Robert J. Thomas Archives - Page 2 of 2

How Top Talent Uses Networks and Where Rising Stars Get Trapped

Research confirms that a person’s network is crucial to his or her ability to get work done successfully. But many people don’t understand that networks require conscious attention and investment of time to be effective, and others make the mistake of thinking that the only thing that matters is size. This research report demonstrates that the best networks are strong on three dimensions: structural, relational … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: David A. Light, Rob Cross, Robert J. Thomas | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Career, Organizational Behavior

Visualizing Organizations

Not far into the future, we will see as well as manage organizations very differently. Today, we rely on two-dimensional, static (and notoriously outdated) organization charts to depict what a company is or does. Soon, however, we will be able to represent organizations the way they really are: active, in motion, growing, shrinking, reacting to stimuli, flowing in the direction of opportunities and pulsating with … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Robert J. Thomas, Sarah R. Maloney | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

Inside the Values-driven Culture at UPS

Drawing on a wealth of stable values, strategic history and shared mindsets, the company’s leaders have created a strong but flexible performance anatomy that allows the organization to build on past successes and adapt to future challenges.

The Accenture Human Capital Development Framework: Assessing, Measuring and Guiding Investments in Human Capital to Achieve High Performance

To help organizations assess the return on their human capital investments, Accenture introduced a new assessment and analytic tool: the Accenture Human Capital Development Framework. The Accenture framework was developed by drawing on best practices and Accenture experience in human resource (HR) development, learning and knowledge management, workforce productivity, along with state-of-the-art measurement techniques. With the framework, an organization can better assess its core human … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: James M. Benton, Linda Kerzel, Meredith A. Vey, Robert J. Thomas, Susan Cantrell | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

Exploring the Mindset of the High Performer

The development and diffusion of a winning mindset is central to the ability of a high-performance business to outpace its competitors. Here’s how one company – Harrah’s Entertainment – created that mindset by mastering five key tasks.

In Search of Performance Anatomy

Performance anatomy is perhaps the most elusive characteristic of all great companies. But with its distinctive perspective on the interaction between leadership and strategy, people development, IT enablement, performance measurement and innovation, it is critical to defining a high-performance business.

Content: Article | Authors: Robert J. Thomas, Tim Breene | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subjects: Best Practices, Management

Future Value: The $7 Trillion Challenge

Nearly 60 percent of the aggregate value of the US stock market is based on investor expectations of future growth. And because this future value tends to be concentrated in industries and companies that are built on intangible assets, it is critical to find better ways to recognize, report and manage these assets.

Content: Article | Authors: Göran Roos, John J. Ballow, Robert J. Thomas | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subjects: Accounting, Economics

Mergers & Acquisitions: Irreconcilable Differences

Despite the penalties for failure, too many merger-bound CEOs ignore a key factor that can make or break an M&A deal: culture clash. The solution? Cultural due diligence, a systematic method for making rapid, cost-effective assessments of the cultures of both acquirer and target.

Content: Article | Author: Robert J. Thomas | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Leading for a Lifetime: A Preliminary Conceptual Model

Many different factors influence the way individuals make sense of the world and translate that sense making into an orientation toward leadership. We’ve isolated two major categories of influence-era and individual factors-and a critical intervening set of events and relationships (or crucibles) that go a long way toward explaining how successful leaders extract wisdom from experience. This research note describes our preliminary conceptual model of … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Robert J. Thomas, Warren Bennis | Source: Accenture | Subject: Leadership

Organizing on the Edge: Meeting the Demand for Innovation and Efficiency (.pdf)

The redesign of organizations to become more capable of change and innovation while improving operating efficiencies has become an urgent priority for leaders of companies all over the world. So, where do we turn for help? As we have searched the business world for examples of a new form of organization suited to the rapidly emerging, new context, we have realized what should have been … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Arun N. Maira, Robert J. Thomas | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Human Capital Development

Recent surveys reveal that although business executives firmly believe that people are the most important asset, most executives are at a loss to prove that investments in people lead to improved business results. Common metrics like economic value added (EVA™) and return on investment (ROI) shed little light on how an organization’s human assets are performing. They say even less about whether an organization’s people … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: James M. Benton, Peter Cheese, Robert J. Thomas | Source: Accenture | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Human Performance: How to Boost Your Workforce Performance ROI

A new diagnostic tool can not only demonstrate conclusively the link between human capital development practices and total shareholder return. It can also provide practical guidance for which investments are likely to yield the greatest return.

Content: Article | Authors: Peter Cheese, Robert J. Thomas | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

A Life Cycle Perspective on Intellectual Assets

Are you unsure how to extend the use of your organization’s intellectual asserts? Scant progress has been made in defining and calculating the value of intellectual assets, despite their obvious importance. The Accenture Institute for Strategic Change applies a physical resources life cycle perspective to help managers clarify how, and how well, intellectual assets are used, and reused, in business processes. The framework enables managers … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Jeffrey J. Raider, Kevin C. DeSouza, Robert J. Thomas | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Innovation, Management

Basic Leadership Moves

Effective leaders use a remarkably small set of fundamental skills or “moves”. Happily, these moves can be practiced to improve an individual’s performance as a leader. This article from the Accenture Institute for Strategic Change describes five basic leadership moves, and offers insights on how they can be mastered through practice.

Editor’s Note: for basically the same content, see the 1996 Prism article by the … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Robert J. Thomas | Source: Accenture | Subject: Leadership

Leading as a Team

Many tools are available to help individual executives hone their skills as managers and leaders. But research by the Accenture Institute for Strategic Change suggests that few leadership teams are equipped to make complex decisions quickly and carry them out collaboratively. Fortunately, executives can learn how to “lead as a team”. This report outlines the basic steps toward leading as a team — and poses … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Robert J. Thomas | Source: Accenture | Subject: Leadership

Geeks and Geezers: How Era, Values, and Defining Moments Shape Leaders

Successful leaders young and old share numerous qualities, say Bennis and Thomas. The authors, who bring considerable experience to the table (Bennis has written over 30 books on leadership and Thomas is a senior fellow with Accenture’s Institute for Strategic Change), interviewed more than 40 leaders who they deem either “geeks” (aged 21-34) or “geezers” (aged 70-82) to evaluate the effect of era on values … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Robert J. Thomas, Warren G. Bennis | Subject: Leadership

How Tough Times Shape Good Leaders

Adversity brings out the best in real leaders, say Warren G. Bennis, an HBS professor, and Robert J. Thomas. In this e-mail interview and excerpt from their new book, Geeks and Geezers: How Era, Values, and Defining Moments Shape Leaders, they explain how that works.

Content: Article | Authors: Robert J. Thomas, Warren G. Bennis | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subject: Leadership

Conceptual Re-engineering at Nissan

Robert J. Thomas, president and chief executive at Nissan, took time out to asses what he knew about the car business and where it is going. The result has been a radical rethinking of the business. Nissan is now in the midst of a major sea of change, entailing an internal shift from a business with a manufacturing mind-set to a marketing-oriented company that puts … [ Read more ]