One of the surest ways to burn money is to invest in a culture initiative. Culture often gets treated as something that can be improved with workshops and by by hanging up posters reminding people of company values. But in reality, culture is not something you can directly build. It’s an output—a reflection of how […]
How Leaders Shape Culture without the Fluff Read Post »
I challenge you to play a game of buzzword bingo with me. Take out a pen and paper and write down the first ten positively attributed potential organizational values you can think of. I will do the same. Next, check out websites of organizations or brands you regularly interact with. Read their value statements. The
All you Need is Love – Values that Work Read Post »
When you’ve been around long enough, you see patterns in behavior, individual and organizational. And you hear people say things, and repeat them again and again, sometimes really stupid things. When I say ‘stupid’, I mean misinformed, shortsighted, and simple plain wrong things that people hear and then repeat. Often they perpetuate fads and myths
10 uncomfortable truths every leader should read Read Post »
If you ask 10 CEOs whether they’d like their business to have a winning strategy, you’d probably get 11 “yes” responses. Everyone wants their business to lead with a great strategy, of course. Chances are that out of those same 10 CEOs, the majority would start strategy at the wrong end: the strategy itself. Yes,
What effective team development looks like – and what you should avoid Read Post »
The blind pursuit of productivity has led to an epidemic of corporate gaslighting. At the heart of this lies a fundamental flaw: when leaders fail to define a clear business strategy they react to the negative consequences with a Pavlovian response: they prescribe training for employees. Conflicting Priorities and the Tyranny of the Urgent Most
Blaming Employees – The Corporate Gaslighting Epidemic Read Post »
The environment in which we design strategy matters more than leaders often realize. The leadership culture, and the wider business culture, dictate the nature of strategy, and its chances of success. In this article, I introduce you to the Culture Continuum, and I describe why good business strategy can only be cultivated in a people-centric
Dog Eat Dog and Tree Huggers: Why the Wrong Environments Can’t Create Good Strategy Read Post »
What’s the job of an executive leader? So many thoughts come to mind. But in a nutshell it comes down two two things: they’ve got to define the choices to win in a company’s chosen marketplace (that’s business strategy) and make sure everyone’s vibing on the same frequency (that’s company culture). Crafting a Business Strategy
The Essence of Executive Leadership: Nailing Business Strategy and Culture Read Post »
Business myths are often perpetuated and become widely accepted as truth, despite being far from accurate. Let’s debunk four common myths: that work-life balance as the key to happiness, that sustainable businesses cannot exist at scale, the assumption that the customer is always right, and the misconception that failure is always bad. Myth #1: Work-Life
Busting Business Myths: Four Misconceptions That You Should Let Go Read Post »
In the wild world of business, catchphrases run rampant, sparking debates and raising eyebrows. One such catchphrase that tends to get a reaction out of me is “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Now, hold on a second! Let’s dig deeper into why this phrase makes me cringe and explore the fascinating relationship between strategy and
Nurturing Success: The Dynamic Dance Between Strategy and Culture Read Post »
OpenAI CEO Altman calls work-from-home an “experiment” that was a “mistake”. Well, the conversation about WFH has become increasingly contentious. More and more corporate leaders default to what they’ve known pre-pandemic and order people back to the office. Examples include Bob Iger at Disney and Apple’s Tim Cook. In knee-jerk reactions, WFH proponents act up
Let’s Take the Heat out of WFH Read Post »
Everyone talks about it, everyone wants it, but not everyone understands it. Empowerment has become a buzzword in the world of organizational management. Empowerment is a multi-faceted concept that involves giving employees the tools, resources, and support they need to make informed decisions and take ownership of their work. Unfortunately, there are still many misconceptions
Empowerment: 5 Common Misconceptions We Should Leave Behind Read Post »
We all experience stress at some point in our lives. It can come from various sources, such as work, relationships, or daily life events. However, what many people fail to recognize is the impact that even small stressors, or microstresses, can have on our overall well-being and performance. What are Microstresses? The term “microstresses” originated
Microstresses: How Small Stressors Can Have a Big Impact on Your Life Read Post »
The culture imperative for executives – The supercharged organization
Culture is everywhere. Every organization, department or team has one. They either consciously created it, honed it over time into what some organizations call their ‘secret sauce’, as in ‘not copyable by the competition’. Or they have a culture that just appeared, accidentally, whatever it might be. Trust me, you don’t want an accidental culture. I’ve been there, I have seen what these cultures can look like and what they do to people. In accidental cultures, there are hardly any boundaries, the doors are open to all kinds of behaviours, even toxic ones like lying, cynicism, gossip and avoidance of accountability. As a result, people will burn out and leave. This is true for all kinds of organizations whether non-profit or for-profit.
The culture imperative for executives Read Post »
