http://thewisdommeme.pmachinehosting.com/weblog.php en-us Wed, 04 Apr 2007 05:39:33 CDT Wed, 04 Apr 2007 05:39:33 CDT http://thewisdommeme.com/weblog.php?id=P90 After 25 years of research on nearly 400 companies, Paul C. Nutt, Professor of Management Sciences, Ohio State University found that tough decisions by organisational leaders failed half the time. This is amazing. They might well have flipped a coin. He identified 10 blunders and traps that decision makers fall prey to: http://thewisdommeme.com/weblog.php?id=P89 I’m a bit of a magpie. I collect interesting jigsaw pieces of information about leadership and performance and store them away until I get two or three pieces that seem to fit together and shed a little more light or provide more insight. So, here’s the latest: Research by the Engineering Employers Federation says that more than half of Britain’s manufacturing companies have failed to implement any of the 12 most widely recognized modern production methods. The result is that... http://thewisdommeme.com/weblog.php?id=P88 Einstein is perhaps the creative genius of the 20th century and as well as his ground breaking work on relativity, he is also known today through his many quotes. Two in particular have a special relevance for leaders and business success today. The first – “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. If I translate this to modern businesses, what I think he is saying is that whilst knowledge is important, it is the leaders who can use knowledge as a source of fuel for their... http://thewisdommeme.com/weblog.php?id=P87 As our world changes at an unimaginable speed, organizational leaders are challenged by increasing complexity and formidable paradoxes. Challenges such as engaging the whole person, meeting the needs for community, and existing in balance with their environment are already pushing leaders and organizations to the limit their capability to respond. What is needed is for leaders to transform their leadership to be a powerful expression of who they are. As knowledge gives way to the... http://thewisdommeme.com/weblog.php?id=P86 A lack of vision and poor understanding of the sheer size of the task means that a £6.2bn IT scheme for the National Health Service in the UK "isn't working and isn't going to work" according to Andrew Rollerson, an executive with Fujitisu, on of the systems providers, Computer Weekly reported 13/02/07. When I first read this I thought what a wonderful quantification of a lack of vision. I’m sure the leaders and managers involved in this project will find any other reason but... http://thewisdommeme.com/weblog.php?id=P84 Does trying to balance your work and life drive you crazy. For me, part of the solution is to see balance not as a static achievement but as a dynamic process. This from Fast Company magazine "It may be that you recently had a week that defied sanity. You faced an impossible deadline at work. You were expected at your daughter's dance recital, at a soccer game, and at a meeting with the kitchen contractor. Then another big project landed in your lap (thanks, boss!). You were... http://thewisdommeme.com/weblog.php?id=P79 This is from an article by F David Peat, author of an excellent book called Blackfoot Physics. In this article he demonstrates how small actions can have powerful effects and gives many examples. "How can policy makers, NGO, institutions, businesses and individuals achieve stability in a world of rapid change and engage in activities that are more appropriate to the situations that surround them? Issues of uncertainty have always existed; as have apparently intractable problems.... http://thewisdommeme.com/weblog.php?id=P85 Five simultaneous conversations are essential to the art and discipline of leadership… The first courageous conversation is the conversation with the unknown future—what lies over the horizon…” The second conversation is the courageous conversation you’re not having with a present customer, a patient, a vendor, who all represent the future as it’s lapping up against the side of your organization….” The third conversation is the courageous conversation you’re not having... http://thewisdommeme.com/weblog.php?id=P81 I am always interested in articles that give me another interpretation of new concepts that I find attractive and add value to my work. If you are interested in Spiral Dynamics , Wilber's Four Quadrants and Integral everthing, here is a useful piece on leadership... "Kurt Lewin, considered by many to be the father of modern organization development practices, is famous for claiming that “there’s nothing so practical as a good theory.” And in 2003, the field of leadership and... http://thewisdommeme.com/weblog.php?id=P82 A new book, Lasting Leadership, interviews 25 business leaders including Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com; Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group; Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computers; Peter Drucker, the educator and author; William (Bill?) Gates, chairman of Microsoft; Louis Gerstner, former CEO of IBM; and more of the usual suspects. The book identifies eight attributes of leadership, each of which has its own chapter, that...