Throw out all your change management books and methodologies and theories. Burn every PowerPoint presentation filled with diagrams and flow charts and tools and templates. Delete your change project plans. Forget agonizing over deliverables that your change work team must produce. Fire every project manager or internal auditor or procurement specialist who minimizes your change … More Reality Check for Change “Managers”
Derek Sivers, the founder and former president of CD Baby, shows in this funny and revealing video that while a leader gets things started, it’s the courageous follower that transforms the “lone nut” into a leader. It’s the follower’s choice to follow and encourage others to follow that makes the difference between an isolated incident … More The Courage of Followers
Sometimes the best solutions are the most obvious, and unfortunately, the ones least considered. Organization change is hard because leaders and project teams forget to do the simple, but important things, while spending extraordinary amounts of effort in the glitzy and complex. Technology projects focus on the technology. Outsourcing focuses on cost analysis. Mergers focus … More Mastering the Obvious
As Ed Roland and Collective Soul express so well, great results happen when you begin to listen. In the late 1980’s, the economy in Japan was strong, and everyone was making money, trading stocks, investing in real estate, and busy buying assets throughout the world. Behind all the luxury and pleasures, however, lay the realities … More Listening, Health and Employee Engagement
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and … More A Revolutionary Case for Change
Orchestra conductors must exercise a unique style of leadership. They must listen intently, and without saying a word, draw out strong performances from their orchestras. This requires that they learn to be the ultimate collaborators, understand the unique capabilities of each musician and decide how best to blend them into a coherent whole. In this … More Lead Like a Great Conductor
How to love. How to live. How to fix anything. How to lose weight. How to stop worrying. How to find your passion. How to train your dog, bird, cat or dragon. How to make money. How to get into college. How to stay in college. How to interview. How to get a job. How … More Beyond How To’s
In my personal life, I am an optimist. I believe fully in the power of positive thinking and the value of spreading good cheer wherever I go, if only because it makes life more fun and enjoyable. But when it comes to managing change, I believe in realism. A key component of the Architecture of … More Despots, Group Think and the Ugly Side of Institutional Optimism
The economic crisis has called into question the pay practices of some of the nation’s largest financial services companies. In particular, the Federal Reserve and other regulatory organizations have found that many of the bonus and incentive programs led executives to make decisions that not only contributed to the worst financial crisis since the Great … More Motivation Is Not About the Money
Robert Sutton, Professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University, has been researching great bosses for many years. His last book was the New York Times bestseller The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t. His work suggests a number of techniques and behaviors that research has shown good bosses … More The Mindset of a Great Boss
Erik Van Slyke 