog (1, 2, 3, 4) before. You don’t have to do groundbreaking things to be thoughtful – it can be little things but with a lot of care. Let me illustrate this with a simple example I heard from Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) on Twitter that Loic LeMeur (CEO of Seesmic) was switching the Seesmic platfrom from Adobe Air to Microsoft Silverlight. Being a semi-geek, I was curious to know more – especially the reason for the decision to switch. So, I sent a query to Robert to see if he could share more. Here is my tweet: Robert responded…

• Ways to Distinguish Yourself #206 – Thank Powerfully!

  thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)

  12 Nov 2009 | 12:57 am

  Note: Thanksgiving is coming soon but I wanted to share this way before that date. You will see why as you read the post. Everyone knows that an attitude of gratitude is important to grow. In fact, you might remember your parents telling you to be thankful to people that help you. Yes, I subscribe to the above views whole-heartedly. You are where you are today because of MANY people who helped you get here. It is easy to forget the people that helped you. Sometimes you might think most of your success is because you are smart and of course you did some get a little help here and there. In…

• Ways to Distinguish Yourself #205 – Dis-Engage When Your Work is Valued Less

  thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)

  9 Nov 2009 | 10:26 pm

  Photo Courtesy: psyberartist on Flickr Marketplace is right most of the time. It will set the price for what you bring to the table – based on the supply and demand equations that exist (all the time) Smart people sometimes hit a roadblock when they don’t get what they truly deserve. What they don’t realize is that in many cases they are the ones to blame for that situation. Here is a typical scenario: As you become an expert, it takes you less time to complete a task in your area of expertise. As they grow their expertise in the area, the time takes keeps shrinking. Now,…

• 
  Business Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen Shapiro

• TEDx NASA

  Stephen Shapiro

  19 Nov 2009 | 11:08 am

  I am now in Newport News, Virginia preparing for my speech tomorrow at TEDx NASA.  There will be 1700 aerospace engineers and scientists in the audience. My topics is titled “Innovation is in the Space.” I have only 6 minutes for my presentation.  This may prove to be my most challenging speech yet!  Blaise Pascal (not [...]

• FT Innovation Conference Highlights – Part 1

  Stephen Shapiro

  18 Nov 2009 | 7:24 am

  I just returned from a week in London where, amongst other things, I spoke at the FT Innovate conference. There was an impressive line-up of speakers including the CEOs of Jaguar, EMI and Best Buy. This is the first of two blog entries with conference highlights. Jaguar Land Rover David Smith, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover, [...]

• Complete Idiots’s Guide to Target Marketing

  Stephen Shapiro

  17 Nov 2009 | 10:42 am

  My good friend Susan Friedmann just released her next book today, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Target Marketing.” Do you want to get the word out to buyers about all the great things your business has to offer, but a big-bucks marketing campaign just isn’t in your budget? Now you can get the expert information you [...]

• London FT Innovate Conference

  Stephen Shapiro

  9 Nov 2009 | 2:02 am

  My schedule has been crazy lately!  My work with InnoCentive, my speeches all over the planet, and a manuscript due in a few weeks.  My blogging has become the victim of this.  But that will change. This week I am one of the speakers at the FT Innovate conference in London.  I will also be blogging [...]

• Content is No Longer King…Long Live the King (Part 2)

  Stephen Shapiro

  21 Oct 2009 | 1:05 pm

  In an earlier blog entry on content, readers provided a number of interesting comments. If you haven’t already read that article (and the comments), you may want to do so in order to understand this new article. Many did not agree with my point of view. And that is great. I only wanted [...]

• 
  Orrin Woodward Leadership Team

• Leadership and Liberty - Rave Reviews

  Orrin Woodward

  14 Nov 2009 | 8:19 am

  No matter where I go in the country, I continue to get comments from Chris Brady and my book - Leadership and Liberty.  When Chris and I read the final transcript before publication, we both felt this book would have a major impact in the culture of our country.  Knowing leadership is not enough, unless it is applied to the world around you.  With so many points of view on politics, economics, religion etc, it can sure help to have a book that makes you think about what you believe and why you believe what you believe.  The world is changing constantly, but timeless…

• MasterMind 5 - Let the Revolution Begin!

  Orrin Woodward

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

    The MasterMind Event 5 is in the record books and I am still shaking with excitement from the quality of the speakers and attendees.  A huge thank you to Art and Ann Jonak for their tireless efforts to lift the entire profession. Art Jonak, the Networker of Networkers, orchestrated a powerful seminar with the right mix of information, inspiration, and unification.  The Networking profession has officially launched the revolution.  I will give you a summary recap of the speakers for this phenomenal weekend.  Each speaker brought their own style and personality to…

• Classical Liberal Education - Shattered Glass: Repairing the Ruins

  Orrin Woodward

  25 Oct 2009 | 2:53 pm

  I have been reading the Great Book Series from Encyclopedia Britannica and am enjoying them immensely.  I have finished the first two books and am wrapping up the Syntopicon currently.  The Syntopicon was written by Mortimer Adler and is a compendium/discussion of the Greatest Ideas in the Great Books.  This is significantly different than my education at GMI (now Kettering) which focused on logical process thinking.  I loved the training and still use the process thinking to this day, but I missed nearly all of the Liberal Arts training.    I watched a video…

• 2009 World Business Forum - Gary Hamel

  Orrin Woodward

  13 Oct 2009 | 6:04 am

    Chris Brady and I had the honor to be invited as a guest bloggers to the World Business Forum in NY City at the Radio City Music Hall.  The list of speakers included top economist, politicians, leadership gurus, and thought leaders.  One of my favorite talks at the conference was by Gary Hamel.  Mr. Hamel is a thought leader in the field of management and organizational change.  Gary stated that the most important innovation in the last 100 years was the science of management.  That floored me!  Even bigger than the automobile, the telephone, airplanes,…

• Leadership Guru Voting

  Orrin Woodward

  11 Oct 2009 | 6:16 pm

  I received an email over the weekend from the LeadershipGuru website.  In 2009, I was selected as a Best of the Rest selection on another leadership list, without having any idea I was a nominee.  On this list, I was informed ahead of time and your vote does make a difference. They are starting the voting for 2010 and I thank my readers in advance for their support.  There is the list from last year and beneath that is a button to nominate new leaders. Here is a copy of the email.  I believe Chris Brady received an email also and I would encourage writing him in…

• 
  Crossderry Blog

• PM Quote of the Day — Thomas Edison

  Paul Ritchie

  16 Nov 2009 | 6:44 am

  There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labor of thinking. Posted in PMO Tagged: expedience, PM Quote of the Day, Thomas Edison

• Commitment-phobic organizations

  Paul Ritchie

  13 Nov 2009 | 1:58 pm

  The contrast between consensus and commitment has fascinated me ever since I first heard that distinction made.  During my conversation on strategic commitment,  Josh Leibner and Gershon Mader laid out some of the challenges of relying on consensus: There will always be “the unforeseen” when executing strategy.   Those who only give consent feel free to remain spectators.  The committed become partners in fixing, adapting, etc. to the unforeseen. Consensus devolves into choosing the “least-offensive” solution.  I forget whether this came from Josh or Gershon,…

• PM Quote of the Day — Harold J. Smith

  Paul Ritchie

  2 Nov 2009 | 5:46 pm

  More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren’t so busy denying them. Posted in PMO Tagged: denial, Harold J. Smith, lessons learned, mistakes, PM Quote of the Day

• Power of Strategic Commitment — Interview Intro

  Paul Ritchie

  2 Nov 2009 | 8:40 am

  I’m catching up on some great material — at least great IMHO — that has been locked away in my notebook. Last month, I got a chance to talk strategy with Josh Leibner and Gershon Mader, founding partners of Quantum Performance, Inc.   They have worked with Fortune 500 companies around the world including: Capital One, Cisco, The United Way, AT&T, Campbell Soup, and others.  What prompted our discussion was the recent release of their book (with co-author Alan Weiss), The Power of Strategic Commitment: Achieving Extraordinary Results Through TOTAL Alignment and…

• PM Quote of the Day — St. Thomas Aquinas

  Paul Ritchie

  30 Oct 2009 | 6:54 am

  Beware of the person of one book. Posted in PMO Tagged: ignorance, PM Quote of the Day, professional deformation, Thomas Aquinas

• 
  Troy Worman

• Worth Reading

  Troy Worman

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:12 pm

• Skinny White Jeans

  Troy Worman

  19 Nov 2009 | 4:56 pm

  link

• Space Invading

  Troy Worman

  19 Nov 2009 | 4:50 pm

  link

• Dinosaur Jr –Henry Rollins Show

  Troy Worman

  7 Nov 2009 | 8:30 pm

• The Strokes - Juicebox ( LIVE ON ROVE )

  Troy Worman

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:26 pm

• 
  MBA Depot - Latest Content

• Articles: Examining the Costly Lessons from Business Failures

  21 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  Description: Plenty of lessons can be learned from the glut of businesses that have fallen under the swift sword of a merciless recession. Yet according to authors Paul B. Carroll and Chunka Mui, executives continue to make the same mistakes that defeated their predecessors. In Billion-Dollar Lessons: What You Can Learn from the Most Inexcusable Business Failures of the Last 25 Years, Carroll and Mui draw on research into more than 750 business failures to reveal the misguided tactics that mire companies. Author: Paul B. Carroll Source: Knowledge@Emory Subject: Management, Best Practices

• Market Research Entries: Forrester: Interactive Marketing to Hit $55B by 2014

  21 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  Source: Forrester Research | Marketing Charts Subject: Marketing / Sales

• 
  The Chief Happiness Officer

• Friday Spoing

  Alexander

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:01 am

  This is a real video of real cops on the streets of Copenhagen (close to where I live, actually) stopping people on bikes to… well, watch it for yourself:

• Friday Spoing

  Alexander

  13 Nov 2009 | 6:34 am

  Here’s some happiness for ya: A dog welcomes his owner back from Afghanistan :o)

• Friday Spoing!

  Alexander

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:40 am

  Where can I go and try this? Looks like fun! Have a happy weekend :o)

• The Happiness Hat will hurt you until you smile

  Alexander

  2 Nov 2009 | 1:37 am

  Smile, dammit: This is not meant to be taken seriously – this is art. Or social commentary. Or both. The Happiness Hat was created by Lauren MacCarthy, who calls it: A wearable conditioning device that detects if you’re smiling and provides pain feedback if you’re not. Frowning creates intense pain but a full smile leaves you pain free! The first in a series of Tools for Improved Social Inter-Acting. To me, this is a great commentary to the pressure to be happy that exists in society today. There seems to be a sense that “if you’re not happy, there’s…

• Friday Spoing

  Alexander

  30 Oct 2009 | 4:53 am

  This Friday it’s really more of a Spoooooooooooooooooing :o) Have a happy weekend!

• 
  TerryStarbucker.com

• Exclusive: Chris Garrett Reveals His Secrets of Success (and More) in The Starbucker Interview

  Starbucker

  15 Nov 2009 | 1:30 pm

  (From L to R) Chris Garrett, Leticia Pruitt, Me, Zena Weist & Jason Falls at SOBCon09 (cc) Shashi Bellamkonda Social Media Swami Network Solutions Chris Garrett makes it quite clear that he’s in the “business” of blogging and new media- it’s right there on his very popular web site, ChrisG.com. And if you are ever fortunate enough to spend any time with him, it’s also quite clear he is a person who knows a LOT about those things, and is one of the most valuable learning resources in the blogosphere. But there is more to Chris than this knowledge and business…

• Wanna Be a Success? Turn Over a Few More Rocks

  Starbucker

  7 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Today I’m launching my new site design (thank you Thesis and Jesse Petersen!).   It was just time, given that blog platforms are evolving faster than Twitter is gaining new users (well, maybe not quite that fast). This “rock” needed to be turned over and examined.   Not because there was something so wrong about how my site looked – it was because I just wanted it to be better.  A little less busy (I hope you agree!). I had been thinking about looking under rocks for several weeks lately – I always worry about complacency, and it was a perfect analogy for…

• 10 Leadership Battles – And How To Win Every One of Them

  Starbucker

  1 Nov 2009 | 3:28 pm

  In our quest to become great leaders we take on a constant stream of internal battles.   Each and every day we choose our  sides and try to do the right things, with the objective of achieving something great. There are 10 confrontations in particular that can make or break us, and we need to consistently be on the winning side of every one of them to reach the pinnacle of success. People vs. Process -  It’s as simple as this: a process is only as good as the people executing it.  Focus on the people first, and while you’re at it, make sure your charges truly understand the…

• The Most Important Blog Post You’ll Ever Read

  Starbucker

  25 Oct 2009 | 3:26 pm

  ….is out there somewhere. You just need to find it. And in a land of over 100 million blogs, how is that possible? And besides, blog posts don’t change lives, right? Wrong. They can, and they have. I’m living proof of that. One day in June of 2006, I found my way to a blog written by Liz Strauss called Successful Blog. I found her by way of a link on someone else’s blogroll (Phil Gerbyshak) – I was just starting my blogging adventure and was just looking around, trying to get comfortable with this new world. What caught my eye was a post she wrote about how…

• All Great Content Is An Intersection: The Brian Clark Interview

  Starbucker

  18 Oct 2009 | 3:49 pm

  Brian Clark is a writer who loves to write about his craft, and it shows.  His blog, Copyblogger, is one of the most popular sites on the Internet for writers and fellow bloggers of all stripes. The site has also been his launching pad for several other successful online ventures designed to help others improve their skills and online presence.  He is a much sought-after speaker on the Social Media circuit not only because of his know-how, but also because of his quick wit and insightful observations. I recently caught up with Brian to ask him a few questions about the craft he loves, his…

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  The Bing Blog

• Back off, Santa!

  Bing

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:49 am

  I was riding in a taxi the other day. The driver had the radio on. I don’t like to tell drivers who have their radios on to turn them off. First, if it’s not too loud, I figure it’s their home for 10-12 hours per day and they have the right to establish their own environment as much as possible. I used to drive a cab, briefly. It wasn’t much fun. A lot of waiting. A lot of aggravating. Bad money unless you work ungodly hours. So if they want to listen to their favorite station while they sit and honk and fester, I’m sympathetic. I also think that if you poke…

• Please, God, let Sarah Palin’s book tour be over!

  Bing

  18 Nov 2009 | 6:04 am

  I’m in Logan Airport in Boston this morning. It’s 5:30 AM. On the radio coming here, the top news had something to do with Sarah Palin. I say the news, but it’s not news. It’s just Sarah Palin. On the radio, you can’t see her in her nice red sweatshirt. But it was still her. She was running through her memorized speech about the Middle East. On the way through security, there were televisions in the ceiling. Barbara Walters was interviewing Sarah Palin. I couldn’t hear what she was talking about, but it was definitely her. In the book/magazine/gum store,…

• Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!

  Bing

  17 Nov 2009 | 8:08 am

  It is my understanding that by the time we get to Web 4.0 everything we do will be up in the cloud. All our writing, our spreadsheets, our photos, our videos, all up in the cloud, wherever that is. I guess it will be like heaven. Nobody knows where that is, either, even those who believe in it. You may be more evolved than I am on this subject, but that idea makes me a little bit nervous. Perhaps it’s all the DID YOU BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER TODAY warnings I’ve received during the course of my digital life. Maybe it’s just my innate mistrust of things I can’t actually put…

• Yes, I’ve found everything I !#@!$ wanted!

  Bing

  16 Nov 2009 | 9:45 am

  China is growing triple digits as we politely chug along toward greater mediocrity. Sarah Palin is topping the charts.  Winter is coming in. My 401(k) is still under water. War in the east is widening. Bonuses will hit record highs on Wall Street this year. Do all these things bother me? Sure they do. But not as much as the guys who run the stores at the airport. I don’t like to think of myself as a peevish person. But I do have peeves.  And my peeves define me. You go to the airport store. There’s at least one in every terminal. They have every stupid magazine in the world,…

• Membership is its own reward

  Bing

  13 Nov 2009 | 10:56 am

  The effort to purchase Donald Trump’s aged 727 continues apace. I believe we now have close to $1000 in various currencies toward our goal of $300,000.  Most people have responded well to the idea. Some complained, however, that we gave free publicity to Mr. Trump in his campaign to reap a profit from the sale of his luxury liner. To this cavil I responded that, in my experience, it is generally the rich who get things for free. As an example, I mentioned the fact that, for some reason, only upscale grocery stores frequented by the wealthy offer free samples of tasty tidbits.

• 
  Weekly Leader

• What 100 Years of Research Tells Us About Effective Leadership | Psychology Today [del.icio.us]

  weeklyleader

  20 Nov 2009 | 6:26 pm

  Not all that surprising but definitely worth reading.

• Developing and Deploying Leadership Development (Chief Learning Officer magazine) [del.icio.us]

  weeklyleader

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:37 pm

  Interesting detailed presentation of a corporate leadership development program.

• How to Help Your Boss Succeed [del.icio.us]

  weeklyleader

  19 Nov 2009 | 1:12 pm

  More food for thought from Bob Sutton

• Weekly Leader Podcast 27 – US Coast Guard PodCamp

  podcast@weeklyleader.net

  18 Nov 2009 | 11:10 am

  Ben Strong, Peter Stinson, Beverly, Daren Lewis, Katie Hood, Mario Vittone, Kathy Nash, Dan Taylor This week I went to Virginia Beach, VA to participate in the first annual United States Coast Guard PodCamp and recorded a roundtable discussion... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• Leadership: It's not about you [del.icio.us]

  weeklyleader

  18 Nov 2009 | 2:43 am

  Perspective from Marshall Goldsmith

• 
  Lead on Purpose

• Battle of the bloggers

  Michael Ray Hopkin

  16 Nov 2009 | 9:42 pm

  Tomorrow I have the opportunity to speak at the AIPMM Battle of the Bloggers and tell the people why Lead On Purpose is the top product management blog. Given the level of competition among the participating bloggers and the many other great blogs “out there” it’s a daunting task to say the least. In preparing for my brief (~5 minute) speech I’ve come up with a few reasons why Lead On Purpose is important to the product management community: Promoting leadership in product management: The blog was started with the intent to promote leadership practices that will help…

• Book Review: The Three Laws of Performance

  Michael Ray Hopkin

  10 Nov 2009 | 7:12 am

  “One of the flaws of management in this day and age is that we fragment accountabilities and then everyone focuses on their own piece.” In The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life, authors Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan discuss laws that govern individual, group and organizational behavior. They lay out a framework to help leaders at any level envision a positive future filled with success, based on the Three Laws of Performance: How people perform correlates to how situations occur to them. The first law addresses why things occur to…

• Three steps to the next big opportunity

  Michael Ray Hopkin

  4 Nov 2009 | 10:26 pm

  One of the keys to career progress (advancement) is identifying and taking advantage of new opportunities. Most of the time the new opportunities are not obvious; after all, when things become obvious they are usually past the “opportunity” stage. The crucial habit for progress is watching, learning and becoming aware of trends and changes going on around you. Here are three steps to help you prepare yourself for the next big opportunity: Demonstrate flexibility: The word ‘flexible’ has various meanings; in this context think of ‘willingness.’ Be the person…

• A new Leadership Development Carnival

  Michael Ray Hopkin

  2 Nov 2009 | 6:14 am

  The Lead on Purpose blog is featured in the November Leadership Development Carnival of Dan McCarthy’s Great Leadership blog. The latest Leadership Carnival brings together links to more than 30 fresh posts on topics such as mentors and role models, leading teams and maximizing your performance. You’ll find posts from great bloggers such as Wally Bock, Steve Roesler, Chris Young and others. The Leadership Development Carnival is a great way to expand your leadership knowledge and get to know the bloggers who are making it happen.

• Trust in business

  Michael Ray Hopkin

  1 Nov 2009 | 12:13 am

  One of the things I’m finding as I continue to read The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey is the abundance of leadership quotes he has included in the book. They give excellent insight into the importance trust plays in your success. The following quote points out the importance of trust in business: You can’t have success without trust. The word trust embodies almost everything you can strive for that will help you to succeed. You tell me any human relationship that works without trust, whether it is a marriage or a friendship or a social interaction; in the long run, the same…

• 
  The Recovering Leader

• Monday’s LeaderTip: Appreciation

  david@leadershipunleashed.com

  15 Nov 2009 | 8:07 pm

  Showing appreciation is a no-cost, simple, and powerful investment in your people, and, for that matter, in a better world. When you thank others for their contributions, they are inspired—and you're also left with a good feeling. Gratitude often disappears during busier or tougher times. Unfortunately, these are the very moments when it can make the biggest difference for everyone. Take the time to give a sincere pat on the back, make a personal phone call, or dash off a handwritten note just to let someone know they did (or are doing) a great job. No other small efforts can do as much for…

• Leadership and Trying Too Hard

  david@leadershipunleashed.com

  11 Nov 2009 | 4:36 pm

  When was the last time you “gave your all” on a project, in a role, or a situation in your life?Perhaps you remember a time when you were extremely satisfied with something you did: a problem you solved, a project, a company you ran, or even a game of golf or tennis you played.  While doing it, time flew by, like you were “in the zone,” and when it was done you felt tired but certainly not weary.If we could somehow go back in time and measure the way you were “showing up” at that event, we’d find that it didn’t seem like an effort to you, although you were expending energy. …

• Monday LeaderTip: Applying High Standards Responsibly

  david@leadershipunleashed.com

  8 Nov 2009 | 7:48 pm

  Applying high standards to your own performance as a leader is appropriate. Yet taken too far, they can lead to being overly self-critical, and can adversely affect the way you treat others too. Over time, the high cost of this approach drags down performance—and despite what you may think, your achievements are not, even in part, due to your critical behavior, but despite it. If you are prone to be too hard on yourself (or others) it’s highly worthwhile to reassess and ratchet back the severity with which you apply your good high standards. This can help you treat yourself and your…

• Monday LeaderTip: Approachability

  david@leadershipunleashed.com

  1 Nov 2009 | 8:34 pm

  Approachability is critical for leadership, as it fosters healthy and necessary communication between you and your team. You may see yourself as easy to approach—yet when you are frequently preoccupied, stressed, or driven, they come to perceive you as off limits. It’s as if your people are trying to call you, but the line is busy. Make an extra effort to be poised, invite dialogue, and be willing to turn off your internal chatter long enough to hear them out. Doing so allows others to access your leadership, coaching, and advice, and in return, volunteer critical information you need to…

• Monday LeaderTip: Delegate the "What," Not the "How"

  david@leadershipunleashed.com

  25 Oct 2009 | 8:12 pm

  Great delegation habits make leaders and organizations more effective. First and foremost, it’s important to trust your people to do the job their own way. Yet, if you’re telling them what you want done AND how to do it, you’re hindering their efforts and your own. Delegate the "what" and leave the "how" it gets done to the person doing the work. Trusting your people in this way helps them be more engaged, autonomous, and creative—three key ingredients for maximizing your human capital through delegation.Self-coaching: Consider the three elements of delegation: 1) trusting people to…

• 
  Virtually Ready - "Extend Your Reach!"

• New Client Spotlight: 3D Motion Lenticular Patriotic & Collegiate Sports Promotional Products

  admin

  10 Nov 2009 | 6:47 am

  www.3-DMotion.com Virtually Ready is happy to introduce 3D Motion, creator of lenticular patriotic & collegiate sports promotional products.  We were introduced to the owner who had already had a website created, but was interested in basic website management as well as extending their web presence via social networking.  Naturally, Virtually Ready was a perfect fit! 3D Motion provides you the opportunity to show off your patriotism and/or show support for your favorite college sports teams with their unique magnets, stickers, postcards, coasters and more! These unique…

• How Effective Are Facebook Ads?

  admin

  21 Oct 2009 | 9:18 am

  Virtuallly Ready Fan Page on Facebook® At Virtually Ready, we’re reaching out to our connections to find some questions that may be looming out there about the social web and how to best manage your web presence.  As a result, we received the following inquiry from one of our Fans on the Virtually Ready Fan Page on Facebook and wanted to share it with you. “I think the thing that I have been wondering the most is how effective are the ads on here (Facebook)? I have been going back and forth on doing one for both the business and the podcasts, but I am wondering if they actually…

• Business Owners Have A Chance To Win A Customized Flip® MinoHD Video Camera from Virtually Ready

  admin

  15 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

  Do you own a business? Here’s your opportunity to get connected and promote your business at the same time using the latest “on the go” video camera technology – The New Customizable flip® minoHD 120! This handy little gadget can boost your online business promotions with its FlipShare software feature, that “makes it easy to email videos, edit individual clips, make custom movies, capture still-image snapshots, and upload video to Facebook™, MySpace™ , YouTube™ and other sharing sites!” Virtually Ready is giving away a top-of-the-line 120 minute…

• Soundwave Merchandising Extends Social Web Presence for Business with Virtually Ready

  admin

  21 Sep 2009 | 2:09 pm

  Soundwave Merchandising - Specializing in Band Touring Merch & Webstores A couple of months ago, Virtually Ready announced our new partnership with Campus Customs, which offers custom imprinted apparel, promotional screen printing & embroidery to their customers.  Today, we are  introducing an extension to that partnership with Soundwave Merchandising, a division of Campus Customs. Soundwave Merchandising is known for having “major company muscle with independent company thinking and accessibility”, especially in the music industry. The company specializes in band…

• Springbak Springsoles Spring Into Action On The Social Web

  admin

  2 Sep 2009 | 7:00 am

  Official Springbak Springsoles Virtually Ready has recently partnered with Springbak Springsoles, the official provider of the sales and manufacturing of Springbak performance boosting Springsoles (insoles) designed for professional athletes, to revamp their website and bring them up to speed with a new Social Web Fusion(SM) website. To compliment their new site, they are also utilizing Virtually Ready’s website and social web management solutions program to boost their web presence and extend their reach. Springbak’s new website accommodates all of the detailed information they…

• 
  The Practice of Leadership

• Research finds leadership skills inadequate to meet current and future demand

  George Ambler

  16 Nov 2009 | 11:29 pm

  New research from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) which surveyed 2,200 leaders from 15 organizations, in three countries between 2006 and 2008 produced some interesting findings. The research project was designed to answer the following questions: What leadership skills and perspectives are critical for success now and in the future? How strong are current leaders in these critical skills and perspectives? How aligned is today’s leadership strength with what will be the most important skills and perspectives in the future? A comparison of the leadership strength from the research…

• Leaders Take Risks!

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pm

  Photo by schoschie   The act and practice of leadership is a risky undertaking. Leadership is the act or bringing about positive change. This requires leaders to initiate, to blaze new trails, to venture into the unknown and unexplored terrain. All of this entails risk. Kouzes and Posner in their bestselling book, “The Leadership Challenge” describes it this way: “Leaders are pioneers – people who are willing to step out into the unknown. They are people who are willing to take risks, to innovate and experiment in order to find new an better ways of doing things.” Leaders take…

• 10 reasons why you’re going to fail!

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:50 am

  I can across a really stunning post on failure by Tony Morgan, “10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail” that is really worth sharing, so here is Tony’s list… 10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail It’s not your passion. If it doesn’t make your heart beat fast or cause your mind to race when you’re trying to sleep, you’re probably doing the wrong thing. You don’t have a plan. You need a vision, and you need to identify specific steps to make that vision become reality. That includes a financial plan. (I happen to believe you need direction from God on…

• The 2009 Most Influential Business Thinkers

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:45 am

  Forbes.com released their 2009 “The Most Influential business Thinkers”  results. The consulting firm CrainerDearlove compiled this list of today’s top thinkers, by surveyed 3,500 people and a panel of experts to determine the 2009 edition of the Thinkers 50, the fifth edition of a biennial list of the most influential living management thinkers. This years results are listed below.   Rank Name 2007 Rank Country Day Job 1 C.K. Prahalad 1 India/U.S. University of Michigan Academic 2 Malcolm Gladwell 18 Canada New Yorker Columnist 3 Paul Krugman U.S. Princeton Academic 4…

• Keeping your goals in focus

  George Ambler

  30 Aug 2009 | 1:39 pm

     Photo by kevindooley The article “For This Guru, No Question Is Too Big” from the NY Times discusses the work of the best selling business author Jim Collins. Given the popularity of Jim Collins the article discussed how he allocates his time, which is as follows: “… in a corner of the white board at the end of his long conference room, Mr. Collins keeps this short list: Creative 53% Teaching 28% Other 19% That, he explains, is a running tally of how he’s spending his time, and whether he’s sticking to a big goal he set for himself years ago: to spend 50 percent of…

• 
  Maximize Possibility

• This Week's Featured Possibility Maximizer: Drops of Rain Newsletter

  Rainman

  20 Nov 2009 | 5:12 am

  Every week I like to feature a resource that I feel will help you Maximize Possibility in your organization and your life at work. This week I think I will be a little self-indulgent and feature a resource of my own: my Drops of Rain Newsletter The Resource: The Rainmaker Group's Drops of Rain Newsletter What it Covers: My twice-monthly newsletter explores a variety of leadership, talent management, and human resource topics through select articles and blog posts that I have written to help my subscribers improve performance in their organizations. In addition to this content, I always share…

• 5 Ways to Keep "Accountability" From Becoming a Buzzword in Your Organization:

  Rainman

  17 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  I have noticed an interesting trend over the past year or so. It would seem that more and more attention is being paid to holding others accountable for their actions. Maybe the recent financial meltdown, corporate scandals, and the general abuse of public trust are responsible for this trend. Perhaps organizations are finally waking up to the dire need for accountability within their ranks... Whatever the case may be, you can't help but hear a lot more commentary in the media, on the web, and around the water cooler about holding others accountable. Heck, I'm even getting calls from sales...

• The Rainmaker 'Fab Five' Blog Picks of the Week

  Rainman

  16 Nov 2009 | 7:13 am

  I like to start every week by pointing you to my choices for the top five talent management, leadership development, and human resource management blog posts from the past week. Below are my top five picks for the week of November 9th to the 15th, 2009. Enjoy! Dan Schwabel, Personal Branding Blog: 10 Personal Branding Prediction for 2010 - Curious what is in store for your personal brand in 2010? Head over to Dan's Personal Branding blog and take a look at his list of 10 predictions to get a leg up on the coming new year. While there, be...

• This Week's Featured Possibility Maximizer: Halogen Software's Raging Debates in HR

  Rainman

  12 Nov 2009 | 10:30 pm

  Every Friday I like to share with you a resource that I feel will help you to Maximize Possibility in your professional life and improve your performance at work. This week I've got an exciting new resource that I think you will really enjoy. Check it out! The Resource: Halogen Software's Raging Debates in HR What It Is: Raging Debates in HR is an interactive online forum where a highly respected collection of HR and Talent Management gurus weigh in on some of the hottest issues facing the industry today. The way it works is that a question is posed...

• The Rainmaker 'Fab Five' Blog Picks of the Week

  Rainman

  9 Nov 2009 | 6:30 am

  With all the great posts hitting the Blogosphere this past week on the topics of leadership development, talent management, and human resource management, I would like to point you to five blog posts that I consider to be the best of the best for the week of November 2nd through November 8th, 2009. Deb Owen, Beyond 8 Hours and a Lunch: You Can't Improve What You Don't Measure - Deb has a great post up about the importance of measuring performance and illustrates how you can add value to your organization by measuring what matters most. Jon Ingham's Strategic HCM...

• 
  Pink Slip

• WATCH List 2009 - The Land of the Misfit Toys

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:01 am

  This is the anniversary of my 2008 post on the list of worst toys - in terms of danger, not of taste and aesthetics - of the year. Well, the new list of the most perilous toys for 2009 from WATCH - that's World Against Toys Causing Harm - is out. WATCH, a Massachusetts non-profit, has been speaking out on rotten toys since 1973, which means they're now into their third generation. You'd think by now that toy manufacturers would have figured choking hazards out, wouldn't you? I was most disappointed to see a book on the list - and a Curious George book, at that. But, as anyone who's been to a…

• Crime may not pay (but Bernie's auction sure did)

  19 Nov 2009 | 1:12 am

  Just a brief post today to let folks who may have missed the news know that the Pieces of Bernie and Ruthie auction - sort of like the "results" that Madoff delivered -  exceeded expectations.  But, unlike Madoff's financial results, which occurred only on paper, the auction off of B&R's personnel effects brought in cold, hard cash - about $1M. Twice what the auctioneers thought they'd get going in. That Mets jacket that Bernie won't be needing in the stir? The auctioneers had valued it at up to $720, but some sport forked over $14.5K for it. Bernie's Hofstra College…

• Cogito Ergo Tweet

  18 Nov 2009 | 1:44 am

  Time has come up with a wonderful compilation of the greatest inventions of 2009. Talk about a treasure trove! Okay, so the first - and best, according to Time - on the list is the Ares Rocket, an invention that I'm afraid to say bores the space suit off of me. (How did it beat out the AIDS vaccine, by the way?) I guess I was just one of those whom the space program just blasted right by. I remember our first astronaut - Alan Shephard - mainly because it was the first time that we had a TV in the classroom. Some parent must have lent us the little black and white "portable" with…

• Dream on Studios

  17 Nov 2009 | 1:41 am

  A while back, we locals started hearing about the Major Motion Picture Studio that was going to be built in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Plymouth Rock Studios was variously the brain child and the love child of David Kirkpatrick, former head of Paramount Studios, and yet another one of those famous-people-having-to-do-with-the-world-of-entertainment-that-I've-never-heard of. Plymouth Rock Studios was gong to be a very ambitious undertaking, based on: ...a $650 million plan to build 14 sound stages and a virtual entertainment city in the woods of Plymouth, making Massachusetts the production…

• Steve Burton, a man in someone else's uniform (So why is this a federal offense?)

