The World's Top Brands

The power is in name - from Business week
The World's Top Brands

Leadership is generational

There is a lot of hoopla about change management and leadership, NO denying ANY organization would not exist let alone succeed in absence of strong leadership and an effective change management program that weathers changing strategies, organizational structures, market conditions, etc. What’s worrisome thought is the perspective a lot of business graduates and business managers have about change and leadership. As life gets faster business graduates and managers expect an equally fast turn on change and leadership. It is not as fast and easy as downloading a good book on change and leadership on to your iPod listening or reading through the pages of the HBR and knowing all that there is to know about change and leadership. The Titanic does not change course in an instant! I am particularly skeptical of the turnaround experts, not to say short term goals don’t matter but they come at a cost and that cost will be adequately compensated with some depression in the long run.

We see leaders, read about them, hear about them, talk about them, even study their decisions and try to emulate them. What one takes away may or may not be the same the next person takes away. Not too long ago I had a good friend who visited a conference where the legendary Jack Welch presented. I adore Jack’s leadership and business acumen; have been a huge fan forever! When this friend mentioned he wanted to get a business degree only because he heard Jack mention ‘today’s managers need to develop people skill’, I thought what on earth! Coming from Jack sounded a little strange, the same person who had such a public divorce, which only got messier in the media... & people skills.

I believe the truth is we need all the knowledge there is, our own vision combined with a STRONG heart to be patient and persist at the mission/vision, make the TOUGH decisions. A little steering every so often, engagement and energy & the organization will see the light on the horizon. Changing people’s philosophies, ideology and thoughts takes generations. Leadership is a philosophical, Leadership is generational!

Modularity - Life’s little resets!

Yesterday was a hectic day... I woke up on time but with all the little things I had to complete I was late for my train, lucky me I still made it. By the time I reached my transfer point I was back on track. Things went smooth only until I got to office and I had to put out a fire that seemed to derail my entire day’s schedule, once again lucky me half way down the day one of my meeting was cancelled and I got an hour of my ever so important life back. I was cruising just fine. On my way back home I reflected on my day all the mini crises I had to deal with, the fires I had to put out, plans I had to make and objectives I had met.

My reflection led me to the thought of resets! How modular is life, the decoupling helps and hurts. Clearly the modularity allows for those quick and easy resets in life that enable us to reload and fire. How great is that! A perfect opportunity to reset and start all over again. Not all disruptions result in the same level of resilience from life. The classic was 9-11, life was crippled for days, travelers within the US and a number of cases globally were stranded, but things eventually bounce back.

Is our modular lifestyle offering options for resets or is life just getting more resilient from all the shocks and experience?

In an age of creativity-design-innovaiton

Posted on The Donald Trump blog - My Candidates to Replace the MBA

I am not a fan of Mr. Trump's blog but this is an interesting article by Tom Peters.

Effect of Mood on Work Performance

Knowledge@Wharton -
Waking Up on the Wrong Side of the Desk: The Effect of Mood on Work Performance

Promises, Lies and Apologies: Is It Possible to Restore Trust?

Interesting reseasrch from: Knowledge@Wharton -
Promises, Lies and Apologies: Is It Possible to Restore Trust?

"Trust is critical for organizations, effective management and efficient negotiations, yet trust violations are common"

"It's okay to screw me over, but don't deceive me as well," says Bradlow. "If you screw me over and lie about it, it's going to take even longer to recover from it."

The authors say

The business of influence

The podcasts at the University of Chicago are fascinating. Here is from Steven Levitt.

Steven Levitt, Alvin H. Baum Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago and author of the New York Times bestseller Freakonomics, regaled the students with cases from his research. One example illustrated why Chicago emphasizes the importance of hard data for all kinds of decision-making.

MP3 File

Badge of shame

Ever had one of those days when you thought you worked on a presentation for a role model and intended to impress only to be pointed juvenile mistakes in the presentation? Juvenile is probably an understatement. Everything came crashing from mistakes in charts to assumptions that did not address the issue in question, the most devastating was when 'common sense checks' in the presentation fell apart!

Rough, Rough, Rough... You bounce back! Life goes on!

In any case the best thing one can do is seek feedback, take the feedback personally and apply. I decided I would go back to my role model and acknowledge my mistakes, take responsibilities to redeem myself. Work to build my equity all over again. It was rough!

