THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leadership

"I must follow the people. Am I not their leader? " - Benjamin Disraeli

TOPIC OF THE DAY

For Great Leadership, Clear Your Head

Getting stuff done is overrated. Knowing where you are going and how to get there — strategy — is everything. But many managers still spend too much time doing and not enough time thinking. Your first challenge is learning how to stop the action.

But focusing and thinking about the big picture are not as simple as blocking out time and turning off your devices. It is about managing your attention, or what I call "mindshifting."

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CASES IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT by Amita Mital

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Wellness

“In order to change we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired.” - Author Unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Strategies for Creating a Culture of Corporate Wellness

We understand how difficult it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. A fast-paced schedule can make it difficult to find time to exercise and cook a healthy meal.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Competition

"Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress." - HERBERT HOOVER

TOPIC OF THE DAY

What business you are in?

Though Theodore Levitt wrote his famous article titled Marketing Myopia in 1975, I believe the idea behind this article is still very much relevant and I think it will become increasingly more important in the future. Why? Lets find out.

According to Levitt, most companies fail because they incorrectly define the business they are in, that is, they define it narrowly in terms of the product rather than the benefits the product or service provides to the customer.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

CASES IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT by Amita Mital

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Talent

"No one respects a talent that is concealed." - Desiderius Erasmus

TOPIC OF THE DAY

One Page Talent Management

We all know it takes top talent to win in today's marketplace. You spend a lot of time and money to attract and retain the best talent. But sometimes it seems that no matter how well designed your talent management processes are, they still fail to deliver the talent depth you need.

Talent management expert Marc Effron says companies unwittingly add complexity to their talent management and turn processes like setting employee performance goals into complicated time-wasters that turn managers off and produce poor results.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

CASES IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT by Amita Mital

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Time Management

"The key is in not spending time, but in investing it."

- Stephen R. Covey

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Time Management

Time management is a set of principles, practices, skills, tools, and systems working together to help you get more value out of your time with the aim of improving the quality of your life.

The important point is that time management is not necessarily about getting lots of stuff done, because much more important than that is making sure that you are working on the right things, the things that truly need to be done.

Smart time managers know that there is much more to do than anyone could possibly accomplish. So instead of trying to do it all, smart time managers are very picky about how they spend their time.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

CASES IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT by Amita Mital

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Culture

“Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.” - Henry Van Dyke

TOPIC OF THE DAY

You Can't Dictate Culture — but You Can Influence It

There's an old joke about a CEO who attended a presentation on corporate culture and then asked his head of HR to "get me one of those things." Of course it sounds ludicrous — but like most jokes, this story is based in truth. Many organizations treat the creation, maintenance, and periodic updating of their cultures in a cavalier manner. Either they pay lip service to the kind of culture they want, but don't do much about it — or worse, ignore culture completely.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy, Del I. Hawkins

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Culture

“Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.” - Henry Van Dyke

TOPIC OF THE DAY

You Can't Dictate Culture — but You Can Influence It

There's an old joke about a CEO who attended a presentation on corporate culture and then asked his head of HR to "get me one of those things." Of course it sounds ludicrous — but like most jokes, this story is based in truth. Many organizations treat the creation, maintenance, and periodic updating of their cultures in a cavalier manner. Either they pay lip service to the kind of culture they want, but don't do much about it — or worse, ignore culture completely.
Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

href="http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073381101/information_center_view0/> Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy, Del I. Hawkins

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Culture

“Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.” - Henry Van Dyke

TOPIC OF THE DAY

You Can't Dictate Culture — but You Can Influence It

There's an old joke about a CEO who attended a presentation on corporate culture and
then asked his head of HR to "get me one of those things." Of course it sounds
ludicrous — but like most jokes, this story is based in truth. Many organizations
treat the creation, maintenance, and periodic updating of their cultures in a
cavalier manner. Either they pay lip service to the kind of culture they want,
but don't do much about it — or worse, ignore culture completely.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Rationality

“Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one. ” - Salman Rushdie

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Embrace Your Irrational Colleagues

Have you ever wondered why perfectly sensible, rational, and intelligent colleagues resist or reject perfectly sensible, rational, and intelligent ideas? Obviously it's not because they are stupid. There is just something going on that we don't realize.

