Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
There are boats to rock, and boat rockers needed to rock them. Are you one of them?
Avoiding questioning existing conditions in a dynamic, changing world is a recipe for mediocrity if not disaster, but who has the moxy to ask the obvious?
Pay, fame or thanks, if any, varies, and while you’ll be respected by some, others will scorn you for disturbing their status quo.… Read the rest
Your boss has been hired to take another job and will be leaving the company. Or perhaps your boss has been whacked and that’s the reason the job is now vacant.
Either way that box in the organization chart that used have a name is empty.
Do you raise your hand and volunteer to take the job on an interim basis, or do you wait to see if you get tapped – and decide then if you want “interim” next to your name?… Read the rest
Getting and keeping great talent is one of the biggest jobs any CEO may have.
So why (the subject of this post) can the getting part be so tough?
It’s hard for any number of reasons. Here are some of them:
The challenge when you’re running a company is to provide context; while short and sweet is great, most of the time it falls flat without some background when you’re laying out direction and mission.
CEO’s know most of the stuff in their heads. They live with the challenges, direction, obstacles, and enablers all the time. I’m sometimes surprised that CEO’s don’t set plates for those things at Thanksgiving as honored guests. … Read the rest
There is a problem with women in business. Symptoms are everywhere.
And where you expect it the least given the perceived meritocracy – high technology – it appears to be the most present.
“Is the ‘Mommy Track’ Still Taboo?” blared a headline in the Wall Street Journal this week.
That piece follows the Journal’s post “Addressing The Lack of Women Leading Tech Start-Ups” that noted that only 11% of U.S.… Read the rest
Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg (pictured) does a terrific brief talk at TEDwomen “Why Few Women at the Top” – worth everyone viewing and everybody – not just women – taking note.
It is like my good (female) friend at a leading global investment bank who asked me to help her network with other senior women in financial services in San Francisco when I managed recruiting for Barclays Global Investors (at the time the world’s largest money manager – it’s now owned by BlackRock).… Read the rest