April 10th, 2009
Last Sunday’s New York Times had an interesting interview with John Donahoe, the new CEO of eBay. In it he talks about leadership (you can’t change someone – only help them help themselves), tough questions for job candidates (when have you failed and what did you learn), the importance of open, objective feedback (it’s okay to say thanks but no thanks) and the need at eBay for ‘agile development’.
He also referenced the following quote from John Gardner, which he keeps on a laminated card in his wallet, to remind him how to win in the right way.
“Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.”
Pretty cool. Hope you and yours have a wonderful Easter! Cheers, Amelia
Posted in Strategy Execution, Team Effectiveness | 1 Comment »
April 10th, 2009
Andrew Trotter, a Washington, D.C.-based freelance writer, who has covered education and technology issues for more than 20 years, is guest blogger today, writing about his recent trip to the Consortium on School Networking. A major focus of the conference was how social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook, blogging, podcasting, Wikipedia, open content, curriculum wikis, online video games, and smartphones fit together with the traditional school staples of assessment, curriculum, student privacy and safety, budgets, and so on. You can read Andrew’s entire article here, but below is a synopsis of his comments:
The international symposium made clear that the role of social networking in education is a topic of concern among educators from around the world.
According to one panelist, Stephen Breslin, chief executive of Futurelab, a nonprofit group based in Bristol, U.K. that supports innovation in education, schools aren’t typically good at preparing students for three skills that are vital in today’s workplace: the power of conversation, the power of groups, and the power of the network. Schools are ill-equipped to teach those things because they are geared for assessing students individually.
Like other speakers, Breslin acknowledged dangers to children posed by Web 2.0, but believes educators should not be paralyzed by fears. People are responding to Web 2.0, just as to earlier digital innovations, “polarized between panic and blind digital faith.” He added, “The answer is balanced in between.”
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March 15th, 2009
As many of you know, The Thornton Group is fortunate to be consulting partners with Patrick Lencioni’s company The Table Group. Pat has been doing a lot of writing lately, and this ‘point of view’ entitled How Executives Botch Layoffs from the March 6, 2009 Wall Street Journal is particularly relevant these days.
In this article Pat talks about the three most common mistakes executives make during lay-offs:
- Don’t allow employees to leave with dignity
- Segregate ‘survivors’ from those who are leaving
- Assume that the survivors don’t need extra attention
I agree with all, especially the third point. In fact, I read somewhere that most companies spend 80% of their time and attention on the people leaving versus those who remain — counter-intuitive, don’t you think?
I’ll write more about this another time, but in the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
Thanks, Amelia
Tags: change management, employee morale, layoffs, Patrick Lencioni, retention, Table Group
Posted in Leadership, Strategy Execution, Team Effectiveness | 5 Comments »
March 14th, 2009
I’m back after a wonderful trip ‘down under’. Primary purpose was to visit my son, but I also had a great meeting with Noel Posus, an executive coach based in Sydney. He’s just been named 2008 ‘Coach of the Year’ by the Australian New Zealand Coaching Institute and I can sure understand why. Check out his Coaching Blog when you have time. It’s terrific. More from me soon. G’Day! Amelia
Posted in Team Effectiveness | 1 Comment »
February 26th, 2009
Congratulations to my friend and colleague Patrick Lencioni, for the recent naming of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team as one of the Top 100 Business Books of all time.
It’s a great read, and particularly relevant today. If you haven’t already, check it out, and let me know what you think!
Tags: Five Disfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni, Table Group, team building
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February 22nd, 2009
In 1991, Fortune magazine published a terrific article entitled, Secrets of Great Second Bananas. The article talks about the special chemistry some of the great COO’s have had with their CEO’s and in particular, how effectively they complemented each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
What jumped out at me at the time, and why it is still one of my favorite leadership articles, is that in each example, both parties truly recognized and valued the contribution of the other as critical to their own success. As Frank Wells, former COO of Disney said about his boss Michael Eisner, ”It isn’t some boss presiding over everything. It’s just a fight to find the right idea. If we have any culture at Disney, it’s that the best idea wins.” Constructive conflict. Passion, not personal. Or perhaps, simply that two heads ARE better than one. Note: Updated to correct link – hopefully it now works
Tags: CEOs, COO, Leadership
Posted in Strategy Execution | 1 Comment »
February 21st, 2009
Welcome! To be truthful, I ‘borrowed’ this title from my brother Andrew, because I thought it was such a nice way to begin and couldn’t come up with anything clever on my own. Story of my life I’m afraid. Anyway, I hope to use this as a way to initiate and/or continue dialog around strategy execution, team effectiveness and how we can all help each other stay on track and focused during these crazy times we are lucky to live in. Your thoughts, suggestions, and comments are most welcome. Thanks for visiting and hope you stay in touch. Amelia
Posted in Strategy Execution | 1 Comment »