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The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done Dave Crenshaw

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Rationality

“Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one. ” - Salman Rushdie

Embrace Your Irrational Colleagues

How IBM Is Changing Its HR Game
Have you ever wondered why perfectly sensible, rational, and intelligent colleagues resist or reject perfectly sensible, rational, and intelligent ideas? Obviously it's not because they are stupid. There is just something going on that we don't realize.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done Dave Crenshaw

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leadership

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade. " - Tom Peters

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Stop Being Micromanaged

No one likes a boss who excessively scrutinizes work and constantly checks in. Not only is this micromanaging behavior annoying, it can stunt your professional growth. If you have a controlling boss, you don't have to suffer. By assuaging a micromanager's stress, you may be able to secure the autonomy you need to get your work done and advance your career.

href="http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2011/09/stop-being-micromanaged.html?cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-management_tip-_-tip112211&referral=00203&utm_source=newsletter_management_tip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tip112211">Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

ref="http://www.wileyindia.com/index.php?page_id=bookdetails&id=9788126521937"> MANAGING & USING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH, Authors : KERI E. PEARLSON, CAROL S SAUNDERS

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leadership

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade. " - Tom Peters

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Stop Being Micromanaged

No one likes a boss who excessively scrutinizes work and constantly checks in. Not only is this micromanaging behavior annoying, it can stunt your professional growth. If you have a controlling boss, you don't have to suffer. By assuaging a micromanager's stress, you may be able to secure the autonomy you need to get your work done and advance your career.

href="http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2011/09/stop-being-micromanaged.html?cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-management_tip-_-tip112211&referral=00203&utm_source=newsletter_management_tip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tip112211">Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

ref="http://www.wileyindia.com/index.php?page_id=bookdetails&id=9788126521937"> MANAGING & USING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH, Authors : KERI E. PEARLSON, CAROL S SAUNDERS

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Value

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get." - Warren Buffett

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Bringing Values to Life

During the 1980s, when I was co-founder and leader of The Achieve Group, we worked with California-based Zenger Miller and Tom Peters to implement a culture-change process based on Peters' and Bob Waterman's book, In Search of Excellence. Adding to, and building upon, the work of their McKinsey & Company colleagues, Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy, Peters and Waterman showed that the cultures of excellent companies are grounded in core values.

The idea of clarifying core values was new for many management teams at the time. We helped hundreds of teams in centering their change-and improvement-effects around their vision, as well as a set of three to five core values that best defined the culture they were trying to reinforce, change, or improve.

Today it's a rare organization that doesn't have a set (most often a laundry list) of values. In fact, values have become one more item added to the requisite organization checklist (Organization chart? Check. Strategic plan? Check. Budget? Check. Vision statement? Check. Values? Check). Frequently when we ask about the organization's values, a dusty old piece of paper is produced. Quite often is followed by a debate about whether or not this is the right version of the organization's values.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

MANAGING & USING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH, Authors : KERI E. PEARLSON, CAROL S SAUNDERS

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Competence

"If a leader demonstrates competency, genuine concern for others, and admirable character, people will follow." - T. Richard Chase

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Dealing with your incompetent boss

Everyone complains about his or her boss from time to time. In fact, some consider it a national workplace pastime. But there's a difference between everyday griping and stressful frustration, just as there is a clear distinction between a manager with a few flaws and one who is incompetent. Dealing with the latter can be anguishing and taxing. But with the right mindset and a few practical tools, you can not only survive but flourish.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

MANAGING & USING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH, Authors : KERI E. PEARLSON, CAROL S SAUNDERS

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Language

"Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all." - Winston Churchill

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Never Ask 'Does That Make Sense?

Just as a chef is attuned to the subtleties of flavor and trends in the culinary arts, a presentation coach is attuned to the subtleties of language and trends in the communication art. One trend I've noted recently is the expression, "Does that make sense?" often used by a speaker during a conversation — or a presenter during a presentation — to check whether the listener or audience has understood or appreciated what the speaker has just said. Unfortunately, the expression has two negative implications:
• Uncertainty on the part of the speaker about the accuracy or credibility of the content
• Doubt about the ability of the audience to comprehend or appreciate the content.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

MANAGING & USING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH, Authors : KERI E. PEARLSON, CAROL S SAUNDERS

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Relationship

"No road is long with good company." - Turkish Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Relationship you Need to get Right

Katharine, a senior HR executive at a global financial services firm, takes pride in developing rising stars. After a vice president on one of her teams consistently impressed her, she recommended him for a more challenging role in another part of the company. Months later Katharine heard through the grapevine that he was struggling in the job. She asked to meet with him. “You know we’re in this together, right?” she said. “I put my reputation on the line, but I have no idea how you’re performing and whether you need help or air cover.” He promised to keep her in the loop, but communication dropped off again. Katharine realized that his commitment to the firm, and to her, had waned. She met with him once more and told him she could no longer be his sponsor.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Economic reforms and growth in India : essays from economic and political weekly / Pulapre Balakrishnan

