Decision-making is at the heart of all leadership. Sometimes leaders make good decisions, but sometimes they make less good decisions. The authors set out to understand why bad decisions are made, and what causes them. They propose that in certain situations, the brain processes that normally get us to good decisions, lead us instead to […]
Read More… from Avoiding Bad Decisions: ‘Red Flags’ and Reflection
The authors set out to examine the leadership tools required to help managers rise to new challenges faced during uncertain times. Using case studies of prominent leaders of the past 50 years, they explore the keys of effective leadership. They find that in order to inspire others and lead change in difficult times, the two […]
Read More… from Leadership Tools: Magnet to Pull, Hammer to Drive
Robots are taking over our jobs! Ok, maybe that’s not quite the case just yet, but as technology continues to develop swiftly, there is no doubt that machines are getting smarter, cheaper, and – in some cases- more effective than humans. In several fields, analytical models are already heavily relied on for forecasting; take the […]
Read More… from Human Judgement Vs Computer Aided Forecasting
Collaboration has turned traditional leadership and project management on its head in recent years. In this Idea we examine how leaders and managers can benefit from a collaborative model for implementing complex projects in organizations. In traditional project management, each phase of the project is dealt with thoroughly before moving to the next. Collaboration, however, […]
Read More… from Leading Complex Projects through Collaboration
Decision-making is perhaps the essence of management, and much attention continues to be focused on how to do it better. In this Idea we consider whether managers are making the facts-based decisions they seek to make. There is research that suggests that evidence is not as frequent an input to a decision process as suggested […]
Read More… from Evidence, Facts and Intuition in Decision Making
Flattening (or delayering) of hierarchies within an organization has been called for by much recent literature. In theory, flattening is supposed to help push decisions downwards to enhance customer and market responsiveness and improve accountability and morale. In this Idea, however, Harvard Business School’s Professor Julie Wulf suggests that many companies that flatten their hierarchies […]
Read More… from Flattened Organizations: When Cons Outweigh Pros
What makes for sustainable individual and organizational performance? Employees who are thriving – not just satisfied and productive but also engaged in creating the future. The authors found that people who fit this description demonstrated 16% better overall performance, 125% less burnout, 32% more commitment to the organization, and 46% more job satisfaction than their […]
Read More… from Vitality, Learning and Sustainable Performance
Prior research has shown us that self-control can lead to increased aggression. Building on that, we can now show that people often get irritated by their own self-control. Furthermore, it is not just anger and aggression that increases, but also a general difficulty in keeping any undesirable behaviour in check. In the research behind this […]
Read More… from Grapes of Wrath: How Self Control Leads to Anger
Does testosterone play a role in moral decision-making? A study of 117 graduate students at Columbia University looks to find the answer. They set out to see if individuals high in testosterone (measured using saliva samples) are more likely to make utilitarian decisions, specifically when doing so involves acts of aggression and social cost. Participants […]
Read More… from Matching Decisions to Decision-Makers: via Our Testosterone Levels
Are the gains of centralization (i.e. combining business activities) worth the pain it can cause? This is the dilemma, or the “tug of war” between centralization and decentralization faced by many CEOs. On the one hand, badly-judged centralization can stifle initiative, constrain the ability to tailor products and services locally, and burden business divisions with […]
