Month: September 2013
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Document Everything & Do Nothing
Photo by Dan Zelazo via Flickr A long-time colleague had this idea for saving paper: increase the margins on printouts. Management would regularly ignore this and her other ideas. So she would save them in an Outlook folder. Three years would pass, or four, or five. And Management would come to her one day with…
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When To Remember & When To Forget
Photo by myrr ahn via Flickr The other day I saw a video online that caught my attention. It showed an eagle flying over the land, as if from the perspective of the eagle. The motion was so real I felt a little seasick. And a little disturbed. I have had this dream. And I…
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Crowdsourcing For Results: Why & How
Over the years I’ve learned that “normal” management is slow and full of bureaucratic drag. Crowdsourcing works much better, for four reasons: Urgency: It has to get done. It works better if the pressure is real rather than invented. Meaning: The people doing the work are emotionally invested in the result. Empowerment: Members can take the…
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Look For The Things That Make No Sense
Photo by Rickard Fallqvist via Flickr Usually I write my blog posts pretty quickly. But today I’ve written and scrapped at least two. And I know why that is — my focus has clearly changed, and it’s hard to know what fits. A friend of mine reminded me. That is to say, she reads my posts…
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Managers & Employees Should Not Be "Friends"
Photo by Dominic Campbell via Flickr Work situations are often stressful. According to a study mentioned in the Huffington Post, the genders tend to handle stress differently: Men – “fight or flight”: It’s a physical thing, according to research by Australian scientists Dr Joohyung Lee and Professor Vincent Harley. Only men have the SRY gene, which they link to various biological…
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The Dark Side of "31 Flavors" Leadership
Screenshot via Replicator Inc., an interesting blog “about the companies and products that combine the connectivity of the internet with the physicality of products” – customized manufacturing, mass customization,” etc. When I was a kid I loved to go to Baskin-Robbins with my mom and try the new flavors. Invariably I always wanted peanut butter and…
Management Excellence 