Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
There are some advantages to being at the organizational top.
People below you on the business pyramid are unfailing polite, things sometimes happen on a suggestion and not a request, furniture is nicer and pay is usually greater. Tones are hushed, the carpet is deeper, and pleasantries are often the order not just of the day, but the minute.
Candor – the quality of being frank, open and sincere – is often missing in action.… Read the rest
The Roche takeover of South San Francisco-based Genentech two years ago provided a field day for all sorts of commentary.
From the revisionist account of the Genentech takeover to Roche’s shifting stance on how they’d “preserve headcount and culture” at Genentech, the acquisition has provided rich fodder.
The report that key execs from Genentech such as Pat Yang [disclosure: Pat’s organization was a client] moving to Basel were required to learn to speak German because it was the language in which business was conducted (note: German is spoken in the Basel area of Switzerland) was – how to put it – was akin to the cherry on top of the sundae; the perfect topping to a trail of miscues.… Read the rest
The request came from a client whose leadership team I had worked with this June; the team had a consultant come in earlier and diagnosed them as dysfunctional. What to do about that dysfunction? That wasn’t part of the program.
The work the team had done with me followed the Road Trip model, and predictably some things had popped up in terms of prime improvement opportunity areas.… Read the rest
Who knew that hiring realities and a trip to my home state of Oregon would intersect.
But they did.
You know the deal. You’ve got a candidate or two from inside the firm to consider and candidates from outside that are in the vetting / interview hopper for the job.
You end up – surprise surprise – hiring the outsider. Only later do you come across the statistic from the Center for Creative Leadership that approximately 66% of senior execs hired from the outside fail within 18 months and that the overall failure rate for external hires within 3 years is 40%.… Read the rest
Only the hopeful and the perhaps the ignorant confuse voluntary associations with work groups.
Yet the fact of the matter is that there are elements from the world of voluntary relationships that can help more than just a few work groups perform better and even have a little more fun.
These opportunities for shared lessons came to mind with the fifth version last month of what’s become an annual pilgrimage up to San Francisco Recreation & Park’s Camp Mather near the Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valleys in the California Sierras.… Read the rest
IBM founder and CEO Thomas Watson had a sign in his office – and more signs plastered throughout the firm.
Aretha Franklin sang about it in the movies.
Buddha noted “What we think we become.”
So why don’t we think more?
The thought came to mind as I trekked back from a week-long stay at San Francisco’s Camp Mather, a place in the high Sierras near Yosemite.… Read the rest