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Innovation is Everyone’s Business

Jul 28, 2010

Take a poll in your firm on whether people feel responsible for innovation in their jobs or in their departments, and I’ll offer an educated guess on the outcome. Those involved in engineering, design, marketing and product management will feel a strong sense of responsibility to innovate. For others in supporting or operations-focused roles, the need or ability to innovate will be rated towards the low end of perceived priorities or even capabilities. That’s a shame. A good innovator and good innovations are terrible things to waste, regardless of functional role.

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Leadership Inspiration from the Howard Schultz HBR Interview

Jul 27, 2010

If you’re looking for a breath of fresh leadership air and some hope in this world after watching CEOs doing the Perp Walk or the Resignation Shuffle, read the interview, “We Had to Own the Mistakes” with Howard Schultz, Starbucks Chairman and CEO, in the July-August, 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review. While Schultz is no stranger to our world as an iconic founder of one of the world’s most successful and formerly fastest growing firms, one might argue that he didn’t earn his leadership stripes until faced with the unexpected challenging of turning the firm around.

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The July Management Excellence Newsletter & Free Books

Jul 20, 2010

The July issue of The Management Excellence e-Newsletter is out, with subscriber-only content. The current issue includes content on: Improving Ideation & Creativity with Your Team, Surviving and Thriving at the Dreaded Annual Strategy Off-Site, Ideas for Jump-Starting Your Personal/Professional Development Program, New Suggestions for the Management Excellence Reading List and
a tasteful promotion at the bottom of the newsletter outlining new beta test opportunities for upcoming Building Better Leaders programs and other services. (Hey, I am in business here!)

If you’re not a subscriber, please consider signing on and gaining access to content and opportunities not covered on my blogs. As always, I will guard your e-mail information with amazing ferocity!

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What If? Why Not? And Other Incredible Business Adventures

Jun 16, 2010

While we celebrate companies that pursue and succeed in radically changing the rules of the game, let’s face it, most organizations run on inertia.

For every company that redefines their little part of the world and changes our culture just a bit, there are plenty of firms that run on autopilot until the fuel runs out and the plane needs to be ditched in the ocean. The forces of globalization and digitization create storms and headwinds for some that are just too strong to overcome.

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Leadership Caffeine™-The Leader as Explorer

Jun 1, 2010

Something funny happens as we age and gain experience. Many of us expect the world to continue conforming to our view of things, which of course, it rarely does. For those that stubbornly stick to the perspective that I’m right and everyone else is wrong, the world quickly spins away and they become leadership and management relics from a bygone era. For those that have the courage to recognize that they are the ones that need to change and keep pace, everyday is a true adventure.

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Apply Distance and Anonymity to Improve Idea Generation

May 21, 2010

The default approach in most organizations and on most teams for idea generation is to conduct a brainstorming meeting. You know the drill.  A meeting notice is sent out, and everyone assembles at the appointed time, prepared to “ideate.”  The moderator reminds...

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7 Ideas to Stimulate Experimentation in Your Organization

Mar 17, 2010

In some organizations, there are so many systemic and cultural disincentives to experimentation that it’s a wonder that executives and employees are able to decide what to have for lunch today that was different from yesterday. In spite of the natural inertia towards the sure thing or the shortcut (external advice in lieu of more risky and time-consuming experimentation), I’ll offer my few cents worth on why and how you and your firm can use experimentation as a means of building value and confounding competitors.

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Make Meaning as a Leader

Mar 10, 2010

The best leaders that I know are driven by an internal belief and desire to create something good and significant through their leadership efforts. They are egotistical enough to understand that they want to pursue greatness in some terms, and they are humble enough to know that none of this is about them, but rather it is for and with and by others that this something can be achieved.

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Suddenly, Deming is Relevant Again

Feb 12, 2010

In my opinion, Deming has never been irrelevant as a management philosopher, teacher and advisor, but our fast-moving, idol-for-a-minute, fad-crazed modern culture, we’re quick to write off those thinkers and doers from prior eras as yesterday’s relics…interesting perhaps, but irrelevant.

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