  16 Nov 2009 | 1:49 am

  Well, I've always wondered just what the Uniform Code of Military Justice is. But now I'm beginning to piece things together and figure out that the operative words may be "uniform" and "military." Or so it seems, if you're following the case of Steve Burton, who went to his 20th high school reunion sporting a Marine uniform, bedazzled by a number of medals, including the Navy Cross. (Source: CNN.) Trouble is, Burton is not now and never has been a Marine, let alone a decorated Marine, and he's now charged with: "unauthorized wearing of military medals or…

• 
  Ed Batista: Executive Coaching & Change Management

• David Rock on Neuroscience, Coaching and Leadership

  Ed Batista

  18 Nov 2009 | 9:38 am

  My interest in neuroscience and its implications for executive coaching, leadership development and other processes that involve behavioral change led me to a talk by David Rock at Oracle last week, sponsored by the South Bay Organizational Development Network (SBODN). I first came across Rock in mid-2006, when he and Jeffrey Schwartz co-authored "The Neuroscience of Leadership" (free registration required), which, as I wrote in response, "builds on recent findings in brain research to explain why much of the conventional wisdom in the organizational development field is wrong and to suggest…

• James Baldwin on the Ugly Side of Life

  Ed Batista

  13 Nov 2009 | 1:01 pm

  The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.- James Baldwin My colleague Trina Roach tweeted this quote the other day, and it caught my attention.  (And I'm not alone--a search for the line turns up 30,000 hits.  No one seems to know exactly where Baldwin wrote or said it, but it certainly sounds like him, so I'm going to trust the attribution.)While Baldwin was surely inspired by the specific challenges he faced pursuing his own calling as a writer, I'd extend his sentiment beyond professions to include any institution, from nations…

• The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness

  Ed Batista

  11 Nov 2009 | 12:02 am

  My interest in neuroscience and its implications for executive coaching, personal development and professional effectiveness led me to have lunch recently with Alvaro Fernandez, co-founder and CEO of SharpBrains, a market research firm that focuses on the application of neuroscience in healthcare, education and related fields.  I was sufficiently inspired by my conversation with Alvaro that I went on to read The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, which he co-authored with Dr. Elkhonen Goldberg, his SharpBrains co-founder.  (Full disclosure: I know Alvaro personally from business school,…

• Crying at Work

  Ed Batista

  28 Sep 2009 | 12:07 pm

  Is it OK to cry at work?Bret Simmons had a great post yesterday on crying in the office which prompted some further reflection.  I've had many clients, students and colleagues cry with me in my work as an executive coach, and I've cried myself, many times.  I think it's important to create a working environment and working relationships in which it's acceptable for people to acknowledge stress, frustration, grief and the wide range of other emotions that can lead to tears.  In my experience tears are almost always cathartic, and when they're expressed people feel better…

• On Growth and Renewal: An Update

  Ed Batista

  1 Sep 2009 | 3:22 pm

  How do we invest in our own growth and development?  What do we do to renew and revitalize ourselves?These questions have been on my mind today.  Last April Eric Lapp sent me the photo on the left of a tree in his neighborhood that refused to die, an image that struck both of us as a powerful symbol of growth and renewal.  Eric just sent me the updated photo at right, and I'm thrilled to see it thriving--it obviously had a good growth spurt this Summer.  So what have I done over the past few months to support my own growth and renewal?Being A Better Coach Means Getting Better CoachingIn a…

• 
  Mavericks at Work Blog

• Is “Too Big to Fail” The Same as Too Big to Succeed?

  Bill

  10 Nov 2009 | 10:17 am

  Over on my Practically Radical blog, I report on my recent conversation with Jack Welch, in front of a conference of several thousand bankers in Boston, and consider the question of whether size in and of itself is a strategy. Check it out here–it was a fun discussion.

• A Savvy Deal, from A(mazon) to Z(appos)

  Bill

  24 Jul 2009 | 6:12 am

  Over at Practically Radical, I offer my thoughts on the recent news that Jeff Bezos and Amazon are going to buy Zappos.com, the remarkable company created by Tony Hsieh. Here’s hoping Jeff and Tony can become the “power couple” that revolutionizes customer service in America–and the world! You can read the post here.

• The 10 Questions Every Change Agent Must Answer

  Bill

  18 Jun 2009 | 10:54 am

  As leaders, we have no control over how fast markets grow or how wisely banks lend. But we do control our own mindsets and “animal spirits”—the phrase coined by John Maynard Keynes in the depth of the Great Depression. If all you’ve got is a spreadsheet filled with red ink and dire forecasts, it’s easy to be paralyzed by fear and resistant to change. But if you can summon some leadership nerve, then hard times can be a great time to separate yourself from the pack and build advantages for years to come. Indeed, when it comes to creating the future, the only thing more worrisome than…

• Navigating Risk: Of Sinking the Boat, Missing the Boat, and Rocking the Boat

  Bill

  18 May 2009 | 8:58 am

  Over at Practically Radical, I’m continuing to make a case I’ve been making for months—that a down economy can be a great opportunity to try something different or start something new. My latest source of inspiration and evidence? A great column by James Surowiecki in The New Yorker, which distinguishes between two types of risks that executives face—trying something that doesn’t work (”sinking the boat”) and not trying something that would have worked (”missing the boat”). To me, though, the real opportunity is to recognize the power of…

• MBAs vs. Entrepreneurs: Who Has the Right Stuff for Tough Times?

  Bill

  4 May 2009 | 12:00 pm

  The one growth business in this shrinking economy is speculation about where MBAs and other elite students will flock now that Wall Street is a vast wasteland. “What will new map of talent flow look like?” wondered a piece last month in the New York Times.  The tentative answer: towards government, the sciences, and teaching, “while fewer shiny young minds are embarking on careers in finance and business consulting.” Just five days after that article, the Times was at it again, chronicling the difficult career choices for business students, including one former Goldman Sachs intern…

• 
  Sanders Says

• Take the weekend off

  Tim Sanders

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:32 am

  I shot this video @ home on Monday, but waited until today to share it with you.  I want you to take some time off this weekend.  As much as possible.  The more you take off, the better you'll be next week.  Check out this video clip for the screed: The Value Of The Pit Stop by Tim Sanders

• Leading the mood state

  Tim Sanders

  19 Nov 2009 | 3:43 am

  Earlier this year, I gave a keynote for Fidelity Information Services to a few hundred community bankers. Many, if not all of them, were severely impacted by the recession.    During the talk, I explained how the mood state was tied to future cash flow (Primal Leadership). From there I made a challenge to the audience: Lead your people back to the positive mood state to recover.  Video: Tim Sanders on "Leading The Mood State" 

• A lesson from Thor about being lean, fast and bold

  Tim Sanders

  17 Nov 2009 | 2:26 pm

  Today, a WSJ Article (Thor Industries: On The Road Again) highlights a bright spot in the embattled automotive industry.  Sure, they had layoffs, but they didn't have debt - which was key. Thor Industries is a Phoenix company, that will emerge from the 2008-2009 great recession stronger and more profitable than ever.  Two of its mega competitors have either failed or been parted out by private equity firms.  In the end, Thor picks up market share and top talent.  How did they do it? They stayed lean in production and fat in creativity. They used much smaller factories…

• Globally good advice for small business owners

  Tim Sanders

  16 Nov 2009 | 2:20 pm

  On November 6, I gave a keynote speech at a small business conference in Mexico City.   I did a great deal of research to prepare my remarks.  I looked into the state of the Mexican economy, the climate for small businesses and consumer trends.  The idea was for me to leverage my global expertise into a set of useful remarks for small business owners in greater Mexico City.   During my talk, I outlined a big opportunity for Mexico ( US Dumps China For Mexico) and predicted that economic recovery would eventually find its way to Mexico -- giving all bold and creative…

• The Three R's Of Modern Leadership

  Tim Sanders

  13 Nov 2009 | 1:04 pm

  Napoleon Bonaparte once said, "the leader's role is the define reality, then give hope." In that statement, Napoleon captures the essence of sustainable leadership -- balance.  Balance between good and evil, upside and downside, opportunity and risk and happiness and anguish.  The balance, though, is difficult for leaders to maintain, especially during challenging times.  It's too easy to sink into the survival mode, living in the perilous moment of reality.  Hope seems too expensive to invest in.  Of course, this approach will only cause you to lose followers as they…

• 
  Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog

• The FDIC Anesthesia Is Wearing Off

  John Agno

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:31 pm

  By Guest Author Robert Prechter The following article is an excerpt from Robert Prechter's Elliott Wave Theorist. For more information from Robert Prechter on bank safety, download his free report, Discover the Top 100 Safest U.S. Banks. Perhaps the single greatest reason for the unbridled expansion of credit over the past 50 years is the existence of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, another government-sponsored enterprise created by Congress. The coming rush of bank failures is an outcome made inevitable the very day that Congress created the FDIC. The reason is that the creation…

• Six Essential Leadership Traits for Hard Times

  John Agno

  17 Nov 2009 | 9:54 am

  The following behaviors characterize a good leader in a downturn: 1.   Honesty and credibility. Nobody can be certain about the business environment and its direction. The only viable options are intellectual honesty and humility. Your authority depends on your ability to facilitate understanding and solutions—not from omniscience. 2.   Ability to inspire. Many people are extremely anxious. The recession descended as suddenly as a tsunami, destroying hard-earned savings and putting jobs at risk. You and your team must inspire employees by toughening their resolve and…

• Shrinking Business

  John Agno

  16 Nov 2009 | 5:26 am

  A record number of U.S. companies are beating earnings expectations but a big portion of their profits come from cost-cutting, disappointing investors who are hoping for boosts in revenue.  The worry is that without a meaningful upturn in U.S. sales, cost-cutting can only boost profits so long. Barring acquisitions, your company will likely be smaller two years from now, according to Ram Charan.  In his new book, Ram Charan: Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: Managing in a Downturn, the bestselling author identifies the key rules to follow if you want to get the…

• Leadership in Times of Economic Uncertainty

  John Agno

  13 Nov 2009 | 9:48 am

  If you’re like most leaders, you’ve never before experienced a downturn like this.  Reports about the end of the recession mean little if your company continues to fight cash-flow problems.  You know that the term 'jobless recovery' is an oxymoron. You cannot allow yourself to be afraid.  Others look to you for strength and guidance. You must give the best you have and move quickly, even when faced with incomplete information. In his new book, Ram Charan: Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: Managing in a Downturn, the bestselling author identifies the key…

• Drivers of Retention

  John Agno

  10 Nov 2009 | 6:29 am

  In its latest biannual survey, released in October 2009, temp firm Spherion Staffing Solutions asked about 300 employers and about 2,500 workers to name the top "drivers of retention."  As they did in 2007 and 2005, the bosses listed soft stuff: "management climate" and "supervisor relationship," for instance.  Employees' top two in all three surveys?  Benefits and compensation.  And this year, only 27% are "very satisfied" with their pay.  Just 37% are equally happy with their benefits. Of course, the high unemployment rate has scared working Americans into hanging on to their jobs at…

• 
  SustainableWork

• Regional Food Systems

  21 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm

  My friend Mark Olson and I, with a scary-smart group of emerging friends, have been working out possibilities for our Iowa County initiative. This is an economic development prototype to build interrelated local food processing clusters, operated at a scale to meet institutional demand. These facilities will be located strategically across rural economies and organized in a way that is mutually self-supportive. The design of this system moves the bulk of the revenue through the management and production levels, delivering it to the producers and their communities. There is a link at the end…

• Enabling Entrepreneurs

  13 Nov 2009 | 8:24 pm

  First, a great day this week meeting with the Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, Mike Sheridan. The Speaker is on my left in the photo. On my right is my friend and our State Representative Steve Hilgenberg. Next, I thoroughly enjoyed my presentation to the Wisconsin Economic Development Association gathering this past Monday. The discussion at the end of these talks is always the best part. I was asked a long-standing question that is universal: Are entrepreneurs born or can they be made?I took the obvious route and said yes. Too easy. I also didn't get the answer right.Entrepreneurs are not…

• Economic development. Learning from action steps

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:04 pm

  I am really looking forward to a presentation I get to share with the Wisconsin Economic Development Association (WEDA) this coming Monday evening, Nov. 9. They have asked me to discuss opening a new economic development organization. I am coming up on my first anniversary as an economic developer in rural Wisconsin. On my first day on the job, Dec. 1, 2008, I was sitting in a vacant conference room in Dodgeville, WI. I had been shoveling info into a newly cloned database as fast as I could all day. I turned on the radio that evening as I set up to leave. I learned that a recession was…

• Slow startups. Find the information you'll need

  1 Nov 2009 | 7:03 am

  As time allows, I'm going to continue posting about the six steps I think people need to take for launching their own slow startup enterprise.This post is about the second of the six steps, gathering information in a way that adds value to your idea and sustainability to the platforms you will work from.In other words, this is about business planning and slow startup enterprises. A slow startup focuses on creating a new enterprise with limited time and funds. These enterprises are meant to bring increasing sustainability into people's lives and the communities they live in.The common thread…

• "Find Heroes. Do Demos. Tell Stories."

  25 Oct 2009 | 10:03 pm

  As anyone who has read these post for a while knows, I am a really big fan of Tom Peters and his work in designing management structures and work policies that achieve results.I have been reading Tom Peters for decades now. Tom writes for a more urban crowd I think. What I find really interesting is that as I move into rural economic development work I am finding many farmers and rural entrepreneurs who also embrace Tom's work.Busy weekend doing economic development budgets. Lost the time for a proper post so I thought I would share a quote from Tom Peters that I read recently.Here is a short…

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  Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

• ‘Tooni Musing: 52 Rules of Thumb

  Mary

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:07 am

  I’m currently reading Rules of Thumb, 52 Truths For Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self, by Alan M. Webber.  Webber has serious thought leader/biz cred since he was the co-founder of Fast Company magazine. As one might expect of a professional, thinking journalist, Webber has written a book that is easy to read, imminently dippable and provokes thought.  He probably isn’t saying anything we’ve not heard before (somewhere), but it gets my synapses to snapping…and he reminds me of other authors with good ideas, such as Dan Pink. Two of the Rules to get you…

• Laying Track As The Train Is Running

  Mary

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:59 am

  I’m working on a screamin’ fast track $oftware development project for a client, as in: First meeting with software developers was this past Tuesday; first deliverable is scheduled for next Tuesday (yes, that’s right, 7 calendar days.).  We’re talking mad coding and  on-the-fly reviews.  We’ve got deadlines (tied to – ahem – money) so we’re laying track as the train keeps running. This does not, however, mean we’re simply throwing something down on the ground and hoping the train can make it… Speed is no excuse for sloppy work.

• Web-Way Robbery (Rebates & More!)

  Mary

  18 Nov 2009 | 8:22 am

  Many people are still leery about doing business on the Web, with some justification. “I don’t want to give my info to Paypal.” Yet, they give everything to Amazon and they often get sucked into all kinds of online flim-flam, such as… From TechCrunch: The Post-Transaction Marketing Wall Of Shame: Hundreds Of Well Known Ecommerce Sites Rip Off Customers Rockefeller is holding a U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation full committee hearing on Aggressive Sales Tactics on the Internet and their Impact on American Consumers. He released a report on…

• Why Isn’t Somebody Else Doing It?

  Mary

  17 Nov 2009 | 8:08 am

  …if it’s such a great and obvious idea? This is one of those pesky investor questions frequently asked of would-be entrepreneurs. And, sometimes, the answer is depressing. Come to find out – after a wee bit of research – somebody else is doing it and have an entrenched market position with towering barriers to entry. However, just as frequently, the answer could be: 1. “They” may have thought of it, but can’t do it, due to company culture. (Elephants can eventually be made to dance, but it ain’t pretty…) 2. It’s so great it’s…

• Customers Are SO Annoying!

  Mary

  16 Nov 2009 | 9:17 am

  You know – times are tough, and the economy is hurting a lot of good biz owners. However, I can’t help but think some Darwinian herd thinning is a good thing – as I visit local shops where I’m met with dead-eye stares and supreme indifference (and this often from the owners!) Last week a friend and I were hitting shops all over town, looking for 1950s costumes and accessories for a friend’s 50th b’day party (”Come dressed as…”). We ended up (ready to give up) at Off Broadway (which was recommended by other shops as “great”).

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  The Trump Blog

• Five Things I Do Every Day

  19 Nov 2009 | 1:18 pm

  by Thomas M. Schmitz Engage Mine would not be much of a career if I didn’t engage in actual work. Like attorneys and doctors, I approach my profession as a practice and I strive to give every client my best effort. The nice thing about working is that it gives you experience. Every new task, project or client helps me to accomplish even better work. Learn I go out of my way to learn something new every day. While it's easy to think in terms of learning practical applications such as new skills or techniques, gathering industry information is important too. Keep up with your…

• Shaking Hands, Turning Pages

  18 Nov 2009 | 12:15 pm

  by Donald J. Trump I’ve always been against shaking hands as it’s a great way to pass along millions of germs. The other offense is when people lick their fingers before turning pages--that’s a fingerprint full of germs just waiting for the next person who picks up the paper. In this day and age, people should think about that. It’s not only unnecessary, it’s unhealthy and disrespectful of other people. People are surprised when I shake their hands, and it’s only because it’s a custom (a bad one) that I do it, but I will always wash my hands…

• State Landlord and Tenant Acts - Do You Know Yours?

  17 Nov 2009 | 1:36 pm

  by Tina Merritt The thought of reading through a lengthy legislative act is painful to many of us; however, for a real estate investor, this is one that is a necessity.  Your State's Landlord and Tenant legislation is something investors must be familiar with and have on hand at all times. Why?  Because this legislation dictates how many properties one must own before coming under certain rules and regulations.  It talks about what happens when a lease expires and the landlord/tenant have a verbal agreement to extend.  It dictates the procedure for eviction and tenant…

• Thanksgiving Time

  16 Nov 2009 | 7:25 am

  by Donald J. Trump We should all get together and make a country in which everybody can eat turkey whenever he pleases.  --Harry S. Truman When the Thanksgiving season comes around, it makes me think about how we should always be in a season of thanksgiving. There’s always a reason to be grateful. We’ve had some challenges the past couple of years and we’ve seen some improvement, and things will continue to improve. There are silver linings to situations that may appear less than positive. The important thing is to approach each day with a sense of victory. Are you big…

• What is a Good Deal?

  13 Nov 2009 | 10:41 am

  by Tina Merritt What defines what the investor considers to be a "good deal"?  Well, that depends on the goals of the real estate investor.  In order to determine what a good deal is, you need to know your expenses, your plans and your time frame.  There is no magic formula.  Each real estate investor must create their own definition of a good deal. For a buy-and-sell investor, the "good deal" is defined by many things:  holding costs, length of time needed to renovate, cost of renovations, cost of contractors, cost of financing, anticipated market time, etc. For the…

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  Management IQ - BusinessWeek

• More Self-Inflicted Drama at AIG

  Nanette Byrnes

  13 Nov 2009 | 1:10 pm

  Robert Bermosche has made plenty of waves in his three months at the helm of troubled insurer AIG, starting with his early bluster about not being pushed into selling assets too soon. On Nov. 11 Bermosche got into hot water again after the Wall Street Journal reported that he’d threatened in front of board members to quit his post over the pay limitations being imposed by the Federal Government. Following an emergency bailout in September 2008, the government now owns 80% of AIG. In a letter to employees sent out after the story surfaced, Benmosche didn’t deny the reports, though he…

• CEO Oversharing

  Nanette Byrnes

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:11 pm

  Recently Chip Conley, CEO of Joie de Vivre, a $230 million company with more than 3,000 employees, got enmeshed in a bit of a modern corporate culture snafu. Conley's not your average Harvard MBA pinstriped buttoned-down corporate chieftan. He's an entrepreneur. He writes his own rules. So to him, it wasn't so strange to post some pictures of himself at the Burning Man whatever-it-is in the desert on his Facebook fan page. Or to tweet on Twitter about the demise of his 8-year-long relationship. Some of his employees, however, found it unseemly for a CEO to be shirtless on Facebook. And since…

• Marketing Drugs: The Pitfalls of DTC

  Arlene Weintraub

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:56 am

  What happens when pharmaceutical company ads urge TV views and magazine readers to "ask your doctor" about a particular drug? A new study from market researcher Verilogue suggests patients either aren't asking for the drug by name, or worse, they're asking about its scary side effects. Verilogue came to that conclusion from a unique and useful vantage point: It recorded 12,500 real conversations between patients and physicians. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug advertising is one of the most controversial issues in pharmaceuticals. Critics say the ads promote the over-use of prescription drugs…

• CEO Pensions Encourage Earnings Games

  Nanette Byrnes

  23 Oct 2009 | 3:44 pm

  A new study finds that it’s not just the outsized pay packages executives at AIG, Citigroup and others receive that is a problem. Nor are the golden parachutes given those forced out the only thing that deserves scrutiny. Regular run-of-the-mill CEO retirement has become a reason for CEOs to goose the numbers. The study by Paul Kalyta of McGill University finds that a CEO whose retirement pay depends in part on the company’s performance in his final years at the helm, will manage earnings up as he approaches retirement. After he’s gone, the stocks tend to drop sharply. By contrast,…

• Pay Czar Slashes Compensation; Makes Governance Changes

  Jena McGregor

  21 Oct 2009 | 2:55 pm

  In a striking display of government authority, pay czar Kenneth Feinberg is taking a knife to the pay packages of certain companies receiving U.S. funds. According to media reports, the government will slash the compensation of the 25 highest-paid employees at the seven firms receiving the most aid. The biggest drop will be to salaries, which will plummet 90% on average for these firms, while total compensation will fall by an average of about 50%. (Those numbers could be skewed by agreements reached with executives like outgoing Bank of America CEO Kenneth D. Lewis, who is forgoing all of…

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  Management by Baseball

• Sic Semper Complacency: When Whatever Doesn't Make You Stronger Kills You

  j

  18 Nov 2009 | 2:24 pm

  One of the most chronic American business and military management failures arises from success. In competitive environments, successful organisations find it more seductive to stand pat rather than maintain the effort to find improvements. I've written about this effect before, but I just ran into the exhilarating Baseball example that reminds us that Baseball, unlike business, makes this error less because Baseball is innately smarter than American business and the American military. The failure I'm talking about is the failure to remember that Whatever Doesn't Make You Stronger Kills You.

• Art Imitates Life, but The NFL Imitates Baseball

  j

  27 Sep 2009 | 1:56 pm

  While pro football has some interesting life lessons, there tend to be few management insights you can apply generally to non-sport management. I don't write about football here, but there's a great reason to introduce my first entry in over five years that will have the NFL as a centrepiece, although as a beneficiary of baseball wisdom, not an originator thereof-like. Specifically, it's about managing Change, the ultimate destination, home plate, in the Management by Baseball model. Last Sunday, the New York Times sports section had a Judy Battista feature on Detroit Lions coach Jim…

• Staffing Innovation: Byrd Comes Home to Roost

  j

  30 Aug 2009 | 10:18 am

  Back in January I wrote about the "Roger Clemens Move" the A.L.'s 39th best starter pulled during the off-season.Paul Byrd had retired to spend time with his family, but he left the option open to play part-time during a team's stretch run. And that's exactly what today's news ("Byrd set to resume career with Red Sox")indicates he successfully pulled off...in this case after coming out of retirement for four starts in the last couple of weeks for minor league affiliates of the Red Sox, The Louisville Hugger has been called up by Boston to fill in for the ailing Tim "The Vicarious"…

• Metroasexuality: The Clipboard & The Stopwatch as Potemkin Metrics

  j

  24 Aug 2009 | 11:43 am

  Baseball podcaster Jimmy Scott does weekly interviews, most frequently with ex-players, and the gem of his recent interview with former American league pitcher Dick "The Toledo Titan" Drago was during a discussion of various managers Drago had played for. Drago, btw, had an unusually interesting career. He started with an expansion team; he was a jack of all trades...after his rookie year, he was a starter for four years, a swing man for one and a reliever for the last seven seasons -- one of them as "the closer" for a legendary World Series hopeful, the 1975 Boston Red Sox). He outed his…

• The Oakland As' Design to Win Even When You Lose

  j

  8 Aug 2009 | 4:14 pm

  Baseball is the perfect test lab for measuring the relative merits of competitive strategies, so the lessons I'm about to share (generously coughed up by Oakland A's manager Bob Geren (who was once traded for Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers).But before the lessons, and because I can hear that whinger in the back of the room getting ready to complain that business and war are a lot more competitive, let me reiterate why this is Truth.For one thing, competition in Baseball is a lot more fierce than the endeavor you're in because success is zero-sum. For every win there has to be a loss -- none of…

• 
  Great Leadership

• How to Maximize Collaboration and Reach Consensus in Under an Hour

  19 Nov 2009 | 2:57 pm

  In my last post, I described 5 decision making options leaders can choose, depending on the amount of time allowed and input and buy-in needed.This post will describe a process a leader can use to help a group reach an efficient consensus decision.First of all, it’s important to define what’s meant by “consensus”.Here’s a definition that’s worked for me:“Consensus is a decision that every member of the group has had input to, understands, and is willing to support.”Note that consensus does not mean that everyone agrees with the decision 100%. It mean’s they’ve had their…

• 5 Decision Making Options for Meeting Leaders

  16 Nov 2009 | 5:04 pm

  Leaders often need to make hard decisions.Our current president recently said “by the time something reaches my desk, that means it’s really hard. Because if it were easy, somebody else would have made the decision and somebody else would have solved it. So typically, if something’s in my folder, it means that you’ve got some very big, difficult, sticky, contradictory issues to be wrestled with.”Yes, it can be lonely at the top. But it doesn’t always have to be. There are times when a leader may want to involve others in the decision making process.There are five ways a leader can…

• Should Leadership and Management Development be a National Priority?

  12 Nov 2009 | 2:47 pm

  Thanks to Adi Gaskell, from CMI and a regular Great Leadership reader and commenter, for bringing this November 10th press release to my attention. He says “It's been very popular here in the UK with the likes of the BBC and Daily Telegraph running stories on it. I think it could run well on your blog.”I did a Google news search and it looks like the U.S. press hasn’t picked up on it yet, so consider this breaking news. Might even be a first for Great Leadership. (-:Has the leadership “crisis” gotten so bad that we need to turn to the government for help? It apparently has in the…

• 7 Elements of a Great Leadership Development Workshop

  11 Nov 2009 | 4:08 pm

  Whenever I’m designing a leadership development workshop, I’m always aware of the cost of pulling 20 or so supervisors, managers, or executives away from their work for anywheres from 4 hours to 4 weeks. The biggest cost of any training program isn’t the instructors, travel, facilities, and food. It’s not even the salaries of the participants. The most significant cost, and often overlooked, is the lost opportunity cost. For every hour a manager, or salesperson, or programmer, spends in a classroom, that’s one hour of lost productivity. For executives, the opportunity cost is even…

• Getting Beyond Survive To Thrive At Work

  8 Nov 2009 | 6:10 am

  Guest post by Eileen Habelow:According to Randstad’s 2009 World of Work survey, an alarming number of workers surveyed (83%) feel fortunate to have a job. Why do I say alarming?While this sentiment might simply be an expression of gratitude for some, I believe it is just as likely that this response reflects a distinct undertone of survival mentality – just grateful, just thankful, just fortunate.So, what is the impact of survival mentality? Survival mentality tends to put people into a defensive mode – a reactive and protective stance. When employees are in survival mode, they are…

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  CIO - Blogs and Discussion -

• Online Money Mules Aide Theft and Fraud

  21 Nov 2009 | 8:27 am

  Shipping scams are a common tactic criminals use in which they employ mules to receive goods bought with stolen credit card numbers, who then ship to people who buy them in online auctions. read more

• Pride & Productivity

  Jen Darr

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:29 pm

  We see it all the time. Customers call for help after they’ve wrestled with a software snag for an hour or sometimes more. read more

• Flawless Excel Formulas: 4 Essential Tips

  Jen Darr

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:26 pm

  The beauty of Excel is its simplicity: If you enter your data correctly, it works. read more

• Recession Remains Ugly, Renders Workers Unhappy

  Jen Darr

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:23 pm

  More grim news from the land of statistics: The recession may be waning, but a recent survey

• Office 07 & Windows 7 Migrations: Been There, Supported That

  Jen Darr

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:19 pm

  Migrating to Windows 7 and Office 2007 is a massive undertaking, no matter your company size. Preparation is vital to a successful transition. read more

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  Mission Minded Management

• The Bright Side of the Underutilized (Overcapable) Employee

  Michelle Malay Carter

  18 Nov 2009 | 5:10 am

  Today we will look at the positive behaviors a manager might observe in an employee that is underutilized, aka over capable of the work required of his role.  This post is number two in a series of four.  The series titles and links are listed below. Possible Negative Manifest Behaviors of an Underutilized Employee Today’s Post - Possible Positive Manifest Behaviors of an Underutilized Employee Possible Negative Manifest Behaviors of an Over committed Employee (not yet cognitively capable of the work level required of the role) Possible Positive Manifest Behaviors of an Over committed…

• The Dark Side of the Underutilized Employee - Fire them or promote them?

  Michelle Malay Carter

  13 Nov 2009 | 7:46 am

  What to Do About Attitude Problems One of my most popular articles is What To Do About Attitude Problems?  Promote them!  This article explores the negative behaviors a manager might experience not because an employee is unqualified for a job, but because she is cognitively overqualified.  As I’ve said before, high capability does not always mean high performance, especially when an employee is bored and mismatched to his role.  Some of a manager’s biggest problems come from those who could do the role but don’t, won’t, or make everyone miserable in the process! …

• Missed Opportunities to Rescue Dugard Linked to Poor Employee Screening or Poor Pay?

  Michelle Malay Carter

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:06 am

  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “State parole agents fell down on the job again and again during the 10 years they supervised sex offender Phillip Craig Garrido, failing to check out clues that could have led to alleged kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard.”  [emphasis mine] Parole Agent Work is Level Two Work If you follow my blog, you know that work exists in levels, and we can classify roles by work level.  If a parole agent’s job involves sorting information to identify relevant clues and then adding clues together to draw conclusions, then it is level two work. Level…

• Ford not only Survives, but Thrives? Was it Science-based Organization Design and Talent Assessment?

  Michelle Malay Carter

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:27 am

  Good news for Ford Motor Company this week as it earned a third-quarter profit of almost $1 billion and expects to be “solidly profitable” in 2011 in its North American business.  Has Ford turned the financial corner? I was reminded last week at the Global Organization Design Society’s International Conference that Ford Motor Company worked with Elliott Jaques and The Levinson Institute in the areas of requisite organization design and talent assessment years back. Was a work-levels, science-based approach to organization design and talent assessment a contributor to…

• The GO Society’s 2009 World Conference in Buenos Aires

  Michelle Malay Carter

  22 Oct 2009 | 10:34 pm

  I’m attending and presenting at the GO Society’s World Conference this upcoming week.  Can you imagine a group of geeks from around the world mezmerized by talk of work levels and Requisite Organizations until late in the evening each night?  Sounds like a slice of heaven, doesn’t it? I doubt that I will be able to keep the blog fires burning during that time, because I don’t want to miss a minute of the dialogue.  So, for now, you will have to talk amongst yourselves.  Discussion Topic:   Why does Management Science have yet to adopt a universal set of…

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  CIO.com - CIO Role

• Book Review: Four Steps to Becoming a Top-Tier CIO

  15 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  The authors of The Real Business of IT show how CIOs can demonstrate and communicate the value of IT in terms the CEO will understand.

• The Global CIO Job Description

  11 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  How the CIO role breaks down.

• Are You Qualified to Be a Global CIO?

  11 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Globalization demands CIOs who can manage IT in rapidly developing markets. Rigid thinkers need not apply.

• The Top Line Interview: Betsy Burton

  10 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  A distinguished analyst at Gartner fast-forwards to the future of the CIO

• GM's New CIO Plans Big Desktop Changes, Expanded Mobile Support

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  New General Motors CIO Terry Kline looks to continue the progressive IT ways of predecessor Ralph Szygenda by adopting the consumer technologies used by new car buyers as well as cloud computing techniques and "PCs on a stick."

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  CIO.com - Leadership

• What Endures From a Manager's Career

  15 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Columnist Paul Glen thinks about what has real lasting value of all the things managers do in the course of their careers.

• Book Review: Four Steps to Becoming a Top-Tier CIO

  15 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  The authors of The Real Business of IT show how CIOs can demonstrate and communicate the value of IT in terms the CEO will understand.

• Globalization: New Management Challenges Facing IT leaders

  11 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  As the globalization wave reaches emerging markets, IT leaders face new mangement challenges. Here's advice on how to balance the competing—and often conflicting—needs of established and developing business locations.

• How Customer Focused Tech Keeps Airline's Revenue Aloft

  6 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Southwest Airlines' CIO describes how front- and back-end systems influence the customer experience and generate revenue.

• Q&A with Author of "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs"

  1 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pm

  What makes Steve Jobs such a special presenter, and what can CIO.com readers borrow from Jobs' vast skills? Communications coach and author Carmine Gallo shares his insights and favorite Jobs YouTube clips.

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  CIO.com - Leadership

• What Endures From a Manager's Career

  15 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Columnist Paul Glen thinks about what has real lasting value of all the things managers do in the course of their careers.

• Book Review: Four Steps to Becoming a Top-Tier CIO

  15 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  The authors of The Real Business of IT show how CIOs can demonstrate and communicate the value of IT in terms the CEO will understand.

• Globalization: New Management Challenges Facing IT leaders

  11 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  As the globalization wave reaches emerging markets, IT leaders face new mangement challenges. Here's advice on how to balance the competing—and often conflicting—needs of established and developing business locations.

• How Customer Focused Tech Keeps Airline's Revenue Aloft

  6 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Southwest Airlines' CIO describes how front- and back-end systems influence the customer experience and generate revenue.

• Q&A with Author of "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs"

  1 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pm

  What makes Steve Jobs such a special presenter, and what can CIO.com readers borrow from Jobs' vast skills? Communications coach and author Carmine Gallo shares his insights and favorite Jobs YouTube clips.

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  IMD Business School - News

• Professor Arturo Bris shares insights on what has changed since the crisis

  19 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Professor Arturo Bris shares insights on what has changed since the crisis

• IMD announces Nassim Taleb as an OWP keynote speaker

  16 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  IMD announces Nassim Taleb as an OWP keynote speaker

• Dutch executive Marjon Oosterhout benefits from IMD learning approach throughout different career phases

  12 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  IMD takes pride in contributing to individuals’ lifelong learning. Marjon Oosterhout has witnessed this in several different capacities throughout her career.

