We’re all familiar with Pete Seeger’s song set to the words of Ecclesiastes about “a time for every purpose under Heaven.” As the text,which by tradition is read at this time of year, tells us, there is “a time to build, …a time to be silent and a time to speak.” These are ancient lessons…
Ladies and Gentlemen, today we are going to talk about politics. We’ve just finished a grueling New York City Democratic mayoral primary season. The apparent winner is Bill de Blasio, an Italian who managed to get enough votes from the black community to easily defeat the leading black candidate, at least for now (avoiding a…
One of the toughest things for a leader to do is encourage others to speak openly about their ideas, freely challenging the leader’s point of view. After all, we all come to the party with a certain pride of authorship, and while we say we check our egos at the door, this is rarely completely…
Do you love a boss who treat you kindly? Is this enough? This is a critical issue. We spend considerable time focusing on the importance of managers who can engage their people, stressing things like prioritization and availability – because the absence of these traits is so disengaging. But there is another aspect: the seemingly…
A recent HBR blog piece, How Women Drive Innovation and Growth, describes just how large a market women represent, controlling an estimated $20 trillion in global consumer spending — a growth market more than twice as big as India and China combined. It then goes on to make the case for diversity. After all, how…
Dear Earthlings, We have been observing your primitive ways from afar for thousands of years. Finally, we are breaking our silence to stop you from silencing the first generation on your planet that reminds us of ourselves. You are on the verge of seriously messing up your future – the very people who will pay…
It is increasingly being recognized that the key to talent management, innovation and business performance is a strong manager cadre http://www.forbes.com/sites/sebastianbailey/2013/08/15/look-after-the-suits-they-drive-competitive-advantage-more-than-strategy-or-innovators/. Here’s my list of the things managers need to do well to effectively engage employees and drive stronger business results: Be Accessible — Employees have no time for a manger who has no time…
I’ll bet you can name the first two great lies without any effort. The third one remains unnamed because nobody is willing to admit to it. Well, here we go: American Business is Great at Managing Talent!!! Yes, that’s the biggest lie possible. I’d sooner believe that then check is in the mail or you…
Lately, I’ve been writing about prioritization as an important aspect of leadership, identifying it as one of those skills that virtually never makes it on a critical competency list, yet is just that: critical to leadership effectiveness because of its impact on engagement and productivity. An important aspect of prioritization is the ability to stop…
A recent HBR podcast talks about the need for knowledge workers to spend more time on things that really matter and less time on the multitude of things that are a lower priority yet take up most of the day. Although not presented as such, the podcast brings into focus a skill that is never…