To hear the talk of these days it would seem that to the business minded, costs are to be cut to the bone if not avoided altogether. So let’s consider what different minded leaders might do in regards to costs.
Archive for the ‘Progress’ Category
Cost as Cause or Outcome
Posted in Leadership, Progress, Systems Thinking, Management, tagged Business of business, Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Leadership, management, Progress, Quality, Systems Thinking on May 16, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Transcend Self-Interest
Posted in Leadership, Life, Progress, Relationships, tagged Critical Thinking, Culture, Development of Self, Economy, human spirit, Leadership, partnership, Progress, relationships, Systems Thinking on April 10, 2012 | 1 Comment »
There seems to be a growing acceptance of the notion that we each are free independent individuals and as a consequence we not only can, but also should, order life in society accordingly. Being free independent individuals necessarily means people can freely do as they please or more specifically that they should do as [...]
Facilitate Performance, Don’t Appraise It
Posted in Leadership, Management, partnership, Progress, Quality, tagged Development of Self, human spirit, Leadership, Learning, management, organizational design, partnership, Progress, Quality, relationships, Systems Thinking on March 11, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Ah the annual performance appraisal! Let’s deconstruct this. Annual means every year. Performance means accomplishment. Appraisal means offering a judgment on the value of something or someone. So the annual performance appraisal is a yearly judgment of another person’s value to the organization.
Divest or Invest
Posted in Leadership, Management, Progress, tagged Business of business, Critical Thinking, Leadership, Learning, management, Progress, Systems Thinking on February 19, 2012 | 3 Comments »
Profit can be realized in the short-term by divesting and over the long term by investing. In the former management cuts costs, most likely by firing people and/or squeezing more out of those who remain. Because you can only squeeze people so much before the lifeblood of the people and the business runs out, this [...]
Where Concern Is Limited
Posted in Change, Life, Progress, tagged Change, Development of Self, Economy, human spirit, Leadership, management, Progress, Quality, Systems Thinking on February 12, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Where is concern limited? In the short-term; in the short-term what’s between the past and now and between now and the horizon consumes all concern. Those who live in the short-term see only two points of reference, now and the past. When the short-term defines the horizon, then anything that lies beyond is imperceptible and [...]
Time to Get Heretical
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Progress, tagged Business of business, Change, Critical Thinking, Economy, human spirit, Problem Solving, Progress, Quality, Systems Thinking on January 28, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Capitalism is so much held in reverence that for some it is like a religion. In fact people proudly proclaim I’m a capitalist! Seemingly it provides the guiding principle for behavior and thus the basis for how to structure life. In effect (putting their faith in capitalism) people have allowed the pursuit of (personal) wealth [...]
Rethinking a Fixed System
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Problem Solving, Progress, Quality, tagged Business of business, Change, Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Economy, human spirit, Leadership, Learning, Moral Values, partnership, Problem Solving, Progress, Quality, relationships, Systems Thinking on January 21, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Is the system broken? No, not at all! It is fixed just as desired. Our economic system has no (explicit) concern for ‘we’ in its design, it is all about ‘me’ getting what I can for ‘myself’—it is best labeled an egoistic economic system. The pursuit of material self-interest is the guiding principle for [...]
We Shape The Leaders We Get
Posted in Leadership, Life, Morality/Ethics, Progress, tagged Business of business, Change, Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Development of Self, Economy, Ethical Principles, human spirit, Leadership, Moral Values, Progress, Statistical Thinking on December 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Ever wonder why so many of the top executives of corporations are similar in character? Why is it that many accept a huge compensation package while at the same time communicate that it is necessary to cast off many people for the sake of competitiveness? Why is it that many CEO’s seem disconnected from the [...]
A Wake Up Call
Posted in Change, Life, Problem Solving, Progress, Relationships, tagged Change, Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Economy, human spirit, Learning, partnership, Problem Solving, Progress, Systems Thinking on December 17, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The fact that Wall Street and other corporate executives are not only allowed but helped in gaining so much from the general public while they generally thumb their nose at the general public is not the problem, though it is symptomatic of a serious problem. The fact that more and more people continue to lose [...]
Reflection #3 on Occupy Wall Street
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Progress, tagged Change, Critical Thinking, Economy, human spirit, Progress, Systems Thinking on November 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
If the Occupy movement is to succeed then it must lead us to understand that the economic system is not broken but that it is fundamentally flawed. What we are experiencing is nothing but an ill-conceived system taken to its inevitable conclusion: The privatization of society and the growing divide between the haves and the [...]