Business Insight for MBAs and Managers

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Most Recent Business Quotations

The truth about culture is that the only way you can change it is by changing the way individuals work with one another. If you can change that, then you will find the culture has changed.
— Roger Martin

Author: Roger L. Martin | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Culture, Organizational Behavior

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.
— Frank V. Cespedes

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 ]
— Frank V. Cespedes

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 ]
— Matt Wallaert

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

The big dysfunction that happens on boards is we say, “Let’s bring in outsiders, people with different backgrounds and representing different social, political, and economic interests.” That’s great, except now you have a roomful of people who don’t understand the business. The language these people have in common is financial accounting, so that’s what they concentrate on. As long as things are going great that’s … [ Read more ]
— Richard Rumelt

Author: Richard Rumelt | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Strategy

Most Popular Business Quotations

In principle, patents open up innovations in two ways. First, they confer only temporary rights; once patents expire or are abandoned, the intellectual property they are designed to protect passes into the public domain. Second, they require the details of the invention to be disclosed so they can be replicated. This permits follow-on innovation, which is essential for industrial progress. More recently, as the patent system … [ Read more ]
— The Economist

As for the genius of innovation, clearly the one percent spark of inspiration is nurtured by a positive culture. But the 99 percent perspiration ingredient comes from employees who love what they do, as well as where they do it, and who invest in that Holy Grail of productivity called “discretionary … [ Read more ]
— Stephanie Quappe, David Samso Aparici, Jon Warshawsky

Money never comes first in self-expression of any kind.
— William J. Reilly

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no … [ Read more ]
— Theodore Roosevelt

The uncomfortable fact for many green marketers--and targets of that marketing--is that genuinely going green would mean giving up most of the products and services that clutter our consumer culture. It would mean simplifying, valuing time and people over stuff. How can most products avoid the sin of the hidden trade-off? With a simple label: "You don't really need this."
— David Roberts

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Accounting   [16 posts]
Best Practices   [39 posts]
Career   [157 posts]   → Networking [2 posts]   → Work [47 posts]
Change Management   [143 posts]
Competitive Intelligence   [10 posts]
Consulting / Analytical Tools   [4 posts]
Corporate Governance   [98 posts]   → Succession Planning [4 posts]
Customer Related   [168 posts]
Economics   [285 posts]   → Capitalism [71 posts]
Education   [35 posts]
Entrepreneurship   [176 posts]   → Venture Capital [30 posts]
Finance   [119 posts]   → Investing [9 posts]   → Market/Investment [5 posts]   → Money [9 posts]   → Taxation [1 posts]
General   [6 posts]
History   [19 posts]
Human Resources   [494 posts]   → Coaching [9 posts]   → Compensation [38 posts]   → Diversity [36 posts]   → Motivation [88 posts]   → Training & Development [59 posts]   → Hiring [29 posts]
Innovation   [303 posts]   → Creativity [66 posts]
International   [52 posts]   → International - Americas [1 posts]   → Trade [2 posts]
IT / Technology / E-Business   [71 posts]
Leadership   [507 posts]
Legal   [23 posts]   → Intellectual Property [10 posts]
Management   [1478 posts]   → Business Plans [12 posts]   → Business Rules [43 posts]   → Delegation [7 posts]   → Execution [24 posts]   → Goals [24 posts]   → Growth [7 posts]   → Knowledge Management [12 posts]   → Measurement [44 posts]   → Mission [26 posts]   → Process [16 posts]   → Project Management [11 posts]   → Success / Failure [171 posts]   → Trends / Analysis [52 posts]   → Values [27 posts]   → Vision [37 posts]
Marketing / Sales   [281 posts]   → Advertising [9 posts]   → Brand [24 posts]   → Business Development [2 posts]   → Market Research [25 posts]   → Pricing [6 posts]
MBA Related   [38 posts]
Mergers & Acquisitions   [26 posts]
Miscellaneous   [82 posts]
Negotiation   [19 posts]
Nonprofit   [4 posts]
Operations   [41 posts]   → Outsourcing / BPO [14 posts]   → Quality [5 posts]
Organizational Behavior   [1592 posts]   → Accountability [20 posts]   → Bureaucracy [14 posts]   → Communication [157 posts]   → Culture [98 posts]   → Decision Making [174 posts]   → Ethics [57 posts]   → Personality / Behavior [239 posts]   → Politics [10 posts]   → Power / Authority [47 posts]   → Reengineering [3 posts]   → Reorganization [4 posts]   → Storytelling [27 posts]   → Teamwork [53 posts]   → Trust [31 posts]   → Women in Business [20 posts]
People   [7 posts]
Personal Development   [532 posts]   → Ability [23 posts]   → Achievement [85 posts]   → Attitude [21 posts]   → Challenge [11 posts]   → Character [20 posts]   → Commitment [13 posts]   → Competence [12 posts]   → Experience [25 posts]   → Expertise [12 posts]   → Judgement [7 posts]   → Learning [71 posts]
Productivity / Work Tips   [30 posts]   → Products & Services [1 posts]
Public Relations   [15 posts]   → Crisis Management [6 posts]
Quote   [642 posts]   → Action [23 posts]   → Adversity [11 posts]   → Ambition [10 posts]   → Attention [20 posts]   → Confidence [8 posts]   → Design [8 posts]   → Fear / Doubt [8 posts]   → Future [35 posts]   → Government [17 posts]   → Information [47 posts]   → Integrity [16 posts]   → Intelligence [12 posts]   → Knowledge [110 posts]   → Life [50 posts]   → Luck [17 posts]   → Mistakes [7 posts]   → Observations [10 posts]   → Opportunity [26 posts]   → Perception [15 posts]   → Persuasion [27 posts]   → Philosophy [8 posts]   → Potential [7 posts]   → Preparation [9 posts]   → Privacy [1 posts]   → Problems / Solutions [39 posts]   → Progress [10 posts]   → Reputation [6 posts]   → Skills [18 posts]   → Teaching [7 posts]   → Thought [96 posts]   → Time Management [16 posts]   → Wisdom [58 posts]
Risk Management   [66 posts]
Social Responsibility (ESG)   [94 posts]
Statistics   [12 posts]
Strategy   [364 posts]   → Business Model [3 posts]   → Competition [55 posts]   → Planning [21 posts]

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Automotive   [1 post]
Consulting   [2 posts]
Education / Training   [4 posts]
Investing   [2 posts]
Retail   [1 post]