Culture
Building Culture from Within…
One of the biggest challenges for CEOs in large organizations is preserving a healthy and vibrant culture. As an organization grows, and leaders are forced to focus outward, employees can begin to feel disconnected. The CEOs ability to maintain personal contact with employees up and down the org chart becomes daunting and eventually impossible. The…
Read MoreBeyond Servant Leadership
I fancy myself something of a business book nerd. I’ll spare you the list. Suffice to say that I see value in nearly every popular business book written. But I have to admit that at this point, the pattern’s becoming clear. Many of the mantras are the same. Reframed, repackaged and resold. I’m also a…
Read MoreGet Out of the Rut and Into the Lead with Factory Week
How can you possibly focus on the big picture when you’re stuck in the weeds? It may be time for a kick in the pants. Maybe your company website needs a total overhaul. Or a great idea for a new product just isn’t getting off the ground. Maybe you’ve noticed that morale is low and…
Read MoreAssess your ability and readiness to change (It’s Free!)
There are sources of resistance and inertia even in the formulation stage of change. Meaning that the very idea of change, which signals a loss of control, invites resistance of all kinds. Change starts with the perception of its need, so a ‘wrong initial perception’ is the first barrier to change. The second main group of sources…
Read MoreSystems Thinking
Organizational theorist and Wharton Professor Emeritus, Russ Ackoff taught that the most flexible part of a system will drive the system. “Humans are the ONLY organizational subsystem capable of situational awareness and adaptation to a shifting environment. Process and technology (often the focus of change efforts) are inert, and lack the ability to learn and…
Read MoreTo Email Or Not To Email
At this point in the land of modern technology, we are at a precipice. Is email going, going gone? Doubt it. But there sure is a growing chorus of email-haters out there. And with good reason! How many emails does it take to setup a meeting, have a meeting — where it is then decided…
Read MorePay Attention to Process
I remember my first sculpture class at a prestigious Philadelphia art school. I labored over an exquisite clay version of the nude modeling before us, taking great pains to find every curve; examining contours and proportion each step of the way. After an hour or so the teacher (himself a notable sculptor) walked around surveying…
Read MoreSome business-speak humor courtesy of Forbes.com
Some business cliches are so ubiquitous, we hardly even hear them anymore. But, when we take the time to listen and deconstruct these tropes, as Eric Jackson does here, they’re actually pretty freakin’ amusing.
Read MoreThe Periodic Table Of Social Media
There are tons, well hundreds really, of social media sites out there with new sites sprouting up everyday. Think about it. Almost everyone at this point uses some form of social media whether it’s photo-sharing, IMing at work or checking in on Foursquare. For a comprehensive list of programs, platforms and apps to maximize your…
Read MoreCompare your corporate culture to best-practice organizations
S. Chris Edmonds, writing for SmartBlog on Leadership looks at the attributes of high-performance, valued-aligned companies. It make take some time, but get these five things right and you could be on your way.
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