Work Naturally.
What makes up a Genius? Most of us in North America imagine the “geniuses” who come up with great new ideas as people who seem to have everything lined up, who don’t need anyone else because it’s their singular genius that makes the day. True brilliance shows in people who get everything done the right way, quickly and efficiently. They …
![Man refusing an offer of money. (Portrait of Edwin A. Finckel and Boyd Raeburn, Edwin A. Finckel's home, Greenwich Village, New York, N.Y., ca. July 1946, by William P. Gottlieb. From the William P. Gottlieb Collection [Library of Congress])](https://i0.wp.com/www.manasclerk.com/wpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Portrait-of-Edwin-A-Finckel-Boyd-Raeburn-Edwin-A-Finckels-home-Greenwich-Village-New-York-NY-ca-July-1946-Gottleib-LOC.jpg?fit=862%2C581&ssl=1)
Almost a decade ago now, readers got into a discussion within the comments about Elliott Jaques’s Requisite Organization and management. Since the commenters included the illustrious Glenn Mehltretter of PeopleFit USA; my one-time writing partner, “APFG”, now an executive himself; and my long-time friends, “J” and “JmmJ” (then a plant manager and IT specialist, respectively; it’s not the usual comment …
In November 2013, I celebrated a decade of writing about Elliott Jaques. Let’s look back on the last ten years of articles, shifting ideas, and learning, and maybe see where things are going for the next decade. In 2003, I lost what will likely be the most promising job I’ll ever have. It happened quickly, falling apart so that I …
When I started looking back over many of my older posts in my WordPress site that I pulled in from the original sites, I noticed that the comments were often out of order. They weren’t reverse order, newest to oldest. They were simple in no order whatsoever. Many people have had problems with the ordering due to a fault with …
![New York-to-Paris automobile race: [Automobile stuck in snow]](https://i0.wp.com/www.manasclerk.com/wpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/LoC-3b16110u-New-York-to-Paris-automobile-race-stuck-in-snow-c-1908-CROPa.jpg?fit=862%2C618&ssl=1)
Have you ever considered that your career path is a lot like a movie? Film scholar Chris Simmons, a colleague of mine, lectured once on the massive blockbuster, Titanic. He showed how everything in its visual language spoonfed what the director wanted you to see, know and feel. The director made deliberate choices to make it easy for us as …
It was with great sadness that I learned that a dear colleague, George Reilly, had died at the beginning of November in his 75th year. He will be greatly missed: even though he received his biblical three score and ten, he leaves a hole. I wanted to take a moment to talk about his legacy in the management consulting, leadership …
360º review systems are often dissed by everyone except the people administering them. They’re so-called because they allow everyone in the organization around you — manager, boss’s boss, peers, subordinates and maybe even subordinates’ subordinates — to rate your performance. And that’s the problem: 360º reviews get people to think of things you don’t do well, often for the first time. …
Last time I recommended that if you are in an environment where the management rewards “firefighter” project managers rather than PMs who prevent them from ever occurring, you need to let some fires start. (“You Have To Let the Project Break So You Can Prove Yourself By Fixing It“) I wasnt saying start them on your own but simply don’t …
Why do project managers have to create crises on projects to prove that the risk management steps you took are paying off? It’s very common in project environments. The project manager who scrambles to get things done, who stays late to get things fixed, who has problem after problem that gets the attention of management but who then gets things …
Most executives that implement a PeopleSoft or SAP are surprised that productivity takes such a dive in the departments that these systems were supposed to automate. Departments that are dependent on the data see some productivity increase as information becomes more available, but many tasks that used to take a moment (or could, if you were pal-ly with the clerks) …
