A common complaint against those of us working with The Law of the Real Boss (or RO or Worklevels, etc.) is that we concentrate too much on the structure of the organization to the exclusion of other important things, such as what the organization actually does. It’s a valid complaint. So let’s talk about how different important elements interact. I …
IBM’s Perna on the Importance of People
eWeek interviewd IBM’s Janet Perna as she retires this month (“Interview: IBM’s Perna Predicts Changes in What ‘Data’ Means”). She’s been with the company for 31 years, and in that time became one of the leading forces behind databases. Her closing comments about what she is really proud of is interesting and worth hearing. [eWeek:] Looking back, what are you …
How To Get Double Digit Growth In Your Business
A recent interviewee gave me this statement. It matches so well with what I have been writing on lately (outside of here) that I can only believe that I heard it and subconsciously started chewing on it. It’s a great statement from someone who took a company from 1-2% annual growth for seven years to double digit growth in one. …
Why Your PhD Advisor Hates You: Stratum in Teaching Environments
Susan commented on my earlier post about why business schools stink. The post focused on MBAs but Susan linked to her earlier post on Customer Experience Crossroads (“What’s Wrong With Business Schools: Warren Bennis was Right“) that talks about entry into business PhD programs. I wanted to chime in with a couple of points. Following my wife around her PhD …
What Were the Americas Really Like Before Columbus?
What were the Americas really like before Columbus, prior to the European exploration and invasion? Charles C. Mann’s very readable 1491 (Second Edition): New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus describes some current research and controversies, uncovering some surprising ground. (Mann wrote a very interesting article for The Atlantic in 2002 based on the book. The article, also entitled “1491“, …
What Biz School Would Look Like If It Was Interested In Impact
Recently, some deans of business schools have begun blogging on things MBAish at BizDeansTalk. It’s an interesting read, partly because I’ve never spent much time with business school folks. (With my wife being an art historian, we just normally got the scientists and humanities folks for dinner. Other than practicing artists, I suppose we never had a profession-related academic in …
New Short Course on Assessing Capability
The good Drs. Herb Koplowitz (of Terra Firma Management Consulting) and Glenn Mehltretter (of PeopleFit) announced a new short course in Toronto for C$2000+GST. Great course at a great price. Very highly recommended.
While Waiting For My Role Based Access Control Piece, Why Not Look At Some Classic Requisite Readings?
We’ll be covering this soon: stay tuned!
Why Are My Investments Sinking?
Complexity of Mental Processing (CMP) is significant not only in its relationship with designing requisite organizations and optimizing managerial hierarchy. Would you like your portfolio manager to be Level 1 or Level 8? The Article
Writing a Level 3 Résumé / C.V.
Almost everything that experts tell you about putting together a résumé falls apart for hidden high potentials (2HiPo’s) because the same rules don’t apply. A great example is the advice these “résumé / CV” experts give you regarding your work history: “make it in bullet points!” Which is fine if you are at Stratum 1 or Stratum 2. But the …