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A Rave Against Miserable Customer Service, Lousy Leaders and Protectionist Policies

Jan 14, 2009

One of my favorite, provocative business thinkers, Gary Hamel, says what we’ve all been thinking about in his Wall Street Journal blog post, “Too Many Industries Suffering from Detroititis.” Hamel appropriately skewers the U.S. Airlines as suffering from this malady of poor customer service and short-term thinking, all propped up by the government’s artificial protectionist policies. I offer a few of my own thoughts on the “delightful” experience of flying U.S. carriers and what you can do in your organization to avoid the dreaded new disease, “Detroititis.”

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Turnarounds and Talent is Overrated: Two Great Posts

Jan 13, 2009

Some days others have created such interesting posts, the best thing that I can do is to encourage you to head in their direction. Today’s posts from some great pros are too good to pass up. Point your browser towards both of these and enjoy!

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Leadership and the Young Professional

Jan 12, 2009

very academic quarter for the past few years, a good colleague has invited me to be a guest speaker in her senior-level college management class and talk about leadership. I’m on the schedule tonight and I love this experience.

It’s great to have to stand in front of a group of early-career professionals and go through the humbling experience of recognizing that you are talking based on the road traveled and their view is on the unchartered horizons in front of them.

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Bicycle Helmets, Texting while Driving and Project Failure

Jan 6, 2009

The same traits that drive people to do dumb things that they know can cause personal injury, manifest themselves in the way many organizations pursue projects. Like head injuries from a bicycle fall without a helmet and car accidents due to texting or talking on the phone, every single one of the issues above and the many more that I did not list, are easily prevented by the application of well-established professional project management practices.

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Leader, What Are You Doing to Improve Your Value Creation?

Dec 26, 2008

Leadership should be one of the principal value creation components of the management system, yet poor leadership practices often result in increased complexity, added waste and blocked attempts to streamline processes and make improvements that would otherwise benefit the organization and its customers. One of the key reasons that leaders and leadership practices often fail to create value (or to create more value) is the lack of a common operational and actionable definition for the role of a leader.

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Effective Leaders Recognize The Power of Collaboration

Dec 23, 2008

The best leaders understand their role in creating the effective working environment, and they understand that part of this is creating the conditions for collaboration to take root and grow. On the other hand, ineffective leaders find ways to stifle collaboration, often through managing by fear and intimidation. Negative tactics might drive momentary compliance, but you cannot mandate creativity at the end of a gun barrel.

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Sixty Years of Deming and American Managers Forgot to Pay Attention

Dec 21, 2008

Dr. Deming indicated that he hoped one of his life’s accomplishments was to keep American companies from committing suicide. The public spectacle of Detroit and Wall Street committing suicide in the same quarter would indicate that he failed in his mission. Deming’s Theory of Profound Knowledge and 14 points offered (and still do) keys to many of the answers. They are not prescriptive, but rather they combine to create a philosophical approach to running a business, that if adhered to, will stand a chance of succeeding for customers, workers and partners on a global stage.

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Leader, What’s Your Questions to Comments Ratio?

Dec 10, 2008

Effective leaders understand that the respectful use of questioning is a powerful performance enhancement tool in the workplace. A leader’s questions challenge individuals and teams to look at issues from all angles and they help uncover ideas or suggestions that require a bit more baking.

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The Pain and Promise of Collaborative Management on Display at Cisco

Dec 9, 2008

It’s an exciting time to be leading as the pendulum seems to be swinging away from a style of leading and working that minimized the value of the individual to one that emphasizes empowerment, creativity and the freedom for groups and individuals to think and act. It’s hard to imagine a future where this formula does not produce winners.

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