Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
Journalist (and Twitter friend) Kara Swisher noted regarding the Carol Bartz debacle that “there really is no good time to fire someone.”
I think Kara’s work is great, and I’d suggest otherwise.
There are good times to fire people.
Lord knows that as someone who worked as a corporate HR exec during the height of the restructuring boom in the 80’s and 90’s I’ve fired more people than I can count.… Read the rest
Public business figures disclosing their sexual orientation is big news this week.
Should it be?
Rick Welts, CEO and President of the Phoenix Suns, a men’s professional team in the top tier of the elite National Basketball Association announced he is gay in an article – A Sports Exec Dares to Leave the Safety of His Shadow – in the New York Times Monday.… Read the rest
There are a number of reasons to avoid the temptation of a people management approach like “Tograding” – where its often simplistic application is to divide the world of your employees into “A,” “B,” and “C” players – and where the 65% of employees who are “C” players are released and managed out. (Fault me but when someone says an approach is “the silver bullet” I cringe.… Read the rest
Stanford University professor Bob Sutton, whose work I admire, authored the book “The No Assholes Rule.” Good book, great topic, and some wonderful thoughts about how to work with and / or avoid workplace assholes.
Unfortunately the “rule” doesn’t work in most firms. And even while asshole behavior is corrosive and cancerous to the effectiveness of most companies, here’s why jerks and assholes will continue to exist in the workplace.… Read the rest
Scott Berkun, whose work I generally like a lot, recently wrote a piece titled Why You Should Be a Team of One. It is a rare miss – a dud, and advice frankly which should be ignored.
Scott has written three books: all are quite good. His most recent, Confessions of a Public Speaker, is particularly good, helpful for someone like me who has 20+ years working with large group facilitation and design when I’m not doing my regular work of coaching execs and team.… Read the rest
Eight United States teams – four men’s and four women’s – of sweaty, baggy-shorted collegiate basketball players will be running up and down a wooden court that is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide trying to claim the winner’s trophy in what’s known as basketball’s Final Four over the next few days.
Basketball, more than any other sport, is the ultimate team experience: nothing else comes close in the way five players must play well together and the lessons for business are endless.… Read the rest