• IMD Professor Lehmann on US President Obama's upcoming trip to China

  11 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  President Obama will be making his first visit to Beijing this month. It is arguably his most important international “rendez-vous”. There is a lot at stake.

• German IMD alumni test-drive Aston Martin sport cars and meet with company CEO Ulrich Bez

  9 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Some 25 IMD alumni were able to go behind the wheel and test drive Aston Martin sport cars during an event held earlier this month in Nuerburgring, Germany. The alumni were also able to interact with Aston Martin’s CEO Ulrich Bez and get a first-hand perspective on the company’s outlook.

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  IMD Business School - Tomorrow's Challenges Articles

• RESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  The recent turmoil in financial markets is ascribed by many to be a failure of leadership and the calls for more responsible leadership continue to grow. But what is responsible leadership? There is a danger in taking too narrow a view and simply bowing to critics demanding more corporate social responsibility. Responsible leadership is more than this; it is a balance of between getting the right results and getting results the right way.

• LEADERSHIP THROUGH COLLABORATION

  13 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  What happened in the first trillionth of a second after the Big Bang? How was matter created? Are there parallel worlds?

• THE VALUE OF THE LONG-TERM VIEW

  13 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Who should come first in managers’ minds: shareholders or stakeholders? According to one fundamental principle, the answer is clear – executives’ primary objective should always be to create value for their firm’s owners. Under the “shareholder view” approach, maximizing profits takes priority over all other possibilities. Opponents of this view, however, argue just as strongly that firms have a responsibility take the interests of all their stakeholders – employees, customers, suppliers and society more generally – into account when shaping…

• DON'T FORGET CAPITALISM'S TRIUMPHS

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Read any newspaper these days and it is clear that the global financial crisis has raised serious questions about both capitalism and globalization. The enormous amount of capital now committed to bailout packages is cause for even greater concern. Before completely rejecting a system, it is worth taking a close look at just how far Europe has come since the fall of the Berlin Wall on Thursday, November 9, 1989.

• THE POST-BERLIN AFTERMATH

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  The destruction of the Berlin Wall and the global market revolution that followed emancipated hundreds of millions of people. Though censorship and various forms of state control persist in different parts of the world today, never have so many people on this planet been able to penetrate through the walls of information to gain knowledge and connect with others. Estonians are members of the EU, many children of the new Russian elite attend Swiss schools, while the Chinese appear among the most visible tourists at the Olympic Museum located in the city in which I live, Lausanne.

• 
  thoughtLEADERS, LLC Blog

• Want A Great Year-End Review? Write It Yourself

  16 Nov 2009 | 4:05 am

  My favorite time of year is rolling around (and no, it's not the holidays with their nauseatingly excessive tinsel-before-turkey consumerism). I'm talking about time for end of year progress reviews. They're those agonizing, mandatory, and often confusing reams of paper we're forced to suffer through.Many times you'll find yourself nervously wringing your hands wondering what's going to be on This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://thoughtleadersllc.blogspot.com for more.

• 3 Keys to Getting Projects Approved by Slow Decision-Makers

  9 Nov 2009 | 4:03 am

  You have a brilliant idea. It’s going to transform your business. It will help you get a huge leg up on your competitors and drive tons of money to the bottom line. Heck, if you can get this thing implemented you’ll probably get a big fat bonus and it’ll be a great holiday season at your house.Here’s the catch – this idea is a little risky. It’s not fully proven in the market. There’s a This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://thoughtleadersllc.blogspot.com for more.

• Lessons from Leonidas the Spartan King: Why Shrinking Your Business is Smart

  8 Nov 2009 | 7:40 am

  Today's guest post is written by Brian Ahearn (no, that's not his picture at left). Brian's one of the most knowledgeable guys I know on the subject of influencing people (which is why he's been a guest here before). Enjoy!I conducted a workshop recently called Principles of Persuasion. During a break, one of the students said she’d had a conversation with her five-year-old son and expressed This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://thoughtleadersllc.blogspot.com for more.

• Are You Telling Customers You Don't Care if They Die?

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:05 am

  If you have kids, you know the nauseating feeling of one of your kids going down for the count and having to rush to the emergency room. I had that wonderful experience very recently. What I learned from that visit to the ER is businesses can make very strong statements about how little they care about their customers simply through the processes they use to run the organization.I'm betting you This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://thoughtleadersllc.blogspot.com for more.

• 4 Ways NOT to Run an Internship Program

  28 Oct 2009 | 2:02 pm

  An internship program can be great for your company, but don’t do it simply because everyone else is. Just like Mom used to ask, “If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you?” Make sure you can provide a mutually beneficial opportunity, and make sure you’re thinking from both perspectives – the employer and the intern – when you’re developing your program.One of my favorite references of real-life This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://thoughtleadersllc.blogspot.com for more.

• 
  The Garlington Report (TGR)

• Single holiday wish

  16 Nov 2009 | 8:06 am

  Last week's headlines in The Wall Street Journal presented an all too familiar trend line. First came AIG's CEO complaining about pay restrictions while threatening to quit after only a few months in the job. He later retracted and said he was staying for now. Evidently the "war for top talent" rages on to the point where even a leader of a too big to fail enterprise feels compelled to cry

• Two Chicago Guys and a CEO Search

  13 Oct 2009 | 12:58 pm

  Left to right: Walter Massey (courtesy, AJC) Charles A. Tribbett III (courtesy, Russell Reynolds web site)Bank of America Corp. (BofA) Chairman Walter Massey has named Charles A. Tribbett III of executive recruiter Russell Reynolds to assist with the recruitment of the bank's next CEO, according to people familiar with the matter. Efforts to confirm Tribbett's selection with a firm spokesperson

• BofA: Will grits remain thicker than water?

  8 Oct 2009 | 7:57 am

  So week two drags on with the Bank of America Corp. (BofA) governance mess. The bank and its board remain under attack from every conceivable angle, leading to snap decisions such as on/off the shelf "emergency CEOs" that few understand much less believe to be part of a real solution. Mainstream media continue to speculate on the horse race or who will fill the role vs. what is needed to right

• BofA: Let the horse race begin

  2 Oct 2009 | 6:51 am

  Publisher's note: The following was first published today on BusinessWeek.com under their ManagementIQ blog heading. Find the direct link here http://www.businessweek.com/careers/managementiq/archives/2009/10/moment_of_truth.html. Or feel free to read on below.=============================Whoever fills the CEO role, while sexy and headline grabbing, is not the most pressing need at the nation's

• BofA Chairman forms search committee

  1 Oct 2009 | 12:05 pm

  Bank of America Corp. (BofA) Chairman Walter Massey has formed a search committee to find a new CEO to replace Ken Lewis, according to people familiar with the situation.Two executive search firms, Spencer Stuart and Heidrick & Struggles, reportedly are in the running to present qualifications to the committee. Spencer Stuart has been working with BofA on board selection matters since earlier

• 
  Business Wisdom: Words to Manage By

• Before You Can Tell Someone Else What To Do . . .

  Waugust

  20 Nov 2009 | 11:46 am

  "The first and best victory is to conquer self."PlatoParticularly for a manager of people, money or things.Self-discipline.If you don't have it, someone will impose it on you.

• The First Step to Success Is . . . The First Step

  Waugust

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:40 am

  "Glory lies in the attempt to reach one's goal and not in reaching it."Mohandas GandhiWhat did our parents tell us; it's not whether you win or lose but that you try.Well, I'm not so sure all parents who say that, mean it every time, in every situation; however the concept is a good one.And just as it is in our personal lives so it is in business; if we never try, we never succeed.

• The Value of Consultants

  Waugust

  18 Nov 2009 | 2:54 pm

  "Good counselors lack no clients."William ShakespeareDo you suppose he was talking about consultants?If so, my capability apparently varies one day to the next.How about you?

• Your Customers: Are You Listening?

  Waugust

  17 Nov 2009 | 8:41 am

  "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."Bill GatesHow true, assuming you listen to what they have to say.And now that I think about it, if Bill did listen, he has to be extremely learned.

• Now What?

  Waugust

  16 Nov 2009 | 12:19 pm

  "Most of our assumptions have outlived their uselessness."Marshall McLuhanPhilosopher/ScholarEight words that say so much. That we make and act on too many assumptions. That they have limited value. That they live on even when proved false.But what are you going to do? When it comes to business, we know much less than we don't know.The problem isn't making and acting on assumptions, it is not being prepared to change our minds when what we thought we knew, proved not to be true.

• 
  DrivenLeaders.com

• Great Leaders Ask Great Questions

  Anthony Portuesi

  13 Nov 2009 | 7:24 am

  Book Review: Just Ask Leadership “The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask.” – Peter Drucker This month I had a chance to catch up on some reading, specifically a new book by Gary Cohen, entitled Just Ask Leadership: Why Great Managers Always Ask the Right Questions. It has been said that the concept of “asking the right questions” is one of the most important and least appreciated skills a leader needs to achieve desired results. To reinforce this point, Cohen interviews nearly 100 leaders, including…

• How to Deliver Bad News to a Group

  Anthony Portuesi

  28 Oct 2009 | 2:50 pm

  Delivering bad news to a group is never an enjoyable experience for any leader. Yet unfortunately in today’s environment, it’s a task that falls on our shoulders all too often.  While established techniques for delivering bad news exist, it’s often difficult to find training on disseminating negative information in the group setting. Personally, in the various management training and leadership programs I’ve been involved with over the years; it’s an area that has barely been touched upon! Difficult conversations and delivering a negative message remain a challenge for many new…

• Turning Ideas into Profits: A New Tool for Entrepreneurs

  Anthony Portuesi

  21 Oct 2009 | 5:13 pm

  At one point or another we’ve all had that million dollar idea for a radical new product that fits some unmet need. Yet no matter how good the concept, more often than not, busy schedules, lack of funds, or just plain apathy for the process, result in us taking no action to making it reality. This week I was intrigued to learn of a new website designed to assist and empower those with entrepreneurial spirit.  The aptly named LaunchYourLine.com, launched today, aimed at walking entrepreneurs through every step of the process from incorporation, to writing business and marketing plans, to…

• Are You an Authentic Leader?

  JimTaggert

  15 Oct 2009 | 4:15 pm

  “I am your servant. I do not come to you as a leader, as one above others.” When you read these words did the person who uttered them come to mind? Admittedly, the world is adrift in leadership quotations. But what makes these words special is that they were said by Nelson Mandela, a man who truly suffered by years being incarcerated in a South African prison. What I want to talk about in this post is leadership and to pose this question, which each of us needs to answer. “Am I an authentic leader?” We’ve heard statements that leaders are born. But then others argue that…

• Preparing Your Organization for Gen-Y

  Anthony Portuesi

  7 Oct 2009 | 2:32 pm

  Generation Y is of the age to enter the workplace and the workplace is in need of them. But are you ready for them? Thanks to Richard Bottner of Intern Bridge, Inc, another development opportunity is in the works that attempts to close this learning gap. Set for October 26th - 30th 2009, Intern Bridge is sponsoring the Millennial Thought Leaders Online Conference, geared at preparing organizations with the tools and practices necessary to engage today’s rising talent. We know that as Gen-Y’s presence in the workplace increases, the need for growth in this area becomes ever more…

• 
  Leadership Institute of Indianapolis

• 10 Tips On Being A More Inspirational Leader

  Terry Sarbinoff

  13 Nov 2009 | 6:50 am

  I recently read a book  Motivate Your Employees And Make Your Workplace Come Alive by Dr. Joanne G. Sujansky.   Dr.Sujansky, a certified speaking professional, highlights 129 tips to motivate your employees.  I chose the top ten tips that I think leaders should know in order to inspire their team: Tip#1:  Share your principals and live by them. People want to know what you stand for and that you are guided by your values and beliefs. Tip #2: Notice the little things that people do for you and say “Thank you.” Send personal notes of congratulations, condolence,…

• How to Demotivate Your Team

  Bill Caskey

  4 Nov 2009 | 5:14 pm

  We’re constantly talking about ‘inspiring your team’ so I thought today I’d show you a video clip of an interview with Jim Collins (Good To Great), where he addresses this very issue.

• Why Would Anyone Follow Me?

  Jillian Vanarsdall

  28 Sep 2009 | 9:48 am

  “To Understand Follower-Ship, Leaders Need to Grasp The Survival Benefits of Social Coordination” I recently read an article, An Evolutionary View-What Followers Want from Their Leaders, that explains the three characteristics dating back to the ancient tribes that every follower needs from their leader. Roughly two million years ago, the hunter-gather living style did not have formal leadership roles.  With tribal-warfare being the major cause of death during the Old Stone Age, tribes needed to establish leadership to survive and that’s where social coordination was…

• Sales Leaders. Do You Settle For Little Or Aim For Big?

  Bill Caskey

  3 Sep 2009 | 6:57 am

  I’ve had several conversations with VPs of Sales/Managers in the last few weeks, and it’s absurd to me how tolerant we are of mediocrity. I recently spoke with a prospect (CEO) on the phone who was complaining about the lack of engagement with his Senior VP’s/Sales Managers. He said he had seven of them, but only one was really performing sufficiently. That means 85% of his management team are losing. I asked him what he had done about it, and aside from “calling them on the carpet” or “writing them up,” he had done nothing. He said that even though they weren’t…

• Determination

  Jillian Vanarsdall

  27 Aug 2009 | 12:12 pm

  “Real leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determination” -Unknown Author We hear it daily–in the car, at home, during work, and even at church. The U.S is in a recession. According to the United States Department of Labor, in July 2009, the unemployment rate was 9.4%. An article from www.management-issues.com by Dan Bobinski states, “When unemployment numbers rise, the truth starts to ring home.  All jobs are temporary and people can be let go at any moment.  People suddenly realize that neither the government nor corporate America can truly look out for…

• 
  Mitch's Blog

• Give Someone A Nice Day

  Mitch

  21 Nov 2009 | 11:39 am

  I had a nice day yesterday. Some good things happened that are always pleasant, but it all started in one place. I had an early morning meeting, and I’m not normally a morning person. I was also hungry, which doesn’t bode well, and I didn’t have time to eat before I left the house. I decided to stop at McDonalds near where my meeting was to get something to eat. This particular McDonalds doesn’t have drive-thru, as it’s attached to a store for truck drivers. This meant I had to park my car and go inside. As I got to the door, this young man (wow, I’m at the…

• Insurance And Emergency Room Patients

  Mitch

  17 Nov 2009 | 4:10 am

  Strange as it sounds, it seems that there’s a difference in outcome for visitors to the emergency room based on whether a person has insurance or not. A study by Harvard University showed that uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital. That stuns me, and it seems the results have shocked many other people as well. It was always assumed that everyone who goes to the emergency room would get the same care because of a law known as EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act),…

• But You Do The Same Thing

  Mitch

  15 Nov 2009 | 4:51 pm

  There are two types of people in the world; those who complain about things others do that they themselves do to others, and those who go out of their way not to exhibit behavior that they hate. Something I’ve always tried to live by is never do something that I know I don’t like. For instance, I’ve never said a curse word in my life because I have never wanted anyone to feel uncomfortable. I also don’t want that kind of reputation attached to me, that being someone who doesn’t know how to monitor themselves. There’s this courtesy thing I have that reminds…

• Never Miss A Good Time To Shut Up

  Mitch

  14 Nov 2009 | 11:49 am

  Whether you had any real knowledge of either person beforehand, by now almost everyone in America knows about the beating the singer Rihanna took at the hands of her then-boyfriend Chris Brown. You also know about the subsequent fallout; the almost collapse of his career, her going into hiding for awhile, his pleading guilty to assault and then only getting community service instead of going to jail. While he has refused to discuss details, saying they were private (even though we all know what happened because we’ve seen the police report), last Friday on one of the late night news…

• Interviewed Again; I’m Getting To Like This

  Mitch

  10 Nov 2009 | 9:52 pm

  You just never know how the day is going to turn out. Early this morning I got a call from a friend of mine asking if I’d participate in an interview with her. It seems someone from a magazine, Oswego County Business Magazine, wanted to interview her because her business was found online for webinars, and my friend, Renee Scherer of Presentations Plus mentioned me because we’d done a webinar together as her partner. Hey, I’ll accept any time I can get an interview. The interview went well, as it was just around 30 minutes, and Renee did fine. We were asked to submit…

• 
  Bait, Tackle, Ice, Advice & Beer Blog

• Turkey Catches Of the Week! Gobble Gobble!

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:06 pm

  1. Research finds leadership skills inadequate to meet current and future demand2. Want to Move Up? Learn to Manage Like a CEO3. What It Takes to Lead Now4. The Innovator's Vulnerability5.Why Don’t All Entrepreneurs Write Business Plans?Thanksgiving is next week and those who will be gathering around the table here are some facts to impress your fellow eaters: 91% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day.Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird to be a turkey.Wild turkeys can run at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour.It was not until 1941, that congress declared Thanksgiving as a…

• Goodbye bad luck!

  20 Nov 2009 | 11:27 am

  Everyone knows someone that is doomed to have bad luck forever. The type of person that has enough bad days to pass them out to every person in the world and there would still be some left over....Hi my name is Jonny and I'm that person!Let me just share with you some of my bad experiences in the past three weeks: 1. Stolen camera (over $900)2. Car accident (my fault)3. Speeding ticket4. Car towed (on the same day I got the speeding ticket)5. Left my lights on in my car 3 times (yes ladies and gentleman 3 times)However, I'm not the type of person that lets these bad moments affect me. I…

• No need to stress the Holidays are here!

  18 Nov 2009 | 7:24 am

  Its that time of year again...break out the holiday music, decorations, old family recipes and get ready for your stress levels to hit the roof. Why is the most wonderful time of the year have to be accompanied with unwanted stress. All we really want to do is just enjoy the time off with our families and friends. So why don't we? Especially while everyone is dealing with the difficult times, this is when we need to focus on the appreciation and support of what we already have and not focus on material possessions as much. A good thing to do would be to go into the season realistically…

• Will American Ingenuity Be Enough?

  15 Nov 2009 | 8:33 pm

  As I understand it, languages that are read from left to right promote linear thought. While languages that are read from right to left promote non-linear, holistic thought. It's the balance between forest and tree perspectives that leads to innovative leaps. Well, for centuries the Chinese centralized system of government has determined where resources would be allocated. Thank God. Let us hope they continue to hamper the native inventive capabilities that the way their language is notated promotes. After Pearl Harbor a Japanese Admiral was said to have suggested they had awakened a sleeping…

• How do you approach the immensity of the sea?

  11 Nov 2009 | 9:47 am

  "If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." - Antoine de Saint-ExuperyIt's that time of year to think about your Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda list or for some its our New Years Resolutions.It's that time of year when we 'herd' people into staff and board retreats and re-evaluate the strategic plan and also the time of year we feel our waist lines explode over our jeans and think back to the #1 New Year's Resolution - to lose weight.The question for me is at what…

• 
  The Merrill Dubrow Blog

• I Do, I Do And They Did It Their Way!

  Merrill Dubrow

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:17 am

  A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a friend’s wedding. First of all congratulations to J.O. and D.Y. Like most of you, I have attended a lot of weddings and most of them are the same. This one was different for so many reasons: They asked the guests to arrive one hour prior to the ceremony so they could spend time with them before the wedding  They faced their guests during the ceremony  They held hands the entire ceremony  They left flowers on a chair on behalf of all of their family who had passed on and couldn’t attend the ceremony  The couple…

• When Was The Last Time You Did Something Nice For A Total Stranger?

  Merrill Dubrow

  18 Nov 2009 | 7:28 am

  I had an early morning flight so I found myself having breakfast at TGIF at DFW airport. As I looked up I noticed two people at the table next to me engaged in a conversation while they were enjoying their breakfast. I also noticed they are in the military and one of the gentlemen’s last name was Kidder. As I was handed my check I noticed they asked for theirs at the same time and the server had mentioned that their check was taken care of by another guest. They were thankful, quite surprised and very appreciative that someone anonymously had done that. Clearly that was a great…

• Yes It Was Ugly, Mean, And Had Sharp Teeth, But I Still Decided To Save It. . .

  Merrill Dubrow

  16 Nov 2009 | 8:09 am

  So there I was getting out of my car on a Wednesday night at 9:00pm. I was in shorts and the sweat was still streaming down my face from my workout. Out of nowhere I hear this voice yell out my name. It is pitch black and I can’t see anything, but I hear my name spoken for a second time. I look around and see my neighbors calling me over to their property. As I got closer they said there is a possum stuck between our fences. Of course I had this look of, "Are you kidding me?  And of course even if it was true, what do you want me to do about it?" Finally I said, "Ok let…

• Are Trucks Interesting? These Are. Check It Out.

  Merrill Dubrow

  13 Nov 2009 | 7:05 am

  A few years ago an ad agency in Germany sponsored a contest involving decorating truck trailers with clever ad artwork. Here are seven mock-ups of European trucks whose trailers are decorated to look like the sides are missing and the products they are hauling are painted on the sides and back.   The first one is of a bottle of beer and looks so real, like it’s coming out the side of the trailer.   The second is of a canvas tote bag.   The third is of Pepsi cases and they are all stacked on the ceiling, and the bottom of the trailer is empty.   The fourth is of…

• What Is Your Favorite Car/Van/Bus On TV Shows?

  Merrill Dubrow

  11 Nov 2009 | 7:25 am

  Over the years all of us have probably watched thousands and thousands of TV shows and noticed lots of different things. For me I always enjoyed what cars the actors and actresses were driving. Do you remember the A-Team’s GMC C-Series van? Who could forget the Ferraris in Miami Vice – used to love to see Don Johnson driving fast in the streets of Miami while wearing his white suit with white shoes.  Of course Tom Selleck also drove a Ferrari in Magnum PI. And of course there were the funky, crazy Batmobile, the Munster Koach and the Partridge Family bus. For me there are two…

• 
  Studentlinc

• Relevant Leadership #6

  timage

  13 Nov 2009 | 9:35 am

  Relevant Leadership = Relevant PresenceBy Kenton LeeWhat happens when people say “The boss is coming!”? Usually, employees stop doing what they are doing and start working. They are nervous when the boss is around. They aren’t themselves. Employees act differently when they are in the presence of their superior. So what would a relevant presence look like? Relevant presence is completely different than the common perception of what happens when the boss is around. Relevant presence is a kind of presence that people desire; people actually want you to be around. It is the presence that…

• Hit The Nail With Your Head

  timage

  13 Nov 2009 | 9:27 am

  If you don't read Seth Godin's blog...you're missing out.I can describe it in one word: Really Good!Just read this post about "hammers." You should too.Maybe it's time for a new hammer...One study found that when confronted with a patient with back pain, surgeons prescribed surgery, physical therapists thought that therapy was indicated and yes, acupuncturists were sure needles were the answer. Across the entire universe of patients, the single largest indicator of treatment wasn't symptoms or patient background, it was the background of the doctor.Read the post…

• Relevant Leadership #5

  timage

  11 Nov 2009 | 10:11 am

  Relevant Leadership = Relevant SuccessBy Kenton LeeSuccess. That’s what it’s all about, right? Everything we do – all of our efforts, resources, time, and energy – all goes to ensuring success. But what is success? And, more appropriately, what does success look like in today’s society? What is relevant success?Relevant success is different than you might expect, but it makes sense. Relevant success is all the people around you and the people attached to your mission. True success is all about people.A leader could run their team into the ground trying to make money. A person could…

• Let's Be Clear About One Thing...

  timage

  10 Nov 2009 | 2:09 pm

  The latest edition of the Leading Effectively E-Newsletter from the Center for Creative Leadership arrived in my inbox today. I highly recommend it if you do not subscribe. The CCL provides a wide array of resources and tools to help you in your leadership development.This month's E-newsletter contained an article that caught my attention. I have cited a portion of it here:Clarity in Conflict: A Simple Formula Conflict — any conflict — can be traced back to one of five root causes. And, without knowing what the conflict is really about, resolution is impossible."Whether a…

• Relevant Leadership #4

  timage

  10 Nov 2009 | 9:35 am

  Relevant Leadership = Relevant RelationshipsBy Kenton LeeRelationships are the foundation of leadership. You cannot do anything without relationships, and you can do everything with relationships. People communicate better when there is a relationship. People are better motivated to achieve goals and missions through relationships. People respond better in difficult situations when there is a relationship. Basically, every area of leadership is better with relationships. So how do you have a relevant relationship with the people around you?Relevant relationships begin with the understanding…

• 
  Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog

• Lean Inventories Do Not Excuse Failing to Deliver

  John Hunter

  20 Nov 2009 | 11:34 am

  Low inventory levels do not mean failing to have products available for customers. Now, if you manufacturing in huge batches and can’t respond to customer feedback then it might mean failure to predict customer demand does mean failure to deliver. But lean thinking has shown how to avoid this problem. People need to adopt lean manufacturing practices and gain the benefits of low inventory levels without the costs of failing to deliver what customers want. Sorry Santa, We’re Out of Stock The “it” gifts this year could swiftly vanish from store shelves, as retailers,…

• Highlights from Recent George Box Speech

  John Hunter

  16 Nov 2009 | 9:16 am

  The JMP blog has posted some highlights from George Box’s presentation at Discovery 2009 Infusing his entire presentation with humor and fascinating tales of his memories, Box focused on sequential design of experiments. He attributed much of what he knows about DOE [design of experiments] to Ronald A. Fisher. Box explained that Fisher couldn’t find the things he was looking for in his data, “and he was right. Even if he had had the fastest available computer, he’d still be right,” said Box. Therefore, Fisher figured out how to study a number of factors at one…

• Learn Lean by Doing Lean

  John Hunter

  13 Nov 2009 | 4:19 am

  In response to: Developing Your Lean Education Plan If you actually let the lean leaders practice lean management you are probably doing more to help them learn than anything else. Reading is great, but 10 times better when reading to find solutions you need to deal with issues you have in place. Same for going to conferences. Consultants can be a huge help, but if you just bring in consultants without allowing the changes needed to improve they are not much use. Far more damaging than not approving training, or giving the lean leaders any time to learn, is not giving them freedom to adopt…

• Management Improvement Carnival #81

  John Hunter

  10 Nov 2009 | 6:36 am

  Womack & Jones at the Gemba: “Spread” and Innovation by Mark Graban – “Jim says, basically, that you’re always going to be innovating and if the next area thinks they can just copy, then they’re missing the point.” The Curious Cat Management Improvement Carnival provides links to recent management improvement blog posts. Kanban Results by David Joyce – “Through various means; working on the system… actively assigning, escalating and removing blockers, recognising and reducing bottlenecks, retrospectives, improving our process by…

• Management Webcast: Introduction to Lean Manufacturing

  John Hunter

  9 Nov 2009 | 4:39 am

  Webcast introduction to lean manufacturing by Ron Pereira. This is a great 9 minute introduction to the topic, for those not familiar with lean thinking. It sets the context for lean thinking and provides some history on how lean manufacturing has developed. Get videos on learning about lean from the Gemba Academy. Related: Oranges, Pebbles, and Sand – Dr. Russell Ackoff Webcast on Systems Thinking – An Introduction to Deming’s Management Ideas by Peter Scholtes – Eric Schmidt on Management at Google – Management Webcasts – Workplace Management by Taiichi…

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  Team Building WNY

• Sticky Situation - Revisited with Cray Paper

  Michael Cardus

  19 Nov 2009 | 5:38 am

  A variation of Sticky Situation;While facilitating the University of Rochester New York MBA students orientation (150 students at a time) I wanted to lead sticky situation to illustrate team work, as well as solutions to problems when working within a boundary (guideline, rubric) that is not defined by the group. While traveling to Rochester NY I stopped at a party city. While wandering the isles thinking how can I lead Sticky Situation with 150 MBA college students indoor teambuilding program. I saw the cray paper and thought "This is IT!" The activity went well and the content delivery…

• Processing and Reviewing the Experience - Expert advice by Jennifer Stanchfield

  Michael Cardus

  22 Oct 2009 | 2:27 pm

  Jennifer Stanchfield has been sharing great advice on reviewing and processing for Team Building and experiential Learning, below is a short clip of her wisdom;A great way to engage participants in reflective conversation and meet the various learning styles of participants is to invite participants to leave their seats and blend dialogue with movement. Recent brain research makes a strong case for using active experiential methods in therapy education and training. Eric Jensen (1998), author of Teaching with the Brain in Mind, shares research that validates the use of movement and community…

• TeamBuilding from College Sports to Business Professionals

  Michael Cardus

  7 Oct 2009 | 8:50 am

  University at Buffalo, NY - Womens' Softball TeamHere the team is focusing on accountability for your role on the teamA Business Group in Rochester, NYEngaged in a closing activity that focuses on individual learning and how it can be applied to the team. Buffalo, NY Teacher In-ServiceFocusing on trust and effective communication to the teaching staff Leadership Educators in Buffalo, NYEngaged in a level 2 Rope Handcuffs activity.Level 2 focuses on the group working together to accomplish a challenging task. Team of Young ProfessionalsCorona of ConvergenceOnce you are in a department…

• Mistakes Managers Make in Hiring

  Michael Cardus

  3 Oct 2009 | 6:52 am

  Mike had a great mention in Tom Foster's Blog: Management Skills BlogHere is a short clip;In a comment yesterday from Michael Cardus, he ends with this statement. "As people we can pass judgment on a machines value, a dis-comfort comes from judging a persons value."And yet that is the task in the hiring process, to render a managerial judgment about a person's potential value to the organization. Why is this so uncomfortable?Here are the top five mistakes managers make in the hiring process.- Manager misses important information during the interview.- Manager misinterprets responses.- Manager…

• Collaboration Team Building Proposal

  Michael Cardus

  30 Sep 2009 | 8:50 am

  Sample Team BuildingFocus on Information Sharing Proposal All team building programs are customized and developed for your unique organization. The below is only a sample proposal. Contact us to discuss and create a customized indoor or outdoor TeamBuilding Program for your team!Team Building Information and Collaboration Program Overview;With the changes taking place within the organization communication and collaboration is being lost with the team members leading to a loss of trust and customer satisfaction.With an increase of inter and intra department collaboration and communication the…

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  Leadership for Lawyers

• Eight Ways Staff Can Participate in Business Development

  mark beese

  11 Nov 2009 | 8:18 pm

    While the burden of business development falls primarily on attorneys, staff members such as secretaries, administrative assistants, paralegals, technologists, librarians and directors can and should make significant contributions to the firm’s business development efforts.   Here are eight ways staff can make a difference.   Provide remarkable client service:  For many clients, an attorney’s secretary or assistant is their lifeline to the firm.  Attorneys rely on staff to help them be responsive to phone messages and email while they are busy with…

• Visioncasting in Turbulent Times

  mark beese

  1 Nov 2009 | 5:42 pm

  These are tough times for law firm leaders.  Many firms have had one or more rounds of layoffs.  Attorneys are pressured to bill more hours and bring in more work.  Staff are being asked to do more work with fewer resources.   Attorneys and staff alike wonder if they'll still have a job next week, month or year.  Anxiety is high, even in the best of firms.  While there is a light at the end of the tunnel, some wonder if it is a freight train.  Managing partners and firm leaders have a lot to think about now, including changing client expectations, fee pressures and increased…

• Legal Marketing Conference Announces Speakers for Denver 2010

  mark beese

  1 Nov 2009 | 4:30 pm

  I am pleased that the 2010 Legal Marketing Conference will be held in Denver, Colorado from March 10-12, 2010.  This year the program will be a bit different from previous conferences.  American Conference Institute (ACI) has been hired to develop and manage the conference.  Recently they announced (on LinkedIn.com) a very interesting faculty, including: Sarah Andeen, Legal Business Analyst, Greenberg Traurig Jeff Baron, Director, National Pursuit Team for New Business Development, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Steven B. Bell, Director of Sales, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC…

• What's in the Marketing Budget for 2010?

  mark beese

  1 Nov 2009 | 4:06 pm

  Greenfield Belser asked CMOs at Amlaw 200 firms what they are planning for next year.  Here's a summary.  Read the full article here.  The top two marketing/business development projects are investing in social media (92%) and investing in client loyalty interviews (92%) When asked what marketers plan on doing differently, they indicated that they will "Focus on business development efforts" (15.6%) and "Client Centered business development efforts" (12.5%).  Taken together, they represent the largest category of "innovation".  "New enhanced ways…

• The Integration Imperative

  mark beese

  1 Nov 2009 | 3:02 pm

  Suzanne Lowe has recently published her new book, The Integration Imperative: Erasing Marketing and Business Development Silos - Once and For All - in Professional Service Firms.  In it, she featured a dozen case studies of how law firms, accounting firms and other professional service organizations have knitted together the marketing and business development functions.  Suzanne interviewed the staff and leadership of Holland & Hart about two years ago for the book, which resulted in one of the case studies.  A summary of the case study is the feature of her latest newsletter, which…

• 
  Management Excellence

• Leader, Who’s Sitting at Your Table?

  Once again, Mom is proven right. You become the company that you keep. Surround yourself with intelligent, aggressive individuals comfortable in professionally articulating their perspectives and taking accountability for both their words and their actions, and you will flourish.

• Why Competition is So Great and What Chicago Needs to Learn

  Note from Art: I love the city of Chicago. I love the people, the energy and I love the feel of the restaurants and museums and the theaters. However, I don’t love the knuckleheaded political and union wrangling that blares from every news channel in a constant drone of finger pointing and accusations and bone-headed moves. We're battling insane ex-governors and ridiculous retail sales tax increases in the face of a recession. One of the latest issues is the backlash and the stream of excuses for the loss of several major conventions due to complaints of usurious pricing and strong-arm…

• Getting Out of Your Own Way

  Almost without exception, the primary reason for sub-optimizing in your career and in life can be seen every morning staring back at you in the mirror. Notice that it’s not your boss, your spouse or significant other or your parents or friends. It’s you. How do we overcome our own "going through the motions" inertia and reach or return to a level of high performance?

• Leadership Caffeine-Don’t Wait for the Title to Start Leading

  The time to start leading is now, long before anyone has bestowed the title of leader on you. Much like the famous trio of Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Woodman of Oz-fame, they didn’t really need the Wizard to bestow a brain, courage or a heart, and you don’t need someone to anoint you as a leader before you can start learning and practicing. The great news is that today’s organizations are filled with opportunities for you to easily and informally develop both your leadership and your followership skills.

