Anthony (Tony) Ladd was recently referred to me by a trusted colleague. So Tony and I got together and came to know each other a bit. He’s got a unique view of what’s going on here in the U.S. He is from the UK. As we discussed his situation, it became clear that he is a very senior executive with a great deal of operational experience. He is amused by the “deer in the headlight” look of many American business executives these days.
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Economy, Leadership, Management, Markets, New Normal, Opinion
I don’t know where this quotation originates; it is on a card provided by a packaging company without attribution. I love it anyway though. Of course, leadership is more than just an action, it is action from a new view of the world, not the same old actions we’ve always taken. To me, that is the very essence of leadership – finding a way to have the world occur differently to yourself and others and then taking actions to reach that new view, the new vision and mission.
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Leadership, Management, Politics
WARNING: Geek-speak is about to happen in this blog and it’s not really about leadership (at least not directly). I think this is more about catharsis than it is about anything else, yet some of you may be amused by the trials and tribulations of a died-in-the-wool technologist, suffering at the hands of technology.
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Growing Edges, Opinion, Technology, Time Management
Leaders don’t fall in love with their own ideas. They do fall in love with the vision, the noble goal of the organization, but they don’t cling to their own “great ideas.” And they don’t let you fall in love with your ideas either. Why? Because when you are so committed to an idea, or view, or opinion, you aren’t open to the way things can be. It’s hard, maybe impossible to see new possibilities.
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ideas, Innovation, Leadership, Management, opinions
There are many different ways of stating the premise that if you overuse a particular strength, it is soon seen by others as a fault, a weakness. My favorite way of saying it is that “your strength will become your weakness.” The point is that if you fully and only play to your strength, your strong suite, that it becomes tiresome to people, or out-dated, a solution that is no longer required. We become obsolete.
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Change, Leadership, Management, Organizational Development
So, it’s no fun to have made the call, but I see that Tony Hayward is in fact on his way out. He is being held accountable (not necessarily blamed, but the buck stops with him).A recent Gallop Poll showing how the “confidence” people had in various institutions means we have a very long way to go in getting folks to have faith in big business. Luckily, many still have confidence in small business. “Small businesses rate a 66% while big business gets 19% and organized labor 10%.”
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Corporate Culture, Crisis Management, Governance, Leadership
It’s kind of like what I used to call “forced fun” at company sales meetings. It was meant to be team building but it really was “forced” in the sense that many folks did not really want to be there or even be participating. Many times, once they were there, they liked it well enough and actually had some fun in spite of themselves. The internet is causing forced transparency in company operations. Many don’t like it and would rather not be transparent. Some, like the forced fun situation, will find they can use the new rules of the game to actually win and have some fun along the way.
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We all have companies we “love to hate.” There’s a video running around with a marine blasting an HP Printer that failed and the folks on the other end of the phone wanted to charge him for assistance (warning this guy is very angry and not using polite language).
My prime target is AT&T and without going into a long tirade, I’ll just say that I’ve not personallyexperienced more deplorable customer service at the hands of a company. I’m adding another one now though, Intuit. After deciding that the “gentle warning” on their website that the latest software was best for Windows 7, I paid my money and downloaded the QB 2010 software. That’s when it all began.
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AT&T, Communication, Customer Service, HP, Intuit, Leadership, Management, Poor Service, Shaping the Corp
Many years ago I heard the statement made that “corporate staff is like body fat. You have to have some in order to survive. But the goal is to have as little as possible.” I think the same is true of Government. You have to have some, but the goal is to minimize it. So I start from the premise that Governments and Businesses have the same challenge – deliver value and necessary services while keeping the nonproductive activities and costs to an absolute minimum.
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BP, Communication, Gulf Oil Disaster, Leadership, Management, Sustainability
A colleague, Ira Wolfe, asked a great question over on one of the many leadership blogs we frequent. His question was, “The BP Gulf of Mexico Crisis is just gushing with leadership lessons. What do you think are the most important lessons leaders can learn from this?” I like this question and had been thinking about this very thing for weeks now. There were several responses, and I too contributed since I’d been pondering this topic anyway.
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Ethical Corporation, Governance, Leadership, Management
