Collaboration doesn’t work without a strong leader or facilitator. A recent article in Inc. magazine (“Collaboration Kills Creativity, According to Science”) highlights the challenge of collaboration. The gist of it is that if you want creative ideas, don’t have people collaborate, let them come up with them on their own. For example, I just read […]
Whether it’s your inside or outside voice, what you say to yourself and others deserves considerable thought. As someone who occasionally opens his mouth before it’s connected to his brain, I can vouch for the challenges that can cause. A fellow executive coach whom I respect recently said something interesting to me. He was on […]
The purpose of a company is to create a customer The first book I bought for my first graduate school class decades ago was “Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices” by Peter Drucker. He wrote it in 1973, and it’s 800 pages of pure genius. I’m not sure I needed to buy another business book. Seriously. I […]
Being tagged as “strategic” thinker or a “not very strategic” thinker can be a boon or a bust for your career in the business world. Unfortunately, you must dig deeper to understand what the compliment or curse means. Have you ever met a strategic payroll clerk? Probably not, though I bet there are some. Some […]
I’m always befuddled when a company appoints two people to one job. Oh, I get the job-sharing thing. If two dogcatchers work 20 hours a week, there’s one full-time dogcatcher (plus some additional administrative overhead). What amazes me is when a company puts two senior executives in one job (e.g., co-presidents), usually to identify which […]
Thoughtful communication is key “Reason is a slave to the passions.” —David Hume Many executives innately prefer thinking over feeling. It serves them well in many situations and fails them in others. Students of Carl Jung and users of the Myers-Briggs personality assessment know, however, that doesn’t mean they don’t have access to feelings as […]
I had coffee recently with an executive in a family business. He isn’t part of the family. He’s talented, growth-oriented and extremely frustrated. The owner is the CEO and a wonderful guy. He has a language problem, however, that causes his business (and its people) to suffer greatly. He confused two words — value and […]
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.” —Heraclitus The balance between experience and open-mindedness toward new ideas is interesting. “Been there done that.” “I’ve seen this show before.” “This ain’t my first rodeo.” “If I had a nickel for every time … .” Those are voices […]
“God is great. Beer is good. People are crazy.” —Billy Currington, country singer Not my favorite country song, but I like the line. I don’t feel qualified to address the “God” assertion, but I’ve had my share of beer (and brew my own) and have worked with some crazy people. Been one myself a few […]
One of my favorite distinctions between management and leadership is that management tames complexity and leadership drives change. They don’t have to be separate people and in fact the most successful CEOs are competent in both. Unfortunately, some in leadership roles believe that change management is a project with a start and end date rather […]