10 Posts found for Author: Carolyn Dewar

I was surprised how intentional the CEOs we spoke with were about their time. They have various versions of calendar color coding or agreements with their chiefs of staff or executive assistants on their priorities. They go back each month to see if they spent time on the things that they had said were important. If you don’t know what you should spend your time … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Carolyn Dewar | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Personal Development

Most great CEOs rely on a set of guiding mindsets. This checklist helps them turn mindsets into practices that can steer their companies to great heights.

Content: Article | Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Kurt Strovink, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Corporate Governance

In a famous social-science experiment conducted in 1946 by psychologist Solomon Asch, participants were given one of two sentences. The first began, “Steve is smart, diligent, critical, impulsive, and jealous.” The second read, “Steve is jealous, impulsive, critical, diligent, and smart.” Although both sentences contained the same information, the first one led with positive traits while the second one started with negatives. When asked to … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Kurt Strovink, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Communication, Organizational Behavior

Excellent CEOs form a small group of trusted colleagues to provide discreet, unfiltered advice—including the kind that hasn’t been asked for but is important to hear. They also stay in touch with how the work really gets done in the organization by getting out of boardrooms, conference centers, and corporate jets to spend time with rank-and-file employees. This is not only grounding for the CEO, … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Martin Hirt, Scott Keller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Corporate Governance

Exemplary CEOs combine the reality of what they ought to do in the role with who they are as human beings. They deliberately choose how to behave in the role, based on such questions as: What legacy do I want to leave? What do I want others to say about me as a leader? What do I stand for? What won’t I tolerate? CEOs answer … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Martin Hirt, Scott Keller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Management

Excellent CEOs increase their companies’ agility by determining which features of their organizational design will be stable and unchanging (such features might include a primary axis of organization, a few signature processes, and shared values) and by creating dynamic elements that adapt quickly to new challenges and opportunities (such elements might include temporary performance cells, flow-to-work staffing models, and minimum-viable-product iterations).

Content: Quotation | Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Martin Hirt, Scott Keller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

Vendors of workforce surveys like to say that employee engagement is the best measure of “soft stuff.” It’s not. While employee engagement indeed correlates with financial performance, a typical engagement survey covers less than 20 percent of the organizational-health elements that are proven to correlate with value creation. A proper assessment of organizational health takes in everything from alignment on direction and quality of execution … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Martin Hirt, Scott Keller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Of the 50 most value-creating roles in any given organization, only 10 percent normally report to the CEO directly. Sixty percent are two levels below, and 10 percent sit farther down. Most surprising of all is that the remaining 10 percent are roles that don’t even exist. Once these roles are identified, the CEO can work with other executives to see that these roles are … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Martin Hirt, Scott Keller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior, Succession Planning

Resource reallocation isn’t just a bold strategic move on its own; it’s also an essential enabler of the other strategic moves. Companies that reallocate more than 50 percent of their capital expenditures among business units over ten years create 50 percent more value than companies that reallocate more slowly.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Martin Hirt, Scott Keller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Finance

The CEO’s job is as difficult as it is important. Here is a guide to how the best CEOs think and act.

Content: Article | Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Martin Hirt, Scott Keller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Management