Kicking off our periodic series of odes to tyrants in business, Tactico-Strategicus boldly steps forth. With reckless abandon, this tyrant charges the line of other's thought swiping down his adversaries. He will only allow to survive those ideas that have a 'long-termishness' or 'future-statiness' to them. He does this in service of the higher cause; strategy. Tactico-Strategicus isContinue reading "Ode to a Tyrant: Tactico-Strategicus"
Sonder
Sonder is a neologism that has been most often defined as "the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own." The word draws upon both German and French words meaning "set apart and unique" and also "to probe". I have recently become a fan of this word becauseContinue reading "Sonder"
The Art of Being Effective: Narrowband Listening
People have a singular propensity to place complete confidence in their own brilliance and clarity of understanding. I recently experienced an example of this a few a few months ago. I was in attendance at an onboarding for a strategic project. The project could be considered similar in scope to IBM's decision to divest themselves of their hardware business and bet billionsContinue reading "The Art of Being Effective: Narrowband Listening"
Thought Leaders for the Insecure – PT 1
You are in a meeting discussing plans to move forward on a new tool. A business tool that many of the higher up believe will provide some great value to the company. But what this tool is and how to build it needs to be decided on. Many important people are gathered and one ofContinue reading "Thought Leaders for the Insecure – PT 1"
Art of Being Effective: Cyclone of Assistance
Hegel is famous for one thing in particular, and that is the concept that history represents a progressive combination of diverse viewpoints as the Truth or Absolute slowly comes into focus. Who knows what the hell that means, but the short version of most interpretations on this is that Philosophies and Ideas slowly become moreContinue reading "Art of Being Effective: Cyclone of Assistance"
A Sickness of Spiritlessness
Soren Kierkegaard, philosopher supreme, considered spiritlessness one of the key human illnesses of our time. The spiritless person is dominated by a disconnect from responsibility to higher values*. While clearly having religious import to Kierkegaard, the observation also has a powerful analogy in the business world. I would suggest that a dimension of the problems underlying the 'disengaged' workforce is capturedContinue reading "A Sickness of Spiritlessness"
All I Do Is…..
Win, winning, win at winning! This has been the buzzword around my work recently. And it has turned into a bastardization of the English language. A complete forsaking of thought and content A list of recent examples in my life of “How to win” as modeled by managers and executives in meetings I have attended:Continue reading "All I Do Is….."
A Jigger of Common Sense
Why put someone through service hell when we can make the right decision the first time? This question has been rolling around the cavern of my skull for a while. All of us have had a bad customer service experience. It's almost a right of passage into adulthood. Even something as simple as being toldContinue reading "A Jigger of Common Sense"
The Fenceless Gatekeeper:
Inspired by a friend of mine and his encounter with a Fenceless Gatekeeper. You have coordinated a team and established a plan for your project. Your leaders are satisfied with your preparedness and approve your project. Like a band of adventurers, you and your team go forth on the journey laid out. As with allContinue reading "The Fenceless Gatekeeper:"
Return on Intelligence 