Yearly Archives: 2010
Firing Up Organizations in Tough Times
Things are very tight right now. Our outlook is uncertain and people are afraid for their jobs. Under these circumstances I’d expect people to get more done, but somehow, we aren’t more productive than before. Any hints? It’s funny, … Continue reading
Organizational Learning is No Accident
Why do companies fail to learn from their mistakes? With so much riding on success, you would think that companies would be better at learning. Amazingly, it seems as if they fight tooth and nail against learning, often with … Continue reading
How Your Company Can Learn From Mistakes
Any ideas about how to capture lessons learned for a knowledge base—i.e. getting colleagues to NOT fear repercussions of admitting ‘mistakes’ and/or admitting what they did not know? First, the Truth: most of us are afraid to admit mistakes or … Continue reading
Young Leader, Veteran Team
I am a projects and operations manager at a multinational oil giant based in Cape Town, South Africa. I have seven people reporting to me. I am twenty-four years old and the youngest member of my team—the ages range from … Continue reading
The Essence of Leadership
As the author of this column, I receive a number of questions each month on the topic of leadership. Manu asks how young men and women in India can be taught to think about leadership. A pharmacy director in the … Continue reading
No Authority? Use Persuasion
I am leading a cross-functional team in a company initiative but the members on the team do not report to me. How can I motivate them to stay committed to the team and stay focused on the goals established when … Continue reading
Great Leadership for Great Teams
I am establishing a publishing house in Africa, and have put together a team with great potential. What strategies and skills must I employ to make the most of this potential? What is the best way to lead a crop … Continue reading
Inspiring the Jaded Employee
I am interested in motivating long-term employees who have fifteen-plus years with an organization. This group has heard all the visions of transient leaders who were furthering their own careers, and have become apathetic to improving their own lot, space, … Continue reading
How Leaders Use Questions
Do you have anything to share regarding the subject of asking the right questions? Someone once said “Forget the answers; focus on asking the right questions.” I’ll always remember the mid-1980s commercials featuring Lee Iacocca, then considered one of America’s … Continue reading
Is Equity-Based Compensation a Good Thing?
Do you think an equity-based compensation plan is a good way to motivate employees? My first instinct was to write, “Yes, of course.” Halfway through my third rewrite, however, I discovered it’s a wickedly complex question. Yes, equity motivates, … Continue reading
Managing Execs Who Didn’t Get the Promotion
The managing director heads an organization with three vice presidents under him. For the last two years the company has been run this way and has been successful in turning around. With reorganization on the agenda, it is proposed that … Continue reading
Is Belief Crucial To Success?
Do I have to believe in what I am doing in order to be successful at it? The power of belief is the stuff of legend. In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy must defeat the Wicked Witch of the West … Continue reading
Why Diversity Is an Opportunity
How should we think about the importance of diversity, and how best to understand and value cultural differences? Diversity, the misunderstood child of the Age of Aquarius and Political Correctness, is an incredibly powerful tool for an organization. Diversity brings … Continue reading
Minimizing the Risks of Leadership
A leader can be brought down by a single follower’s actions. How can a leader reduce the risk? We dream great dreams and set goals so huge we need organizations to achieve them. Where people organize, leaders emerge. We … Continue reading
Titles Don’t Make Leaders
All of the talk about “leadership” often ignores the fact that leadership is powerful at any and all levels—and that you do not need to be heading up an organization to be an effective leader. Some of the most effective … Continue reading
The “Pull Leadership” Manifesto
Eighteen months after starting this column, business leadership still hasn’t reached perfection. Haven’t they been reading? Why is good leadership still so rare? Maybe it’s because we use a whacked-out definition of leadership. “Leader” has become code for “rich guy … Continue reading
The Leadership Attitude
Most people are not in official positions of leadership and yet we wish to do all we can to help the organization succeed. Bringing leadership skills to the table would benefit all. Since we aren’t responsible for setting the “vision” … Continue reading
Tips for Mastering E-mail Overload