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life

"Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live." - Author Unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Secret Payoff of Meetings

No one is more surprised about that than me. I've had days when I was in meetings from the moment I walked into the office until the moment I left. I've opened Outlook some days and wanted to pull my hair out at the day set out before me. I've had to run from one meeting to another because Outlook stupidly allows people to schedule meetings back to back without even 3 minutes to get from one room to another. I have not been a fan of meetings.

But after being an employee for 24 continuous years, I've struck out on my own as a freelancer to try to have more balance in my life. But as I'm settling into new routines and trying to find new mechanisms to keep my day productive, I've come to appreciate many things about my previous life that used to frustrate me. Those minutes at the beginning of a meeting when people are still assembling and the room is filled with light banter. The way someone can say something funny a few cubicles over and everyone starts to laugh. Monday mornings, learning what my colleagues were up to on the weekend, often living vicariously through them.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Economic reforms and growth in India : essays from economic and political weekly / Pulapre Balakrishnan

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Business

"In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later." - Harold Geneen

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Fear that's Holding back your Business

I recently got a phone call asking about Mike, a grad student I'd hired for a video project last year. "You're listed as a reference," the woman on the line said. "Have you done business with him?" Indeed, Mike had done a great job for me — but had never followed up to tell me he'd launched his own business.

Too often, entrepreneurs or executives hesitate to reach out to others — even people who like them a lot. Sometimes it's because they don't want to be intrusive: "She's so busy, I don't want to bother her." Other times, they'll self-deprecate ("she won't remember me") or shrink from perceived conflict ("he'll be angry I want something from him"). Or they may take the "high road" and profess a distaste for self-promotion, vowing that their reputation will speak for itself and quality will eventually triumph. Unfortunately, those are all excuses: they're scared.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Economic reforms and growth in India : essays from economic and political weekly / Pulapre Balakrishnan

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Listening

"It is the province of knowledge to speak And it is the privilege of wisdom to listen." - Yin and Yang of Communication

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Keep Listening, but Start Talking

When we meet with prospective investors, I don't speak much, and for good reason. There are three founding partners: Clayton Christensen, Matt Christensen, and me. When Clay is in the room, people want to hear from him. He's not only the controlling shareholder of Rose Park Advisors; our investment approach is based on his theory of disruptive innovation. Next on deck is his son, Matt, the CEO and portfolio manager; then me.

In this particular context it makes sense that my partners do the lion's share of the talking, but I've noticed that even when circumstances don't require it, I'm sometimes reluctant to talk shop. One particular instance of this hesitation stands out in my mind: it occurred during a trip to Brazil back when I was a sell-side analyst. After a day of meetings, several buy-side investors (all men) and I were debriefing over dinner. When the conversation turned to America Movil (NYSE: AMX) a stock that I covered (in sell-side parlance I was widely considered the 'axe on the stock'), I began to demur, reluctant to share my opinion, despite my expertise in the subject. It felt like high school all over again, slipping into the adult equivalent of playing dumb.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Green IT for sustainable business practice : an ISEB foundation guide / Mark G. O'Neill

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Obsession

"Passion is a positive obsession. Obsession is a negative passion." - Paul Carvel

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Increase your Passion for Work without Becoming Obsessed

Work brings some people intrinsic joy. These people feel in control of their work, feel good about themselves while working, find their work to be in harmony with their other activities. Psychologists describe these folks as having harmonious passion. But there's another kind of passion: obsessive passion. Those who are obsessively passionate feel an uncontrollable urge to engage in their work, feel more conflict between their passion and other areas in their life, and their work forms a large part of their often unstable and negative self-concept.

In my last post, I summarized Robert J. Vallerand's distinction between obsessive passion and harmonious passion. In the comment thread that followed, I noticed a couple of questions emerge: Is obsessive passion ever helpful? What should you do if you recognize that your passion for work is not harmonious, but obsessive? I'll address both of those in this post.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Green IT for sustainable business practice : an ISEB foundation guide / Mark G. O'Neill

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Responsibility

"Take responsibility of your life because it will empower you to make changes." - Olabulo Sulaimon

TOPIC OF THE DAY

To Win Customers, Get Out of the Way

Superior operational excellence cannot be achieved or maintained with an iron fist. It needs to be organically grown and fostered throughout the company.

