admin Author’s Note — This is taken from the introduction to a book in progress (working title: The I-Competencies: Head, Heart, Guts and Will as Keys to Success). If anyone has an idea for a shorter title, please let me know. If it works better, I’ll send you a free copy of the book when it’s … Read more
There was an old Star Trek plot about an alien enemy called the BORG. Their mission in the universe was to assimilate all of the other intelligent races. In pursuit of their seemingly unstoppable collectivist mission, they had a habit of intoning “resistance is futile.” They were convinced that they would win in the end. … Read more
A recent book by Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer offers many insights about power in organizations: how to gain it and how to hold on to it once you have it. It’s based on real world observation and research, not on theory, abstraction or political correctness. As such, some of his observations may be at odds … Read more
You can’t operate in the physical world without making choices. The alarm goes off in the morning. You choose to get up or to burrow back in. If you realize you’ve put on a few extra pounds, you can choose to begin training for a marathon, decide you’re OK and grab another bag of chips … Read more
GenX. GenY. Millenials. Generation ME. Whatever comes next. They’re so different from the way we were. They’re self-centered, anti-social, superficial, unhappy, etc. Maybe not so much, it turns out. Received Wisdom tells us that recent generations are fundamentally different in some very important ways and that these differences need to be taken into account as … Read more
Growth through Pain (Cliché but True) It’s a tough fact of life that we don’t learn much about ourselves or our character in good times. We can’t fully discover our strengths and shortcomings without being tested by adversity. How we deal with it, or how we learn to deal with it, is central to who … Read more
Roger Harrison was one of the founders of the professional discipline known as Organizational Development (OD). In the 1970s, he described a rather novel and tough-minded approach to team development. This was a bit of a departure from the then-vogue tender-minded approaches that assumed conflict and power struggles were symptoms of underlying leadership or structural … Read more
What is an entrepreneur? Why are certain people successful starting and growing a business and others are not? Is it just luck or being in the right place at the right time? Certainly Bill Gates, with his technical talents, needed the computer revolution in order to make Microsoft the successful company it is. But is … Read more
Are top performers made or born? How can I get more of them? The answers to these questions hold the key to every leader’s success. The more top performers a leader can select and/or develop, the greater the success of his or her organization. Competencies are clusters of KSAPs (knowledge, skills, abilities and personal characteristics) … Read more
An Apollo team is one composed of exceptionally bright and clever people. The Apollo phenomenon was first described by English psychologist Meredith Belbin, who designed and ran many long-term management simulations for business and government in the United Kingdom and Australia. Belbin identified several key team roles (which were different from functional roles) necessary for … Read more