Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
Malcolm Gladwell had Sandy Nininger. I have March Madness. The results are the same.
Mere talent is taking a beating.
Gladwell’s writings – built in part on the work of people like Carol Dweck and Angela Duckworth – have shown that raw talent – smarts as we like to say in the business world – is overrated.
Gladwell demonstrated in The Talent Myth that hiring by collegiate pedigree – shorthand for smart – gave us the Enron fiasco (with McKinsey & Co’s significant backing).… Read the rest
There is the regular stuff that gets you fired; this is about the dumb stuff.
First the regular stuff that causes you and your job to go different ways: position different than advertised, working relationship with boss or key clients never really worked out, company reorganization, you were too good in your role (and it scared people), you were not very good in your job (and it also scared people), somebody senior just didn’t like you, someone bought somebody else (and your job went away) or your company went out of business.… Read the rest
There are lots of ways to make a good first impression.
Here are some ways – all which happened recently – to make make a bad first, second, and continuing impression.
The cost to hire a good senior exec (think CFO, GC, COO, CMO, CEO etc.) is pricey.
The people are talented, can be really good at what they do, and the market in some sectors is seriously hot.
To compound things, talent poaching – the recruiting of a senior exec from one firm to another – is increasing and multiple offers to execs are on the upswing according to the Wall Street Journal.… Read the rest
I’ll be working with the staff of my favorite preschool (also the school my son attended, and on whose Board of Trustees I sat for four years), the Little School in San Francisco this evening as part of their ongoing staff development program.
While my work is mostly helping senior execs and start-up and leadership teams raise the level of their performance, the same ingredients which imbed that work – efficiency and effectiveness – inform the work of teachers in a preschool.… Read the rest
As in politics, hot words can get exchanged in business.
The colleague who never says peep now has new ways to describe you when they’re asked to share their thoughts on what it’s like to work as your colleague.
When the jolt of the words has washed over you, just what do you do when someone calls you – to phrase it politely – an SOB?… Read the rest