Art Petty, Author at Management Excellence by Art Petty

Can You Create A Mission-Driven Focus in a For-Profit Business?

Leaders from the top on down in Not-For-Profits hold an unfair advantage over their erstwhile counterparts in the For-Profit world. Managers in Not-for-Profit are driven by a powerful sense of purpose that delivers meaning and context for even the most mundane of activities. As one young Not-For-Profit manager in my recent Leadership Mastery workshop indicated, "I can't imagine not having the mission to inspire and energize me everyday." My question: Can For-Profit organizations replicate the motivational and contextual power of "The Mission" through other proxies like goals, strategies, bonuses and targets all focused around competitors, financials and metrics like market-share and compound annual growth rate?

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:49:45-05:00July 1st, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

Vacation Reading

One of the biggest challenges that I face every vacation is trying to decide what I'm going to read. Usually, I don't decide and I end up lugging 40 pounds of books with me just in case I might be in the mood for a certain work. (Note: I know that the Kindle from Amazon will solve this problem...I just can't get beyond my "I don't buy the first generation of any consumer electronics" rule.) Eventually, I thrift my choices down to a full duffel bag (for driving trips), and when my wife is not looking, I sneak a few additional volumes into someone else's bag or under the seat. I guess I'm a book smuggler.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:49:47-05:00June 30th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Want to Kill a Few Brain Cells, (Try and) Read a Management Textbook

And while I'm loving the experience, I can't help but observe that the textbooks are some of the most mind-numbing, coma-inducing products ever to emerge from Gutenberg's great creation. In particular, the Management text in my Fundamentals of Management course this Spring is almost certain to drive the most interested of business majors to consider something more exciting like accounting or neurophysiology. What a shame to take a noble and exciting and complicated topic like management and wrap a bunch of dead theories in-between some interesting case studies and let that suffice for something that is supposed to teach the fundamentals of management.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:49:48-05:00June 25th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|3 Comments

The Emerging and Strange Alliance Between Boomers and Millennials

If you are leading a team today, chances are you are dealing with one of the fascinating experiences of our time: how to manage teams increasingly comprised of aging Boomers and newly graduated Millennials. Your first thought might be that you couldn't find two groups farther apart in terms of values, priorities, interests and capabilities. Well, your first thought is wrong.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:49:49-05:00June 24th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|3 Comments

The Project Management Discipline of Strategy Execution

Strategy execution is where value is created. The best plans are worthless unless they are backed by a group of people that understand their roles and accountabilities and that have the information they need when they need for rapid decision-making. Execution never takes place in a straight line and without setbacks. In fact, the setbacks are powerful learning experiences that a good team will leverage as it adapts and responds to internal and external factors. A large part of the solution in my opinion is treating execution like a high-order program comprised of a series of projects to be managed. Ask a good Project Manager how to successfully pull of an execution program and I suspect they won't need to interview 1,000 companies.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:49:51-05:00June 23rd, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Yeah, “Why Don’t Managers Think Deeply?”

Professor James Heskett highlights GE CEO Geoffrey Immelt's recent pronouncements that he is: looking for managers to think deeply about innovations that will ensure GE's longer-term success. He has vowed that he will protect those working on the breakthroughs from the "budget slashers" focused on short-term success. (Professor Heskett also reviews the book Marketing Metaphoria and the perspectives of the authors: Gerald and Lindsay Zaltman on why managers don't think deeply.) As I leader, I've wrestled with this topic for years, and have worked around and with many individuals perfectly content to let their days unfold in a transactional nature, with no time to think deeply or even strategically. Days pass into months and months to years, and still these individuals prefer conquering the issue of the moment versus wondering whether they are even working on the right issues.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:49:52-05:00June 16th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|4 Comments

The Leader’s Challenge: Recognizing the Need for Change

I believe that it is important for organizations to develop competence at translating marketplace and macro-environmental changes into appropriate changes to better serve stakeholders. No easy task, especially considering the "noise" that we all face in this era of accelerating change, time compression and growing complexity.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:49:53-05:00June 15th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

Some Great Insights at the Latest Carnival of Human Resources

Check out Jon Ingham's Strategic Human Capital blog for the latest Carnival of Human Resources and some global perspectives on on compelling issues in managing and leading. Thanks to Jon for featuring one of my recent posts.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:49:54-05:00June 12th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Did Anyone Get the Memo on How to Act During a Slowdown?

You don't have to look hard to learn about the impact of rising fuel costs, including layoffs, plant closings, cutbacks, service reductions, fare hikes and new user fees. These headlines and many more just like them blare from the tv and radio or jump out at us from the front pages of our morning newspapers. However, what really amazes me is how hard you have to work to find examples of companies and leaders that received and read the memo on surviving, improving and even prospering during periods of economic difficulty.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:49:55-05:00June 11th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Tuning In to Leadership (and much more) With A Great New Book

Tuned In presents a six-step process for creating a resonator: "a product or service that so perfectly solves problems for buyers that it sells itself." The examples, approaches and ideas for realizing resonators and for supporting the creation of an organizational culture that institutionalizes the requisite thinking and processes are the heart of the work. The steps: find unresolved problems, understand buyer personas, quantify the impact, create breakthrough experiences, articulate powerful ideas and establish authentic connections offer powerful and practical guidance for marketers and executives everywhere.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:49:57-05:00June 9th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|3 Comments

About Art Petty