• Finding Your Extra Performance Gear

  I know a great number of people working hard and digging deep to find that extra-something inside that will allow them to push through the almost overwhelming challenges on the path ahead. While none of the people that I’ve spoken with in the situations described above are resting easily, to my observation, they share a stubborn commitment to persevering in spite of the fact that the road ahead seems to be unpaved, uphill and against the wind the entire way.

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  Be Excellent

• Start 2010 Off Right - With Six Disciplines

  Skip Reardon

  20 Nov 2009 | 6:08 am

  2010 - another new year awaits us all. What will the new year bring in terms of your business? What will you do differently in 2010 to ensure success?Consider adopting the Six Disciplines approach to strategy execution. Think of these six disciplines as a series of annual, quarterly, weekly and daily repeatable cycles which, with each successive pass, helps leaders and their teams to more effectively execute in their pursuit of enduring excellence. Six disciplines are all it takes—but leaders and their companies must stick with them. Change initiatives generally don’t last, especially in…

• Coming To Your Organization in 2010: More Change!

  Skip Reardon

  19 Nov 2009 | 9:40 am

  Are you satisfied with the way your business is performing today?Specifically, what are you doing to make 2010 a banner year for business improvement?What are you going to do differently? What are you going to do - to change? The challenge is how to change, not if.Following are seven steps for effective organizational change in 2010:Create a commitment to change. Define a shared vision of what you want to commit to it. Without a clear commitment, you'll create chaos for the change you want to achieve. Creating the commitment brings you back to what you want to achieve and allows you to…

• What Companies Should Look for in a Business Coach

  Skip Reardon

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:36 am

  The business coaching industry, which is getting more exposure these days, is still filled with contradictions. Coaches themselves disagree over why they’re hired, what they do, and how to measure success. Here’s what you should know.A few months ago, Harvard Business Review conducted a survey of 140 leading coaches in order to find out more about the business coaching industry. Despite the widespread use of executive coaches, little is widely known about who they are, what they do.Here's what the coaches who were surveyed said companies should look for in a coach:65%: Experience of…

• Why Do Most Companies Fail? Hiring Is At The Core

  Skip Reardon

  17 Nov 2009 | 4:57 am

  Why do most companies fail?Most companies fail primarily because they don’t have the right team of peopleThe CEO might not be right, or the CEO hasn’t chosen the right people in the right positionsUnfortunately, most new CEOs don’t understand the talent level required at each position and the teamwork needed to build a successful company.To have a successful company, most businesses need key people in several categories including research & development, manufacturing, IT, finance, marketing, sales, and HR. BOTTOMLINE: Hiring right (from position description, to sourcing, to…

• Why Trust Is The Key To Execution

  Skip Reardon

  16 Nov 2009 | 5:04 am

  Much has been said recently about trust being a foundational principle for organizations to get the right things done.Warren G. Bennis has said: "Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work."Collin Powell has said: “You've got to trust people…you've got to let people make mistakes and not ground them off about it.”Stephen M.R. Covey, the author of the the best-seller "The Speed of Trust" offers a free download of "The 13 Behaviors of a High Trust Leader".

• 
  SteveFarber.com

• My Discussion on Dubai Radio

  Steve

  2 Nov 2009 | 10:21 am

  I’ve just returned from my first trip to the United Arab Emirates where I spoke at the annual Leaders in Dubai Conference. It was wonderful to meet and listen to the other presenters, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Benjamin Zander, Gary Hamel, Chester Elton, Jack Perkowski and David Plouffe (I listened to Al Gore, too, but didn’t meet him. He had quite the security shield, so I’ll have to sign a book for him some other time. Har!). On the first day of the conference, I conducted a 3-hour MasterClass on Extreme Leadership, where I introduced the principle of Cultivating Love (as in…

• The Best Advice I’ve Ever Gotten #1

  Steve

  12 Oct 2009 | 1:47 pm

  During my days at the Tom Peters Company, I once gave an overview to prospective clients of Terry Pearce’s program, Leading Out Loud, which was all about authentic leadership communication. (And, to this day, probably the best program of its kind–offered nowadays by BlessingWhite). Afterward, one of the participants came up to me and said that, while he enjoyed my presentation–that I spoke well, used slides well, was funny and entertaining, etc.–he didn’t think I’d really modeled what I was teaching. Which is very tough feedback when the topic is…

• I’m In Great Company

  Steve

  5 Oct 2009 | 10:00 am

  The management side of my speaking business has been through a couple of starts and stops over the last year or so, but I’m happy to announce that I’ve landed in the magnificent hands of the renown SpeakersOffice team. The legendary (in the speaking world, at least) Holli Catchpole and her gang are the best in the business. A cliched phrase, no doubt, but not in this case. As evidence, take a look at the exemplary company I’m in (the other speakers they manage, in other words): Tony Alessandra, Rick Barrera, Jim Cathcart, Lisa Ford, Keith Harrell, Art Holst, Scott Klososky,…

• Write Your Book; Get Paid Like This

  Steve

  3 Oct 2009 | 12:27 pm

  If you’ve ever had an impulse to write and publish a book, I urge you to act on it. Not because of the money or visibility. But because of the feeling you’ll get when someone, somewhere, reads your book and then sends you an email like this: “Dear Steve, The Radical Leap worked in reverse for me. I quit my job and literally walked out of my 35th floor corner office in downtown and entered the streets of Houston. By night fall I was either going to end up in a bar…or… Well, I ended up in a book store and ran across The Radical Leap. This was in 2004 and exactly…

• GTY In Action: The Fulfillment Fund

  Steve

  27 Sep 2009 | 5:11 pm

  I’ve just learned about an extraordinary organization in Los Angeles called The Fulfillment Fund, whose mission is “to mentor, counsel and guide disadvantaged high school students to achieve a college education.” Their focus is the LA area where the high school graduation rate is only around 50%. According to their website, the students in their program “defy this statistic by graduating from high school and going on to college. Most are the first generation in their family to reach this milestone.” The organization receives a lot of philanthropic help from the…

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  Unleashing Your Leadership Potential

• Bill Belichick's Example of The High Profile Risks of Leaders Must Take

  16 Nov 2009 | 2:19 am

  For the non football fans reading this, please read on - the lesson is well worth the football example.I am an Indianapolis Colts fan and I am writing this just a few hours after they came from 13 points behind in the fourth quarter to beat their nemesis the New England Patriots 35-34.  With just over 2 minutes to go, the Patriots had 4th and 2 at their own 28 yard line.  Everyone in the stadium, and everyone watching knew it was time for a Patriots punt.But Bill Belichick, the three time Super Bowl winning coach, and the leader of the Patriots thought otherwise.He went for…

• A Remarkable Leader's Response to "I don't have time."

  13 Nov 2009 | 4:39 am

  Yesterday, on the Guest conversation Call as a part of the Remarkable Leadership Learning System, my guest Timothy Johnson was asked how to deal with resistance to process improvement efforts in the form of "I don't have time."His answer was brief, to the point, and completely correct.  He pointed out that we all have the same amount of time - it isn't that people don't have time, it is that they are choosing to spend it differently.His answer, and my recent experiences and decisions lead me to write this important for all of us as leaders (I chose to spend my time writing…

• Leaders Develop Others

  12 Nov 2009 | 1:31 am

  Perhaps I should keep this post short.  If we all read and took action on the three word title of this post, we would all be more effective starting today and forever. I was reminded to share this key leadership skill with you today because of the quotation I shared in our Powerquotes Plus newsletter yesterday. "It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed." - Harvey S. FirestoneBy most any material measure, Harvey Firestone succeeded - and did so permanently.  He helped create an industry, employed thousands, and his enterprises continue to do so. …

• Seven Leadership Activities for the non-Leader

  10 Nov 2009 | 2:33 am

  Disclaimer - the title of this post contains and inherent flaw.  You see, by using the word, "non-Leader" I am implying that leadership is a role a title or is some how granted to you.  Nothing could be further from the truth.The reality is that everyone can be a leader, when they behave like one.  The following is a short list of some specific leadership behaviors that all of us can do (whether we have the "title" or not) that will help us both build our leadership skills and provide leadership results.Choose a positive attitude.  Our attitude is…

• When You are Now Supervising Your Former Boss - A Supervisor Challenge

  9 Nov 2009 | 4:43 am

  In a recent session of our Bud to Boss Workshop,  we were asked how do I handle the situation when I am now the boss of my former boss.  It is a good question, and one that in the topsy turvy changing world of business probably happens more times than we realize.  it is a question likely left out of most supervisor training, yet is an important supervisor leadership question - whether you face it for yourself, or to equip others who will be facing the situation.I created a short answer - with three specific answers in a video from my hotel room over the weekend.  Not…

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  Survival Leadership

• Action Learning: The Coach's Role

  21 Nov 2009 | 3:23 am

  This is the FINAL of several posts on Action LearningSo, consider: What if you told a CEO that you could show her/him a process that would solve his/her most difficult corporate problems AND would teach participants leadership and how to work together in collaborative, positive, enabling work teams. I think we all know the CEO’s likely response: Start this Action Learning NOW!Over this past week, I’ve been providing an in-depth review of Optimizing the Power of Action Learning: Solving Problems and Building Leaders in Real Time by Michael J. Marquardt (Davis-Black Publishers, 2004).

• Action Learning: Individual, Team and Organzational Learning

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:54 am

  Over this week, I’ll be doing an in-depth review of Optimizing the Power of Action Learning: Solving Problems and Building Leaders in Real Time by Michael J. Marquardt (Davis-Black Publishers, 2004). CEO’s and Leaders—put this book on your MUST BUY list.This is the SEVENTH of several posts on Action Learning.Learning: Individual, Team and Organizational Learning:At the core of Action Learning stands the very principles of learning and development. The individual participant learns by actively participating in the inquiry and action to solve the problem. The group learns as it faces the…

• Action Learning: Action Strategies

  18 Nov 2009 | 3:24 pm

  Over this week, I’ll be doing an in-depth review of Optimizing the Power of Action Learning: Solving Problems and Building Leaders in Real Time by Michael J. Marquardt (Davis-Black Publishers, 2004). CEO’s and Leaders—put this book on your MUST BUY list.This is the SEVENTH of several posts on Action Learning.Action Strategies: Here it is short and sweet: No action, no learning. Great Buddhist proverb: “To know something, but not use it, is not knowing." There are two general approaches to problem solving: the analytical and integrative model. With analytical model, there is only one…

• Action Learning Components: Questions and Reflection

  16 Nov 2009 | 5:34 am

  Over this week, I’ll be doing an in-depth review of Optimizing the Power of Action Learning: Solving Problems and Building Leaders in Real Time by Michael J. Marquardt (Davis-Black Publishers, 2004). CEO’s and Leaders—put this book on your MUST BUY list.This is the SIXTH of several posts on Action Learning.Questions are the lifeblood of action learning—and all of coaching as well. Focusing on the right questions, not THE correct answer, is the magic of action learning. Such questions help surface divergent and very useful perspectives on the same problem to better define it accurately…

• Action Learning Components: The Group

  15 Nov 2009 | 5:06 am

  Over this week, I’ll be presenting an in-depth review of Optimizing the Power of Action Learning: Solving Problems and Building Leaders in Real Time by Michael J. Marquardt (Davis-Black Publishers, 2004). CEO’s and Leaders—put this book on your MUST BUY list.This is the FIFTH of several posts on Action Learning.The Group: The Action Learning group has between 4-8 participants, who are willing to identify and work on a problem that doesn’t have either a simple or an obvious answer, rather a problem that will take work. Depending on the scope, complexity and type of problem or issue…

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  Learn This

• What is Learned From Running a Blog?

  Mike King

  12 Nov 2009 | 3:30 am

  As I’m sure everyone finds, cycles of time come and go in life and how we choose to spend that time determines everything we get involved in. For the last few months I’ve shifted much of my free time either to work on renovations and home improvements since moving or I’ve put my time in working for clients in my 3D business.  That need will likely continue and when I do make time to spend on my blog much of it makes me realize just how much there is to learn in running a blog. This article summarizes 3 important areas I’ve learned the most about from blogging! The…

• The Kaleidoscope Relationships List

  Mike King

  11 Nov 2009 | 3:15 am

  Kaleidoscope Relationships List I received a message from Priscilla of Priscillamcintire.com introducing me to this list and was pleased to see myself among such a great list of personal development authors.  The idea behind promoting this list is to add personal connections to bloggers who deserve to be on this list since they use relationships in their blogging.  Well, I think that is really cool and am honored to be on the list. From Prescilla’s Site: No one achieves success without the help and support of other people. The book “Personal Development Kaleidoscope”, is a…

• The Power of a Plan

  Mike King

  2 Nov 2009 | 3:15 am

  For many people, things they do at work seem to come quite naturally in their work but not so much in their personal lives. Especially when it comes to planning and seeing the power of a plan.  There is certainly power in having a plan for yourself, your life, your family, your health, your relationships and the hobbies you take on. Perhaps a plan for the way you are involved with your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues. What about using a plan for ensuring you get what is truly most important to you in your life? What about a plan that ensure you stay on track and that your plan is…

• The Pain and Joy of Do It Yourself

  Mike King

  26 Oct 2009 | 4:15 am

  You may have noticed the lack of updates lately and that is because we’ve moved houses and in doing this, I’ve taken on a significant amount of home improvements and some minor renovations which have been VERY time consuming to complete and finish on my own during a move.  In doing this, its been stressful, a challenge and I’ve had little rest and time to do what I normally do.  However, we’ve completed our move, settled into our new home, sold our old house and have only a few immediate things to finish. The Pain of Doing Things Yourself Well there is certainly a…

• Book Review: The Pursuit of Something Better

  Mike King

  22 Sep 2009 | 4:15 am

  Author: Dave Esler and Myra Kruger How an Underdog Company Defied the Odds, Won Customers’ Hearts, and Grew It’s Employees into Better People I was sent an advanced copy of The Pursuit and Something Better and while I generally don’t like to read new books until I’ve had them recommended and ravely reviewed by others first but I’m glad I didn’t wait for this book, its absolutely brilliant! I read it back to back with The Adversity Parodox and both books are now in my definite top 5 for business and personal development books.  The Pursuit of Something…

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  The Apathy Myth

• A Tale of Five Dinners

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:22 pm

  As a professional campus speaker, I am frequently asked to a dinner before or after my keynotes. Sometimes these are fun, rewarding experiences, with lots of laughs and good ideas shared. Other times, I want to take the fork off the table and jam it in my eye.Here are five very common dinners that I experience on a regular basis.The Dinner I LikeThe advisor asks if I want to go grab a beer or a bite to eat after the program. We sit there and have a really great conversation about Student Life, families, kids, football, Chris Brown vs. Rhianna, whatever. It doesn't matter what we eat, and it…

• An excellent video about how to confront

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:31 am

  I really love this video. Makes such a good point about keeping confrontations about "what they did" and not "who they are," using race as the example.Wanted to share it. Thanks to Steve Whitby for bringing this to my attention.* * * * * * * * * * Visit the Apathy Myth blog for college student leaders at http://www.tjsullivan.com

• Time to be thankful

  30 Oct 2009 | 8:20 am

  At your next meeting, start off with something different. Go around the room, and ask each member to share something for which they are thankful. Whether it's a friendship in the room, something your group has achieved this year, something in their personal life, the approach of basketball season, whatever.Have your officers go first to set the tone. Sure, there will be a couple of sarcastic, maybe even inappropriate answers as you go around the room, but that's OK. The idea is to focus on the good stuff your members get from being a part of your organization.If people don't know what to say,…

• Time to deliver

  28 Oct 2009 | 9:08 am

  Someone emailed me a question this week: "What is the best advice you can give to student organizations and student life people during this time of recession, slashed budgets, and depressing economics." My first reaction was to advise that people should keep their chins up and be optimistic. But, after more thought, here's my answer."It's time to deliver."No one cares about what you meant to do. No one wants to hear excuses. No one has any patience for people who whine, and under-perform.Shut up, put in the work, and deliver something. In a current economic climate where people are three…

• When you can't get anyone to run

  22 Oct 2009 | 1:16 pm

  If you hold an election, and no one runs for anything, does it make a noise?It's not uncommon for student organizations to struggle getting qualified candidates to run for offices. Perhaps your group's morale is low. Perhaps you don't have enough members to fill the positions. Maybe this year's officers alienated everyone. Or, maybe the position is perceived by your members as a thankless one.Here are a couple of steps for coping with the "empty chair" situation. First, the option I like the least...• Coerce someone into taking the position. This is my least favorite solution, because…

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  Ed Gerety's Dream Big Blog

• Up Close With Ed Gerety

  Ed Gerety

  19 Nov 2009 | 6:49 am

  Yesterday my new Demo Video was uploaded to my Youtube channel and also to my new video channels on Vimeo and Viddler. Take a peek at it and please let me know what you think. My keynote speeches and leadership trainings focus on * The power of respect, responsibility courage, and integrity * The impact and consequences of our choices and decisions * The issues of bullying, peer pressure, drugs, alcohol and tobacco * Appreciation for our abilities and the people in our life, Gratitude * The courage to believe in oneself * The power we have to reach out and make a difference,Kindness Up Close…

• The One Constant In Life

  Ed Gerety

  11 Nov 2009 | 10:41 am

  I am at Niagara Falls on the Canadian border side. These waterfalls are the most powerful waterfalls in North America. As I stood and watched the power and beauty of the falls I noticed how they always seemed to be changing. Each wave of water that came crashing down was different and took their own path to the jagged rocks below. It made me think of the famous quote by Heraclitus, a 500 BC Greek philosopher: “There is only one constant in life and that is change.” Nothing stays the same. We are either growing and expanding our experiences and knowledge or shrinking. In other words, if we…

• Thrill Ride

  Ed Gerety

  25 Sep 2009 | 5:28 pm

  It was my friend Dave’s birthday and I decided to take him out to breakfast at one of my favorite places: The Hampton Airfield. It’s a great little spot in Hampton, NH where you can eat and watch small planes take off and land. The run way is just a long grass field and going there always reminds me of what it must have been like to fly before major airports and 747’s. On this particular morning as we sat outside eating there was a giant open cockpit biplane parked right next to us. It was majestic and looked brand new even though it was a vintage aeroplane-1930 new standard. It was an…

• USC On The Run….

  Ed Gerety

  16 Sep 2009 | 9:46 am

  One of the inspiring things about my profession is the extraordinary people that I have the opportunity to meet around the country. This past Monday was a perfect example. I had the privilege to speak at The University of Southern California with all of the student athletes. This was my second time speaking at USC and the experience was just as phenomenal. Every person that I met in the athletic department was first class and went out of their way to make me feel welcome. The student athletes from the football team to the volleyball team were an incredible audience and very kind. In my…

• Don’t hit the snooze button…your life is waiting.

  Ed Gerety

  4 Sep 2009 | 7:00 am

  I have been asking people a simple question for several years now and I think it’s an important, yet simple question. How do you start your day? The questions and thoughts we start off every day with set the tone for a fulfilling day but also in creating an extraordinary life. Many people have shared with me that they really don’t even ask themselves or think about an empowering question in the morning. Rather, they just do the same actions every day without really thinking about it. We’re unconscious to our actual thoughts. For example, many people think about things like: I wish I…

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  Lindsey Pollak Blog

• Audio Download: Lindsey interviewed by William Arruda of Reach Personal Branding

  Lindsey Pollak

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

  Many thanks to William Arruda, founder of Reach Personal Branding and author of Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand, for interviewing me recently. Our topic was “Getting from College to Career in Tough Times” and here is an overview of the topics we covered: - Why careers for Gen Y are fundamentally different than previous generations’ careers - How college students and recent grads can avoid the biggest mistake in job hunting - What parents can do to help - What universities can do to help - Why social media is changing job hunting/career development forever…

• Podcast on MyPath.com: How to Get a Job Now

  Lindsey Pollak

  9 Nov 2009 | 9:17 am

  I’m excited to announce a brand new partnership with MyPath.com, a new online career management website guided by Manpower, one of the global leaders in employment services. MyPath provides you with a variety of tools and services to help you plot and plan your career journey. As MyPath’s “College to Career” blogger, I’ll be recording a weekly podcast on a timely job search or career management topic for entry-level job seekers. Click here to listen to my first MyPath podcast, “How to Get a Job Now.” Have a topic you’d like me to discuss on a…

• One Way to Help the “Lost Generation”

  Lindsey Pollak

  2 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

  A recent BusinessWeek cover story called today’s graduates “The Lost Generation,” citing statistics that young people who graduate in recession years continue to earn less over the long-term course of their careers. This weekend, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert addressed the same issue, writing: “These recent graduates have done everything society told them to do. They’ve worked hard, kept their noses clean and gotten a good education (in many cases from the nation’s best schools). They are ready and anxious to work. If we’re having trouble finding employment for even…

• Are You Building Your Career Pyramid?

  Lindsey Pollak

  18 Oct 2009 | 3:36 pm

  I had the complete joy today of having absolutely nothing to do. It was pouring rain, SeamlessWeb delivered bagels and coffee directly to my door, and my husband and his best friend had plans to watch nonstop football. So, I camped out upstairs in our apartment — computer turned off! — and read pretty much the entire Sunday New York Times cover to cover. In addition to reading Bono’s op-ed, a review of Gail Collins’ new book about women and, as always, the wedding announcements (“the sports pages for women”), I came across an interview with Carol Bartz, the CEO of Yahoo.

• Virtual Internships: A Growing Trend and Great Opportunity

  Lindsey Pollak

  14 Oct 2009 | 9:35 pm

  This is a guest post by my friends Lauren Porat and Cari Sommer, co-founders of Urban Interns. The job hunt is fierce. But a phenomenal new type of internship is on the rise, and it’s one that will boost your skills while at the same time allow you the flexibility of working from home and on your own clock. Employers are turning more and more to virtual interns, and we’re seeing a real rise in this on UrbanInterns.com. In fact, The Wall Street Journal published a story about this a few weeks ago. Other advantages of a virtual internship? You don’t have to go to school in a major city to…

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  The Student Affairs Blog

• Current Tech Challenges & Creative Solutions: 11/19/09 #SACHAT Recap

  nope

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:26 am

  Last night's #sachat on Twitter was about current tech challenges and creative solutions in student affairs. In case you missed it, here's a quick recap:Full TranscriptView as webpageTop Contributers@reyjunco@debrasanborn@tomkrieglstein@cindykane@ARL275@gdgrouch27@jacksonj@beekayroot@markgr@willistjQuestions Needing AnswersWhat PAID tech tools you are using on your campus? (click here to help answer)Does anyone do any kind of online orientation for new students? (click here to  help answer)Does anyone else have difficult implementing new technology because of "old timer" resistance to…

• Tuesday Tally - How Much Respect Does Your Department Receive From The Administration @ Your Institution?

  nope

  17 Nov 2009 | 10:24 am

  If you cannot view this poll click here. And here are the results from the last poll.

• Professional development... what's your definition?

  nope

  16 Nov 2009 | 12:49 pm

  In this era of budget reductions we are struggling to find new ways to continue to challenge our professionals and providing them with ways to keep current in their thinking without being able to fund costly conference travel.  After a long and complicated conversation about conference attendance, we ended up sending a group of students and staff to attend the NACA Northeast Regional this week.  We had a great group and aren't we snazzy at the closing banquet:As an experienced NACA Volunteer, this wasn't my first conference. I attended just for two of the days, but during my attendance I…

• Using Facebook Insights to Assess Your Facebook Page

  nope

  13 Nov 2009 | 11:32 am

  Facebook Insights is an application available to all page administrators.  It measures exposure, actions, and behavior related to your page.  Insights gives you almost instant data––it is updated 12 hours after the end of each day.  Available data includes: geographic and demographic information about your fan base, a record of interactions (comments, wall posts, photo/video views, “likes”), and the growth of your fan base over time.  All of this information is displayed in the Fan Dashboard, and most of it can also be downloaded into a spreadsheet so you can…

• So You Want To Make A Facebook Page

  nope

  13 Nov 2009 | 11:19 am

  This summer I created our department's Facebook Page and Twitter account. Since then, other offices on campus have asked me for advice on Page creation, gaining departmental buy-in, and increasing student interaction. Although I can talk for hours about the intricacies and possibilities of social networking, a beginner really only needs to learn three simple steps. If you're unaware of the difference between Pages and groups, learn more here. Three Keys to a Successful Facebook Page: Keep administration in the loop. At the very least, make sure your direct supervisor knows you're creating the…

• 
  It's Getting Hot in Here

• Responding to Harmful Government Inaction, Protesters Stop Blasting on Coal River Mountain

  andrewmunn

  21 Nov 2009 | 7:01 am

  The Drill Rig on Coal River Mountain: One person is inside the cabin, and one is locked in the drill shaft. The banner, draped over the drill's front, says "Save Coal River Mountain" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    11/21/09 Contact: Zoe Beavers 304-854-7372 Email: news@climategroundzero.org PETTUS, W. Va. – Early this morning two concerned citizens, Dea Goblirsch and Nick Martin, locked down to a drill rig on Coal River Mountain’s Bee Tree mountaintop removal site, effectively stopping blasting. Two others, Grace Williams and Laura Von Dolen, joined them in direct support,…

• Time Out: Youth Climate Leaders Must Change the Game

  jessytolkan81

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:35 pm

  After an emotional week for the members of the youth climate movement, who have staked so much hope on the promise of passing legislation in congress this year and sealing a binding agreement in Copenhagen, we’ve had to deal with managing our expectations and reframing how we approach the opportunities that are still ahead of us. I wrote on Monday that we would adamantly continue to play our unique role as the generation who will bear the brunt of the negative impact every time our leaders choose to delay decisive action on climate and energy. I still believe this is true, but I also…

• Naomi Klein: Seattle Movements Coming of Age in Copenhagen

  Sparki

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:10 pm

  Here are a couple of great articles by lefty author Naomi Klein about the anti-corporate movement of movements which converged in Seattle in 1999 at the shutdown of the World Trade Organization are re-converging around climate change in Copenhagen. In both, Klein talks about how anti-establishment direct action movement are preparing to “throw down” around climate change and climate justice.   And that political winds are shifting towards more progressive positions on the role of capitalism, which values short-term profit and perpetual growth above all else. Revisiting No Logo,…

• UMD for Clean Energy Makes Waves on City Council

  Matt Dernoga

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:59 pm

  UMD for Clean Energy, student group I’m Campaign Director of, has another article out about us in The Diamondback about our efforts during the College Park City Council elections, which culminated in a march to the polls, and got some pretty positive reaction. This new article also chronicles our presentation at a city council work session, where we put forth a proposal about tax breaks for green businesses. UMD for Clean Energy makes waves on city council By Brady Holt Many of College Park’s longtime residents paint the university’s student body as a group that doesn’t care about…

• Turning the Tide: Principled Determination in a Time of Crisis

  craigaltemose

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:49 pm

  An update from the front lines of Massachusetts Last night, I slept in my bed. Normally, such an action is not newsworthy, but for me, it was the first time I had slept in my bed since the night of October 23rd, 2009.  Like hundreds of other students, religious leaders, and community members across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts participating in The Leadership Campaign, I have been refusing to sleep in my home powered by dirty electricity until the state implements a policy before December 7th (the start of Copenhagen) to Repower Massachusetts with 100% Clean Electricity by 2020. 100%…

• 
  Managing Leadership

• A particle off the old block

  Jim Stroup

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:18 am

  As we saw last week, quantum physicists can be pretty strange folk – every bit, perhaps, as weird as the models they posit for how the physical world really works. One of them is unshakably convinced of the validity of, essentially, the whole of the science. He declares his faith in this as yet highly speculative, unproven modeling with a remarkable reference to a fascinating feature of it called quantum entanglement. Briefly, this describes a phenomenon in which two independent particles, separated by anything from a few inches to the breadth of the universe, nevertheless display…

• Book Review: Positioning: How To Test, Validate, And Bring Your Idea To Market

  Jim Stroup

  13 Nov 2009 | 9:22 am

  Sramana Mitra has plotted out a series of books on various aspects of entrepreneurial activity with regard to its effects on management and on the general economy. They all are formed around interviews with entrepreneurs whose experiences illustrate the main theme of each volume. The first was an overview of the elements of the entrepreneurial process. The next, “Bootstrapping: Weapon of Mass Reconstruction,” reviewed here, was targeted at the value of avoiding over-leveraging a new enterprise, but was found to reveal a good bit more about how such a focus drove intelligent, disciplined…

• Atomizers

  Jim Stroup

  12 Nov 2009 | 12:02 pm

  The author of a popular book on modern developments in physics is a true believer in the validity of quantum mechanics. This remains a highly speculative theory, however. On the one hand, it is strongly supported by powerful evidence from mathematics. In fact, it is worth remembering that many researchers into the theory and its spinoffs do little more in an entire career than mathematical model-building and manipulation. But on the other, the further one ventures into the peculiar corners one is driven to by this highly theoretical logic, the less evidence from actual observation can be…

• Shoulders of giants

  Jim Stroup

  10 Nov 2009 | 3:26 pm

  Today marks the 234th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. It is an occasion for Marines to honor those who have built the legendary reputation of the Corps with their blood and spirit, and for those in uniform today to contemplate their role in bearing its brilliant battle flags aloft into the future. It also often is an occasion for the rest of us to wonder at this magnificent band of brothers – its incomparable combat record, its fierce loyalty and irresistible esprit de corps, its unrelentingly focused dynamism and invention. How do they do that? Generation after generation? In…

• Roundup: Caught up

  Jim Stroup

  9 Nov 2009 | 8:12 am

  Continuing from Friday’s post, today we are going to finish up reviewing some of the blog and press activity of the past few weeks which touches on themes we expect to address here soon. Again, virtually all of this material is on my daily reading list, and I mention that here because I think it would make an immediately effective addition to the daily scan of any serious manager or student of management; I hope you will be persuaded and add some of this to yours. Please provide me your feedback, in any event. Doers, directors and didactors. The Economist’s Schumpeter column is one to…

• 
  Bird's Eye View

• Winging it to Hong Kong

  Wf360

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:44 am

  I'm on my way to one of favorite cities.  Actually, it's a 3-way tie for me between New York (nothing like walking into Grand Central and feeling the sheer activity of the Big Apple) and Paris (no more beautiful city on earth and no other place where every conversation you overhear sounds beautiful due to the sheer poetic melodic flow of the language and Hong Kong ( towering homage to commerce in the midst of Asian sense of intrigue).  I loved HK the first time I was there nearly 10 years ago and my affection has not been dampened even through the Turnover from the Brits to…

• Let's Talk About Fat People

  Wf360

  19 Nov 2009 | 12:48 pm

  If you want to initiate a controversial conversation, try this and watch the sparks fly.  This is highly serious business and it is loaded with emotional response so be fore-warned. At the 360 Summit, held at the New York Stock Exchange here in New York City, several highly respected senior executives posed a "What if...?" to their fellow attendees.  Of question was deeply reflective of issues that leaders everywhere are concerned about. Among the most provocative was that posed by Laurie Coots, global Chief Marketing Officer of the media company TBWA\Chiat\Day.  Laurie teed up…

• Friend Or Unfriend?

