Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, laid out his five-point plan for an interconnected system for an interconnected world. (A New System for a New Century: Fortune, 4 February 2013.)
It struck me that many MDs of medium-sized companies would be very familiar with Schwab’s five criteria.
One client was not over the moon about my rather in-depth overview of Henry Mintzberg’s Management (and HM includes leadership under management). Another said my newsletters are too long.
Fortunately I discovered my notes made in 2005 on Jack Welsh’s Eight Rules of Leadership.
Welsh, formerly CEO of General Electric, was named the top manager of the 20th century. read more »
“Success depends on a company’s ability to unleash the initiative, imagination, and passion of employees, and this can only happen if all those folks are connected heart and soul to their work, their company and its mission.” read more »
Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed? You just have too much to do and cannot really cope at that moment?
I recently reread a book and three articles on totally different subjects when it struck me how related they were.
All had a single message: Keep it simple. read more »
Running a business can be taxing. Setting new strategies to cope with new external trends and forces means change. The economic situation adds new demands.
A very interesting article Leadership in a (Permanent) Crisis by Ronald Heifetz Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky appeared in the Harvard Business Review of July/August 2009. It’s as relevant now as when it appeared. I thought the final few paragraphs were especially applicable to a number of my clients.
Country economies are still adapting to new global economic conditions. Uncertainty will remain the norm. The authors cautioned that the “work of leadership demands that you manage not only the critical adaptive responses within and surrounding your business but also you own thinking and emotions. This will test your limits. Taking care of yourself both physically and emotionally will be crucial to your success.” read more »
Some of my clients have read Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I bought a copy in 1993 but only read it in 1999 – and regretted not having done so sooner.
It is with sadness that I learned of his passing this month – which led me to rereading The Seven Habits. Through the years I have read a number of Covey’s books and also valued The 8th Habit.
While The Seven Habits in style is not a classic business book, it covers the domain of leading/managing in an intriguing and thoughtful way. It prompted me to write this post. read more »
Any MD or leader senses that a change in strategy means a change in execution and in behaviour. I have clients who are by now well-versed in leading change and who really relish the execution process especially as they are experiencing success on various levels.
Others who have sailed through usually invigorating strategic planning sessions are still struggling in getting an execution process in place. To them the new processes and new systems which need to be mastered are daunting. They fail to committ themselves step by step.
Every MD knows that execution and changing the behaviour of those you lead are the difficult parts. Google glibly shows that about 15 million articles have been written about the “execution of strategy” and 6.6 million on “leading change”. Save yourself some reading by reading only one checklist on leading change, developed by John P. Kotter, formerly from Harvard University, the preeminent change guru.*1 I abbreviated the content of his eight points to make it even easier.
Why do so few entrepreneurs put a proper set of systems in place? Most of my clients started their companies as entrepreneurs who progressed far in an intuitive and practical manner. In the course of building their companies, most installed two or more excellent systems. However, this was often done piecemeal and not as part of a greater scheme of things. Most are PC-based systems. Very often crucial soft systems are not in place e.g. planning and execution systems.
The result is that many MDs experience serious strain each day. As MD you might consider expanding your already successful company, products and services but baulk at doing as you are afraid that the load which you personally carry will increase. The problem is that you are the system. All operations run through you. You experience unhealthy strain and overwhelm. Any change or expansion will only increase your personal load. read more »
An article titled “First, let’s fire all managers” captured my attention. If you are an MD or a manager it should halt you in your tracks.
We are all so used to the idea of having managers around that we might find the notion of doing away with managers downright impossible or absurd. Well, we all know that the role of managers has changed in the last three decades. The advent of the internet has drastically altered communications and the flow of information internally. In addition, employees, especially young employees, are drastically different from their managers. There’s simply less of a need for traditional managers. read more »
keywords: management, self-managementA client enthusiastically drew my attention to an article about operational innovation as a way to change a company. This article is so full of down-to-earth common sense that I would like to share some of its ideas with all my clients.
Michael Hammer, author of Deep Change – How Operational Innovation Can Transform a Company (Harvard Business Review, April 2004), provided an example in the USA auto insurance business which might also intrigue you. All South Africans will have noted what our insurance companies have been doing over the past five years. We have all seen a series of insurance ads on TV. You may even have experienced a better service. It would appear that some SA insurance companies had taken note of what Progressive Insurance did. Although you may not in the insurance industry, what could you consider doing with reference to this example? read more »
keywords: innovation, leadership, organisational learning