No One Knows What They're Doing

No One Knows What They're Doing - interesting read

Fast Company suggests trying:

1. Practice admitting when you're stuck or don't know what you're doing (perhaps in safer environments at first).
2. Open up to others to help you begin to find answers to your challenges.
3. Begin to notice the sense of freedom that can come from not having to "know" all the time.

Vanishing enemy

Every time I listen to the news these I am amazed at the similarity between guerrilla wars (particularly the from the fundamentalist organizations) and the private label consumer product labels war games. A few years ago I had the opportunity to dig through some old data before and around the second big war. The issues of brand wars were similar then as they are now. The lions always have to keep up with the nimble young gazelles; of course the modern gazelles have sharp teeth and paws of the lion, and a large number competing for the same opportunities. What makes it particularly difficult is the modern day relationship the lions have with the gazelles, acting as customers and competitors at the same time.

There are obviously three obvious courses most organizations take to deal with the challenges, driven by their equity, their relationships and lastly their strengths. Going after the gazelles versus other lions; Ignoring the gazelles and concentrating on other lions that feast on their opportunities; or Going after other lions while keeping an eye on the gazelles in case there arises an opportunity to pounce and feast on them. All of this does not seem much different from global politicking.

Obviously the gazelle does not make for much of a feast when you are a large lion unless you can round up an entire herd, but that would be pretty tough given their agility and deceptive roles. It certainly makes best sense to drive other lions to enable proliferation of the other opportunities in the view, as long as the lions have enough cubs to go after the gazelles and limit their activity to specific regions. The cubs can keep the Gazelles busy from sharpening and penetrating their teeth into any of the lions. Much like what Queen Maria Theresa did during her reign as the queen mother of Austria.

Trust is a corporate speak for consistency

Had the opportunity to read Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a team. Pat starts with the first dysfunction, “Absence of Trust”, I felt good… that means it fits with my model of building credibility. I was interested in knowing what Pat mean by TRUST? He says trust is not about letting yourself fall on your team member and expecting them to hold you, instead it means being able to predict people’s behavior in various situations consistently, the trust that they will make predictably right choices.

I processes what I had read the thought lead me think of the only document one carries along through out ones careers from the point in time one is hired until they retire. Our RESUME! We the schools one attended to organizations and roles. Our alma maters are associated with the effort it takes to be accepted and the commitment it requires to get through. The organizations one worked for and the progression through out the career is the next major element. Once again projecting to the reviewer ones commitment, passion and consistency in delivering results. Within every role one has held individuals talk about their success, the challenges, adjustments they make as a reflection of the performance they will likely deliver in the role they transition into.

Does this mean we have just created a corporate buzz for consistency? May be what we mean by trust is really consistency?

Built to last companies & the Ecosystem

By the time I had read Jim Collins’ Built to last, I had worked for one. The experience and the philosophies he shared seemed to hit at home. I was living and breathing all the little things and also the big things he mentioned. It was so interesting, then few years after he wrote his next book that and called it Good to great. Jim referenced a conversation with a McKinsey partner that influenced him to think about Good to great and rest is history. When I finished his second book I felt liberated! I felt all those things I had learned, absorbed and embodied from reading Built to last I practiced and made me sort of like one of the companies he talked about that changed from a Good company to a Great company. I was transformed! I had started to think laterally, be proactive, change one thing at a time, little by little until the flywheel begins to spin.

My lateral thinking lead me to compare myself to an Ecosystem; Adjusting, learning, improving, and at cause. The fundamentals were quite simple to be honest. Learn from every action, adjust a little, act on things, don’t let things happen to you and make them happen for you, acknowledge the challenges, rid yourself of the bad, embrace the good and opportunities will follow. At the end of the day it is all about balance, 'The Ying & the Yang'... if you don’t create it some one else will.

Liberty & Freedom of thought

When our founding fathers wrote our constitution they were influenced by their perspectives and experiences they had in Europe. They strived to establish a state of peace and prosperity by protecting its citizens providing and extending freedoms. Don’t corporate CREDO; Principles, Values and Purpose statements strive for the same? I think they do! When why do they need to be unique, why do they need to be different? That is not to say the constitution of every country in the world needs be the same but they all proclaim to offer their citizens the same rights, privileges in context of their social settings.

