Meetings: As certain and as joyous as death and taxes
-There are very few people that actually enjoy meetings. I have never heard anyone say, “I can’t wait for the meeting this afternoon” unless it’s followed by “I won’t have to eat at my desk.” Certainly, the people who are called to attend a meeting largely lack enthusiasm are energetic unless they, or their project, are the reason for the meeting – and even then, only if it’s expected to be a positive experience for them. And the person calling the meeting will not usually be enthusiastic or energetic unless the reason for the meeting is something joyous or dreadful…
Five leadership styles behind the success of giant MNCs
-Dr. Amal Farouk Soliman Honorary Board member of the American Academy of Project management Prof. Joseph F Paris Jr Chairman of XONITEK Consulting Group Int’l; Founder of the Operational Excellence Society; Founder of the Readiness Institute; and Author of “State of Readiness”. Ceridian is as an information services company. And, according to its CEO, David Ossip; “… Negative employee attitudes can harm workplace culture, impacting morale and employee engagement, and may also result in a ripple effect of unhappy customers.” Mr. Ossip recognized this problem and its being a threat to the business. He made use of his skilled and purposeful leadership…
Unpacking Packaging Costs
-Packaging is everywhere. Almost everything that we buy comes packaged in some form. New cars are packaged in protective films for transport. The jeans on the store shelf came in a corrugated paperboard box. Even the fresh fruit at the farmer’s market arrived in a box, and you took it home in a bag. The trend of the YouTube unboxing videos is driving new attention to packaging. The unboxing experience, along with a quick initial review of the product by product influencers, is becoming a decision point for consumers. While Amazon drives the marketplace with 2-day delivery, a significant portion…
The Power of Leadership at High Performance Organizations
-The power of leadership at High-Performance Organizations is found in the essence of Servant Leadership, the alternative approach to the “default” model most common in society until now: The Command and Control Leadership Model. Taking a look at it, we may even better understand what Servant Leadership means and why it needs to be the basic thinking for leaders in High-Performance Organizations. The Command and Control Model Focus is primarily on who has the power, not who uses it intelligently. Authority is largely position-based versus credibility gained or know-how based. Success and status are measured by how much power you…
Hurry Up and Slow Down
-I just got off the golf course hitting 9-holes with my Pop, who is 84 years old. God bless him, I hope he has many more rounds to play and I look forward to getting out as often as I can with him. We played the En-Joie Golf Club; a stop on the PGA Tour from 1972 to 2005 when the BC Open was played there – and now, as the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, which is a stop on the Champions Tour. It is unique in that the course is owned and operated by Broome County. This means that…
The Agile Mind: Scientific Thinking
-Agile neither fears nor worships failure. For some time, I’ve been noticing a trend. At conferences, in business schools, in business books and “business cartoons”: a trend that trivializes failure. The alarming equation I see set forth everywhere is: This newfound glorification of failure triggers the same mixture of alarm and sadness from another earlier extreme, before ‘failing forward’ rose to aspirational heights. In earlier times, the equation was: Two extremes. This previous obsession with failure avoidance produced a generation of steadfast fighters for the preservation of status quo surrounded by a dense layer of opacity around problems (aka opportunities).…
