WEBLOG Archive January 2009

TO THE MOON, MANAGERS

Although we are subscribers, I typically don’t spend a lot of time with the Harvard Business Reviewfor many reasons not worth going into here. However, in the February issue, Gary Hamel penned an article titled Moon Shots for Management that is worth the time investment. 

Hamel, a thought leader for global business strategies, leadership and management, is among 35 CEOs, consultants, academics, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists branded the “renegade brigade.” For this article, they asked themselves two questions:

·      What needs to be…

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Jan 31, 2009 4:42 PM

HOW TO READ A CLIENT'S MIND

An associate and friend recently forwarded us a “Management Tip of the Day” from the Institute of Management Consultants.  It contains advice to ensure that client and consultant are on the same page by finding out “what is going on inside (clients’) heads.”

The given recommendation is cloaked in manipulative techniques. It suggests consultants ask themselves questions such as:

·      “What do I want (clients) to think or feel as a result of this upcoming issue or event?”

·      “Am I trying to get them to change the way they think or feel…

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Jan 22, 2009 3:18 PM

THE 500 PERCENT MARK UP ON A $40 MISTAKE

A recent, exceedingly frustrating shopping experience underscores our conviction that the employees with the most customer contact need the knowledge, resources and decision-making authority they need to make decisions that serve the business. If they don't have them, we guarantee it is having a negative effect on quality, profitability, cycle time and unique response.

We originally wrote a detailed account of our ordeal, but it was so tedious and mind-numbing that we deleted it. The details aren’t as important as the fact that most people have…

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Jan 17, 2009 11:54 AM

DRIVING THE NAIL HOME

When I worked as a carpenter in an earlier part of my life, we occasionally played a game on the construction site where we would try to drive a large spike into a piece of wood with one blow of the hammer. To do that you must directly “hit the nail on the head.”

In consulting, this is much harder to do. Sometimes it is difficult even to find the nails, let alone hit them on the head. Today I had a pleasant surprise when someone else “hit the nail on the head” after reading Authentic Conversations.

This blog writer contrasted passages from our…

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Jan 7, 2009 5:03 PM

CULTURE IS A BUSINESS ISSUE

Check out Liz Ryan’s blog on the Boulder Daily Camera’s website, and what she has to say about broken cultures. Her conversation with a CEO was of particular interest, because he started out saying to her, “I must be crazy calling you now, when conditions are so tough in the marketplace. But I think we could be working together more effectively in my company.”

Crazy? From where we sit, the only sane thing to do is devote attention and energy to culture, especiallyduring tough economic times.

Although there isn’t much to disagree with in Ms.…

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Jan 5, 2009 4:34 PM

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