The part that strikes me as insightful is the fact that every nation in its own ways promises well being and yet violates some human rights or the other… be it mistreatment of its citizens, limiting fundamental rights , etc. Not much different from the corporate world. We have address most of visible issues diversity, equal opportunity, but it still seems like we need to go a long way with “Liberty & Freedom of thought”. I have made it is my personal mission every day to open my mind and consider and logically synthesize a fundamentally contradicting idea.

I can’t think of an easier way, but that’s what marketers are supposed to do not just think different but act different, challenge the norm, the status quo!

Indecency Law Tripped Up By Bush Slip-Up

Funny when it comes from the big guy...

Indecency Law Tripped Up By Bush Slip-Up

This is much like business continuity

This is much like business continuity The Fools call it portfolio management.

Bird Flu Planning Isn't for the Birds

Below the belt!

From Fast Company: What happens when the CEO of a fortune 50 company bounces a check?

CEO's public persona
Bouncing a $2000 check
Challenging question

Your Attention Please

Great article from Business Week: Mass customization but micro segmentation & targeting.
Your Attention Please

What we imagine is as important as the real thing

Pick up any good book and you will transcend time and space. I have written about ‘A’ Level education in the western world and how much I have enjoyed the experience myself. I am particularly fascinated by the emphasis on independent thinking and imagination. I must acknowledge that some of the creativity could be better channeled than simply spelling things differently. The classic case is “DAWG”, how is that creative, I struggle to understand sometimes.

In any case, our education and learning process fosters our imagination but the corporate structure binds it down. We are slaves of our data, our information and knowledge itself. I am reminded of Einstein. “Imagination is more important than knowledge...”

I strongly believe one cannot transform some thing into reality if one has not imagined it! Let’s break our shackles and slavish behavior and start imagining. To sum up in the words of Charles Kettering, “Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future.”

That's creative Advertising!

Read the article in MediaPost

Hot Topics from the Jackson Library

The 'Hot Topics' list from the Jackson Library at the Stanford GSB is a fascinating collection.

Check out the Hot Topic:Work/Life Balance

Here is the comprehensive list - Hot Topics

Management lessons from KHUMANI

 
 

5. The entire team needs to be on board
4. Patience is a virtue
3. Keep your eye on the prize and work hard
2. Training is tough
1. The soft stuff is the hard stuff (read this in a presentation)

KHUMANI means Apricot in Hindi 

Not just what to measure but who should measure?

I have quoted Drucker before, “What gets measured gets done”. In fact I have even challenged part of this quote and introduced an accountability element… “What gets measured and accounted gets done”. My other management guru has been Mr. Welch. Along the lines of measuring and rewarding Jack said - "If you want risk taking, set an example yourself and reward and praise those that do." It is all about walking the walk and talking the talk.

In all these quotable quotes is the question of who is measuring? The underlying assumption is the one who measures understands what the measurements REALLY mean! Then arrives the concern of an unbiased comparison of the results from the measurement. Should that be HR, the GM or the Functional expert? Given HR is familiar with the legalities, the GM controls the purse strings and the Functional expert understand the effort, skill/talent it takes. In my ideal organization it must be a horse trading between them all.

Healthy Tension

I have never liked Matrixed organization. I believe in simplicity and try my very best to keep things simple, I believe a Matrix organization is the anti thesis of simplicity. Alls not lost on the complexity of the matrix though… There are clear advantages, but of course there must be a reason for a significant number of fortune 100 companies to embrace the concept.

Think of an organization where the General Manager is responsible for everything from Marketing, Finance, Supply chain, Research, Product management, IT; the GM can not be expected to be an expert in all the Functional area. Yet she/he holds the reigns, sets the tone and direction. It would be pretty very difficult for the multifunctionals to feel connected and valued when the GM knows little about their craft?

A tight rope to walk, do the multifunctional align with the business or maintain a functional alignment. What more relevant a sense of business ownership or craftsmanship, they are both just as important! I sometimes feel like the Matrix generates that healthy tension?

Wisdom collection from Fast Company

As a fan of the magazine and a long time subscriber... I felt it necessary to share - Fast Company's Greatest Hits : Ten Years of the Most Innovative Ideas in Business.

Wait for my review in a couple.

