Warren Bennis

Two dominant figures of that era (19th-century England) were William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. Gladstone was a powerful public figure for more than 60 years. It was said that when you had dinner with Gladstone, you thought that you were with the most interesting, brilliant, and provocative conversationalist. And it was said that when you dined with Disraeli — an equally charismatic figure — you … [ Read more ]

Presenting Your Proposal Persuasively

“To get the sponsorship your project deserves, take a “Persuasion Audit.” Evaluate your proposal through the seven universal principles of influence based on the research of Dr. Robert Cialdini, an expert on the art and science of influence. Because work is so complex and fast-paced, Cialdini found that people utilize these principles as shortcuts in their decision-making process.”

Meta-Needs, Core Values and Doing Business

A further (though not terribly detailed) exploration of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, applied to marketing.

Kevin Phillips

While the focus on stakeholders may be a bottom-up movement, the control in corporations is still exercised top-down: The money’s at the top, the pain at the bottom. CEOs today are making well over 400 times the average worker’s salary. If there was any group in the country looking out for the mid-range executive–which there isn’t–they’d have some wicked things to say about the gap … [ Read more ]

The Paradox of Corporate Entrepreneurship

Post-Enron principles for encouraging creativity without crossing the line.

Editor’s Note: offers a detailed look at BP’s management model and the balancing of it’s four components and also offers a quick review of four basic schools of thought on corporate entrepreneurship. A good read…

…a viable option for selecting people and not as bad as it looks

Are Psychometric tests a reliable method of selection? A US academic, Robyn Dawes and two headhunters, Robert Irving and Stuart O’Reilly of Whitehead Mann, debate the evidence.

Abba Eban, Israeli statesman

Men and nations may behave wisely once they’ve exhausted all other alternatives.

Moving from Blame to Accountability (.pdf)

When something goes wrong in an organization, the first question that is often posed is, “Whose fault is it?”

Blaming seems to be a natural reflex in many organizations. Even those individuals who wish to learn from mistakes fall into naming culprits. Once we figure out who’s at fault, we then try to find out what is wrong with the supposed offenders. Only when we … [ Read more ]

Is a Centralized or Decentralized IT Organization Better?

Centralize your IT department or decentralize? Which gives your company the biggest boost? Depends.

Is the Role of COO Obsolete?

More and more companies say the COO is no longer necessary, but a few still find it essential.

Maximizing Your Return on Investment in Human Performance

How businesses treat their people has a demonstrable effect on the bottom line. But few executives know how to encourage the kind of high-performance work practices that will help employees create value for their companies. A comprehensive new human-performance framework can help organizations invest in their people so that performance-and, ultimately, overall business value-will increase in a consistent, predictable way.

Timothy C. Daughtry Ph.D. & Gary R. Casselman Ph.D

The more we have identified our worth (who we are) with our strengths (how we do things), the more likely we are to respond with denial, rationalization, resistance, and distortion when given feedback about the downside of our strengths.

Doomed to Failure

If there’s been unusually high turnover in your company’s ranks, take a look at each employee’s first week on the job. Too many managers let snap judgments made during that time affect a new employee’s whole tenure with the company.

The Input Bias: How Managers Misuse Information When Making Decisions

Fans of the hit TV comedy “The Jerry Seinfeld Show” may remember an episode in which Jerry’s friend George leaves his car parked at work so that the boss will think George is putting in long hours, even when he’s not. The idea, of course, is that George’s apparent productivity will net him a higher raise or bonus. Wharton professor Maurice Schweitzer would call George’s … [ Read more ]

What’s the Big Idea? Creating and Capitalizing on the Best New Management Thinking

This unique book studies how ideas percolate within organizations. It identifies “idea practitioners” (managers who introduce new thinking to their companies), studies the role of management gurus, and describes how to evaluate new ideas for fit. Included are case studies of reengineering and knowledge management, as well as lists of business ideas and leading management thinkers.

Editor’s Note: you can download chapter 1 at … [ Read more ]

The Customer Comes Eighth

Ahead of the customer stand at least seven other people you’d better satisfy-or else.

Editor’s Note: a look at the author’s Core Group Theory of Power.

Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions

Gary Klein studies decision-making in the field, tagging along with firefighters, standing by in intensive-care units, and watching chess masters play lightning-fast “blitz” games to learn how people make choices with time constraints, limited information, and changing goals. From this research, he and his associates have developed a theory of “naturalistic decision-making.”
Sources of Power essentially lends the validity of scientific research to techniques that many … [ Read more ]

Robert Reich

One of the greatest myths going is that you’ve got to create a family-friendly company in order to recruit and retain talented employees. Well, you absolutely have to do so, but the myth is thinking that family-friendly policies are going to solve the problem of overwork. I know company after company with generous family-leave policies that enable employees to take sabbaticals and to take time … [ Read more ]

Robert Knowling

People who don’t share our values are cancerous to the organization, regardless of their performance. In my experience, every time you invest trying to save these people you end up regretting it. It’s simply too difficult to change people’s values.