Being at or near the the top of your organization, everyone wants a piece of you. So they send you e-mail. It makes you feel important. Don’t you love it? Really? Then, please take some of mine! Over 100 real … Continue reading
The Keys to Building Trust
Which comes first: truth or transparency? Uh, oh. Is that politics in the air? I’m guessing you either want to trust someone else or you want them to trust you. Either way, transparency plays a powerful role. It’s just part … Continue reading
Defeating Overwhelm
My name is Stever Robbins, and I’m here to confess: I’m an overwhelm wimp. Give me more than three things to handle at once and pop, my head explodes. It’s not just me—everyone seems to be suffering from daily overwhelm. … Continue reading
Prepare Your Own Succession
Most founders of a successful family business sell their business to an outside third party. The 39 percent of family businesses passed to a second generation fail. Why don’t these owners plan better for one of the most important events … Continue reading
Truth and Trust: They Go Together
We’ve lost trust. How do I regain the trust of my employees after six rounds of layoffs? How does my organization regain the trust of the community after we dumped toxic waste and covered it up? How does my management … Continue reading
The Path to Critical Thinking
Can you write a refresher on critical thinking? We business leaders so like to believe that we can think well, but we don’t. Only one in seven even reaches the top 10 percent of quality thinkers.1 The rest of us … Continue reading
Linking Vision, Strategy, and Tactics
You’re so proud of your new vision statement. It sounds nice. Inspiring, even. But the vision is useless unless it can direct action. Your vision lays out a destination; your destination guides your strategy; and strategy chooses action. It’s action … Continue reading
Give Your Organization Serious Traction
When we’re getting traction on something new, we typically have a week’s worth of work to do, and an hour to do it. The International Labor Organization says Americans win the prize for the most overworked people in the world.1 … Continue reading
Making it Right with Wronged Employees
An executive team laid off a group of employees here in Canada in order to outsource to an Asian country. They can’t find talent in the new country, work has stalled, and management tries to cajole laid-off employees (all talented, … Continue reading
Minimize Secrecy, Maximize Knowledge
People have lots of reasons for hoarding information, mostly bad ones. But sometimes it’s good to keep quiet. After all, you want information to get where it’s needed, in a way that serves everyone involved. Our daily job as managers … Continue reading
Productivity Means Working Smarter, Not Longer
Workers in the United States put in more hours at work and take fewer vacation days than those in most industrialized countries. But the U.S isn’t the most productive country in the world. When it comes to full productivity, according … Continue reading
Understand What Motivates Your Boss
Letters from last month’s column Productivity Means Working Smarter, Not Longer have been gratifying and surprising. Most unexpected was a theme I heard over and over: “My manager won’t let me work smart. What do I do?” That’s a real … Continue reading
Thinking Outside Your Beliefs
I’ll bet I know why you’re reading this: You want the secret of success. And today, I plan to deliver. But the secret isn’t what you think. It’s not a practice, business model, or trend. Those are all just by-products … Continue reading
Setting Strategic Direction: Vision, Strategy, and Tactics
Setting strategic direction is hard if a company muddles strategy, vision, and tactics. But what are they? How do you know if something’s a vision or a tactic? And how do you know a vision will be effective, versus just words on a wall? This article tells you what they are and how you know you’ve got them right. Continue reading
Public Speaking and Performing
On rock ‘n roll, public speaking, acting, and the nature of story… Wow, what a pretentious title for this note. I hope it lives up to its promise. THE SCENE BEGINS IN AN OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL: Last weekend, I saw Signs … Continue reading
Time after Time: Put Your Decision-Making Time Horizon to Work
Put Your Decision-Making Time Horizon to Work Think about the future. Notice what kind of events you expect to happen in the future. Think about the projects you have going on. Think about the good things you expect to happen, … Continue reading
Good customer service requires substance and style
Good customer service requires more than just nice phone manners. I had a customer service need today. I called the company, whom we’ll call Canadian Mozy, and got a very nice young man named “Johnny.” He seemed to have a … Continue reading
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