4765 Posts Found

Thinking about failure means going back to root causes. Most often, my failures stem from one of two places: a blind spot that I had or a comfort zone that I was in. I either didn’t see something, or I assumed something that wasn’t the right assumption. And those eventually lead to some form of failure.

It’s good to be constantly aware of your blind spots … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Frank D’Souza | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Management, Personal Development

After OKRs are set, there’s no ritual for reviewing them, so they quickly get out of date. Then employees start resenting them because the effort to actually create the goals was a waste of time — and OKRs slowly die because no one looks at them anymore. Expectations aren’t enough. It’s the ritual that keeps the priorities top of mind and folks focused on what’s … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Kevin Fishner | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Management

BCG conducted in-depth research with 127 companies worldwide regarding their experience with agile. Almost all (94%) had embarked on agile initiatives, and two thirds (66%) claimed successful agile transformations. But when we asked which agile practices they applied and what outcomes they achieved, we found that only about half (53%) could be considered truly agile, realizing their transformation targets and creating lasting change in their … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Benjamin Rehberg, Erik Lenhard, Jaap Backx, Michael Grebe, Nicolas Hunke, Nina Kataeva, Valerio Gardelli | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Best Practices, Management

Product management has experienced at least two significant waves of change in the last couple of decades. The first wave was the shift from on-prem infrastructure to cloud, which allowed product managers to shift from requirement-getters to product visionaries developing minimum viable products.

The second wave was driven by the consumerization of technology, which led PMs to be more anchored in design thinking, make data-driven product … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Martin Harrysson | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Innovation, Management

Private equity (PE) firms have a proven approach to identify areas for revenue growth, value creation, and cost reduction: due diligence. But companies rarely use this same approach in the execution of their own growth strategy. This is a missed opportunity. The same due diligence skills and tools can be found in most large companies, but they are usually siloed in the corporate development team … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Hoyoung Pak, Jason McDannold, Yale Kwon | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Best Practices, Management, Strategy

Performance management systems help people continuously develop—but most companies fall short of best practices. A set of defined design choices can help guide leaders forward.

Content: Article | Authors: Amaia Noguera Lasa, Andrea Pedroni, Asmus Komm, Simon Gallot Lavallée | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Human Resources, Management

We all want possibility, transformation, change, and innovation, but the only way to get to that is through uncertainty. If we want those things, we need to get better at navigating uncertainty as individual leaders, as teams, and as organizations. Organizations need to ask themselves, “Do we have the ability to face uncertainty? What is our uncertainty ability?” I believe uncertainty ability is like a … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Nathan Furr | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Change Management, Innovation, Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior

Competing on capabilities provides a way for companies to gain the benefits of both focus and diversification. Put another way, a company that focuses on its strategic capabilities can compete in a remarkable diversity of regions, products, and businesses and do it far more coherently than the typical conglomerate can. Such a company is a “capabilities predator”—able to come out of nowhere and move rapidly … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: George Stalk Jr., Lawrence Shulman, Philip Evans | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Management, Strategy

Extroverts are more likely to express their passion outwardly, giving them a leg up when it comes to raises and promotions, according to research by Jon Jachimowicz. Introverts are just as motivated and excited about their work, but show it differently. How can managers challenge their assumptions?

Content: Article | Authors: Ben Rand, Jon Jachimowicz | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior

What I’ve found is that it’s not necessarily the way you ask for feedback that matters. It’s how you show up when you receive that feedback that increases your chances of getting high-quality insights.

Content: Quotation | Author: Nate Stewart | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

Is tech accelerating your business operations—or getting in the way? To get lasting value from their tech investments, business leaders need a renewed understanding of operational excellence.

Content: Article | Authors: Erik Schaefer, Ian Colotla, Joris Wijpkema, Richard Sellschop, Ted Iverson, William Fookes | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Best Practices, Management, Operations

No one is hired to win a popularity contest—you’re hired to get things done. You’re hired to make things happen, so when you show up to lead a group of people, those people want many things from you. What they don’t necessarily want from you is your authentic self.

What they need from you is inspiration. They need energy, even if you’re not feeling energetic that … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

Skilled middle managers foster collaboration, inspire employees, and link important functions at companies. An analysis of more than 35 million job postings by Letian Zhang paints a counterintuitive picture of today’s midlevel manager. Could these roles provide an innovation edge?

Content: Article | Authors: Ben Rand, Letian Zhang | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

It’s hard for companies to significantly beat long-term market TSR, harder still for the largest corporations, and hardest of all in the face of low growth. But industry endowment needn’t be destiny.

Content: Article | Authors: Pedro Catarino, Rosen Kotsev, Tim Koller, Zane Williams | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Best Practices, Management, Strategy

Too much performance feedback is of the “do good and avoid evil” variety. That may sound harmless, but overly general feedback increases feelings of defensiveness, rather than openness to behavior change, because it involves broad judgments and invites counterpunching rather than discussion.

Content: Quotation | Author: Frank V. Cespedes | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Communication, Management, Organizational Behavior

Effective reviews require a judgment about causes of a person’s performance. For example, are performance issues the consequence of deficiencies in motivation or ability? Some people may work hard, but lack certain capabilities: Can training and coaching enhance those capabilities? Others may have the abilities but lack motivation: Can different incentives or processes increase motivation? Still others may seemingly lack both motivation and relevant ability: … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Frank V. Cespedes | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Management

For interpersonal [feedback], I’m a big fan of a simple formula: “When you A, I feel B, because C, and what I’d really like is D.” Specific behavior, specific emotion, specific cognition, specific alternative behavior.  And I think a variant can be used for delivering performance feedback as well: “When you A, it causes B, because C. One thing to try could be D.” Specific … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Matt Wallaert | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Communication, Management, Organizational Behavior

Some people say, “Strategy is important, but it’s really about execution.” That’s silly. That’s like saying, “We have a military strategy, but our soldiers are too fat to walk.” Execution is part of strategy, of course. Strategy is about what is important and the challenges you face. If one of these challenges is that the organization is dysfunctional, then that’s strategic. If your managers are … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Richard Rumelt | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Execution, Management, Strategy

Employees who are disciplined about setting daily goals not only accomplish more but also feel better about their work. Here are three ways that managers can make daily goal-setting a habit.

Content: Article | Author: Nele Van Buggenhout | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development, Training & Development

Show people what they are losing by not doing something, and help them realize that even if the moment-to-moment costs are harder to create change, even over a short period of time, the cost of inaction is higher than the cost of action.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jonah Berger | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Change Management, Management, Organizational Behavior