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.
Posts Tagged ‘Quality’
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 »
Parasite Or Partner
Posted in Economy, Leadership, Morality/Ethics, partnership, Quality, tagged Business of business, Critical Thinking, Economy, human spirit, Leadership, Moral Values, partnership, Progress, Quality, relationships, Systems Thinking on May 8, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Doing More For Less (of us) Getting the most out of people is not a bad thing but in the extreme it translates into squeezing the life out of them. As Deming exclaimed, “beat horses and they will run faster—for a while.” Doing more with less implies squeezing more and more out of people until [...]
Not All Data Are Valid
Posted in Leadership, Management, Problem Solving, Quality, Systems Thinking, tagged Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Leadership, management, Problem Solving, Quality, Systems Thinking on April 30, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Many people—probably with the exclusion of politicians—have come to believe data based decision-making is the way to effective action. In the words of Lord Kelvin, “to measure is to know” and so if our decisions and actions are to be directed by knowledge—not just by what we believe—then we must base them on data. While [...]
Resonant Leaders Require Positive Energy
Posted in Leadership, partnership, Relationships, tagged Culture, Development of Self, human spirit, Leadership, Moral Values, partnership, Progress, Quality, relationships on April 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Richard Boyatzis of Case Western Reserve, in HRB Blog Network, spoke to the need for teams to have what he calls resonant leaders. Richard states such leaders “are able to build trusting, engaged and energizing relationships with others around them” and as a result the team is able to “adapt, innovate and sustain performance. “ [...]
Which Energy Fields Do You Use
Posted in Leadership, Life, Quality, tagged Change, Creativity, Culture, Development of Self, human spirit, Leadership, management, Progress, Quality on April 1, 2012 | 2 Comments »
There is little doubt that life requires energy and in life we each are free to canalize our energy as we choose. As the saying goes it is not what happens in life so much as what you do with what happens that makes all the difference.
From Whence Creativity Emerges
Posted in Creativity, Leadership, Quality, tagged Culture, human spirit, Leadership, Learning, management, Progress, Quality, relationships on March 25, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Alessandro Di Fiore, CEO of ECSI, reports that a recent ECSI survey found “68% of business leaders firmly believe that great innovators are born and cannot be made.” Alessandro also notes in a HBR blog post “scientific evidence of the last 30 years has proven just the opposite.” So is this just a little factoid [...]
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.
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 [...]
Performance Appraisal: Pathway to Mistrust
Posted in Leadership, Management, partnership, Quality, Relationships, tagged Culture, Decision-making, human spirit, Leadership, Learning, management, organizational design, partnership, Progress, Quality, relationships, Systems Thinking on February 4, 2012 | 3 Comments »
Robert Galford’s HBR Blog Network article, “How to keep your cool during a performance review” suggest there is a widespread abhorrence and likely fear of the annual performance review. To make what is often a not-so-good experience better Robert offers four tactics: relax; prepare yourself to hear one or more unexpected ‘somethings’; if you don’t [...]
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 [...]