The Complexity Part: (This is the third in a four-part series on how growing complexity is changing our lives.) And when it comes to decisions, complexity is indeed the byword. Not only do we have an overabundance of product choices but we also have anabundance of freedom in most areas of our life. For example, there are myriad choices for …
Good Judgment
What is “Judgment?” According to my dictionary, judgment is “the ability to make considered decisions or come to a sensible conclusion.” Of course, there is the other use, being “judgmental,”—meaning that we are holding others to our standards and finding them wanting in some way. When speaking of leadership, I am referring to the first definition. So “good judgment” then …
The Black Box
Puzzle Eons ago, when I was in engineering school, we had an exercise known as “The Black Box.” The idea is simple; the challenge wasn’t always so simple. Inside the box, hidden from our view, was an electronic circuit. There were two variations, a paper exercise where the instructor gave us the input and outputwaveforms, and we had to derive …
Leadership: Pushing Authority to the Information
Many business owners, chief executives and professional managers are embracing, to one level or another, the concept that we have to lead our organizations to move faster and provide outstanding customer service. And by now, many are tired of hearing that they must change their business model if they truly want to survive, let alone thrive. But that’s the case …
Corporate Strategy: A Common “Vision” or Strategy is Essential
Recently I read on a leadership blog, that the author felt that an overriding corporate strategy is a “fool’s errand.” Freek Vermeulen reasoned that divisions or business units in larger companies often have widely different goals, products, consumers and even “brands.” Therefore, a one-size-fits-all corporate strategy is impossible to implement and could harm the organization. Well, perhaps we are quibbling over words, …