  Wf360

  18 Nov 2009 | 1:59 pm

  The year 2009 is fast coming to a close and that appears to be good news to some people I've talked with lately.  "Good riddance...it's been a tough year and we need a fresh start" is a comment made recently by a friend at a business lunch and heads around the table nodded in agreement. Perhaps it's fitting, then, that in this somewhat negative view of the year the New Oxford American Dictionary chose as its word of the year 2009 "unfriend," a verb that describes the act of removing someone from one's friends on a social network like Facebook. …

• Leadership and Les Miserables

  Wf360

  17 Nov 2009 | 1:57 pm

  I spent last weekend with some amazing folks in Cambridge, Mass at "Intersection 2.0," a two-day gathering dreamed up by Al Chase, a remarkable man who is an executive recruiter at the executive level with a special interest in the military.  Al (also known as "The White Rhino") has been helpful in making the match between military leaders of all ranks with civilian career opportunities that leverage their talents and experience. In the process, he's become a Pied Piper of young military super-stars, with a major following among students at Harvard Business School…

• It's Official: 360 Summit a Triumph

  Wf360

  16 Nov 2009 | 2:04 pm

  Look nearly unanimous.  Of our guest blog posts, we have one I consider negative.  The rest are all over the top.  I've decided it's a good thing to include a post that is negative.  Why?  It confirms that these guest bloggers really are free to write whatever they like; I don't censor their comments.  So seems to me it renders the positive ones all the more so...since the readers can be pretty certain they spoke their views candidly.  We're still analyzing why the evening worked so well.  It's clear it was a combination of things.  First of all, when people…

• 
  Management Skills Blog

• Not a Babysitter

  Tom Foster

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:46 am

  From the Ask Tom mailbag: Question: I am the manager of a team of project managers and several administrative-type "bargained" folks. I have been working with this team for 4 years, and we added another administrative person one year ago. There is constant conflict between this person and the rest of the team. She is a horrible team player, extremely negative and continues to isolate herself from the rest of the team. My team is extremely close knit, except for this one person. She continues to alienate and isolate herself socially from other people on the team, and increasingly gets upset…

• A Completed Unit Counts

  Tom Foster

  19 Nov 2009 | 12:56 am

  Victoria was stumped. She had always thought the only way to motivate people was to create a bonus or incentive program. "So, if a bonus is off the table," I started, "what could you create as a positive consequence?" "I suppose, if I am around and notice something good, I could give them an attaboy," she floated. "And if you are not around?" "That's the problem, when I'm not around, things grind to a halt." "Have you ever heard, What gets measured, gets done?" I asked. "Why do you think that happens?" "I don't know. I suppose it's because people think they are being watched even when they…

• Celebrate With Us

  Tom Foster

  18 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

  Anniversaries. Don't you love 'em? Management Skills Blog just celebrated five years of publishing. Captured an ice-cold Guinness with a clover leaf in the foam. Our Next Project For five years, we have been working with business owners and managers on how to create more effective organizations. It is time to release our next project. Go check out Working Leadership Online. During this past year, every couple of weeks, we recruited ten volunteers to help us test our platform, slowly creating a powerful online learning system. The pilot phase is over. To load the system, we reserved 200 annual…

• Power of Reinforcement

  Tom Foster

  18 Nov 2009 | 12:56 am

  "Maybe, I will have to give them some more training. That might perk them up," Victoria replied. "The J-curve says that productivity on anything new will decline before it gets better, but more training might be the ticket." "And what else?" I prodded. Victoria was getting push back as her team took on more responsibilities. "I guess I could talk to them, as a group, let them know how much I was counting on them," she added. "Those are both things that you could do, probably won't hurt, but probably won't have the impact you are interested in," I explained. Victoria's face twitched. She was…

• Getting a Different Result

  Tom Foster

  17 Nov 2009 | 3:10 am

  Victoria looked a little down. "Why the long face?" I asked. "Ugh," she replied. "I think I just entered the J-curve. We had to let two more people go last week, I had to reassign some of their work to other people. Empowerment, you know the drill. It's tough getting people to do new kinds of work. Their new responsibilities are suffering, big time." "What do you think is the problem?" "The new things they have to do aren't that difficult, but I am getting resistance. And some of the new decisions they have to make, well, maybe, with a little experience they will do better." "Describe the…

• 
  Cali and Jody

• Reality v. Fantasy

  Cali & Jody

  18 Nov 2009 | 10:32 pm

  by Michael Barata For my inaugural blog post, I decided to dig right in. What I had noticed prior to joining up with Cali & Jody, and now being out there with them, is people have a difficult time believing ROWE is a reality.  Or can be a reality.  To address that simply, see Best Buy, Gap, Fairview Health Services, Hennepin County’s Human Services and Public Health Department, SpinWeb, Matchstic, Meddius…the list goes on.  The employees of these organizations are living the benefits of a ROWE. However, some still view a ROWE as a fantasy approach to work.  Why?  I…

• No Gossip, Girls

  Cali & Jody

  15 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm

  Of course we mean the boys, too. This nice piece in BusinessWeek from executive coach Beth Weissenburger calling for companies to have a zero-tolerance approach to gossip reminded us of the pernicious effects of Sludge. Weissenburger makes two excellent points. First, that ridding your company of gossip has to start at the top. If the executive team is dishing dirt then everyone else in the organization feels they have permission to do the same. Second, that listening to gossip is just as bad as spreading it. There are no passive recipients of gossip. If you’re tolerating it then…

• Health and the Traditional Workplace

  Cali & Jody

  12 Nov 2009 | 8:46 am

  We originally saw this piece linking longer hours and bad health in the Miami Herald and have since had it sent to us so many times we had to comment. We will avoid the “duh!” prompted by the story’s open: Two-thirds of the U.S. workforce is working longer hours and is overweight. Is there a link? Instead, we’d like to talk about the “wait a second” moment prompted by the next paragraph: It’s 6 p.m. and you still have tons of e-mail to answer. You find yourself grabbing a bag of chips from the office vending machine and settling in for another hour or…

• Say Hello to the New Perk . . . Same as the Old Perk

  Cali & Jody

  8 Nov 2009 | 8:58 pm

  According to the Chicago Tribune, smart businesses are offering more perks in an effort to retain quality employees, especially those from Generation Y. We think employee retention is very important. Too bad this new push to keep people sounds like the same old nonsense. For example, “[w]hen employees suggest an improvement, volunteer at a charity event or complete a class, Assurance awards casino chips for chances to win prizes at company events four times a year.” Just so we’re clear: If you do something extraordinary, you might win a prize! Then there is Townsend…

• Introducing…Michael Barata!

  Cali & Jody

  1 Nov 2009 | 8:57 pm

  Michael makes his first ROWE trip! Originally uploaded by Results-Only Work Environment Hey, ROWE world! First, I just want to thank Cali & Jody for all they have done, and continue to do, and for giving me this incredible opportunity to be part of the ROWE movement! That’s right – I have recently jumped on board as a ROWE facilitator and am anxiously looking forward to spreading the word about ROWE, as well as helping organizations migrate from those soul-crushing traditional work environments into an engaging and productive ROWE. The journey… It was late 2007, I…

• 
  The Enlightened Manager

• Uncovering our Biases: A Web Tool

  Cheri Baker

  20 Nov 2009 | 5:43 am

  I watched an interesting special on public television over the weekend, affiliated with the magazine Scientific American.  It talked about how our decisions are influenced by our unconscious mind, and how we are less logical than we believe ourselves to be. One of the things they looked at was the Implicit Association Tests being done at Harvard University.  They've developed a series of tests where they test your automatic associations between different things.  For example, do you have an automatic preference that favors Caucasian people over…

• Environment and Effectiveness: Setting Yourself Up to Thrive

  Cheri Baker

  18 Nov 2009 | 5:45 am

  I'm one of those people who generally believes I am the one in control of my life and destiny.  Are you? One of the downsides of being this kind of person is that when you fail or struggle, it can be so easy to beat yourself up over it.  "Why can't I get this right?" you ask yourself.  Then you worry that you are weak, not competitive, or perhaps even lazy. One of the things that I don't think about often enough is this idea of "an environment that supports success."  Well, I do think about it for my clients, but I don't think about…

• 47% of Workers have Left a Job Because of Management

  Cheri Baker

  16 Nov 2009 | 5:50 am

  Have you ever left a job because of bad management?  The Chartered Management Institute in the U.K. just released a study showing that almost half of the workforce in that region has left a job because of bad management.   I swear, one of these days I should stop being surprised by these statistics, but the numbers are simply so high, it is difficult to get one's head around the cost. The story of course, isn't one of "evil managers" and "beleaguered employees" at war with each other.  This is usually a story of good people, making bad…

• Leadership Lessons from the Gym - Don't Build on a Shaky Foundation

  Cheri Baker

  12 Nov 2009 | 8:46 am

  I had dinner with friends the other night, and before we went out to eat they came over to work out with me at our local gym.  One of my friends is a personal trainer with a very successful practice, and he surprised me by giving me a very simple set of expercises to follow. They were not hard.  They were not tiring, but they were precise. In the end, he asked if I had "enough" exercise, and I remarked that I was far less tired than I was used to being after a workout.  He commented that it was important to build a good foundation of core muscles before you work…

• Dysfunction: When the Manager is a Problem

  Cheri Baker

  12 Nov 2009 | 5:24 am

  I wanted to write about a question I got at a recent talk I was giving.  My local HR Chapter, Lake Washington HR Association, was celebrating 30 years by holding a full day symposium with featured speakers.  I gave a workshop on Healing Dysfunctional Teams. And I got a question that I get pretty often.  "How do I approach a manager if they are part of the problem?" Well, I think the answer to this one is simpler than it seems.  Most dysfunction in groups is caused by a pattern of unproductive behavior.  And almost always, both employees and the manager…

• 
  Women in the LEAD

• Feminine Influence: Feminine Success-Watch Out World!!

  maureen simon

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:04 pm

  The webinars that we have been hosting in The Living Room at The Essential Feminine™ Company have been looking at influence and success from the Feminine Perspective. Influence and success are powerful qualities that women now need to confidently develop in order to have the voice and capability to contribute to the decisions that are critical in our world today. When women gain a clear understanding that they hold natural attributes such as the ability to collaborate, care for others, the ability to build relationships, and the ability to work well with ambiguity – to name a few…

• Solid Foundations are a Must When Creating Influence and Success in Life

  maureen simon

  17 Nov 2009 | 8:02 pm

  It is important to look at the foundations or the supports of your life when creating a life of success and influence. More and more women are interested in creating influence and success, but in order to create these qualities in our lives, in a sustainable way, we must really get to know ourselves—Socrates—said it well when he said “Know Thyself”. Having a solid foundation in life includes: ·Knowing what you believe ·Knowing what you need ·Knowing what you value All of this may seem quite straight forward. You may feel that you have looked at these questions at different stages…

• Success from the Feminine Perspective

  maureen simon

  17 Nov 2009 | 8:32 am

    Many women are exploring ways to create more success in their lives.  I think that’s great, but I think there’s more to life for women than just success.  So often we have been putting on the trousers, climbing the ladder, and doing things in a masculine way in all areas of our life.  The problem with this is that we inevitably leave an important part of our authentic self behind- our feminine self. It’s important to keep in mind that women are predisposed genetically and through socialization- to a whole series of unique assets talents and gifts that are…

• We Attract Our Success

  maureen simon

  13 Nov 2009 | 8:32 am

  “You are a human magnet and you are constantly attracting to you people whose characters harmonize with your own.” -Napoleon Hill Empowered successful alive women create their lives from their imagination. They attract the exact right people and the exact right experiences at the right time.  As women move into positions of greater success and influence we learn that within our imagination we hold the power to recreate our lives and manifest far more than we believe on a day-to-day basis. The art of manifesting for success includes one’s ability to clearly define a desired outcome…

• WOMEN: Origins of Self-Esteem and Self-Respect

  Debbe Kennedy

  10 Nov 2009 | 11:12 am

  Wouldn't you love to know that your face and sense of being always reflected the inner confidence and self-assuredness of this dear little face? How do we slip away from this at times in our lives as grown women? Self-esteem and self-respect are influenced by so many things that have touched our lives. Interestingly, with all the discussions and realities of gender differences, Helen Fisher, anthropologist at Rutgers University and author of The First Sex: The Natural Talents of Women and How They are Changing the World, points out, "Men and women exhibit no difference in what…

• 
  Women on Business

• 7 Easy Ways to Retain Customers

  Susan Gunelius

  21 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  Guest post by Michelle Strassburg (learn more about Michelle at the end of this post) Winning new customers is often easier than keeping them. Not too dissimilar from other types of relationship business or personal you must work hard on the relationship to make sure the other party is content. When it comes to retaining customers, keeping the other party content will directly influence revenue and should therefore be considered as a key objective for the business. Here are 7 ways to retain new customers which I have picked up during the years. Hopefully it will point you in the right…

• Draw To You Want You Want

  Susan Gunelius

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:19 pm

  Post by M.J. Ryan, contributing Women On Business writer Last time I wrote about the danger of  focusing on the problem rather than the solution. There’s another reason why focusing on the road instead of the hole is important. It’s got to do with what The Secret is about. Say what you will about that massive bestseller, but there is a kernel of truth there as far as I understand. We all have the ability to use our energy in three ways—dynamically, to create the forward momentum of action, receptively, to become aware of what is available around and within us, and magnetically, to draw…

• Do You Have Passion for What You Do?

  Susan Gunelius

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:14 pm

  Guest post by Anna Dworaczynska (learn more about Anna at the end of this post) Do you wake up each morning with a clear picture of what you want to accomplish today and can’t wait for the day to begin? One of the ways to find out if you are pursuing the right career is to ask yourself whether you would you continue working for free or with little compensation.  In 201 Trump Secrets of a Rich Mindset, Donald Trump said  ‘‘Follow your passion. You are much more likely to became rich by doing something you love.’’  I could not agree with that statement more. You need to be…

• The Economic Power of Women in Relation to Women Owned Businesses

  Susan Gunelius

  20 Nov 2009 | 5:54 pm

  Post by Amy Blais, contributing Women On Business writer As a women’s business organization we are constantly getting questions about the relevance and importance of women owned businesses.  And, as an organization with a mission to connect women owned business with business opportunities, access to contracts and relationships with corporations, there are many different questions and many different answers. A common question that I receive is “why”.  Why do corporations care about doing business with women owned companies?  What is their incentive?  Why is it seen as an advantage?

• Is Speed of Service an Added Value?

  Linda Smith

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:30 pm

  Customer service sometimes means how we approach our business…how we “do” our business.  For our businesses to be profitable, we need customers and clients so we devote much time and attention to promotion and advertising.  Another big percentage of our business is our interaction with our customers and clients in the buying and selling or product and service interface.  A third percentage, just as large, is the after-the-sale time, the customer service time. In defining our businesses we decide on what the added value elements will be.  For instance, if you were to own…

• 
  NinaSimosko.com

• Are We a Woman’s Nation?

  Nina

  2 Nov 2009 | 10:53 pm

  When we look at the facts and figures it seems clear that women are not just transforming the workplace, they are transforming the entire country. The recent Shriver Report indicates that for the first time, half of US workers are female – and in 40% of American families those women are the primary breadwinners. With more and more men forced to stay home, more and more women are bringing home the bacon. Women are more likely than ever to head their own families. They’re doing it all—and many of them have to do it all. When they work, it’s no longer just for “the little…

• Which Women Make Your Top 50 Thinkers List?

  Nina

  14 Oct 2009 | 3:04 pm

  Last year I was predictably disappointed by the small number of women representatives on the Thinkers 50 list. I felt that we really needed to add more women to the Top 50 thinkers list. This year, Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove have included FIVE women – up from four – with Renee Mauborgne, co-author of the best-selling management book Blue Ocean Strategy, ranking with W Chan Kim at number 5. Both Lynda Gratton of London Business School and Rosabeth Moss Kanter edge up a place in the rankings, and Tammy Erickson and Barbara Kellerman enter the list for the first time. But surely there…

• It's Time for the Do-able Strategy

  Nina

  29 Sep 2009 | 11:30 pm

  Every organization has politics. Every business has a power base and a structure. And every organization has internal and external barriers that need to be straddled, worked-around or overcome. This often means that success comes not from following the rules but from delivering outcomes. And this also means that success also comes with inherent failure – after all, governance processes are in place for good and valid reasons. But as we reach the last quarter of the year, leaders will be turning their attention to closing what business they can before the year end, as well as planning for…

• Striking the Right Balance

  Nina

  6 Jun 2009 | 10:14 pm

  Balance by KarolusLinus President Obama recently sparked an interesting dialogue about empathy when he stated that he would nominate a Supreme Court justice “who understands that justice isn’t about some abstract theory. … It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives,” to replace the outgoing Justice David Souter.  In short, he wants someone with judicial empathy.  This has caused outrage from some and applause from others.  Regardless how you feel about this issue, it is interesting to see so much attention being paid to empathy…

• Understanding the Leadership Contract

  Nina

  11 May 2009 | 6:00 am

  It doesn’t matter whether you are a chief executive or a newly hired intern, it is up to each and every one of us to tap into our drive, our ambition, and our creativity to transform our work and the business of business. We do this by taking on the responsibility for both actions and results. We do this by reaching out to members of our village – drawing them in, sharing a vision and encouraging them to build on, and take ownership in, the opportunities for transformation. But in amongst all this, we must also understand the nature of the implied leadership contract. I was reminded of…

• 
  The Glass Hammer

• Thriving with Breast Cancer

  No Byline

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am

  By Pamela Weinsaft (New York City) “Thank god for hot flashes,” said Kim Michel, owner of Michel Financial Services firm in Los Angeles, “They very likely saved my life.” Last year, just as Michel turned fifty, she began to be troubled by those telltale signs of menopause, and went to consult with a doctor about hormone replacement therapy. During that examination, the doctor felt something “very deep down” in her left breast. And although the annual mammogram and ultrasound she’d had just 30 days prior had disclosed nothing, the doctor wasn’t convinced, and sent her for an…

• The Shape of Things to Come: The FWA’s Economic Forum Inaugural Event

  No Byline

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City) “Most of the conferences I attend are 90 to 95 percent men,” said panelist Beth Ann Bovino, Senior Economist at Standard & Poor’s, to the audience of over a hundred women (and a few men) at the Financial Women’s Association Economic Forum, held on November 16th in New York City. Gina Martin Adams, Equity Strategist at Wells Fargo Securities; Dr. Sherry Cooper, Executive Vice President and Global Economic Strategist at BMO Capital Markets; and Ellen Beeson Zentner, Senior U.S. Macro Economist, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. joined…

• Voice of Experience: Ida Liu, Head of the Fashion, Retail and Consumer Group, Citi Private Bank

  No Byline

  19 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am

  by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City) Ida Liu creates wealth management strategies for ultra high net worth individuals in her role as Head of the Fashion, Retail and Consumer Group at Citi Private Bank. From high finance to high fashion and back, her career path is a testament to following your passions and to keeping in touch with your contacts. Born in California and raised in a Mandarin-speaking home by her Chinese parents, Liu said, “My father really is an inspiration to me. He instilled in me from a very young age a work ethic and the ability to work really hard, not give up. I saw him…

• Beyond Skills and Smarts: Thriving in the New Economy

  No Byline

  18 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  Contributed by Liz Cornish, Leadership Coach and Keynote Speaker It’s been a tough and frustrating year for financial professionals. Watching other smart, motivated people lose their jobs is sobering. Increased regulation is forcing many institutions that were playing by the rules to endure shrinking margins and panicked customers. It’s like being grounded because your sibling broke curfew. As the economy shifts and uncertainty prevails, what should women in finance do to ensure their own future? First, congratulate yourself. You’re a motivated woman in the right industry. Sure, there…

• Ask-A-Career Coach: Is It Possible To Over-Prepare For An Interview?

  No Byline

  18 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am

  Contributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart™ In just this past week, several of my clients have sounded tired during our interview practice. I even got a very detailed response that was related to, but not quite exactly on point to what I had asked. These are hardworking jobseekers who I know are diligently working through the coaching assignments. Is it possible to over-prepare for interviews? Most jobseekers don’t prepare enough. So don’t use this column as permission to slack off your search. You still need to research the company, industry and specific individuals you…

• 
  RoundPegg

• Hiring is Hard. Here’s Proof.

  brentdaily

  1 Nov 2009 | 6:10 pm

  photo by dbking Hiring is a headache. Dr. John Sullivan’s latest post at ERE pulls together a ton of shocking numbers that should convince you we need to find a better way. 50% new executive turnover — nearly half of new executive hires quit or are fired within the first 18 months at a new employer (Source: Corporate Leadership Council). 50% of the processes users (both managers and new hires) later regret their “buying” decision (Source: The Recruiting Roundtable). In addition, 25% of new hires later regret taking their new job within one year (Source: Challenger, Gray) 66%…

• Employee Retention - Good or Bad?

  brentdaily

  31 Oct 2009 | 11:03 am

  photo by antkriz Dueling philosophies on hiring and employee retention at the latest Web2.0 conference (via WSJ Blog). Mark Zuckerberg touted the Facebook culture of hiring entrepreneurially inclined  people who burn brilliantly and then fade away (presumably of their own volition).  Tony Hsieh of Zappos provided the counter philosophy of finding the folks who fit the culture and aspire to stick with the company for 10 years or more. Who is right? Both.  The key that makes both of them right is that everyone is aware of the culture.  Each CEO knows exactly what they’re looking for…

• The Worst of Times

  brentdaily

  25 Oct 2009 | 3:18 pm

  photo by photomish dan A sobering article from the Economist illustrates how unhappy people currently are with their jobs.   When the economy turns expect to see a massive surge in voluntary turnover.  The article included some alarming numbers from the US-based Center for Work-Life Policy: Between June 2007 and December 2008 the proportion of employees who professed loyalty to their employers slumped from 95% to 39%; the number voicing trust in them fell from 79% to 22%. Employers have the upper hand these days, but what good is that if nobody is willing to bring their best?  Quality work…

• Re-Interviewing

  brentdaily

  6 Oct 2009 | 3:26 pm

  photo by phineas h Interviewing is hard enough. But, last week I had a great meeting with a forward-thinking, culturally aware Corporate Development officer.  He was touting the benefits of re-interviewing. Put simply, it’s the company taking an active interest in the employee’s career development. It’s something he does every 4-6 months.  And its purpose is to probe into whether people are getting what they need out of their job.  Whether they are heading in the right direction.  Whether there is anything that is preventing them from fully engaging in their job. The…

• Sales People Are People Too

  brentdaily

  23 Sep 2009 | 1:41 pm

  photo by AMagill Neil Davidson at Red Gate Software had a great post the other day on their new approach to compensating salespeople.  In sum, they’ve stopped assuming salespeople are only motivated by money and have begun compensating them like everyone else. Not only has this cut down on the time it takes to manage the process, but it has eliminated unintended, but perverse, incentives and helped to align their sales team with the rest of organization. As Neil’s post mentions, fear is not a good motivator.  And as I noted a few weeks ago, neither are extrinsic rewards. Sales…

• 
  Emmanuel Gobillot

• Flashforward and leadership

  17 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Over the last few weeks I have become quite an avid viewer of the TV series FlashForward. The reason I mention this is that I have been spending the last few days traveling the UK speaking at conferences and it occurred to me that, along will my fellow speakers, I was playing the FlashForward game without fully taking into account its consequences.

• down logic lane

  9 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  On my way to running a workshop in oxford a few weeks back I found myself walking past Logic Lane. Bad humor aside walking past Logic Lane reminded me of how most businesses function according to some deeply held beliefs that are logically sound. Yet, logic is not the same as truth. Businesses gain a lot in exploiting not the flawed logic of their competitors but the truth that lies unseen.

• play can save lives

  19 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm

  Yesterday I posted an item on how fun can change behavior. In response one of my contact at BT plc passed on to me this link to the playpump system. This is how a simple insight (fun can change behaviour) can be turned into a life saving solution

• No pain plenty of gain

  18 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm

  Why is it that we believe that we cannot gain without pain. Why is fun at work valued only as a balance for hard work? Can we change behaviors and achieve better results through fun? Seems like we can indeed.

• First do nothing

  8 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm

  Often I am asked what is the main thing or the first thing or even the one thing (any permutation is possible here) leaders should do to become more successful. Having failed many times to come up with something clever I now have my answer!

• 
  Leadership Expert

• Maintaining Employee Morale During The Recession

  admin

  22 Nov 2009 | 3:37 am

  ~ This is a guest post by author Barry Shore, Ph.D from Global Project Strategy. Companies caught in the grip of this severe recession face many difficult challenges: one of which being how to avoid deteriorating employee morale. While on the surface one would expect that employees who remain would be grateful that their jobs have been [...]Post from: Leadership ExpertMaintaining Employee Morale During The Recession

• 50% Of Workers Leave Due To Their Boss

  admin

  19 Nov 2009 | 6:01 am

  You’ve probably heard of the phrase, “An employee doesn’t leave their job, they leave their manager.” Well, research commissioned by the Chartered Management Institute has now confirmed that belief. The CMI commissioned a survey by OnePoll, and the results are in. Out of 3,000 individuals surveyed, 47% have previously left a job because of bad management. The [...]Post from: Leadership Expert50% Of Workers Leave Due To Their Boss

• Stories From Leaders: Online marketing and cost-effective business growth

  admin

  14 Nov 2009 | 3:01 pm

  Christian Arno, founder and Managing Director of UK translation company Lingo24, gives his advice on cost-effective growth strategies. It could be said that two of the biggest blunders many new enterprises make are as follows: trying to sell their products/services to the wrong people…and wasting a lot of cash doing so. This counterproductive combination can spell [...]Post from: Leadership ExpertStories From Leaders: Online marketing and cost-effective business growth

• Define Leadership

  admin

  28 Sep 2009 | 4:35 am

  I often get emails asking me for a comprehensive leadership definition. Leadership is such a vast subject that encompasses so many areas of our being, and is so subjective – I have decided to offer up several definitions of leadership from various sources on this page. Martin Chemers ~Social Psychologist “Leadership is the process of social [...]Post from: Leadership ExpertDefine Leadership

• Learning Lessons In Resilience From The Newly Unemployed

  admin

  28 Sep 2009 | 4:02 am

  I still learn about leadership every day. In this challenging economic climate I’m learning faster than ever and often from people who might not be considered traditional leaders. I’m learning from people who have lost their job. Their job represented the ability to feed their families, raise their kids the way they want, [...]Post from: Leadership ExpertLearning Lessons In Resilience From The Newly Unemployed

• 
  RapidBI - leadership models, thoughts and tools

• Getting ready for CIPD09

  rapidbi

  15 Nov 2009 | 2:58 am

  Less than 24 hours to go before I start my journey to CIPD09 in Manchester.  Basic packing is done – but what tech to take? blog or twitter? text, photo or video?… decisions decisions…. Looking forward to meeting with other colleagues again this year © RapidBI.com This article has been written by Mike Morrison or one of the [...]

• Strategic development: Are we missing the point?

  rapidbi

  14 Nov 2009 | 12:46 am

  We often talk about strategic programmes and actions, but are we taking the appropriate first steps? Steps we can take to explore increased strategic value add

• 10 tips for engaging people

  rapidbi

  13 Nov 2009 | 9:06 am

  Managers engage, so do we as ‘community’ champions Having a community or network (intranet or social network) is one thing, growing it and building trust is quite another.  Engagement of users, be they employees or customers is vital for the strategy to be sustainable and successful. Remember the 90:9:1 rule, our goal must be to beat this. As [...]

• SWOT or SOAR? – Strategy and tools in business

  rapidbi

  13 Nov 2009 | 1:38 am

  Some people have argued that it is time to move on from SWOT analysis to other things – in this piece we explore SOAR analysis an Appreciative Inquiry tool.

• Before Training Needs Analysis (TNA) – Task analysis

  rapidbi

  9 Nov 2009 | 10:34 am

  A task analysis can be a thankless & boring activity, however, can mean the difference between effective and ineffective training as parts of the TNA training needs analysis

• 
  Rich Gee Coaching

• Sunday Funnies.

  Rich Gee

  22 Nov 2009 | 5:08 am

• Made The WSJ Again!

  Rich Gee

  19 Nov 2009 | 5:11 am

  Sue Shellenbarger from the Wall Street Journal called me a few weeks ago. She asked me about what key Time Management tools that I might know of. Over a number of phone calls we discussed the basic philosophy of time management, some key tools that my clients use (GTD, Pomodoro, FranklinCovey), and even introduced her to an incredible coach that wrote a book on time management — Keith Rosen. In the end, Sue hit another one out of the park with this piece. Check it out!

• The Secret On How To Succeed At Almost Anything.

  Rich Gee

  18 Nov 2009 | 5:43 am

  A lot of executives are out there looking for the ‘holy grail’ of success. They bulk up on education, they cajole and maneuver, they scheme and plan. In the end, it comes down to just one action — performed consistently. Over the past few days, I’ve been running a series of workshops for a Fortune 50 company. One story I tell is the one where I was a lowly coordinator in the Marketing department. One day, the senior vice-president announced that the executive team is working with a NYC agency to develop a self-running sales CD for all 1000 account executives. This CD would…

• Sunday Funnies — 11/15/09

  Rich Gee

  15 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am

• 10 Ways To Grow Your Career In A Bad Economy — Part Two.

  Rich Gee

  14 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  As I said in my last post: Everyone is scared — but you have the talent and tools to take advantage of this situation RIGHT NOW. Let’s get right to it – here are the second five. Enjoy! 6. Connect with new people. The best defense is a good offense. This may be a sports cliche, but right now, it rings true. Now is not the time to go into hiding, based on fear of the recession. It’s the time to ramp up your networking, personal public relations, and marketing to actively remind people of your presence. Go to associations, meetings, conventions that are associated with your profession.

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  Sales Management 2.0 Podcast

• Sales 2.0 and the Changing Face of Sales With Christian Maurer – Episode 27

  brad@salesmanagement20.com (Brad Trnavsky & Jerry Kennedy)

  11 Nov 2009 | 11:51 pm

  So, what’s the deal with Sales 2.0? Is it enough to have a Facebook or Twitter account, or to use LinkedIn to connect with prospects?  How about using new software applications to track your CRM data? Well, according to this week’s guest, Christian Maurer, Sales 2.0 is much, much more than that.  You might recognize Christian’s distinctive accent, as he is a returning guest to the SM 2.0 Podcast.  We were certainly glad to have him back. So what is Sales 2.0?  Christian says (and we agree) that Sales 2.0 is primarily an attitude.  As we wrote in the What Is Sales 2.0?

• Terri Levine and “Sell Without Selling” – Episode 26

  brad@salesmanagement20.com (Brad Trnavsky & Jerry Kennedy)

  4 Nov 2009 | 10:45 pm

  This was a special episode for us, as it marked the return of sales coach and author Terri Levine.  Terri was here to discuss her book “Sell Without Selling: Lessons From the Jungle for Sales Success” and to raise awareness about Reflexive Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), a devastating disease that causes excruciating pain in its victims.  Not only is Terri donating all the proceeds from the sale of her latest book to support a child suffering from RSD, she’s matching the sales, dollar for dollar, out of her own pocket.  Talk about a HERO! Terri struck a chord with us by…

• Randy Illig and “Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play” – Episode 25

  brad@salesmanagement20.com (Brad Trnavsky & Jerry Kennedy)

  21 Oct 2009 | 12:09 pm

  This was a great episode for us, as we had the chance to catch up with a true thought leader in the sales profession: Randy Illig.  Randy has over 25 years experience in business, ranging from accomplished salesperson and general manager to successful entrepreneur (CEO) and board member.  He is currently CEO of ninety five 5 and is a member of the leadership team at The Sales Perfomance Group, a division of FranklinCovey.  Randy has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Ernst & Young “CEO under 40″ award for innovative management philosophy and…

• Sales and Social Media With Alejandro Reyes (AKA Successfool)-Episode 24

  brad@salesmanagement20.com (Brad Trnavsky & Jerry Kennedy)

  13 Oct 2009 | 1:18 am

   This week, we had the chance to catch up with Alejandro Reyes, aka the Successfool.  Alejandro is a social media rock star, and he’s been on the scene since 2006 (an eternity in the online world).   Alejandro’s drug of choice is people; he gets really excited about helping people follow their passions and making a great living using social media and the internet.  Alejandro’s big question for salespeople is simple: how can you use social media and personal branding to differentiate yourself from your competition? Let’s face it: in today’s economy, there…

• Is It Coaching, or Is It Training? – Episode 23 with Terri Levine

  brad@salesmanagement20.com (Brad Trnavsky & Jerry Kennedy)

  8 Oct 2009 | 11:25 am

  So, what’s the difference between coaching and training anyway?  That was the topic of our conversation with Master Coach, CEO and entrepreneur Terri Levine, The Guru of Coaching and owner of The Coach Institute.  And what was the answer? According to Terri, coaching has the intent of inspiring and improving the recipient, as opposed to training, which in Terri’s mind is an activity that involves teaching and instructing (in other words, telling).  And Terri contends that sales coaching can take place in a group environment just as effectively as in a one-on-one setting. When…

• 
  EveryJoe

• Forrest Gregg: I Don’t Pose With Girls

  Cherie Burbach

  22 Nov 2009 | 7:16 am

  My mom never liked Forrest Gregg. Gregg, in case you’re unfamiliar, is a former Packer player and coach. I’m not sure why she didn’t care for him, but she used to say something about him “looking mean” and “snorting” a lot on the sidelines. Her opinion. I shrug… who knows with moms? Despite this, when I found out Gregg would be at my local bookstore, I gladly went. Gregg is on a book tour these days promoting Winning in the Trenches: A Lifetime of Football. As a Packer fan, sports blogger, and book lover, I looked forward to seeing him. My…

• 2010 Chevrolet Colorado

  Jyle Dupuis

  21 Nov 2009 | 10:50 pm

  The new 2010 Chevrolet Colorado still remains one of the most popular mid-sized pickup trucks in North America. Despite soaring gas prices and a consumer lean towards smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles there will always be a market for pickup trucks. The Colorado is a great truck if you are looking for something that will get you and your tools to any job site. It can also tow it’s fair share, easily capable of hauling a light trailer. 2010 Chevrolet Colorado The Colorado shares it’s frame with the GMC Canyon. Both trucks come in a variety of trims to best suit any need.

• Nets Lose to Knicks, Prove They Suck

  Stephen Kersey

  21 Nov 2009 | 8:55 pm

  As if there was any question, the New Jersey Nets suck. They made it official on Saturday night by losing at home to the New York Knicks. The now 0-13 Nets trailed by nine points at halftime and never really made much of an effort to get back into it. Rafer Alston was King of Suck on the night. The starting point guard for the Nets had three points on 1-for-7 shooting. The good news is that he didn’t stab anyone. Sean Williams chipped in by missing all five of his shots and committing two turnovers in 16 minutes. The good news is that he didn’t throw a computer monitor. The 3-9…

• Date Ideas For The Man On A Budget

  James Timmons

  21 Nov 2009 | 8:05 pm

  Like everyone else, I’m hurting money-wise. Expenses up and income down mean that I’m cutting corners where I can. In an effort to not let that affect our dating lives, it is time to get creative, boys. #1 Go Local Find out what is going on in your area. Lots of local events are free and if you know what is going on, it’ll save you from having to buy tickets. Also, she’ll be impressed that you are involved in your community. Image: PhotoXpress #2 Skip the Meal Suggest drinks and appetizers instead of dinner. Meeting up later in the evening will cut down on how much you are forking out…

• Burn Fat Fast With 10/10 Interval Workout

  Kris Jones

  21 Nov 2009 | 2:44 pm

  The fastest to burn fat is by pushing your body during cardio. NowLoss.com has an excellent strategy for burning fat called the 10/10 interval workout.  The design in this is to take a cardio exercise and go hard for 10 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds.  You repeat the process for 5 to 20 minutes depending how long you can go. The 10/10 is applicable to any type of cardio including running (treadmill), elliptical, jumping jacks, or whatever else you prefer.  The key is to push yourself to the point you can’t wait for the 10 seconds to end every 10 seconds.  You don’t want…

• 
  Inside Personal Growth

• Podcast 140: The Power of Giving with Harvey McKinnon

  Greg Voisen

  16 Nov 2009 | 7:47 pm

  This was a wonderful interview with Harvey McKinnon the author of the new book entitled, “The Power of Giving“. Harvey has a big heart, and loads of passion behind his charitable work. He and the co-author of this book, Azim Jamal,  point out that giving does more than just improve the lives of others; it affects your own life profoundly.  With benefits ranging from the practical–improved health and professional connection–to the intangible–creating feelings of hope and a sense of connection with others–giving is an essential but often overlooked human…

• Podcast 139: The Unhealthy Truth with Robyn O’Brien

  Greg Voisen

  15 Nov 2009 | 6:51 pm

  This is an interview with author Robyn O’Brien who decided to take some real action when it came to uncovering what ingredients in our foods are making us sick. Her youngest daughter had a severe reaction to the eggs that she had eaten at breakfast one morning, which required a visit to the pediatrician and a mega dose of antihistamine.  This incident lead Robyn on her long journey of attempting to find the truth about what really is in our foods, and what are we not being told. In our interview together we discuss the connections to genetically modified foods, and how these foods are…

• Podcast 138: Return To The Sacred with Jonathan Ellerby Ph.D

  Greg Voisen

  9 Nov 2009 | 8:30 pm

  I had a wonderful interview with a very deep and spiritual leader, Jonathan Ellerby, Ph.D.  His new book entitled, “Return to the Sacred-Ancient Pathways to Spiritual Awakenings“,  is a great book.  We explored the 12 Master Paths and Practices that have transformed the lives of countless saints, mystics, masters and the sages since the beginning history. In Jonathan’s new book, you’ll find what you need to discover your spiritual personality and choose the path that will lead you toward realization of boundless joy and a lifelong journey of meaning.   I had the…

• Podcast 137: Buddha’s Brain with Rick Hanson Ph.D

  Greg Voisen

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:37 pm

  What a wonderful interview with a great author who will enlighten you about the neuroscience associated with the brain.  Rick Hanson’s new book entitled, “Buddha’s Brain-The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom“,  is a fascinating in-depth look at how science is now revealing how the flow of thoughts actually sculpts the brain.  By combining breakthroughs in neuroscience with insights from thousands of years of contemplative practice, you too, can use your mind to shape your brain for greater happiness, love and wisdom. In my interview with Rick, we…

• Podcast 136: The Essential Enneagram with David Daniels M.D.

