Rose hip on trellis

Tasking, Trusting, Tending: Gillian Stamp’s Tripod of Work

Forrest ChristianChange 1 Comment

Trust is hard. It’s the currency of everything social and, as the social capital people like Francis Fukuyama point out, it underpins everything necessary in a society. Some societies rely on Gillian Stamp — Stamp is a longtime researcher and consultant to all types organizations. She created the Career Path Appreciation (CPA), co-author of several papers with Dr. Jaques, including …

ADLER typewriter Model n°7 (Frankfurt / Germany). Unknown model date (probably ~1930/40). By Dake

How to Look Like a Leader (Why Fake Acupuncture Works Better Than Fake Pills)

Forrest ChristianChange 4 Comments

What’s the relative effectiveness of treatment regimens that are never delivered. Get that? It’s how effective is something when it’s faked. The study was originally published in the British Medical Journal, of two different groups of chronic arm pain sufferers. The first was given a fake pill that resembled one of the normal medicines for repetitive strain injuries. Almost a …

Marine Sgt. at New Orleans, La. By Howard R.Hollem. Library of Congress collection via Flickr.

How Having Closed Sector vs. Open Sector Career Affects Your Success

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Guy Benveniste had a great thought in article from 1977 about “Survival inside bureaucracy” that are even more relevant in today’s New Economy / Creative Class work-world. Benveniste postulated that there were three different types of careers: Closed sector Open sector Location-dominated Closed sector careers are what my father generation expected. Your entire career is within a single company; or, …

Mary E. Rundlett, new Secretary for Coach Dutch Bergman. October 31, 1935. Via Library of Congress. Public Domain

Purple Shark interview with Art Kleiner, who is always interesting

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Art Kleiner did an interview with Purple Shark Transcriptions. It’s fascinating to read. In this part he discusses his career path. If you’re a hidden high potential (2HiPo), his career path is fascinating. Of course, as someone who has been contracted to ghostwrite The Book for various older consultants, I find his comments on those jobs particularly interesting: And when …

Domestic goat smile, Crimea, 2009. By George Chernilevsky. Public Domain

Hogan’s Law of Consistency & Law of Conformity

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Maybe Kevin Hogan has summed the real reason that people don’t adopt the ideas of requisite organization / stratified systems theory. We know that people will hear the ideas, acknowledge that they represent an underlying reality and even admit that if they were adopted many of their complaints would be addressed. And then they say “No way am I going …

Air Traffic Controller 2nd Class Branden Powell keeps track of aircraft using a SPN-43 radar screen during routine flight operations on board amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa (LHA 1). Tarawa is participating in a composite unit training exercise with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit off the coast of Southern California. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Bryan Niegel (RELEASED)

Perhaps Requisite Organization is going viral under the radar! (A Response to ‘Why RO Will Not Survive (or will it?)’)

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My article, “Why Requisite Organization Will Not Survive (or will it?)“, recently generated some new discussion. Here’s a well-argued response from Ken Shepard, President of the Global Organization Design Society, which is a leading professional group for managers and practitioners interested in Requisite Organization and one that I recommend you joining. — EFC The Global Organization Design Society’s response: Perhaps …

Yardmaster in railroad yards working, Amarillo, TX, 1943. By Jack Delano via Library of Congress Collection (LOC)

Know Who’s Really Your Customer — THE Secret to Success

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A parable. Of sorts. Just then a young man came up to Forrest to test him, saying, “Sam Walton, the late billionaire who founded Walmart, taught us to succeed already.” “Well what did he tell us after he became a billionaire?” Forrest asked him. And the young man answered him: “Sam taught us thusly: ‘There is only one boss. The …

Man sits apart. By Mead Schaeffer, c. 1933. Good Housekeeping magazine?

High Potentials Are Farther From Normal Than You Might Think

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In my post about “Why You High Potentials Get Missed in Your 20s“, Michael Bates commented that “When the curves are so close together, all sorts of mistakes are possible, including a high-potential’s misjudgment of his own potential.” This is kind of true and kind of not. Let’s take a look at it in more detail. First, let’s talk about …

Paris: Horsedrawn omnibus on avenue des gobelins.

ANN: Recording new video classes

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Tomorrow I am going off to a decent site, with hopefully some better mics than I have, to record a couple of new videos for sale at the store. I will do at least one that is pretty much what I give my coaching clients to start these days. It will be priced low enough to be accessible to everyone …