To see American management 20 years ago, visit a company in India today. Like many other developing countries, India imitates American business. Yes, U.S. businesses have leaped forward in many ways. But weâve also taken several steps back. Today in this country, we often avoid conflict by tiptoeing around issues and discouraging debate. In an effort […]
A few years ago on a family vacation, we sat in the choir stalls at Westminster Abbey â the 700-year-old English church â and listened to choir voices echo and then fade into the abbeyâs ancient spaces. My normally fidgety son was glued to his seat, in complete awe. The summer before, we all stood […]
In a 2015 Gallup survey, more than half of iPhone owners said that they couldnât imagine life without the device. Adrien Ward, a cognitive psychologist and marketing professor at the University of Texas at Austin, has spent a decade studying the way smart-phones and the internet affect our thoughts and judgments. In his own work, […]
What lessons can the space shuttle Challenger and Columbia disasters teach us that we can apply in business? According to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, NASA never fixed the underlying institutional problems that led to the 1986 Challenger tragedy. As a result, many of them played a role in Columbiaâs doomed flight in February […]
Iâll admit it. Iâm an email addict. Iâm a people-pleasing baby boomer who wants to be on the ball and prove my worth by the speed of my response. On average I check email 30-40 times an hour: Itâs the first thing I do in the morning, the last thing I do at night and […]
Why do so many people start a new business, only to fail? According to the Commerce Department 80 percent of all new businesses close their doors within the first five years. Of those that survive another eight in ten will fail in the second five years. There are thousands of books, tapes, seminars and […]
Meetings have become the bane of business. How many of you have gone to a meeting and left asking yourself: âWhat was the point of that? Why was I invited? Will any actions take place as a result of this meeting?â Sometimes just getting people to meetings is a trick in itself. One company I […]
In what people are calling a tumultuous year of change it seems appropriate to re-examine how we succeed and how we fail at change. Harvard business professor and author John Kotter states business leaders are more successful if they connect change to a positive emotion, and more likely to fail if they associate it only with negative feelings, […]
âGen X and Gen Y employees donât have a solid work ethic.â âBaby boomers are slow to change.â âThe younger generation is one of entitlement.â âThe older generation values money over a quality work environment.â Youâve heard these comments. You may have even made them. Whether they are true or not, baby boomers and younger […]
The setting couldnât have been better: The training room windows inside the lodge pole resort looked out onto a thick forest. At the other end of the room, cushy leather chairs faced a fireplace. The food was gourmet-organic; and during breaks, we could take walks on the beach. The environment was harmonious. Perfect! For […]