  Greg Voisen

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:30 pm

  How many of you are aware of the Enneagram?  I  had been exposed to the concept some time ago, but never really understood the aspects of the Enneagram until my interview with Dr. David Daniels.  He is the expert on the Enneagram and how to utilize it as a tool both personally and professionally. So just what is it, and how can you use it?  Dr. David Daniels new book entitled, “The Essential Enneagram“, is a wonderful tool that assists the reader in understanding the various personality types that make up the Enneagram.  Dr. Daniels takes the reader through a simple process…

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  First Friday Book Synopsis

• What Innovators Can Learn from Bill Belichick

  Bob Morris

  21 Nov 2009 | 9:13 am

  Scott Anthony Here is an excerpt from an article featured by the Harvard Business blog. You can read the complete article by visiting http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org. What Innovators Can Learn from Bill Belichick Scott Anthony Even non-football fans probably heard about Bill Belichick’s “blunder” of a call on Sunday night. Believe it or not, the call — and the firestorm that followed — has important lessons for innovation managers. A quick recap. The New England Patriots led the Indianapolis Colts by six points with two minutes to go. It was fourth down, the ball was on…

• “The Turd Seller”

  Bob Morris

  21 Nov 2009 | 8:10 am

  William Gibbs As revealed in The Best of Business, a book published by The Economist in collaboration with Pegasus Books in 2009, William Gibbs (1790-1875) became an exceptionally wealthy man by selling guano, seabird dung, that is rich in nitrates and phosphates, and harvested off the coast of South America from the middle of the 19th century and used as (what else?) fertilizer. He and his brother George signed their first contract with the Peruvian government in 1842 and in 1858 imported 300,000 tons of guano to Britain. Gibbs also built a number of churches as well as a mansion for…

• The best book ever on leadership?

  Bob Morris

  21 Nov 2009 | 7:57 am

  Xenophon (430-354 BC)What would be your choice? In The Practice of Management, published in 1954, Peter Drucker write: “The first systematic book on leadership is: the Kyropaidaia of Xenophon – himself no mean leader of men – is still the best book on the subject.” Xenophon also wrote Anabasis (commonly known as The Persian Expedition) in which he explains how, in the fourth century B.C., he and others in a Greek army of 10,000 hired by the pretender to the Persian throne Cyrus the Younger, fought their way back to the Black Sea against overwhelming odds. In Drucker on Leadership,…

• Book Review: Immunity to Change

  Bob Morris

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:48 am

  Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey Harvard Business School Press (2009) There are many reasons why it is so difficult to overcome what James O’Toole aptly describes (in Leading Change) as “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.” In my opinion, one of the most formidable barriers frequently involves a paradox: Whatever enabled an organization to prosper has become the primary cause of its current problems. To paraphrase Marshall Goldsmith, “Whatever got you here may well…

• “optimism” – a short post, maybe a big lesson

  Randy Mayeux

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:34 am

  News Item – New York’s MetroCards have the word “optimism” printed on the back of the card. Artist Reed Seifer, whose work called Optimism is on the back of Metrocards From the New York Times article The Days May Be Grim, but Here’s a Good Word to Put in Your Pocket: On the back of seven million MetroCards distributed this fall is a single printed word: “optimism.” Composed in clean, bold, sans-serif letters, it floats in a sea of white just beneath the boilerplate fine print. Another seven million are on the way early next year. Riders and reporters were not informed when…

• 
  TradePub: Executive & Management

• Magic Quadrant for Midmarket and Tier 2-Oriented ERP for Product-Centric Companies - Gartner Report

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:20 pm

  The Magic Quadrant for Midmarket and Tier 2-Oriented ERP for Product-Centric Companies addresses the needs of product-centric companies or divisions of enterprises with between 100-999 employees, and with annual revenue between $50 million and $1 billion. These enterprises have limited IT resources and seek ERP systems that support their differentiating business processes well with deep functionality, but do not require significant overhead in the non-differentiating business areas (meaning the systems must minimize Total Cost of Ownership [TCO] and complexity). Although some see this market…

• Smooth Transition: Preparing for IFRS

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:20 pm

  The SEC proposes that 2014 will be the first year for US registered companies to file their financial statements in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) format. This executive brief covers how to effectively manage this upcoming transition to IFRS. You will learn how to:Form your IFRS transition teamSet the roles of the team membersUse your enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to manage this transitionRequest Free!

• The State of Service Management Forecast for 2010

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:50 pm

  Generate Steady RevenueBoost Customer SatisfactionForecast Service DemandThis report examines the state of service management, revealing patterns and trends, describing management strategies that work, reviewing best practices, and identifying the solution technologies that will be used by leading organizations to attain market dominance in 2010 and beyond.Request Free!

• How Organizations are Implementing Document Management Strategies to Help Drive Business in a Tough Economy

  19 Nov 2009 | 5:20 pm

  In an economic climate that daily seems to underscore nature's law that only the fittest survive, what are some of the actions companies are taking to stay competitive? The majority of survey respondents indicate that the top two moves they are making include reducing operating expenses (51%) and improving cash flow (20%). More effectively controlling and managing document processes, can help meet these objectives. This survey report investigates how respondents and their organizations are leveraging five document management activities – internal and outsourced - to reduce costs and reach…

• Prevue

  13 Nov 2009 | 5:20 pm

  Prevue, published bimonthly, provides meeting and incentive planners with the signature personalities and pursuits of individual destinations, hotels and venues, covering powerful teambuilding experiences that unite the group and encourage individual growth and learning. Above all else, Prevue is experiential. And it's always presented with stunning visuals and concise, lively editorial content in print and online.Request Free!

• 
  Hire and Retain Top Talent

• Choosing Recruiters: Mistake #2 – We Need an Expert

  Barry Deutsch

  18 Nov 2009 | 7:32 am

  Some executives believe that the only way a recruiter can be successful is to have many years of recruiting in a particular functional category (finance, marketing, human resources, manufacturing), or in a specific industry (construction, bio-technology, education, non-profit, electronics, distribution). Using the criteria of a functional or industry expertise is a classic mistake in choosing recruiters. The best recruiters are not industry or functional experts. Their expertise is as world-class recruiters. They know how to play detective to find the very best talent, they understand human…

• The Real Reason For Checking References

  Barry Deutsch and Brad Remillard

  14 Nov 2009 | 2:21 pm

  Checking references is a critical component of the process of hiring top talent. Reference Checking is a key element of Step Five in our Success Factor Methodology of validating, verifying, and vetting what the candidate claimed in the interview. Most hiring executives and manages contend that candidates embellish and exaggerate what they’ve done and what they can do at least 100% of the time. In this radio program we explore the most effective tactics to reach the right references, how to interview a reference, and the process of “reverse-engineering” the interview through the…

• Are You Ready for Your Best Talent to Start Leaving?

  Barry Deutsch

  13 Nov 2009 | 7:47 am

  What would you do if your top performing subordinate left tomorrow? Would the pain be unbearable? Do they possess your entire customer history in their head? Would key customers follow them to a new job? How much would productivity decline? Would others follow  – like a domino effect? Can you afford the costs of replacing and developing a new person in this role? You get the general idea- it would be disastrous if one of your top performing subordinates left? Let’s go one step further – What if multiple top performing subordinates left? Perhaps, Armageddon? What is the…

• Optimize Your Staffing Decisions by Using In-depth Work Style and Personality Assessment Tools

  DanaBorowka

  13 Nov 2009 | 6:12 am

  The wrong hiring decision can cost your company well over two to three times the individual’s salary according to Barry Deutsch, IMPACT Hiring Solutions. This figure may be a conservative estimate because of factors like training, evaluation, termination, re-initiating the hiring process, and lost opportunity costs. There is also an emotional factor involved in a bad hire situation. Not only can it cause stress and anxiety for both management and employees, but it also takes away focus from your company’s primary goals. Essentially, a bad hire can have a negative impact on your…

• Finding Top Talent in a Down Economy: It’s Still Hard Work

  bradremillard

  9 Nov 2009 | 9:30 am

  Just because the haystack is bigger, it doesn’t mean that there are more needles in it. There’s a misconception in the market now that finding good people is suddenly easy. HR people, hiring managers, and the general public believe that when unemployment is high, recruiters just have to run an ad and tons of top-notch, unemployed candidates will flood your email box. Well, they are half right. The inbox does get flooded on occasion, but not with top quartile talent, and not with the candidate who has the specific accomplishments I need for my client’s position. Despite the high…

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  N2growth Blog

• CEO Decisioning

  admin

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:48 pm

  By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth “CEO Decisioning” is a skill set that needs to be developed like any other. As a top CEO Coach I can tell you with great certainty that all CEOs are not created equal when it comes to the competency of their decisioning skills. Put simply, the outcome of a CEO’s decisions can, and usually will, make or break them. Those CEOs who avoid making decisions solely for fear of making a bad decision, or conversely those that make decisions just for the sake of making a decision will likely not last long. The fact of the matter is…

• Marketing Gone Awry

  admin

  18 Nov 2009 | 10:03 pm

  By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth Has your company’s marketing gone awry? Is the proverbial tail starting to wag the dog with respect to current marketing initiatives? How do you know when marketing is out of control? Those of you familiar with this blog know that I’m generally a strong advocate for sales and marketing driven organizations. However my typical pro-marketing position assumes that certain key fundamentals are in place to insure that the lunatics don’t somehow become in charge of the asylum. In today’s post I’ll discuss how to keep…

• Is the Customer Always Right?

  admin

  17 Nov 2009 | 10:05 pm

  By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth Is the customer really always right? How far should a company go to satisfy their clientele or customer base? What is the lost opportunity cost associated with customer churn? Is there a point when satisfying the customer is actually harmful to the enterprise, or back to the original question, is the customer always right? In today’s blog post I’ll share my opinion as to the validity of this old business axiom, and also offer a few insights on where to draw the line…  I believe that all businesses should use great care and…

• CEOs and Team Building

  admin

  16 Nov 2009 | 10:05 pm

  By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth News Flash…A CEO who views themself as an army of one will fail. Whether you like it or not, your success as a CEO will be largely tied to your team building ability. Not only do great CEOs understand how to recruit a top executive team, but they also understand how to build cohesion among team members through collaboration while addressing specific situational and contextual needs. Great CEOs realize the importance of being consistently and intensely engaged with their CXOs. They understand how to effectively deploy these…

• Social Media Influence

  admin

  16 Nov 2009 | 2:04 am

  By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth Social media influence; the harsh reality is that you either have it or you don’t. I’m going to tell you the cold hard truth about social media…what you need to know that most people won’t tell you. While anyone can have a social media presence, not everyone possesses social media influence. It’s clear to those in the know that social media is a universe of the haves and have nots. It’s the difference between relevance and irrelevance, visibility and anonymity. You might have something to say, but without…

• 
  Big Red Tomato Company

• How to Start a Business on a Budget

  Matthew Needham

  18 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  During times of economic downturn many people look to starting a business. Either out of necessity or spotting a genuine niche in the market. If you’re able to offer increased value at lower costs, then starting a business during an economic downturn could put you in a favourable position when economic conditions improve. Whenever you start a business it can be a stressful time. In this post we look at structuring your business plan to make it easier to obtain funding and minimise the investment capital required. As we said in out post on Writing a business plan on a single page.

• 7 Tips for Better Networking

  Matthew Needham

  17 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  How to make your networking more effective Not Selling Elevator pitch Talk about them first Who are your “big fish” Own the room Right events Koffee 1. Not Selling Networking is not about selling. It’s about meeting people and starting business relationships. The aim is not to close the deal. 2. Elevator Pitch Most people’s impressions are formed within 10-15 seconds of meeting someone. Make those seconds count. So when someone asks you “What do you do”, don’t just say “I’m in accountant”. Say something like, “I help businesses…

• Video: Need some encouragement?

  Matthew Needham

  16 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  If I’m not mistaken, you’re the kind of person who sometimes finds it difficult to get out of bed in a morning. Especially if it’s cold and wet outside. Staying motivated is sometimes difficult. However, for some people, giving up is giving up on life itself. In this video you see an amazing man, Nick Vujicic who has over come many challenges and now travels the world as a motivational speaker. What gets you out of bed in a morning?

• How to Think Like a Millionaire – Think and Grow Rich

  Matthew Needham

  15 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Think and grow rich is the most important financial book ever written. Napoleon Hill researched more than forty millionaires including: Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, George Eastman, Henry Ford, John D. Rockerfeller, Charles M Schwab, FW Woolworth, William Wrigley Jr, John Wanamaker, Joseph Stalin and Theodore Roosevelt, to name but a few, to find out what made them the men that they were. In this book he imparts that knowledge to you. Once you’ve read this book you will understand what gives certain people an edge over everyone else. In this book you will learn about the power…

• Updated How to get a job in the recession

  Matthew Needham

  11 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  There are around 12.5m Americans looking for work at the moment. I was told last week that a position on GAAPweb, a UK Finance Recruitment site, attracted over 400 applications. With that sort of competition, it’s very hard not to get disheartened. However, with a few simple steps you can increase your chances of securing that all-important interview, but remember; “No one has a free hour to hear your sob story, you have to make a compelling case for that to happen” Jia Lynn Yang – Fortune.com Here’s how… 1. The CV – Match your skill to employers needs The CV or resume is…

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  Lead Change Group

• Servant Leaders and the Tribe

  Mike Henry

  19 Nov 2009 | 4:13 am

  In a previous post on servant leadership, we said “Servant leaders serve people in pursuit of a goal.” In Tribal Leadership, authors Dave Logan, John King, Halee Fischer-Wright wrote about the 5 different stages of tribes.  The highest stages of tribal life form around a common purpose. (My review is here.) You may have thought of several examples of servant leaders and tribal leaders as you were reading those posts.  Several came to my mind, too.  But my wife Vicky (@VHenry) suggested a great example from television right now. Are you familiar with this AT&T Wireless…

• 6 Facets of the Servant Leadership Diamond

  Mike Henry

  17 Nov 2009 | 1:45 pm

  Servant Leaders serve people in pursuit of a goal. We might be tempted to consider only one facet at a time in this statement.  However consider all of the dimensions and you’ll get a complete picture of great leadership. Servant Leaders who do not serve but who expect to be served immediately break down the win-win requirement of any successful relationship.  All relationships must be win-win to be sustainable. Leaders People who influence things.  A leader is one who influences.  We naturally are influenced by people with certain characteristics: authenticity, character,…

• Tribal Leadership

  Mike Henry

  12 Nov 2009 | 4:19 am

  I’ve just finished listening to a book called Tribal Leadership Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright. I listened to an abridged audio version of the book that you can get for FREE! here, compliments of Zappos.com The authors define a tribe as a group of up to 150 people that share time and common interests.  You’re in several. Those tribes, however, all fall into 5 stages, characterized by their prevailing attitudes.  The distribution of the stages is very much like a normal bell curve. Stage 1 The first…

• November 2009 Lead Change Call

  Mike Henry

  10 Nov 2009 | 5:53 pm

  Dr. Eli Sopow will be the presenter on the November Lead Change Conference call.  The call is scheduled for November 16th at 5:00 PM Eastern. Systems theory illustrates how one small change can make a huge difference by using the metaphor of a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil. Ultimately that flap of a wing sets off a series of reverberations that result in a thunderstorm in Texas. Now new research shows how the “Butterfly Effect” operates in the workplace. A recent study of over 3,000 employees show there are no more than six key factors affecting the workplace. Even more…

• Futility

  Mike Henry

  9 Nov 2009 | 4:53 am

  I just disabled Windows Update for some of my “important” security updates.  It’s a lengthy story; but the whole ordeal drove home some important leadership lessons. Let’s discuss the lesson first and provide details for the interested later. Can you recall ever feeling helpless? There’s nothing more frustrating than knowing that you can’t accomplish what you want. The feeling, “You can’t get there from here.” As an owner or manager of an organization you come to understand that your associates and employees fall into two categories: those that want to do something…

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  The Corner Office

• The Boss From Hell

  Steve Tobak

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:15 pm

  Early in my career I had a boss from hell. Sure, I've had lots of dysfunctional bosses - I was one myself. But this guy was different. I'm talking serious lunatic stuff here. Still, tragedy and comedy often go hand in hand, and this story is no exception. Can you top it?

• The 5-Step Career Turnaround

  Steve Tobak

  19 Nov 2009 | 3:47 pm

  Everybody hits snags in their career. You think you're on the right path, something changes, and suddenly your plan is drailed. Unfortunately, accomplished professionals often lack objectivity when reinventing themselves. The solution is to think of career change like a business turnaround.

• How to Balance the Federal Budget

  Steve Tobak

  19 Nov 2009 | 9:33 am

  In 1998, tax income from the unprecedented bull market run of the 90s resulted in the first balanced budget in 30 years. While I don't advocate bubble and bust-fueled economic cycles, economic expansion - big and small business growth - is indeed the only way to end the federal deficit.

• The Sad State of CEO Replacement: Scapegoating and Savior Chasing

  Jeffrey Pfeffer

  18 Nov 2009 | 5:15 pm

  On November 9, the CEO of the Innovation Group, a $200 million U.K. insurance software company, was unexpectedly fired by his board, who also announced they’d retained an executive search firm to find his outside successor.  The company had consistently increased sales, cash, its average deal size, and its reputation in the marketplace even during [...]

• The 10 Rules of Great Groups

  Steve Tobak

  17 Nov 2009 | 9:51 am

  Leadership is often seen as an inherently individual phenomenon, when in reality, "groups" are more likely to achieve greatness. There's an exceptional book called "Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration" that chronicles the conditions by which Great Groups occur.

• 
  Crucial Skills

• Influencing Corporate Policy

  Joseph Grenny

  17 Nov 2009 | 4:11 pm

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR Joseph Grenny is author of three bestselling books, Influencer, Crucial Conversations, and Crucial Confrontations. READ MORE Dear Crucial Skills, Our company has a review policy called the 70/20/10 rule. This means that 70 percent of my staff must be rated “Meets Expectations,” only 20 percent can be rated “Exceeds Expectations,” and worst of all, 10 percent must be rated “Needs Improvement.”I find this rating system unmotivating and unfair for many obvious reasons. Specifically, at the present, I don’t have anyone I’d describe…

• Unemployed House Guests

  Ron McMillan

  11 Nov 2009 | 7:44 am

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ron McMillan is author of three bestselling books, Influencer, Crucial Conversations, and Crucial Confrontations. READ MORE Dear Crucial Skills, My husband and I are friends with a couple who is experiencing financial difficulty related to a job loss. When they confided in us that they would be moving out of their rented home and looking for a small one-bedroom apartment, we told them they could live rent-free in our home for six months.Since then, we have seen their poor money management and given them budgeting software, but they continue to spend without focus. I recently…

• How to Address Workplace Bullying

  Kerry Patterson

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:10 pm

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kerry Patterson is author of three bestselling books, Influencer, Crucial Conversations, and Crucial Confrontations. READ MORE   Dear Crucial Skills, I just left a job I loved because I am older and the young team I worked with never seemed to accept me. Unfortunately, even when the manager said I was a victim of new employee hazing, the problem was not addressed. Since I made the choice to leave, would it be appropriate to write a letter to the administrator? I don’t want to be seen as a disgruntled employee but it is a hostile environment and some of the young…

• Addressing Inappropriate Work Attire

  Joseph Grenny

  27 Oct 2009 | 4:07 pm

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR Joseph Grenny is author of three bestselling books, Influencer, Crucial Conversations, and Crucial Confrontations. READ MORE Dear Crucial Skills, I need advice on how to have a conversation with a subordinate about her provocative attire. It’s tricky because her clothes are clean and very nice—just more revealing than is appropriate for our office. To make it more complicated, I’m a man and I’m wondering if that should make the conversation any different than if she had a female supervisor. Her attire is holding her back from progressing and limiting how…

• Kerrying On: Stay Away from the Churning Waters

  Kerry Patterson

  20 Oct 2009 | 4:15 pm

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kerry Patterson is author of three bestselling books, Influencer, Crucial Conversations, and Crucial Confrontations. READ MORE Listen to Kerrying On via MP3 Listen to Kerrying On via iTunes When my best friends and I were kids growing up along the shores of the Puget Sound, the water was our favorite playground. It’s a good thing, because we certainly had a lot of it. It fell from the sky in unrelenting sheets of cold misery until it eventually gathered about us in a giant recreational hodgepodge of lakes, streams, and inlets. Hardly a summer day passed that we…

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  Mountain State University LeaderTalk

• How Do You Choose

  Rebecca Robinson

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:33 am

  Have you faced any big decisions lately? Our family is preparing to move. The decision we are facing is where to live. It feels like an important and weighty choice; the decision of where to live will have major life shaping consequences for our family for years to come. Any major decision, personal or professional, can cause anxiety, consuming large amounts of mental and emotional energy. From my own experience I know that some ways of processing decisions are more productive than others. Here are some suggestions about ways to process your big decision. Consider personal values and…

• Social Media for Leaders White Paper Available Today

  Rebecca Robinson

  17 Nov 2009 | 3:42 am

  We are pleased to present our new white paper, Social Media for Leaders. It is available for free download here or as a permanent feature on the sidebar on the top left of this blog. Here at Mountain State University, we believe that involvement with social media is a powerful way for leaders to extend their influence and impact. We hope this tool will help you as you navigate various social networks and learn to use social media effectively. Please feel free to share it with others. You might also enjoy our other white paper, Twitter for Beginners.  Also, please join me today at 4 pm…

• Leadership at All Levels | Noodles and Company

  Rebecca Robinson

  16 Nov 2009 | 1:11 pm

  My girls love noodles. At home, we cook noodles more often than I would like to admit. Even still, when we eat out, they often beg to go to Noodles and Company. And when they ask, we often say yes, because my husband and I like it too: the food is nutritious, tastes good, and fits our budget. The staff is friendly, and we always have fun there. In case you have never been to Noodles and Company, here's a little background information. Noodles and Company started in Denver, CO in 1995 and now has restaurants in over 15 States. Founder Aaron Kennedy decided to bring together…

• More Advice for Beginning Bloggers

  Rebecca Robinson

  15 Nov 2009 | 1:21 pm

  Here are a few things that new bloggers need to keep in mind:   Blog posts are ephemeral.   If you are going to post frequently, then many (MOST) of your posts will be forgotten. Although it is important to craft your posts thoughtfully to create good content, you will not write the perfect post every time. I really only feel fantastic about a post once every 3-4 weeks. It is just impossible — and not even really expected — that you will turn out something great all the time unless you’re Wally Bock… but he is a professional writer and 63 years (and a half) years old and my bet is…

• Questions To Consider When Starting a Blog

  Rebecca Robinson

  13 Nov 2009 | 3:26 am

  Do you blog? I read blogs for years before I ever wrote a single blog post. My first introduction to the blogosphere came from my best high school friend, who shared a link to her first blog (no longer active). I used Jamie's blog as a jumping off point to find other blogs of interest to me. Before long, I had a long list of my own favorites and reading them became one of my favorite pasttimes. I had another list: a list of reasons why I wouldn't blog. If you have considered blogging, you probably have your own hang-ups and concerns about pubishing your thoughts online for anyone…

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  Mary Jo Asmus

• You Can’t Change Others (So Change Yourself)

  Mary Jo Asmus

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:44 am

  I love leaders who see the possibility and potential in the people they lead. Yet the methods many use to “change” those employees who aren’t performing up to their potential are ineffective: “I wish you would……(fill in the blank)” “I don’t like the way you……(fill in the blank)” “I want you to change…….(fill in the blank)” We spin our wheels when we apply the illusion of control to the people we lead. We think we can make them into something more to our liking, more like us, more like…

• From Judgment to Curiosity

  Mary Jo Asmus

  18 Nov 2009 | 4:21 am

  William Isaacs, in his classic book called Dialogue, writes that the kind of thought “that applies force to try to make someone be different” is a form of violence. “It imposes from the outside a false logic that creates the violence we see in the world. And it all begins between our ears.” So often in the business world, we see leaders focusing on the differences they perceive: the employee who just doesn’t “fit in” the areas of disagreement with other departments the customers who just can’t understand the products or services Mr. Isaac…

• The Secret of Leadership: Do Nothing

  Mary Jo Asmus

  16 Nov 2009 | 2:48 am

  I am delighted but not surprised at today’s guest post written by Rick Chambers; it reflects what I know about him well. Rick has been a long-time colleague and friend, and one of the most insightful and generous people on the planet. You will see his fine character shining right through his writing. He’s also a humble leader and will, no doubt, be embarassed at my saying these (true) things about him. Rick is a director of Worldwide Communications for Pfizer who has worked in the public relations field for more than 22 years. An award winning journalist, he is also a…

• Job Description for a Thriving Leader

  Mary Jo Asmus

  12 Nov 2009 | 5:03 pm

  I had some fun thinking about what the job description for a “thriving leader” might look like after reading the wonderful guest post on Dan McCarthy’s blog about Getting Beyond Survive to Thrive at Work. I took some liberties and added many of my own thoughts. What do you think? What would you add? Job Title: Thriving Leader Job Purpose: Lead others in the organization in such a way as to release the potential they may be  holding back (even if they are unaware that they are doing so). Duties: Must know yourself: what’s important to you? Your values, your purpose, your…

• Increasing and Showing Empathy

  Mary Jo Asmus

  11 Nov 2009 | 5:16 am

  Empathy is an important trait for leaders to have, important enough that it is one of the competencies on the LEA 360, the survey that I use. It was one of the things that drew me to becoming certified in this survey. Empathy is dismissed in the work world, but is key for leaders be able to have and express. In fact, a recent Towers Perrin survey of 90,000 worldwide employees featured and summarized by my friend Steve Roesler, showed that the #1 thing that employees want at work is to believe that senior managerment cares about them. Leaders may find empathy to be one of the most difficult…

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  All Things Workplace

• HR & Social Media: What Would Jesus Do?

  Steve Roesler

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:07 am

  Are you an HR person wrestling with how best to use social media?You've got plenty of company.At this week's IQPC Corporate University sessions there was an entire two-day track dedicated to Social Media. Speakers included Sharlyn Lauby and Jessica Lee, HR pros who know their way around the online community and the tools available to best do that. The questions from the audience surprised me since I've been online for some time: 1. Do we need legal regulations before we start using social media? (This was the starting point for a lot of people; their management wanted to nail down any…

• Men and Achievement: More Romantic Than Engaged?

  Steve Roesler

  17 Nov 2009 | 7:28 pm

  Eureka, I've found it! Business-related research that finally allows the kind of cheesy headline to attract readers from all genres while losing my core group in the process. Please say you'll still love me in the morning. The headline in Science Daily reads:Men Choose Romance Over Success Men may be more willing than women to sacrifice achievement goals for a romantic relationship. This according to a new study by Catherine Mosher of Duke Medical Center and Sharon Danoff-Burg from the University of Albany. The findings challenge preconceptions that women are more likely to prioritize people…

• Five Good Tips For Busy People

  Steve Roesler

  16 Nov 2009 | 7:35 am

  "Unless you are an hourly worker in America, boundaries between work and leisure are dead. Work bleeds into life, and life bleeds into work. People have the smart phone, aka the “digital leash”. Work will never be the same. It’s already gone."          Kris Dunn, VP of People, DAXKO, The Blurring Line Between Work and Life___________________________________________Kris and the group speak the truth. We all know it although we may not like it. So, what do you do to "mesh" the elements of your life without it becoming blurry. I'm not a fan of blurry; clarity yields a more…

• The Paradox of Choices

  Steve Roesler

  13 Nov 2009 | 6:20 am

  The rallying cry of product managers and politicians is "Choices! We offer choices!"My observation?  We really don’t like having too many choices. It makes us a little nervous. Every option leads to a chance to foul something up. Heck, a lot of people are more worried about not being wrong than about being right. So, we allow our experiences and habits to narrow our options to just a couple of familiar ones. It reduces the anxiety and relieves stress.So, how do you make genuine changes faced with the siren song of habits?The first move is to re-capture your sense of conscious choice in…

• Too Busy Doing Business to Do Business?

  Steve Roesler

  12 Nov 2009 | 8:58 am

   Yesterday I met with a corporate Executive VP in New York City. I'll call him Phil. Phil said his division was struggling. But instead of leading the charge to turn things around, he was being called into meetings regularly to make lengthy, detailed, Powerpoint presentations explaining what was wrong. He was too busy doing business to be doing the business. Interestingly, one of his recommendations was for the company to get out of some of its operations because they were draining money and other resources. He explained that his people were spending too much time on things that no longer…

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  The Practice of Leadership

• Research finds leadership skills inadequate to meet current and future demand

  George Ambler

  16 Nov 2009 | 11:29 pm

  New research from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) which surveyed 2,200 leaders from 15 organizations, in three countries between 2006 and 2008 produced some interesting findings. The research project was designed to answer the following questions: What leadership skills and perspectives are critical for success now and in the future? How strong are current leaders in these critical skills and perspectives? How aligned is today’s leadership strength with what will be the most important skills and perspectives in the future? A comparison of the leadership strength from the research…

• Leaders Take Risks!

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pm

  Photo by schoschie   The act and practice of leadership is a risky undertaking. Leadership is the act or bringing about positive change. This requires leaders to initiate, to blaze new trails, to venture into the unknown and unexplored terrain. All of this entails risk. Kouzes and Posner in their bestselling book, “The Leadership Challenge” describes it this way: “Leaders are pioneers – people who are willing to step out into the unknown. They are people who are willing to take risks, to innovate and experiment in order to find new an better ways of doing things.” Leaders take…

• 10 reasons why you’re going to fail!