I oversee all aircraft, flight and customer service operations at Hawaiian Airlines. For any company, and especially any airline, operational excellence and customer service go hand in glove. I'm thankful that those I work with are predisposed to hospitality — it's a feature of Polynesian culture. But although our company has been known for its high standards of personal care for the past 82 years, we haven't always been known for our reliability. However, we are now routinely ranked first by the US Department of Transportation among all airlines for on-time performance and fewest cancellations as well as garnering top marks for best baggage handling and fewest customer complaints.

So how did we improve company operations, while maintaining the excellence in service that was already second nature? Through my experience, I believe a company must do three things especially well in order to maintain an unbeatable level of operational excellence: 1) Get very close to their customer; 2) Benchmark against itself on a consistent basis, and 3) Empower employees to address the unexpected.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Green IT for sustainable business practice : an ISEB foundation guide / Mark G. O'Neill

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Customer Service

"In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want." - Alice MacDougall

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Don’t Mess with Your Customers

Everyone knows to keep customers happy. But far too many companies are still making them angry. Customer rage results in lawsuits, mass defections, and social media attacks. Here are three ways to prevent your customers from revolting:

1. Don’t squeeze them. Often a company’s most profitable customers have the most reason to be dissatisfied. Be sure that all of your customers feel the value they get is equal to what they pay.
2. Get rid of unnecessary rules. Eliminate rules that you want customers to violate (i.e., charging for ATM transactions). They make customers feel taken advantage of, and rightly so.
3. Rely on satisfaction, not contracts. If your customers are sticking around because of lengthy contracts, something’s wrong. Demonstrate confidence in your value proposition and give your customers good reasons not to defect.

Thought adopted from the "The Management Tip" blog posted on November 11, 2011

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Innovation

"We need innovation in education and dedication to the task before us." - Alan Autry

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Learn How to Think Different(ly)

In the Economist review of our book, The Innovator's DNA, the reviewer wondered whether genius-level innovators such as Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos, and Steve Jobs challenge the idea that working adults can really learn how to think differently and become innovators.

We don't think so. Remember, it was Steve Jobs who jump-started the now-famous "Think Different" advertising campaign as a way to inspire consumers and recharge Apple's innovation efforts. It worked. Reflecting back on the campaign, Jobs said "The whole purpose of the 'Think Different' campaign was that people had forgotten what Apple stood for, including the employees." And the best way to tell people what Apple stood for was to tell them who the company's heroes were. The campaign reminded everyone — consumers and employees alike — that the "crazy ones...see things differently."

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Green IT for sustainable business practice : an ISEB foundation guide / Mark G. O'Neill

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leaders

"Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right." - James Allen

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Managing multiple bosses

In the movie Office Space — a comedy about work life in a typical 1990s software company — the protagonist, Peter Gibbons, has eight different bosses. All of them, seemingly unaware of each other, pass by his desk and tell him what to do. While the film is most certainly a satire, for some, it is not far from the truth. More and more people report to more than one boss and learning to handle multiple managers is an essential skill in today's complex organizations.

What the Experts Say-

According to Robert Sutton, a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University and the author of Good Boss, Bad Boss, it is extremely common these days to have more than one boss. "As you to go to a matrixed structure, you can easily have between one and seven immediate supervisors," he says.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Green IT for sustainable business practice : an ISEB foundation guide / Mark G. O'Neill

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Questions

"For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now?" - James Allen

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Art of asking Questions

How well do you ask questions? From my experience, most managers don't think about this issue. After all, you don't usually find "the ability to ask questions" on any list of managerial competencies; nor is it an explicit part of the curriculum of business schools or executive education programs. But asking questions effectively is a major underlying part of a manager's job — which suggests that it might be worth giving this skill a little more focus.

