Tired of Meetings Going Nowhere? Give This a Try.
Picture this scene: A group of mid/upper level managers have been in a meeting for over 90 minutes. The discussion has been going around and around on a particular contentious … Continue reading
Why Great Strategies Fail
The benefit of experience is that you start to recognize familiar patterns in the ways organizations behave. A common one is the borderline obsession companies have with strategy & growth. … Continue reading
The 3 Product Manager Personas. Which one are you?
A simple framework that can be used to quickly identify the quintessential traits of a successful PM
You Deserve an Assistant
We all dream of having a personal assistant. At home, but especially at work, there is always a need for an extra pair of hands and someone reliable we can … Continue reading
What People Really Want (And How You Can Help Them Get It)
Corporations are always looking for ways to improve productivity and raise employee engagement levels. Each year we get new software and tools to make us more productive but they usually … Continue reading
Can Managers Do Their Own Recruiting?
When LinkedIn recently announced its membership had cracked the 200 million mark (up a whopping 39% over the year before), it not only proclaimed its arrival as a leading social … Continue reading
What Kind of General Are You?
Years ago I remember being told a story about how German general Erich Von Manstein developed a unique system for categorizing and ranking his officers. He categorized them according to … Continue reading
9 Huge Tech Waves to Ride Now
The incredible rise of new technologies and the wired universe unfolding around us are creating endless possibilities for companies to radically shift business models, accelerate innovation or simply outperform the … Continue reading
9 Behaviors of Effective Leaders
Leadership is another catchall phrase that gets liberally bandied about in the media and corporations alike. The word itself seems to embody all the greatness we come to … Continue reading
What Marketing Can Learn From Portfolio Management
Business people, and especially marketers, are always hatching new ideas, programs or campaigns. Its just what they do. Unfortunately, we live in a world of finite resources – and budgets. … Continue reading
Rescue Your Marketing!
I keep being drawn back to the Fournaise Group’s 2011 survey of 600 CEOs that showed a very bleak perception of Marketing’s value. While you may have issues with the … Continue reading
A Better Way to Gauge Performance
Employee rankings and performance evaluations are serious business. They are as difficult to do well as they are important for an organization’s development. Seems every company has its own unique … Continue reading
Calibration and Ranking Tips
I once participated in an interesting employee ranking/calibration exercise. HR would hold these once a year to score, rank and compare employees as part of their annual review process. Everybody … Continue reading
How to Know if You are Still Relevant
Survival in the business world is normally tied to one’s value to the organization. Not a year goes by when companies aren’t tightening their belts and asking more from each … Continue reading
The Future of Work: It Looks a Lot Like This…
For those of you who haven’t had a chance yet, I strongly encourage you to drop by oDesk to see what the future of work – possibly even YOUR future … Continue reading
When is Exceptional Performance Not Exceptional?
When business is doing great, everybody looks like a star. Over several years, however, people can come to believe that their personal contributions or the combined efforts of their department … Continue reading
Why Being Courteous in Business Isn’t Frivolous
They say its the small things that make all the difference. But is being courteous in business really such a small thing? The other day I get an e-mail out … Continue reading
Put More Fun in Your Marketing
For many marketers and organizations there is a strong tendency to take everything very seriously. This is business, after all, and we must fight every day to survive. Business has … Continue reading
A Better Way to Know if You Should Stay or Quit
It’s inevitable. Sooner or later, everybody asks themselves whether they are in the right job or not. It’s a perfectly normal question but one that many people struggle to answer. … Continue reading
What a Disrupted College System Means for Business
The forces of the internet and digital age are at it again. They are sharpening their knives and preparing to take on a new “fat cow” industry. Like the music, … Continue reading
Now More Than Ever. Why The World Needs Liberal Arts Education.
What is the one thing you believe in that nobody else does? That’s the question that was presented to Chad Dickerson in a video interview. He eloquently pointed out that … Continue reading
How to Unleash the Hidden Social Media Potential Within Your Organization
Many of us are sitting on top of a pile of gold and don’t even realize it. In fact, it’s more like we are sitting on top of massive … Continue reading
A Powerful Business Lesson from Cajun Country
A few years ago I was introduced to the word “Lagniappe” (pronounced Lah-Nyap). And just like Mark Twain in 1883, who described it as a word “worth traveling to New … Continue reading
Why International Business is Different
Doing business internationally is one of life’s great joys and challenges. It is immensely enriching but it is neither for the faint of heart nor for those who are by … Continue reading
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