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:50 am

  I can across a really stunning post on failure by Tony Morgan, “10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail” that is really worth sharing, so here is Tony’s list… 10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail It’s not your passion. If it doesn’t make your heart beat fast or cause your mind to race when you’re trying to sleep, you’re probably doing the wrong thing. You don’t have a plan. You need a vision, and you need to identify specific steps to make that vision become reality. That includes a financial plan. (I happen to believe you need direction from God on…

• The 2009 Most Influential Business Thinkers

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:45 am

  Forbes.com released their 2009 “The Most Influential business Thinkers”  results. The consulting firm CrainerDearlove compiled this list of today’s top thinkers, by surveyed 3,500 people and a panel of experts to determine the 2009 edition of the Thinkers 50, the fifth edition of a biennial list of the most influential living management thinkers. This years results are listed below.   Rank Name 2007 Rank Country Day Job 1 C.K. Prahalad 1 India/U.S. University of Michigan Academic 2 Malcolm Gladwell 18 Canada New Yorker Columnist 3 Paul Krugman U.S. Princeton Academic 4…

• Keeping your goals in focus

  George Ambler

  30 Aug 2009 | 1:39 pm

     Photo by kevindooley The article “For This Guru, No Question Is Too Big” from the NY Times discusses the work of the best selling business author Jim Collins. Given the popularity of Jim Collins the article discussed how he allocates his time, which is as follows: “… in a corner of the white board at the end of his long conference room, Mr. Collins keeps this short list: Creative 53% Teaching 28% Other 19% That, he explains, is a running tally of how he’s spending his time, and whether he’s sticking to a big goal he set for himself years ago: to spend 50 percent of…

• 
  Hard Court Lessons

• Making Conversations Fierce & Real

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:26 am

  Helping individuals and organizations understand the importance of having real conversations is at the heart of what Fierce Inc. does.It's a training and development provider, with a focus on communication and conversations as drivers of individual and organizational success.Fierce Inc. CEO, Susan Scott Susan is a best-selling author, leadership development architect, and a recognized thought leader in the global business community. Susan helps organizations achieve success through recognizing the value of Fierce Conversations.Listen to Susan`s explanation of what a fierce conversation is.Her…

• Being The Boss

  14 Nov 2009 | 2:26 am

  Whether you have the title of manager, supervisor, CEO or chief bottle washer - you're in a challenging role.Our society looks to leaders to lead and isn't overly forgiving when they don't succeed.Author, trainer and keynote speaker Wally Bock joins the next episode of HCL Radio to discuss his work and the kinds of things he can teach individuals to be better leaders.Listen Wally's explanation of work life balance.Wally is a savvy businessperson, decorated Marine vet and a successful business owner who brings extensive knowledge of leadership, business, and society together.He provides some…

• Toughen Up

  10 Nov 2009 | 4:57 am

  Have you ever wondered what mental toughness is?It's that thing we all have inside that helps us work through life's adversities and challenges and helps us to achieve our goals.I recently asked mental toughness guru, author and public speaker, Steve Siebold to provide a definition.Click here to listen to what he said.Mental toughness could be used in virtually any situation from the basketball court to the office or out shopping in a crowded mall. Steve joins HCL Radio to discuss mental toughness and its importance in our lives. Plus he'll share why anyone can use mental toughness to get the…

• Bridging The Divide

  3 Nov 2009 | 12:05 am

  Our current workplace is very different today then it was a few years ago. There's a wider range of age groups with differing attitudes, values, and motivators working together on the same team. Inter-generational interactions are common in the workplace and we're starting to see much more attention paid to this as analysts are studying how to make it all work. With so much talk spent on the issues related to this new workforce, it's really easy to get caught up and overlook the fact that what we're really talking about how we get people of diverse backgrounds and interests to co-exist and…

• Building A Magical Team

  3 Nov 2009 | 12:03 am

  Having a team working together and collaborating is a fabulous way of achieving results. The determining factor really comes down to how well individual team members can co-exist and function together.When a group isn't on the same page, you have nothing but a collective mess.However, a well functioning team working together in unison is like a finely tuned machine producing remarkable results.Orlando Magic Senior VP, Pat Williams really hammers this point home in his latest book, Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams.Afterall, he'd know better than anyone else.As co-founder of the Magic, Pat was…

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  Saying What You Mean

• Why You Should Write Your Spouse’s Resume

  nicoledefalco

  13 Nov 2009 | 8:50 am

  The other night my husband and I worked side by side to update his resume. That’s the benefit of having a business writer for a wife. You get the $500 resume for the bargain price of being the one to clear the dinner dishes. It’s been several years since the last update so I felt compelled to read through every sentence and study every bullet point. If you ever want to reinvigorate your appreciation for your spouse, I highly recommend writing his or her resume. What I thought would be an arduous task turned out to be a nostalgic trip back through our life together. I can remember…

• Influence vs. Persuasion: A Critical Distinction for Leaders

  nicoledefalco

  29 Oct 2009 | 7:15 pm

  INFLUENCE OR PERSUASION Let’s begin with a little mental gymnastics. Take a moment to decide on your definition of the words “influence” and “persuasion.” Then, decide which of the following statements falls under your definition of Influence and which falls under Persuasion: Choosing words and phrases to communicate ideas that strike a responsive chord in a target audience Socializing ideas to bring all the issues to light and earn buy-in Giving others a voice in the decision-making process Learning what keeps a person or group of people up at night Providing…

• “Productive Meeting” is Not an Oxymoron

  nicoledefalco

  21 Oct 2009 | 8:35 pm

  The Stake Out “Hey,” said Alberts as he struggled to pull what looked like a football wrapped in butcher paper out of his coat pocket. “Anybody want a sandwich?”  Both men shook their heads. “Nah. I’ll just chew on my coffee” said Lewis swirling the dregs in his cup. “You guys look beat. It’s after 7. What are you doing here so late? What’s the situation?” queried Alberts. Dawes tossed his magazine onto the van floor and stood up to stretch. “We’ve spent all day witnessing a colossal mess of meetings. I…

• Culture: The Organizational “12th Man”

  nicoledefalco

  7 Oct 2009 | 2:41 pm

  Lately, I’ve been juxtaposing my passions to see what ideas would form. When I fused the game of football with principles of leadership, I realized how underutilized the “12th Man” strategy is as a resource for shaping organizational dynamics. For some, it is the sunlight dappling on brilliantly colored leaves. For others, it is the crisp air so cool and refreshing. For me, the only reason not to weep openly at the passing of summer into autumn is the screech of referee whistles and the giddy feeling I get at the sound of shoulder pads cracking together. Though a strong…

• How to Delegate Effectively

  nicoledefalco

  24 Sep 2009 | 7:27 pm

  Last week’s post, The Pros and the Pros of Delegation, covered the What and the Why of effective delegation. This week’s post is about the How. Here is a step by step guide to assigning a task to someone else and then putting a system in place to provide that person with meaningful support. 1. Deciding to Delegate The first step in delegation is deciding whether or not a responsibility or task should be delegated. A good rule of thumb is for business leaders to spend the majority of their time on tasks and responsibilities that directly impact organizational or personal…

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  Bret L. Simmons: POB: Positive Organizational Behavior

• Personal Branding: Think About Your Purpose

  Bret L. Simmons

  21 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm

  The hardest part of personal branding is defining your brand.  Your brand should be a statement of your value – how you can help others address opportunities or solve problems that matter to them. As part of defining your value, you need to think about your mission – the things you do – but I don’t think you should write a mission statement. I do, however, think you should try to develop a statement of purpose – why you do the the things you do. Even though I had been purpose driven for a number of years, I still struggled to put my purpose down in words. You…

• Personal Branding: Record Before You Write

  Bret L. Simmons

  20 Nov 2009 | 9:03 pm

  My shortest video so far! My tip for using video is to make your video FIRST and then write your text around your video. I often record 3-5 video messages at a time. When I get ready to post a video, I watch it and then use what I said in the video to help me write the text for my blog post. My text can summarize the main points I discuss, and also highlight some points I forgot to discuss in my video. I find this makes crafting a blog post MUCH easier. So if writing does not come natural to you, record something you have to say first! If you think about it, most of us spend our day talking…

• Bad Employee Attitude. Really?

  Bret L. Simmons

  19 Nov 2009 | 9:20 pm

  Have you ever said to one of your employees “You have a bad attitude”?  If you have, I seriously doubt you knew what the hell you were talking about.  I see advice all the time about how to handle the employee with the “bad attitude,” and almost all of it is garbage. Think back to the last time you shared this fantastic news with one of your employees.  What probably happened was the employee did something unexpected, unappreciated, or otherwise unacceptable to you.  That rubbed you the wrong way.  What people usually mean when they say “you have a bad…

• A Failure of Followership

  Bret L. Simmons

  18 Nov 2009 | 9:29 pm

  We’ve had a crisis in leadership in business and government in this country for at least a decade, probably longer.  In my opinion, we have a crisis in followership that concerns me even more. There is no shortage of high profile public failures of leadership to point to: Jim Bakker, Bill Clinton, Jeff Skilling, Bernie Madoff, Mark Sanford, and Nidal Malik Hasan.  In each of these cases there were people who saw or should have seen the warning signs of troubling behavior but either failed to act or failed to take enough action to stop the leader. Pick your leadership failure and I…

• Leadership: Purpose Is A Bottom Line Issue

  Bret L. Simmons

  17 Nov 2009 | 9:35 pm

  Purpose is a top line issue because your customers and employees need to understand clearly why your business should matter to them.  The fact that you want to make a profit is not good enough to inspire the type of loyalty from both customers and employees that ensures you will be able to sustain growth through excellence over time. Purpose is a bottom line issue because of its ability to drive the personal and work outcomes in employees that allow you to operate your business efficiently.  If you look at the job characteristics model of Hackman and Oldman (1976), you should recognize…

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  Saying What You Mean

• Why You Should Write Your Spouse’s Resume

  nicoledefalco

  13 Nov 2009 | 8:50 am

  The other night my husband and I worked side by side to update his resume. That’s the benefit of having a business writer for a wife. You get the $500 resume for the bargain price of being the one to clear the dinner dishes. It’s been several years since the last update so I felt compelled to read through every sentence and study every bullet point. If you ever want to reinvigorate your appreciation for your spouse, I highly recommend writing his or her resume. What I thought would be an arduous task turned out to be a nostalgic trip back through our life together. I can remember…

• Influence vs. Persuasion: A Critical Distinction for Leaders

  nicoledefalco

  29 Oct 2009 | 7:15 pm

  INFLUENCE OR PERSUASION Let’s begin with a little mental gymnastics. Take a moment to decide on your definition of the words “influence” and “persuasion.” Then, decide which of the following statements falls under your definition of Influence and which falls under Persuasion: Choosing words and phrases to communicate ideas that strike a responsive chord in a target audience Socializing ideas to bring all the issues to light and earn buy-in Giving others a voice in the decision-making process Learning what keeps a person or group of people up at night Providing…

• “Productive Meeting” is Not an Oxymoron

  nicoledefalco

  21 Oct 2009 | 8:35 pm

  The Stake Out “Hey,” said Alberts as he struggled to pull what looked like a football wrapped in butcher paper out of his coat pocket. “Anybody want a sandwich?”  Both men shook their heads. “Nah. I’ll just chew on my coffee” said Lewis swirling the dregs in his cup. “You guys look beat. It’s after 7. What are you doing here so late? What’s the situation?” queried Alberts. Dawes tossed his magazine onto the van floor and stood up to stretch. “We’ve spent all day witnessing a colossal mess of meetings. I…

• Culture: The Organizational “12th Man”

  nicoledefalco

  7 Oct 2009 | 2:41 pm

  Lately, I’ve been juxtaposing my passions to see what ideas would form. When I fused the game of football with principles of leadership, I realized how underutilized the “12th Man” strategy is as a resource for shaping organizational dynamics. For some, it is the sunlight dappling on brilliantly colored leaves. For others, it is the crisp air so cool and refreshing. For me, the only reason not to weep openly at the passing of summer into autumn is the screech of referee whistles and the giddy feeling I get at the sound of shoulder pads cracking together. Though a strong…

• How to Delegate Effectively

  nicoledefalco

  24 Sep 2009 | 7:27 pm

  Last week’s post, The Pros and the Pros of Delegation, covered the What and the Why of effective delegation. This week’s post is about the How. Here is a step by step guide to assigning a task to someone else and then putting a system in place to provide that person with meaningful support. 1. Deciding to Delegate The first step in delegation is deciding whether or not a responsibility or task should be delegated. A good rule of thumb is for business leaders to spend the majority of their time on tasks and responsibilities that directly impact organizational or personal…

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  Management Blog

• Virtual flu diagnosis tool on the drawing board

  AIM Qld & NT

  18 Nov 2009 | 1:48 pm

  Queensland researchers are developing technology that could allow doctors to diagnose the flu and other illnesses via smart phones, Smart Company reports.The software firstly requires patients to cough into their smart phones; from this point the sound of the cough is analysed remotely to help doctors diagnose illnesses.Researchers claim the last 100-150 milliseconds of a cough offers characteristics capable of helping doctors identify ailments.This latest development suggests a health related smartphone trend is emerging. An iPhone and Android phone application called the Cold & Flu…

• The world's best packaging

  AIM Qld & NT

  17 Nov 2009 | 2:32 pm

  Stackable tissue boxes that look exactly like bricks. Sleek and biodegradable papier-mâché coffins. Pizza boxes that double as art pieces. Soft drink bottles that create a 'branded sound'.These are just a few examples from Fast Company's list of 12 of the world's coolest packaging designs – well worth a look if you're keen to make a creative statement about your brand.

• Think like a freelancer for a career boost

  AIM Qld & NT

  16 Nov 2009 | 1:58 pm

  A smart way to bolster your career prospects is to think like a freelancer... even if you're not intending to work as one, a recent Harvard Business blog post argues.Blogger Gina Trapani writes that freelancers are well placed to prosper, especially in difficult economic times, because they're always on the lookout for what's coming up next.The following tips are offered to help traditional workers think and work more like guns for hire. Do the hustle - freelancers are constantly networking, marketing and following trends so they're aware of what's around the corner…

• Male names work for female lawyers reveals study

  AIM Qld & NT

  15 Nov 2009 | 4:28 pm

  What's in a name? Apparently quite a lot if you're in the legal profession.A new US study has found women with masculine sounding names are more likely to be successful lawyers or judges than those with more feminine names.For example, a female with the name Cameron is said to be three times more likely to become a judge than a lawyer with the name Sue. According to news.com.au, the Clemson University study also found women with male sounding names are prone to earn higher salaries.The researchers say the study may reflect deeply ingrained attitudes in the legal world, a paradoxical…

• Take the Google interview test

  AIM Qld & NT

  12 Nov 2009 | 5:14 pm

  With a focus on workplace benefits like iPods, beanbag meeting rooms and table tennis areas, Google regularly tops lists of great places to work... but do you have what it takes to work there?To help you figure out if you're Google material interview coach Lewis Lin has put together a list of the types of questions you might be asked in a job interview with the new media mega-company.Sample questions are divided into several job roles including product marketing manager, product manager, software engineer and AdWords associate.Here's a selection of Google interview questions for the…

• 
  Emerging Leadership Circle

• Are you too literal?

  Jim Canterucci

  19 Nov 2009 | 9:15 am

  My home town sports radio station has a segment that translates what Ohio State coach Jim Tressel says in his weekly press conferences from coach-speak to what he probably really means. Let’s try that with some statements from executives: #1 – With a strong voice the CIO said to his directors, “I don’t want you worrying about interfaces, get these user decisions done and into the design.” Translation: I think you’re underestimating the difficult work necessary to coordinate all these users. Let’s not focus as much on the interfaces and get the user…

• Thomas Jefferson’s Rules of Conduct

  Jim Canterucci

  17 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

  The following is a short book preview contributed by the Ohio State University Leadership Center. From: Jay Rifenbary No Excuse! Incorporating Core Values, Accountability, and Balance Into Our Life and Career Possibility Press (2007) Never put off ’til tomorrow what you can do today. Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself. Never spend money before you have it. Never buy anything you do not want because it is cheap. Take care of your change; dollars will take care of themselves. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold. We never repent for having eaten too…

• Do you imagine you’re in charge?

  Jim Canterucci

  12 Nov 2009 | 4:14 am

  In our change communication work, one tenant is that the sergeant should carry the message. Namely, the supervisor, not the executive should bring the message to the troops. I know we’re heavy on the military analogy here but the way of describing this comes from being intrigued by the World War II movies when I was a kid. They all seemed to have a formula. Each movie had the spiffy lieutenant, just graduated from the military academy at West Point, all brassed up and shiny arriving at the battle front. The lieutenant encountered the platoon sergeant upon arrival. The sergeant was…

• Relationships

  Jim Canterucci

  10 Nov 2009 | 10:24 am

  The following is a short book preview contributed by the Ohio State University Leadership Center. From: Gergen, C. & Vanourek, G. (2008). Life entrepreneurs: ordinary people creating extraordinary lives. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Our relationships – the interpersonal connections we may have with a spouse, partner, family, friends, mentors, colleagues and others – deeply pervade our core identity. Our identity is a pale shadow without the people in our lives. According to the Zulu saying, umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu: ‘A person is a person because of other people.’ It is through the…

• When your boss is a tool

  Jim Canterucci

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:20 pm

  ELC Advisor Mike Figliuolo talks about one of his leadership maxims – Kick-Up and Kiss-Down in the ELC Lesson Creating Your Leadership Maxims – Part 3 Check out this lesson for more detail. (Membership required – Trial Membership Available). What do you do when your boss is doing the opposite of Kick-Up and Kiss-Down? Namely, Kissing Up with a focus on only communicating good news upwards and not challenging bad ideas, basically being a yes man. Assuming you can’t immediately move to another environment, here are a few techniques: Give your boss what they need to do…

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  Leadership Lessons From Triathlons

• What Sort of Super-Hero Leader Are You?

  22 Nov 2009 | 7:36 am

  In one episode of Season 3 of Heroes, the cheerleader is asked: ‘What sort of superhero are you?’ She was auditioning for a job at a comic-book store. I thought: That is a good question! If you were a leader, what sort of superhero leader would you be? Let’s steer away from the simplistic and superficial response of good and bad. Few would unhesitatingly claim ‘bad’. If you were a martinet or dictator you would still be effective. You may not like me for making tough decisions, yet somebody has to make them. Since nobody is willing to step up to the plate – I will. In making…

• Powerful Branding & Brand Leaders

  22 Nov 2009 | 2:23 am

  One of the most enduring and top-of-mind brands in the world has to be the Olympic Games. Revived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1896, the Summer Olympic Games held in Athens, Greece was the first installment in this series of once-in-four-years, international games that fondly honours the Greek Games – today known as the Olympic Movement. Brand extensions came about with the Olympics Winter Games, Paralympics and now, the Youth Olympic Games. The latter coincides with the Winter Olympic Games that has taken place in Calgary, Lake Placid, Nagano, Torino, and Vancouver in 2010. Singapore…

• Communications iPod Style

  20 Nov 2009 | 11:37 pm

  I was reading Reeves' blog again, and I was focused on the iPod navigation click system. In particular, I noticed the clock-based configuration of the buttons, namely Pause, Forward, Rewind, and Play. Just four purposeful buttons that pretty much holds the fabric of micro-technology together.I was reminded also of conversations where players led their dialogue with words like 'let's rewind', 'fast forward', 'play that back' and 'let pause for a while'. I sensed that these words refer to our internal clock (chronological as well as circadian timing), frameworks of time/place, and pacing. Now,…

• Tribal Networking Is An Active Process

  20 Nov 2009 | 9:05 pm

  Social/Tribal networking is different from business networking. Nevertheless, they share commonalities.I continue to review the power and potential of social media tools when I was on vacation. My friend, Marco was working on different time-zones with his electronic mails, Blackberry and phone-calls. Facebook is a pleasant complement in this digital compendium of connectivity. I just connected with my ex-colleague, Edward who is now based in Seattle. From my small tribe of friends on Facebook alone, I received useful advice and recommendations when I was in the Big Apple this week. I also…

• Jump-Start Your Engine

  20 Nov 2009 | 5:31 am

  I was really behind on my writing, and some work assignments until this afternoon. I needed a bright spark for my plug to re-engage my routine and rituals (see previous posting on Rituals). Our readers may know by now that I intend to make one daily posting for the next three years (thanks to Seth). It is my attempt at creating a leadership Purple Cow and applying unconventional wisdom. 10 days of travel has led me to postpone (not procrastinate) and re-pace my commitment; however, I have taken notes, made observations and researched my topics in my low-tech, lined, notebook (I abandoned the…

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  Capgemini Thought Leadership

• Cars Online 09/10

  27 Oct 2009 | 10:00 pm

  Capgemini's 11th annual global automotive study reveals car-purchasing trends, including a strong shift toward green vehicles, increasing convergence of buying behaviors in mature and developing markets, and opportunities for recovery.

• The Main Issues Facing Mid-Market CIOs in North America

  4 Oct 2009 | 10:00 pm

  Mid-market companies are under increasing pressure to sharpen their business processes in light of globalization and current economic conditions. While their needs are complex and varied, they share a common interest in using advanced technology solutions similar to those deployed by larger enterprises, but they face the constraints of limited IT budgets and resources.

• Global Vision & Reality Study, 8th Edition

  24 Sep 2009 | 10:00 pm

  In some respects, the current economic climate has brought unexpected respite to the life sciences sector. After five years of trailing behind the Dow Jones Global Large Cap Index, the pharmaceutical index is now tracking it. To survive in the future environment, companies need to adopt more radical cost reduction strategies, and to transform themselves in ways that go well beyond cost considerations.

• Moving Downstream: Selling Direct to Consumers

  24 Sep 2009 | 10:00 pm

  As consumers increasingly come to expect a more experiential shopping trip while at the same time online shopping becomes more prevalent, many consumer products manufacturers are selling their products directly to end-consumers. This Capgemini paper outlines the key factors that consumer products manufacturers should consider when assessing whether or not to move downstream.

• Preparing for the Upturn

  21 Sep 2009 | 10:00 pm

  Until the second half of 2008 market conditions allowed retailers to focus on growth and expansion. Since then, the picture looks very different. Most retailers have now put in place initiatives aimed at short-term survival and mid-term stability. Tomorrow's winners, however, will shift their focus to longer-term prosperity.

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  Top Executive Coaching with Tony Mayo

• 3 Rs of Dispute Resolution

  tonymayo

  17 Nov 2009 | 8:45 am

  Top executive coach Tony Mayo shares his recipe for resolving disputes.

• Handling Complaints

  tonymayo

  16 Nov 2009 | 4:59 am

  Detailed training and advice on handling customer complaints from top executive coach Tony Mayo.

• Strategic Intuition

  tonymayo

  11 Nov 2009 | 2:14 pm

  Experts develop deep domain knowledge that often allows them to exhibit a “sixth sense,” said ChicagoBooth professor James Schrager. … Strategy may be poised to be the next field revolutionized by the same concepts that have made behavioral economics and behavioral finance hotbeds of new ideas. It all flows from University of Chicago PhD and Nobel [...]

• Top Executive Coaching: Who, Why, What, How, When, & Where

  tonymayo

  26 Oct 2009 | 2:28 pm

  Introductory Video If you have thought about getting a coach, I suggest you start by clicking here to watch my eight minute video. I cover the most common questions of potential clients. The video is available in HD, so don’t hesitate to click the button for full screen. For those who prefer reading to watching, here is [...]

• Add Some Fun

  tonymayo

  13 Oct 2009 | 6:15 pm

  Maybe your business could make serious money by adding fun? Share it!

• 
  IS Survivor Publishing

• ManagementSpeak, 11/16/2009

  Bob Lewis

  16 Nov 2009 | 5:14 pm

  ManagementSpeak: Great idea. Put together a meeting to get everyone on board. Translation: I don’t like your idea, but I’d rather let a room full of naysayers shoot it down than tell you directly. Alan Earnshaw joins the KJR Club by providing a terrific alternative to the translation of last week’s ManagementSpeak.

• Leading without authority

  Bob Lewis

  16 Nov 2009 | 5:13 pm

  What if the CEO had no authority? Take it a step further: What if you had no authority either? Same job, same responsibilities. You gauge success the same way you gauge it today. The only difference is that you can’t exert your authority and make it stick. How much would change? Very little, I hope. Those who [...]

• ManagementSpeak, 11/9/2009

  Bob Lewis

  9 Nov 2009 | 7:59 pm

  ManagementSpeak: Great idea. Put together a meeting to get everyone on board. Translation: Great idea. Now we have to persuade a bunch of people who have no interest in it. Vince E. Angulo joins the KJR Club with this great idea.

• Thesaurus Rexx

  Bob Lewis

  9 Nov 2009 | 7:53 pm

  An over-quoted but appropriate exchange: Gregory (Scotland Yard detective): “Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?” Sherlock Holmes: “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.” Gregory: “The dog did nothing in the night-time.” Holmes: “That was the curious incident.” - Silver Blaze, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I’m not Sherlock Holmes, and [...]

• ManagementSpeak, 11/2/2009

  Bob Lewis

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:39 pm

  ManagementSpeak: We’re committed to this and are going to make it happen. Translation: You people fix it. This week’s anonymous contributor fixed a phrase whose meaning had been obscured.

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  Chaotics by Philip Kotler and John A. Caslione

• Caslione on Leadership Radio

  John Caslione

  17 Nov 2009 | 7:23 pm

  I had the pleasure of being a guest on Blogtalkradio’s Tom on Leadership to discuss how leaders can use Chaotics to prepare for and be successful throughout this Age of Turbulence.  We had a great discussion on leadership habits for strategic thinking and scenario planning that I wanted to share with you. You can find the full interview below.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

• US Unemployment: Find the Problem, Not the Solution

  John Caslione

  6 Oct 2009 | 8:40 am

  While the news of the increased unemployment isn’t the best for the US (and the world), let’s keep it in perspective and find the “silver lining” in it, albeit it in the future, as there is none at the present moment.  As we quoted in Chaotics, “It isn’t that they can’t see the solution.  It’s that they can’t see the problem.”   Seeing the problem will take a bit more time, so don’t be surprised if unemployment in the US tops 10 percent by the end of 2009 and stays there into 1Q10. More and more companies will eventually begin to realize that what we’re…

• US-Sino Trade Dispute Highlights Deeper Issues

  John Caslione

  26 Sep 2009 | 6:22 pm

  In Chaotics we identify “The Rise of the Rest” (BRIC nations - Brazil, Russia, India and China) as a key cause of Chaos with regards to global economic and political stability. For example, China’s low cost manufacturing has put great pressure on non-BRIC countries to compete in terms of price. In mid-September, the US unexpectedly imposed emergency tariffs on Chinese produced tires and poultry.  It should be noted that here the turbulence here is being generated by the US, relatively developed nation, in response to the relatie new comer, China.  This is is often the…

• Chaotics, LLC Management Consulting Platform Adds Exclusive New Partner

  John Caslione

  19 Sep 2009 | 11:19 pm

  Chaotics, LLC, an Illinois corporation founded to develop and promote Chaotics Strategies as the next breakthrough management consulting platform, is proud to announce the addition of the second exclusive Chaotics Consulting Platform Partner (C2P2).  INvincia Consulting of India will join Quartz Management Partners of Denmark.  More information on both parterns can be found below: INvencia Management Consulting Quartz Strategy Consultants Also, check out our updated Chaotics Consulting section for more information.

• Mind Tools: Chaotics Book Insights

  Chaotics

  6 Sep 2009 | 2:47 am

  Mind Tools has created an excellent review of Chaotics.  It is a great summary of the book and I wanted to share it with you.  Below is the audio or you can download a PDF of the transcript if you prefer.  Hope you find it useful! Chaotics Audio Review (Mind Tools) Chaotics Audio Review Transcript (Mind Tools)

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  QAspire Blog - Quality, Management, Leadership & Life!

• Full of Life 35

  Tanmay

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:59 am

  When I see my 3 years old daughter playing in the park, jumping, dancing, smiling and completely immersed in her play, I always tell myself, “She is full of life”. When do you say that someone is full of life? When they “pour themselves” in whatever they do. When they don’t worry much about results… …but focus on efforts. When they enjoy what they do… …and process of doing it. When they do what they really enjoy doing. When they stick to it till it gets done. When they are uber-positive about life. When they are energetic themselves… …and generate energy in people around…

• Article Series on Quality – A Round-Up

  Tanmay

  17 Nov 2009 | 9:35 pm

  As announced earlier, I am writing a very exciting series of articles on QUALITY over at ActiveGarage.com – it is a 12-part series that touches upon some of the most critical aspects of building a quality-centric organization culture. Here is a list of articles already posted so far, in case you have not read them. Quality #1: Quality is a long term differentiator Quality #2: Cure Precedes Prevention Quality #3: Great People + Good Processes = Great Quality Quality #4: Simplifying Processes Quality #5: Customers are your “Quality Partners” Quality #6: Knowing what needs improvement…

• Quotes to Energize Your Monday!

  Tanmay

  15 Nov 2009 | 8:23 pm

  Once in a month, I spend some good time reading books at Crossword. It is not only an opportunity to read/buy some great books, but also to spend some quality time with myself thinking about what I read there. The ambience at Crossword is so good for reading, I have to push myself out. I got some great books on Quality, Management, Self-Help and Motivation. As we start the week, I thought of sharing some inspiration from the book “The Treasure – Essence from World’s Greatest Motivational And Self-Help Gurus”. This book is a brilliant compilation of great thoughts from all time great…

• Announcing the article series - “QUALITYtweet”

  Tanmay

  10 Nov 2009 | 5:45 am

  I am glad to announce a series of articles on Quality that I will be writing at Activegarage.com. This series is a collection of 12 chosen tweets from my upcoming book “#QUALITYtweet – 140 Bite-Sized Ideas to Deliver Quality in Every Project” and ideas that expand 12 tweets from the book. These insights will help readers frame their quality strategy by effectively leveraging processes, people and leadership to build a customer-centric organization. This series will run for almost over two weeks with one article being posted everyday. The first one “Quality is a long-term…

• What NOT to do in Customer Service 7

  Tanmay

  4 Nov 2009 | 10:22 am

  I know I have been silent since long, thanks to hectic travel last week. I was in Helsinki (Finland) again in the past week where I met a few customers. What a learning experience it has been! When you are in a meeting with customer, you have an opportunity to: Add value to them (so much so that they pull their notepad out and start taking notes) Learn about communication, what works and what doesn’t. How you utilize these two opportunities makes a huge difference to the business. Even my travel was a great learning experience. Here is a brief account of what happened - I was scheduled to…

• 
  churchrelevance.com

• Church via the White Man (a collateral damage issue)

  Kent Shaffer

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:39 pm

  The majority of church leaders influencing other Church leaders (particularly in the Western hemisphere) through writing books, speaking at conferences, and doing the whole digital media thing are white men. Statistically, I expect this to change by the end of this century because of the demographic shift of Hispanics in the Western hemisphere and the growth of Christianity in the Eastern hemisphere. But for now, it is the white man’s world… so to speak. And unfortunately, unanticipated collateral damage can happen because of it. UPDATE: To clarify, I am not saying that whites…

• Building Kindergartens is Stuff Christians Like

  Kent Shaffer

  13 Nov 2009 | 2:42 pm

  Jon Acuff of Stuff Christians Like challenged his readers to raise $30,000 to build a kindergarten in Vietnam through Samaritan’s Purse. They did so within 18 hours. Now the goal has been raised to $60,000 to build 2 kindergartens in Vietnam through Samaritan’s Purse. You can help! Donate to give kids in Vietnam a free education. Sponsored by: MichaelHyatt.com Web 2.0 has changed your followers expectations about leadership. To be effective today, you need to adapt your leadership style in SEVEN ways. Do you know what they are? Welcome to Leadership 2.0.

• Half of U.S. Kids Use Food Stamps Before Age 20

  Kent Shaffer

  4 Nov 2009 | 6:55 am

  Mark R. Rank of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis co-authored a study analyzing the financial circumstances of U.S. kids (ages 1-20) over a period of 30 years. Key findings include: 49% of all U.S. kids will be in a household that uses food stamps at some point during their childhood. >> 90% of black kids >> 37% of white kids >> 91% of kids in single-parent homes >> 37% of kids in married homes Nearly 25% of all U.S. kids will be in households that use food stamps for 5+ years during childhood. 97% of U.S. kids by age…

• SimChurch by Douglas Estes

  Kent Shaffer

  21 Oct 2009 | 9:35 am

  SimChurch is a book by Douglas Estes of Western Seminary (San Jose, CA) and Berryessa Valley Church (San Jose, CA) that explores the answers to the question, “what does it mean to ‘do’ church in the virtual world?” I had an opportunity to ask Douglas Estes a question of my own: What are the main advantages that a virtual church has that a brick and mortar church doesn’t? Here is what Douglas said: The average Christian in our world today is only vaguely aware of the coming role of the internet in being and doing church, and many are stuck on the questions of whether…

• Andy Stanley on Creating a Healthy Work Culture

  Kent Shaffer

  9 Oct 2009 | 2:27 pm

  Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA) closed Catalyst Conference’s last and 10th session by discussing how to create a healthy work culture at your church.. Here is what he said: I think that your church and your church culture should be the healthiest organizational culture in your city. I think that business people in your city should stop by during the week and say, “Wow! I have never seen an organization run so well!” I am not talking about on Sunday. I am talking about your church’s weekly work culture. Think about this. In the local church…

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  Management Craft

• The Value of Simplicity - Do You Know What Simple Feels Like?

  Lisa Haneberg

  18 Nov 2009 | 4:27 am

  I am just back from Bhutan and Thailand. I will post more about what I learned on the trip in the coming days, but here is just a quick thought. Simplicity is beautiful. We gunk up our lives and our work and our desks and our wardrobes and our friendships and our teams and our processes with more complexity and complication than is needed, I think. We need to experience simplicity to really feel it's power and pleasantness. I stayed for three days in a valley that has no electricity except for a few hours of solar power or power from small individual generators. The valley could have…

• The power of great mentorship - "Direction" from Lisa Edwards

  Lisa Haneberg

  13 Nov 2009 | 2:50 am

  Here is another guest post and story from Lisa Edwards called Direction. This one is profound - I love Lisa E's stories. You can also check out her book here. She makes a great point about how a bad experience or misfire can create a whole new opportunity. How can you use this story to further your goals this week? Direction “Keep looking up.”   Dick Damrow  All of us have a mid-life crisis at some point in our lives.  Some of us have it later in life, others have it early on. I was lucky.  My mid-life crisis happened in my early thirties. Several years before then, I had returned…

• Creating Accountability

  Lisa Haneberg

  10 Nov 2009 | 3:24 am

  Here's an interesting article about accountability from Bob Prosen on The Street called, Helping Your Company Win: The Innovators. He offers several ways we can assess our role and priorities and practices to improve clarity and accountability. Check it out.

• The Four Conversations: Communication That Gets Results

  Lisa Haneberg

  4 Nov 2009 | 3:23 am

  Over the last few weeks, I have been trying to get caught up on my business book reading - I was SOOO behind. I will be out of the country for the next three weeks, so I have cued up several posts about great books. These posts will be about books I recommend, because I don't have time to write about a book I would not recommend you buy.Sixty percent of all management problems result from faulty communication. ~Peter DruckerThis post is about a unique book called, The Four Conversations: Communication That Gets Results by Jeffrey Ford and Laurie Ford. I first met the Fords about 15 years ago.

• The Unforced Error - Why Some Managers Get Promoted While Others Get Eliminated

  Lisa Haneberg

  2 Nov 2009 | 3:55 am

  Over the last few weeks, I have been trying to get caught up on my business book reading - I was SOOO behind. I will be out of the country for the next three weeks, so I have cued up several posts about great books. These posts will be about books I recommend, because I don't have time to write about a book I would not recommend you buy.This post is about a very fun and helpful book called The Unforced Error by Jeffrey Krames (you can listen to the podcast I did with Jeffrey about his last book, Inside Drucker's Brain, here). I love this book - it is written with such style and texture -…

• 
  All Things Workplace

• HR & Social Media: What Would Jesus Do?

  Steve Roesler

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:07 am

  Are you an HR person wrestling with how best to use social media?You've got plenty of company.At this week's IQPC Corporate University sessions there was an entire two-day track dedicated to Social Media. Speakers included Sharlyn Lauby and Jessica Lee, HR pros who know their way around the online community and the tools available to best do that. The questions from the audience surprised me since I've been online for some time: 1. Do we need legal regulations before we start using social media? (This was the starting point for a lot of people; their management wanted to nail down any…

• Men and Achievement: More Romantic Than Engaged?