We've all experienced times when we've failed at being good questioners, perhaps without realizing it. For example, not long ago I sat in on a meeting where a project team was reviewing its progress with a senior executive sponsor. During the presentation it was clear from his body language that the executive was uncomfortable with the direction that the team was taking.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Green IT for sustainable business practice : an ISEB foundation guide / Mark G. O'Neill

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Communication

"Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence." - Spanish Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Learning Presenting Skills by Learning to Swim

To teach swimming, coaches take novices through the component skills in progressive stages. The first lesson takes place out of the water, at the side of the pool, where the novice learns the arm stroke and the leg stroke separately. Then the novice gets into the shallow end of the pool and practices the arm strokes and leg strokes, still separately, but now with training equipment — flotation devices, kick boards and the rungs of a ladder — to develop the skills further. As the training progresses, the novice puts aside the equipment and swims, first in the shallow end of the pool, then the deep end, and finally, in a lake or ocean. The fundamental aspect of this approach is to deconstruct the basics and then to reconstruct them progressively. It works in swimming — as it does in all sports — and it works in presentations.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Too many bosses too few leaders by Rajeev Peshawaria

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Success

"The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you." - Jagdish Kaviraj

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Interview Question You Should Always Expect

Whether you are a new middle manager or a new President-elect, the common wisdom is that you have three months to make an impact in your new role. And yet when preparing for job interviews, candidates make the mistake of believing that most questions will be about their past experience, not what they plan to do once hired.

New hires have to impress their bosses, peers, and employees in less time than it takes some of us to arrange a meeting. So if you're interviewing for a job, plan to be asked the question: "What do you hope to achieve in your first three months?"

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Too many bosses too few leaders by Rajeev Peshawaria

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Ideas

"Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas." - Albert Einstein

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Why you may be blind to a Good Idea

Several years ago I attended a lecture on attention blindness, the basic feature of the human brain that means when we concentrate intensely on one task, we miss almost everything else happening around us. Since we can't see what we can't see, the speaker showed us a video designed to catch us in the act. Six people pass basketballs back and forth and viewers are told to count the number of tosses only between the three wearing white t-shirts, not black. Many people correctly count fifteen tosses. Yet nearly 60 percent fail to see someone in a full gorilla suit stride in among the tossers, then walk away. In some situations with a lot of peer pressure, 90 percent of an audience has missed the gorilla.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Too many bosses too few leaders by Rajeev Peshawaria

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Economy

"Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions." - A.A. Latimer

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How to Stay Engaged (and Employed?) in a Downturn

Are you getting whiplash from following the stock market the past couple of weeks? You're not alone. Few people are having much fun on this roller coaster ride. In our previous post, we discussed what managers can do to keep their organizations on the right track in times of economic panic. Here, we offer advice for individual contributors. If that's you, we realize that you may feel particularly powerless as your organization's future begins to seem more perilous. But there are three actions you can take to exert power over your own work life. They may not only improve how you feel; they may also boost your chances of keeping your job.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Too many bosses too few leaders by Rajeev Peshawaria

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Modesty

"Modesty is to merit, as shades to figures in a picture, giving it strength and beauty." - Jean de la Bruyere

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Managing Yourself: How to Cultivate Engaged Employees

Successful managers depend on the capabilities of their subordinates: George’s marketing skills, Maria’s ability to run the numbers, Michael’s local knowledge, Dimitra’s IT expertise. Shelves and shelves of books offer managers’ advice on how to mobilize their people to achieve overall performance targets.

Although most upwardly mobile managers know that an empowered team enhances their performance, the everyday reality of corporate hierarchy and a compulsion to control their own fate can cloud that awareness. Many companies, particularly in the U.S. and western Europe, are abandoning the top-down, command--and-control model. Nevertheless, lots of managers still apply it, triggering a vicious cycle. When confronted with such a boss, employees respond by jealously guarding their only source of power—their distinctive experience—and the team is driven apart. The members may remain functionally interdependent, but that interdependence is ineffective, which means that a lot of value is squandered.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Too many bosses too few leaders by Rajeev Peshawaria

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Strategic Planning

"Strategic planning is worthless - unless there is first a strategic vision." - John Naisbitt

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Strategic decisions: When can you trust your gut?

Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and psychologist Gary Klein debate the power and perils of intuition for senior executives. For two scholars representing opposing schools of thought, Daniel Kahneman and Gary Klein find a surprising amount of common ground. Kahneman, a psychologist, won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2002 for prospect theory, which helps explain the sometimes counterintuitive choices people make under uncertainty. Klein, a senior scientist at MacroCognition, has focused on the power of intuition to support good decision making in high-pressure environments, such as firefighting and intensive-care units.

In a September 2009 American Psychology article titled “Conditions for intuitive expertise: A failure to disagree,” Kahneman and Klein debated the circumstances in which intuition would yield good decision making.

Interview with Olivier Sibony, a director in McKinsey’s Brussels office, and Dan Lovallo, a professor at the University of Sydney and an adviser to McKinsey, Kahneman and Klein explore the power and perils of intuition for senior executives.