Posts tagged as:

executives

The relationship between the CEO and the Board of Directors

09.15.2010

Recently a lot has been made of the relationship between a CEO and their board of directors. Mark Hurd recently ousted by the HP board is a case in point. This had nothing to do with performance, and everything to do with the relationship, communication, and trust. Last week I attended a discussion hosted by [...]

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The Subtle Different Between Coaching Up and Being a Pain the Ass

09.02.2010

How to improve your ability to work up in the organizational chart I’m sure many of you in organizations of every shape and size see the need and opportunity to coach up. But coaching your boss, or other leaders beyond that, can be a tricky business. Despite it being one of the most substantial areas [...]

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Amazon.com’s Chief Lean Thinker

08.02.2010

This week I’ll be blogging about various things I’ve found around the internet. Of course, the volume of content continues to increase. I sometimes wonder if the rate of increase of garbage outpaces the good stuff. But there is plenty of good stuff as well. I’m always on the lookout for entrepreneurs that secretly double [...]

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Valid or reliable – in the board room

07.30.2010

In my last post on the theme of looking at metrics as either valid or reliable and the balance between them, I wanted to examine the impact on decisions in the board room. So far we have covered the following: Valid or reliable – take your pick Valid or reliable – trying to break the [...]

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Noses In, Fingers Out

04.27.2010

Noses In, Fingers Out is a long-standard rule of thumb for boards of directors and the organizations they govern. What does it mean? Well, that’s not so clear especially as the world has gotten more complicated. Fundamentally it means that board members should have their noses in the business. They should know what’s going on. [...]

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You’re sacked! NEXT!

03.17.2010

Although I have written about Undercover Boss, don’t expect this post to be about Donald Trump’s Apprentice (even if the show has now officially jumped the shark, since we now have crook governors and ex-wrestlers). But while fun to say “You’re Fired!” on TV, it’s a lot harder in real life. I found some interesting [...]

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Take Fridays Off, or Work While They Slack?

12.19.2009

Here are two contrasting points via video. One video is from Chris Brogan of ChrisBrogan.com. The other video is from Cameron Herold of BackPocket COO. Check out both the videos. Chris says work while they slack and you can distance yourself from the competition. Cameron says take Fridays off. No, that’s not the secret. His [...]

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Solve your own darn problems

12.03.2009

I was recently at a dinner meeting with a few people surrounding an event I was supporting, and at the table was both a young, aggressive, smart individual contributor from a large company and a 30+ year experienced general manager who knew his way around the flagpole. We got into a discussion about the young [...]

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Jason Fried is a lean thinker

11.05.2009

Jason Fried of 37signals is a true lean thinker. Here’s how I know: If anyone ever writes us with a complaint, our stance is it’s our fault — for not being clear enough or not making something work the way it should. and some more of his thoughts: We rarely have meetings. I hate them. [...]

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Lean thinker Paul O’Neill

10.01.2009

True lean thinkers in positions of power are hard to come by, but Paul O’Neill may be one of the best examples we have in the US. Former head of Alcoa, former Treasury Secretary under President Bush (for a very short period), and founder of the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative to help bring lean to [...]

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