  Steve Roesler

  17 Nov 2009 | 7:28 pm

  Eureka, I've found it! Business-related research that finally allows the kind of cheesy headline to attract readers from all genres while losing my core group in the process. Please say you'll still love me in the morning. The headline in Science Daily reads:Men Choose Romance Over Success Men may be more willing than women to sacrifice achievement goals for a romantic relationship. This according to a new study by Catherine Mosher of Duke Medical Center and Sharon Danoff-Burg from the University of Albany. The findings challenge preconceptions that women are more likely to prioritize people…

• Five Good Tips For Busy People

  Steve Roesler

  16 Nov 2009 | 7:35 am

  "Unless you are an hourly worker in America, boundaries between work and leisure are dead. Work bleeds into life, and life bleeds into work. People have the smart phone, aka the “digital leash”. Work will never be the same. It’s already gone."          Kris Dunn, VP of People, DAXKO, The Blurring Line Between Work and Life___________________________________________Kris and the group speak the truth. We all know it although we may not like it. So, what do you do to "mesh" the elements of your life without it becoming blurry. I'm not a fan of blurry; clarity yields a more…

• The Paradox of Choices

  Steve Roesler

  13 Nov 2009 | 6:20 am

  The rallying cry of product managers and politicians is "Choices! We offer choices!"My observation?  We really don’t like having too many choices. It makes us a little nervous. Every option leads to a chance to foul something up. Heck, a lot of people are more worried about not being wrong than about being right. So, we allow our experiences and habits to narrow our options to just a couple of familiar ones. It reduces the anxiety and relieves stress.So, how do you make genuine changes faced with the siren song of habits?The first move is to re-capture your sense of conscious choice in…

• Too Busy Doing Business to Do Business?

  Steve Roesler

  12 Nov 2009 | 8:58 am

   Yesterday I met with a corporate Executive VP in New York City. I'll call him Phil. Phil said his division was struggling. But instead of leading the charge to turn things around, he was being called into meetings regularly to make lengthy, detailed, Powerpoint presentations explaining what was wrong. He was too busy doing business to be doing the business. Interestingly, one of his recommendations was for the company to get out of some of its operations because they were draining money and other resources. He explained that his people were spending too much time on things that no longer…

• 
  Lip-Sticking

• The First Three Things I Do Every Morning

  Mary Schmidt

  20 Nov 2009 | 9:15 am

  By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter From my "match your marketing tactics to your (best) customers" fileAdmit it – were you anxiously awaiting this to pop up in your RSS feed?  Are you waiting in breathless anticipation to the next email popping up in your in-box? No? Well, same here. Here’s what I do every morning, first thing in the office: 1. Open up maryschmidt email. Delete several unopened. This even when I know the sender. There are several well-meaning people that bombard me with emails on everything from lost cats to unrequested/unneeded meeting notices.

• Ways to Measure Social Media using Key Conversation Indicators

  Donna DeClemente

  18 Nov 2009 | 1:59 pm

  By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo TalkYesterday I helped plan and execute a breakfast event for RAMA, our local Rochester chapter of the AMA (American Marketing Association). Our speaker was David Berkowitz who came to share his insights on ways to measure social media. This is a question that most marketers and business owners are asking since we are now seeing a phenomenal growth from those of all ages engaging online in some form of social media. Not a black and white, easy thing to deliver at this time, but as Jeffrey Hayzlett, CMO of Kodak, said last week when he spoke…

• On the road to Colorado

  Yvonne

  17 Nov 2009 | 4:34 am

  OMG! OMG! OMG! WE'RE OFF! Today starts our week long road trip to Colorado. We'll be living near one daughter and one granddaughter (have two of the first but only one of the second). Will try to post and send pics, via the phone as we go along. Many of you know that I have a 17 year old kitty (the Wabby Wibby, herself) who will be riding in the back and wailing all the way, methinks! She is already confused (and much displeased) over the interruption in her life as we pack everything away and empty the house. Stay tuned for news from the road. And many bits of whining as we will arrive in…

• How *NOT* to Ask Someone Whom You Don't Know to Use their Social Juice to Help You

  Lena West

  16 Nov 2009 | 12:20 pm

  by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia Warning: This blog post is long, but worth it.Last week, on November 8th at 12:26pm, I received a voice mail from Michelle Christie representing a group of local women who were getting together having some sort of event. They called themselves Motivators & Creators and they were having a Women's Expo on November 23rd, at a local hotel and wanted my help promoting the event.As this was my first week back from being out of the office for a retreat, I asked my assistant to call her back and get the pertinent details. (I…

• Researching the Women's Market - What They Leave Out

  Mary Schmidt

  13 Nov 2009 | 9:32 am

  Raise your hand if you: a. are over 50. b. are happily single; c. weren't born a female; d. aren't a mother; e. aren't heterosexual; f. some combo of a-e. Oops! You're invisible (right along with me and most of my friends.) By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter I've designed and conducted quite a bit of market research and analysis over the past three decades.  And, here's an inherent problem with any kind of research: no matter how objective you want to be - you tend to skew research to fit your world view and interpret any findings via that same view. (Eating a lot of…

• 
  Learn to Duck

• Lets All Do The Crowdsource

  Micah

  10 Nov 2009 | 9:55 pm

  Have you heard of the new dance craze that all the kids are doing? Its call the Crowdsource, and it goes like this: Throw your hands in the air and scream “Man! We are super busy!” Shake your head and yell “Have you heard of the craze sweeping the nation? Its called the Crowdsource. The Crowdsource!” Shrug your shoulders and exclaim “Its cool. You get everyone else to do your work for you!” Then you clap your hands, smile and with a knowing, hip smile, laughingly announce “Lets do this!” Repeat until you realize that you are a moron and have no…

• Scream Like a Girl

  Micah

  8 Nov 2009 | 5:57 pm

  Night before last I went to see the Pinback show with my friend Eric Marcoullier . I almost didnt go. After all, I had just finished eleven straight days of travel, which included meetings in NYC, speaking New Orleans at Tribecon (an amazing experience!), my grandmother’s funeral in San Jose and the Techstars reunion in Seattle. Im glad I went. The band was fun, the venue, the Ogden Theatre, is always great (sort of a large version of the Fox in Boulder). As the band began to play, Eric and I were about 5 feet or so from the front. Standing against the stage were three girls. Each…

• A loss for words.

  Micah

  30 Oct 2009 | 12:51 pm

  My grandmother died yesterday. It wasnt sudden, nor was it a surprise. Doesnt mean it was less sad. I had been traveling, most recently speaking at TribeCon in New Orleans, when my mom called to say it wasnt looking good. “What does that mean?” I asked. “It means she is probably going to die.” I felt a bit guilty having fun in New Orleans, which was a LOT of fun (I got yelled at for checking into so many places on FourSquare), but I knew there was nothing I could do. “She is unconscious,” my mom told me. “What does that mean?” I asked. “It…

• The Law of Minicycles

  Micah

  26 Oct 2009 | 1:54 pm

  Over the past few weeks, I have been heads down focusing on getting my new project funded, getting the tech team moving in the right direction, and getting customers. All with an eye towards launch. Its a fun, frustrating and exciting time. Its what makes startups fun. But in the midst of all this hubbub, a simple pattern is emerging. When you look at the lifecycle of a startup, there are really three major parts: The Build Up, The Execution and The Exit. Of course, you can read plenty of articles and books that provide a deeper and more complex view, but I am just not that complex. The Build…

• I Bleed.

  Micah

  19 Oct 2009 | 4:59 pm

  I bleed a lot. Not in a horrible, unhealthy physically or mentally way, but it just seems that I often find new cuts on my arms, feet, legs. Now, I do live with animals, and so I can, for example, attribute the blood on my chest from a misguided attempt by Billie (my dog) to remove my nipple, or as the kids say “play with me.” A second ago, I got up from my desk, and I noticed that the bottom of my foot was cut. Not sure how I cut it, but its cut nonetheless. Why does this matter? I’ll get to that. One of my favorite songs is Please Bleed, by Ben Harper. The equates the…

• 
  Secret Women's Business Network

• It’s Our Birthday! A Year of the Secret Women’s Business Network

  Lisa

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:25 pm

  It’s hard to believe that a year ago today (5th November 2008) the Secret Women’s Business Network blog was born. The SWBN itself was born from a germ of an idea a couple of months earlier, but the blog became our official public face and we’ve shared some interesting developments and events over that year; from competitions to crazies (you know who you are), fun stuff to special reports, Cool Tools to interviews with some great business people, and a lot more in between. To mark our blog birthday we’ve decided to share some of our highlights of the past year with…

• Due Diligence

  Allison

  24 Oct 2009 | 4:14 am

  The sad thing about this post is that it won’t be read by those that need it most. The newcomer to the internet who is looking for the goose that will lay the golden egg for them. We were all there once, shiny new in our ignorance, afraid and excited at the same time. Reminds me of the first day I opened the doors on my first business. Even though it was a well established existing business in a prime position that couldn’t help but make money, I was freaking out that I would do something wrong and mess the whole thing up. Along the way I did make mistakes (never hire family as a…

• Social Media: The Realm of Naughty Children and Their Mischievous Games

  Lisa

  19 Oct 2009 | 7:21 am

  Last Friday, thanks to Twitter, it came to my attention that a particularly nasty article had been written in the Daily Mail by Jan Moir about the death of singer Stephen Gately. I avoid reading newspapers for this very reason – slanted, biased and (as in the case of the Daily Mail which was our family’s newspaper during my formative years) often bigoted writing. I won’t go into great detail about the article originally entitled (and then changed after the complaints started to reach the Daily Mail) “Why there was nothing ‘natural’ about Stephen…

• What About GOOD Customer Service?

  Lisa

  16 Oct 2009 | 4:48 am

  We’re always quick to shout about bad customer service, so here’s some GOOD for a change. In the UK we have been experiencing a bunch of postal strikes, and many businesses (including Amazon) have sought out new ways to get mail delivered. LoveFilm is probably the UK’s biggest internet-based DVD rental company and rely on Royal Mail to deliver their DVDs to customers. I have been a HUGE fan of LoveFilm since the beginning and have always had great customer service from them. This latest offering to their customers is really the icing on the cake, and what makes a good…

• Making Our Little Dent

  Allison

  15 Oct 2009 | 2:43 am

  I just watched Chris Brogan’s second vidcast on being An Overnight Success and felt the excitement of being able to say “Yes we ARE doing something about spreading what we have learned with people who need help”. In fact we are sending out emails shortly to those who are joining us, to put what we know and what they can do, into ACTION. I challenge every one of our readers to go out and help one person this week using what you already know. Have a chat to your kid’s teacher, or the local petrol station owner, or the mailman. If you are reading this blog then you have…

• 
  Biz Growth News - branding, business development and new media tips to attract more clients in less time

• Online Video Insights From Phil Scott of Kodak

  Krishna De

  17 Nov 2009 | 5:31 am

  At the Content is King conference, Phil Scott, VP of the VP of the Consumer Digital Group of Kodak spoke about the transition that Kodak has made from photography to video. He presented the history of Kodak and a few dates caught my attention: 1975 – worlds first digital camera prototype was developed by Kodak 1997 – they created the world’s first 1.0 mega pixel camera. He then went on to share some thoughts about online video and suggested that before we create our online video we need to start with is defining what success would look like in terms of the number of views…

• The 3 most common issues that people have when looking to implement their website in a different language

  Krishna De

  16 Nov 2009 | 2:07 am

  This is the second in a three part series in conversation with Mark Rodgers, the Managing Director of Cipherion Translations where we discuss the opportunities that the internet presents to us if we wish to expand our business internationally. In the first article we explored under what circumstances we should consider translating our website into another language. I then went on to ask Mark what the three most common issues people have when looking to implement their website in a different language. Mark: I think the first issue is that so many Irish business people seem to have this notion…

• European Study Predicts Online Advertising To Increase By More Than 7% in 2010

  Krishna De

  16 Nov 2009 | 12:38 am

  The Marketers’ Internet Ad Barometer, forecasts that online ad spend across Europe will grow even more rapidly in 2011 with budgets expected to grow by 15% year-on-year. This forecast by the European Interactive Advertising Association – which counts AOL, BBC, MTV, eBay and Conde Nast as members – will raise hopes that marketers are beginning to regain confidence and increase their budgets across the board. EIAA also found that while TV ad spend may be under pressure, websites such as ITV.com that offer programmes online are starting to catch on with marketers. via…

• When should we translate our website into another language?

  Krishna De

  13 Nov 2009 | 8:33 am

  I recently had the opportunity to meet with Mark Rodgers, the Managing Director of Cipherion Translations and we started to talk about the opportunities that the internet presents to us if we wish to expand our business internationally. Mark ’s business provides a translation and localisation service and are based in Dublin. Cipherion Translations regularly work with Irish organisations as they take their first steps in developing a global presence. Mark also heads up the Irish Internet Association’s International Strategy Working Group. I suggested to Mark that he might like to share…

• Dublin Twitterville Tweetup With Shel Israel Thanks To @Twtvite

  Krishna De

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:54 am

  I’ve always wanted to find an excuse to use the great Tweetup platform of Twtvite after I saw an invitation for an event that my friends Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson were organising for a Tweetup in the US. Today I tested out the platform when creating a Tweetup invitation for an event with another Shel – this time Shel Israel author of the new book Twitterville. Long time podcasting pal, Adrian Moss, who I met a few years ago at the Corporate Podcasting Summit where we were both speaking,  dropped me a direct message on Twitter some weeks ago to say that his company Parity…

• 
  Lean Six Sigma Academy

• Stand Up Desk To Go

  Ron Pereira

  17 Nov 2009 | 5:43 pm

  I was on the road last night doing some work  in my hotel room. After an hour or so my back started to hurt from the crappy chair I was sitting in so I decided to create my very own “stand up desk to go” in honor of my recent home office stand up desk. And for the record… my little arrangement worked great!  See what a little creativity and problem solving can accomplish? The RSS feed content you are reading is copyrighted by the author, Ron Pereira. If you are reading this material on a site other than LSS Academy, the web site is likely infringing on the author's…

• My New Stand Up Desk

  Ron Pereira

  15 Nov 2009 | 7:03 pm

  I first witnessed so called “stand up desks” in Japan during my JKE trip. As an aside you can read about this amazing trip here, here, here, here, and here. Anyhow, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the idea.  I mean come on… standing up all the time… seriously?  The claims are that those that always stand are far more productive than those that sit in comfortable chairs. Kevin Takes Action Well, a few months after I got back from Japan my friend Kevin Meyer went on this same JKE trip and saw the same thing I did.  The only difference is Kevin took action…

• UK Folding Plug – Brilliant Innovation

  Ron Pereira

  11 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

  As a frequent traveler to the UK I can definitely appreciate this device.  It’s simple, yet profound.  I am not sure if it is available for purchase yet… but if it is I plan to buy one next time I fly across the pond. What do you think of this device? Thumbs up? The RSS feed content you are reading is copyrighted by the author, Ron Pereira. If you are reading this material on a site other than LSS Academy, the web site is likely infringing on the author's copyright.

• Cardinal Virtues and Leadership Series: Prudence

  Ron Pereira

  27 Oct 2009 | 9:36 am

  “In everything consider the consequences.” - La Fontaine A few articles ago I proposed the idea that successful leaders, in addition to being humble, should also practice the 4 Cardinal virtues. I also committed to expand on this idea with more thoughts on each virtue. As such, tonight we begin this journey with a discussion of the Cardinal virtue of prudence. Prudence Defined There are many definitions of prudence available such as the exercise of sound judgment in practical affairs. But what does this really mean? More specifically, how does a leader of people practice this…

• Your Important Feedback Requested: A Simple 2 Question Survey

  Ron Pereira

  26 Oct 2009 | 2:01 pm

  I would really appreciate your thoughts on this simple, 2 question survey that should take less than 30 seconds to complete. A big thanks in advance for your time and valuable insight! Click Here to take survey The RSS feed content you are reading is copyrighted by the author, Ron Pereira. If you are reading this material on a site other than LSS Academy, the web site is likely infringing on the author's copyright.

• 
  CO2Partners - Just Ask Leadership

• Braking News on Baja Race - This is a race that is almost impossible to finish!

  21 Nov 2009 | 9:45 am

  CO2 Partners sponsors Peter Hajas and Team in the UTV Baja 500! They are at mile 445 in the 680 mile race! Peter drove thefirst quadrant, his brother the second, another guy the third, andabout now Peter is getting in the car for the last run. In thebeginning of the race at mile 8 they were going to pass a Volkswagen.The procedure involves a lot of honking, then you pass. As our carwas passing, the Volkswagen politely moves sideways to get out of theway, but moved the wrong way and hit our car! Peter thought it wasover at mile 8. Their frame is bent and they've been driving theentire way like…

• CO2 official sponsor in Baja Race

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  CO2 is the official sponsor of and logo has been applied to Car 1818, UTV Class, in preparation for today's Baja Race. The car is, as I type, at the starting line, revving its engines, in Ensenada Mexico, where many locals are lining the street cheering madly..

• Are you creating the value of your salary?

  20 Nov 2009 | 6:52 am

  Last night at the fundraiser I was sitting next to a really terrific guy who spends his time similar to me as an Executive Coach. When he described his career he mentioned that he worked for General Mills in Human Resources. One day he realized that he had to put his suite coat on to walk down the hall for a meeting if he did not want to get any strange glances. It seems to have been the culture. And he thought how wild that was, this is not for me he said to himself.Soon after he decided to work for a small company about 120 employees in the suburbs and down the hall from his cube was the…

• The listening House

  19 Nov 2009 | 4:34 pm

  The question they ask and answer; What can I do for you?The listening house fundraiser in St. Paul tonight. Organizations like this that know the guiding question know how to stay focused on those they serve. T night they had us come to there table.

• Opentable better than calling

  14 Nov 2009 | 5:10 pm

  We were across the street from Tejas in Edina after seeing an amazing movie! Skin. And our friends called for a reservation and they were told 45 minutes. I said give me a minute! I logged in to opentable app on iPhone and zip zing we got a reservation for 4 in ten minutes. Walked across the street and they sat us immediately! Advice for leaders who dine out and don't always have reservation. Get Opentable.com

• 
  Directionally Correct

• Hey CIO, How Are Your Marketing Skills?

  Russ Aebig

  22 Nov 2009 | 6:47 am

  Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant — Gen Alfred Gray, USMC Marketing is about understanding and addressing markets. Marketing is about communication. Marketing is about positioning.  Marketing is about promotion.   Every IT organization I’ve worked with has been self admittedly weak at all of these. Strategically, understanding the IT customer base is critical. Most commonly this means the business units which IT supports.  This is the market is who will use IT services. Today anticipation and preparation for the…

• The Inflection Point

  Russ Aebig

  18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  The Inflection PointIf we do not learn from history, we shall be compelled to relive it.  True.  But if we do not change the future, we shall be compelled to endure it.  And that could be worse.  – Alvin Toffler As organizations grow the technology needs of an organization change – and sometimes change quickly and profoundly. Early stage companies have very specific needs and limited funds to work with. Procure and support laptops and a few servers, accounting software to install and manage, put together a few Access database systems, Excel spreadsheets, a website, email, and…

• Soft Statements vs Hard Reality

  Russ Aebig

  10 Nov 2009 | 2:52 am

  Soft Statements vs Hard RealityHappy is said to be the family which can eat onions together. They are, for the time being, separate, from the world, and have a harmony of aspiration. — Charles Dudley Warner Quick, do you want to be seen as a compassionate organization or a tough as nails, take no prisoners type of organization? If your company is like most, your mission statement and set of corporate approved values portray your company as being very compassionate. The picture painted is that people who work at your organization are more like family members than employees.  The family…

• Blindspots

  Russ Aebig

  15 Oct 2009 | 12:28 pm

  Blindspots The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it.  – George Bernard Shaw I play hockey.  Nothing serious, just beer league hockey.  For the most part we are of similar levels of ability with the exception of the occasional college or ex-professional player who drops by to get a skate in.  I have played hockey since I was four years old and the core of my current team has been together for around twenty years.   In our minds eye we all remember how we played at our peak.  Everyone knows we…

• The Walls Came Tumbling Down

  Russ Aebig

  30 Sep 2009 | 5:14 am

  The Walls Came Tumbling Down In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. — Eric Hoffer I came across a wonderful book a while ago entitled “And The Walls Came Tumbling Down” by Michael S.Lief and H. Mitchell Caldwell. This book looks at the lives and closing arguments of the trial lawyers on the cases that changed the world as we know it. The cases documented include protecting free speech, winning women’s sufferage, and defending the right to die.

• 
  Malcolm Out Loud

• Fort Hood Shooting Investigation Continues…

  MalcolmOutLoud

  15 Nov 2009 | 10:04 am

  The AP reports that the FBI and the Department of the Army continue working closely together in an attempt to bring answers forward regarding the Fort Hood tragedy.  The Army Criminal Investigation Division is leading a coordinated criminal investigation with the support of the FBI and other components of the Department of Justice and the Texas Rangers. As the ongoing investigation continues, the shooting is being questioned by many. Were the signs all there? Could they have taken Major Hassan down before this tragic event? We may never know all the answers to these questions. As frustrating…

• No Fame for Criminals

  MalcolmOutLoud

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:47 pm

  It’s been an absolutely horrendous couple of days for many. Both the Fort Hood and the Orlando killings were senseless acts of violence. The Fort Hood terror is the largest mass killing on a military base in this country, while the office building terror in Orlando is yet another example of a disgruntled employee gone mad. It’s incredibly sad that these sick people want to take out as many people as they can, while they claim their moment of fame. I hope they each settle in for a long journey to hell. As these freaks of nature attempt to claim their fame, I for one would like to…

• Brink Thinking Discussion Forum: Financial Reform

  MalcolmOutLoud

  2 Nov 2009 | 11:49 am

  Tune in on November 5th, 2009 at 4 pm for a special show on the validity and effects of the proposed financial reform. Panelists: Scott Price, Director, Align CPAs Burton Wiand, Attorney, Burton Wiand, Attorney, Wiand Guerra King P.L. Alex Sanchez, President and CEO of the Florida bankers association * Is the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency a good thing? What effect will it have on banks especially if states are given rights to enact stricter legislation? * What role will the SEC play in financial reform? Will they be able to control executive compensation? * What new…

• My inspiration: “Free at Great Cost”

  MalcolmOutLoud

  27 Oct 2009 | 1:55 pm

  Markus Pierson’s Free at Great Cost Credit

• Guest Post: On the Brink of Amazing

  MalcolmOutLoud

  9 Oct 2009 | 10:45 am

  Guest Post by Steven Aitchison from Change Your Thoughts LISTEN TO STEVEN AITCHISON ON THE MALCOLM OUT LOUD SHOW 9/30/09 What does it mean to be Amazing? Well, for everybody it’s different. I think I am Amazing because I love writing and teaching people about personal development, and it makes me feel I am giving something back. On the other hand, I don’t think I am amazing as I can’t help my son with his maths homework (way over my head now), however, my son still thinks I am amazing for other reasons. My son thinks he’s amazing as he is great at being creative, but…

• 
  BLOG.SOGETTINGRICH.COM

• Your Thoughts & Words Determine your Destiny

  SoGettingRich1122

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:15 am

  It's not that others are smarter or luckier than you. Some people are just more aware of the power of their thoughts and words. Cancer has often been called the "hate disease" because of the inner havoc unforgiveness causes to the human body. The human body is made of predominately of water and responds to thoughts as well as audible words.Unfortunately some people are their own worst enemy. Can you spend the whole day committed to thinking positive and uplifting thoughts?Do you remember as a child how hard it was to stay mad at someone? Adults can hold onto old hurts and failures for life.

• Billions of Dollars and Unlimited Time....

  SoGettingRich1122

  16 Oct 2009 | 11:32 am

  People always talk about what they'd do when they retire or if they had a billion dollars. Yet what most people don't realize is it's the goal that determines the momentum in getting there.The universe has a way of guiding those whose goals serve mankind in some way.Sound strange? Maybe. Makes sense. Definately.Dreaming is free and most genius minds - moguls - inventors and strategists DREAM BIG and often.Now it's your turn.If you had an annual income of one billion dollars (or Euro) for life and had all the time in the world, what would you do?Start dreaming now........Feel free to join…

• Learn How to Increase Your Income 1000%

  SoGettingRich1122

  13 Oct 2009 | 1:00 pm

  We'll Send You Materials that will help you achieve this FASTER >CLICK HERE< to get what you need. Same material used by millionaires! Share

• Why Would Anyone Buy Bad Loans for Pennies on the Dollar?

  SoGettingRich1122

  3 Oct 2009 | 7:24 pm

  Q: Why Would Anyone Buy Bad Loans for Pennies on th Dollar?A: Simple. Because people are making MILLIONS and some even BILLIONS of dollars return on their investment! The recent bank bailout will quadruple the number of every day bankrupt - unemployed - or  otherwise disheartened pre-forclosed and foreclosed on people when they realize that they could very well qualify for 100% financing to buy these loans - collect full or near full payments and keep 100% of the profits. (especially if there's a woman - veteran or minority in the household)What are you talking about?Get…

• The So Getting Rich 90 Day Challenge ~ Achieve Your Most Cherished Goal!

  SoGettingRich1122

  1 Oct 2009 | 4:41 pm

  What 's your goal? What is your personal desire or quest if you will?We invite you to go BEYOND The Secret and attain your EVERY worthwhile goal.              CREATE YOUR OWN YELLOW BRICK ROAD!             Several people are taking the 90 Day Challenge.                We invite you to do the same!  Comment | Copy ThisIs there something you've wanted to achieve but haven't managed to do it on…

• 
  Frame of Reference

• More Than One Solution-Strategy

  Chris Fillebrown

  21 Nov 2009 | 4:30 am

  Frame of Reference advocates using more than one solution-strategy. There is no one strategy that should be used to the exclusion of all others. The more solution-strategies that you know, the better you will be at solving problems. Learn as many solution-strategies as you can and think about how each one can be used to [...]

• Brainstorm Your Problems Into Solution

  Chris Fillebrown

  18 Nov 2009 | 5:20 pm

  Brainstorming is a solution-strategy <link> that occurs most naturally within groups of individuals. When someone within a group perceives a problem, the group engages the problem. The group then generates a number of ideas in order to find a solution to the problem. If you have adopted a solution-strategy approach to solving problems <link>, brainstorming is [...]

• A Solution-Strategy Approach To Solving Problems

  Chris Fillebrown

  14 Nov 2009 | 12:19 pm

  A Solution-Strategy Approach to Solving Problems ================================================ By definition, everyone uses a solution-strategy to solve problems. For the most part, people use a solution-strategy without thinking about it, or even being aware of it. You learned your personal solution-strategies through your education. Your rate of adopting solution-strategies probably slowed when you entered the work force. You are [...]

• Can the Scientific Method Solve Business Problems?

  Chris Fillebrown

  12 Nov 2009 | 5:29 pm

  < The scientific method is an solution-strategy for business problems. The essence of the scientific method is 'trial and error'. Sounds like the way you solve problems in your business, right? The scientific method was designed for regulating the trial and error process.

• What’s the main concept, and how does it get started?

  Chris Fillebrown

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:53 pm

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  The Management Blog

• Managers 'must boost confidence levels'

  17 Nov 2009 | 3:31 am

  Managers should try everything they can to boost business confidence levels, according to one expert. Figures released by Lloyds TSB reveal that confidence fell for the second month in a row during October, although the figure is still higher than it was at the start of the year. John Grange, an adviser at Business Link, believes that management skills can be used to arrest this decline. He urged businesses to examine new ideas which could propel them out of the doldrums. Mr Grange said: "Be proactive and be innovative. Not everything will work and the only unacceptable answer is doing…

• Seven Ways to Be a Better Manager in a Recession

  12 Nov 2009 | 1:17 am

  Here are seven tips to help you manage your staff efficiently despite marketplace pressures and decreased morale.  1. Talk often and in person Get out there and talk to your staff about what’s going on with the company. Be as transparent as possible about where the company stands. Give employees the numbers behind company performance as this clarifies for them where the business needs to change and how their jobs connect to the bigger picture. It’s also a good time to put a stop to any rumours circulating. 2. Get creative about cuts If there’s any way you can save money…

• Some businesses 'still scared of technology'

  12 Nov 2009 | 12:27 am

  Not understanding new technology could be hampering businesses, according to experts. "Among some businesses, there is still a lack of understanding of new technologies that allow flexible and remote working, such as cloud computing, as well as a fear of cost," according to Rob Lovell, chief executive officer of ThinkGrid, a cloud IT services provider. Remote working, which means working away from the office, is something that employees are keen on. Research from both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Citrix GoToMyPC found that employees want to put the time they spend commuting…

• 'Green' apprentice scheme launched

  10 Nov 2009 | 2:33 am

  A raft of new initiatives which will aim to get young people from deprived communities into green projects has been launched by the communities secretary John Denham. The green apprenticeships will be offered to 175 young people, and will see them work in parks and gardens. Councils around the country will invite budding horticulturists to apply for green apprenticeships. It is part of the government plans to attempt to tackle the number of young people not in employment, education or training. Commenting on the announcement of the scheme, a spokesperson for Green Alliance, said: "This…

• New projects launched for National Stress Awareness Day

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:42 am

  November 4th National Stress Awareness Day (NSAD) and people are being urged to look at different ways of coping with the harmful effects of stress. Now in its 11th year and organised annually by the International Stress Management Association (ISMA), it aims to help people suffering from stress by highlighting the many sources of help available and giving free advice to people. Business managers are especially being encouraged to seek advice. Ann McCracken, chair of ISMA, says: "Stress, depression and anxiety accounts for over 13.5 million workdays being lost each year, making it the…

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  Strat. In

• WiMAX – Coming soon to a network near you

  Ashutosh

  17 Nov 2009 | 7:26 am

  One of the events that has been overshadowed somewhat is the proposed auction of WiMAX licenses along with the 3G license auction in a couple of months (hopefully!). Given the low internet penetration within the country, broadband technologies can go a long way in increasing the number of internet users. Of these, WiMAX holds a lot of promise especially to cater to the last mile customers in rural areas and relatively remote urban areas. Speed is a critical factor while accessing the internet. Slow connections are a major reason for low usage, especially as sites get more data intensive. With…

• 4 Mails and a Funeral

  meghbartma

  16 Nov 2009 | 1:56 am

  Ranjan Das, the youngest CEO of corporate India left behind a startling legacy. His sad demise on the 21st of October to a massive coronary was reason enough for some of the big corporate honchos to take notice. Work – fine, affects the company in a big way. Life – Helps when you are refreshed at work, Balance – You call the shots on how you want to live. Work Life Balance was a buzzword and still continues to be a hotly contested debate. With a term so subjective, it is not very difficult to see why there would be debates. More on WLB later in this piece. Work, Life and a little…

• Issues of today’s India

  guest_strater

  3 Nov 2009 | 8:30 pm

  This is an article by our guest strater – Sasmita Patnaik – a student from XIM , Bhubaneshwar. We thank her for her thoughts and hope she would continue writing on strat.in! Today we often talk of concepts like Globalization and World Economy. While we reinforce these ideas again and again, what we tend to ignore is the reach and impact of these concepts. Do we ever think of what these mean to a man in a village in rural India where more than half of Indian population lives or to an illiterate housewife. They say India engulfs an America and an Africa in her. On one hand while…

• What is hindering the popularity of Interest Rate Futures in India?

  guest_strater

  2 Nov 2009 | 8:30 pm

  This is a guest article by Saswata Das. He graduated from IIM Calcutta earlier this year and works in the Financial sector. We thank him for his article and look forward to his future articles! With trade volumes of IRFs in NSE barely touching the 1000 mark these days, it seems that all the initial excitement has fizzled out. This apparently dismal performance doesn’t bode well for the second edition of Interest Rate Futures introduced after a long hiatus of six years. It’s really intriguing that in India interest rate derivative constitutes only 5% of the total derivative instruments…

• What next -Social Search ?

  vivekk

  1 Nov 2009 | 10:26 pm

  We live in a world connected better than ever before – An era where   wireless and broadband have enabled seamless connectivity powering creating and sharing of information never experienced before.  Accessing or searching information no more continues to challenge people. It is the filtering mechanism that is drawing more attention. Thanks to the endless information created every second, information consumption and not information seeking is the new question Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and other tools of mass content creating have been contributing to the web mountains of data at a…

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  Freedom to Think and Dream Big

• Memes

  Geoff

  15 Nov 2009 | 12:38 am

  Something that I have come to realize is that there is a whole slew of memes that are interconnected in the area of money and success. But these memes are about keeping us from achieving money and success, instead of helping us obtain it. They are very widespread today, and a huge majority of the population is tainted with them. These memes are gladly accepted and replicated because they allow people to validate their lack of progress in their life goals. I’ve found that some of them are: ❚ Money is bad. ❚ Rich people are evil. ❚ It is spiritual or noble to be poor. ❚ Big entities…

• A story about leading

  Geoff

  29 Oct 2009 | 9:31 pm

  A leader set up a team to look at the way an organization responded to public requests and concerns. The team consisted of mentors involved in various functions of customer service. The leader studied the way his team worked and decided that the average time to handle feedback requests could be reduced from 72 to 24 hours by eliminating certain steps. At the first team meeting, he outlined the purpose and goal of the team, then presented his findings and asked the team to come up with a plan to reduce the turnaround time on requests and concerns. The team responded by saying, “What do you…

• What is Twitter?

  Geoff

  25 Oct 2009 | 10:57 pm

  Twitter is a messaging service that shares a lot of characteristics with communication tools you already use. It has elements that are similar to email, IM, texting, blogging, RSS, social networks and so forth. But a few factors, particularly in combination, make Twitter unique: Messages you send and receive on Twitter are no more than 140 characters, or about the length of a news headline. That means they’re really easy to write and read. Messages on Twitter are public, like blog posts, and you don’t have to give people permission to see what you’ve written. That means you can readily…

• There are many ways we learn

  Geoff

  24 Oct 2009 | 8:31 pm

  There are many ways to learn. We learn from theory, observation, and our own practical experience. Regularly, emotions deepen learning, especially when a comment or an experience hurts or pleases, offering new insights and generating new ways of coping with a challenge. Lessons that fit one’s character may be easier to understand, but in the end the ones that surprise us, that don’t fit our usual patterns, are more likely to be remembered. Of course I learned from every supervisor I’ve had…through positive and negative examples. I can’t, however, really say that I learned this or…

• Thinking Big

  Geoff

  21 Oct 2009 | 12:12 am

  I had recently chatted with a Recruitment Director for one of the nation’s largest Information Technology firms.  Four months each year she visits college campuses to recruit graduating seniors for her company’s junior executive  training  program.  The tenor of her remarks indicated she was discouraged about the attitudes of many people she talked with.  ”Most days I interview between 8 and 12 college seniors, all in the upper third of  their class, all at least mildly  interested in coming with  us. …