Social Responsibility Gone Bad

Social Responsibility Gone Bad

Interesting article from Fast Company.

What is missed out at B-school

What They don't Teach You about in B-school

Emergent literacy

Heard the term Emergent literacy yesterday from my Muse and liked it! The term sounds so progressive. I searched the web to learn more about the concept.

http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/literacy/em_lit0.html
The research and theoretical developments of the last decade have dramatically altered how we view young children's movement into literacy (Teale & Sulzby, 1986).

Literacy development is seen as emerging from children's oral language development and their initial, often unconventional attempts at reading (usually based on pictures) and writing (at first, scribbling) -- hence the term emergent literacy. Within an emergent literacy framework, children's early unconventional attempts at reading and writing are respected as legitimate beginnings of literacy.

Novel concept in education, where actions and behaviors are measured as a proxy to learning... but sounds rather familiar for the corporate world. To the best of my knowledge all the people I ever evaluated in the corporate world were evaluated against the various elements of their personality - can-do attitude, creativity, passion/drive, leadership, communication, etc. These characteristics as a measure of their maturity to manage and develop into a corporate role.

It would be great if some of these skills are quantified to represent the gap from perfection...

Interesting links:
http://www.bankstreet.edu/literacyguide/early.html
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Research/earlyindex.html

Open mind

"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one."
- Malcolm Forbes

Occam’s razor a paradox

Most engineers and scientists have at one point in time or another explained a behavior using the principle - Occam’s Razor [lex parsimoniae (law of succinctness)]. The first media mentioned of Occam’s Razor that comes to my mind was in the movie Contact, based on Carl Edward Sagan’s novel Contact. So what is Occam’s Razor?

entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem

entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity

What that really translates in simple English is... in absence of strong evidence the most obvious answer must be the right answer. That leads to the next key question... what is an ‘obvious answer’? The not so COMMON SENSE based answer! Paradoxical isn’t it?

The plastic leader

The soccer World Cup Finals yesterday in Germany provided a rare opportunity to experience a leader express himself! In the most unlikely way, Zidane head butted Italian defender Marco Materazzi. Materazzi & Zidane had some verbal exchange that ended in the head butt and a Red card for Zidane. Whatever words or actions of provocation Materazzi may have offered Zidane’s reaction was strange. There was severe criticism of Zidane’s actions by the commentators, media and everyone else.

I wondered who defines what is right and wrong? Also if a leader is expected to be passionate shouldn’t we expect more than a just a classic somber person? A leader is human how is he or she to express his or her response? A pacifist leader is not considered iconic in today’s world. We may revere Gandhi, Mandela, Mother Teresa, Aung San Kji, Dr. King, etc. but I would like to hear one pacifist leader from business and Sports today!

Would we like a plastic leader with predictable responses, predictable expressions and predictable features or a real human?

I for one am human and like to be myself! Cheers to Zindane.

BBC link

Is Your Boss Killing You?

Is Your Boss Killing You? - Fast Company

Can one really complain about this situation in today's take charge world!

Interview with a Headhunter - Fast Company

ONLY from Fast Company -Interview with a Headhunter

Summary:
8. Got an offer? Interview the company.
7. To win an offer, do the job.
6. It's not an interview -- it's your first day at work.
5. The shocking truth: The employer wants to hire you.
4. Don't study for the interview -- practice doing the job.
3. The real matchmaking takes place before the interview.
2. Go to HR -- and get lost!
1. Your résumé is meaningless.

Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters.

from the desk of Barbara Kellerman - Forbes.com

Simple and on target!

Was at the sweetest place in New York City, over the weekend.

Simple, sweet message and on target.

insignificant thoughts - MUST READ/HEAR

insignificant thoughts » Cancelling AOL

CHEERS TO VINCENT!!!

Zaha - Multi-dimensional thinker, designer, artist & architect

Zaha Hadid - Check out images of her work Google Image Search.

Just saw her show at the Guggenheim in New York City.

So Much Fanfare, So Few Hits

So Much Fanfare, So Few Hits

I bet Business Week knows it all boils down to a 'numbers game', even Edison tried hundreds of ideas before he came up with the light bulb!

...then what is this article all about? I still think it is all about innovation and new buzzzzzz...

D - I - V - E - R - S - I - T - Y - TRUE Enrichment of thought!

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald