The initial problem Latham shines a light on is ‘clarity blindness’ – our inability to see where we are being unclear. From her coaching she brings a multitude of examples of how lack of clarity manifests itself. It is usually from something seemingly inocuous and very familiar. Vague requests lie at the root of many […]
Book Review Subject: Organizational Effectiveness
Align
In a leadership world that is increasingly focused on the idea that leaders need to be focused on the people (a view Ideas for Leaders is generally in strong support of), Trevor throws a rock in the pond, and causes some necessary ripples (dissenting voices is something leaders need to listen out for). He posits that Enterprise […]
Host
We have all been to parties or attended events where the success or otherwise of what the host has been like has shaped the success of the occasion. Hosts can make or break the events they are running – their behaviours and approaches can be charming, enlivening, calming, maddening, irritating or foolish – just like […]
Shut Down the Business School
Parker's background as an anthropologist and sociologist has led him to a heightened awareness that other types of organizational structure exist – and his objective in this polemic is to encourage students to study a broader horizon of alternatives so that they can assess, evaluate and innovate what other structures for running businesses might work […]
The Mind of the Leader
Taking the familiar three concentric circle model of leadership: self>team>organization as their foundation the authors offer a framework they call MSC Leadership, which pulls together what they identify from their research as the three critical mental qualities leaders need to master. M is for Mindfulness. "When you learn to manage your attention, you learn to […]
Conquering Digital Overload
The opening chapter illustrates the Digital Overload issue with a fictional case study, of a middle aged couple constantly reacting to their emails, and smartphones from the moment they awake until they return to sleep; it concludes "We feel overwhelmed, constantly stressed and upset, because we never seem to get the things done we intended […]
Digital Transformation
As with most technology issues that organizations grapple with today, the 'technology' is the least of the problem – it is how we, as humans, relate to it and collaborate, or not, with using it that causes the problems. Herbert's contention is that 'digital transformation' is essentially a mindset change. Do people in your organization […]
Good Profit
Lying at the heart of this book, and Koch's thinking, is Adam Smith's belief that individuals often best promote societal interests when they promote their own. Koch says "MBM emphasizes 'Principled Entrepreneurship' over corporate welfare, virtue over talent, challenge over hierarchy…and rewards for long-term value creation over managing to budgets". This should be music to […]