Month: February 2012

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Mindset Not Market Failure

In an article on Harvard Business Review Blog, titled U.S. Companies Versus the U.S. Economy, Thomas Kochan (of MIT Sloan School of Management) argues the disconnect between U.S. companies and the U.S. economy is the result of market failure.  While the management of each business corporation makes decisions believing the unit of survival is the independent business enterprise, this doesn’t mean there aren’t other socio-economic consequences of these decisions.   These consequences impact the very collection of people to which business leaders believe they have no connection or responsibility, yet upon which they so much depend. Continue reading →

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Divest or Invest

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 approach is quite shortsighted. Continue reading →

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Where Concern Is Limited

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 more importantly it is of no concern. It is a frame of reference where nothing else matters and shortsightedness abounds. We are concerned more about what is materially evident in our world than about otherworldly ideas. Continue reading →

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Performance Appraisal: Pathway to Mistrust

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 agree with the feedback, don’t launch into a defense right away; and when it is over, say thank you, reflect on the overall message and don’t file it and forget it.   While these are no doubt helpful toward making lemonade out of a lemon, they don’t mitigate the overall effect of the annual performance appraisal process. Continue reading →