There’s a world of difference between truly standing for something and having a mission statement that says you stand for something. You know, those “providing the best service” signs that are created just to be posted on a wall. The ones that sound phony and disconnected from reality. Continue reading
Organisation
Passion
People say you have to have a lot of passion for what you’re doing and it’s totally true. And the reason is because it’s so hard that if you don’t, any rational person would give up. It’s really hard. And you have to do it over a sustained period of time. So if you don’t love it, if you’re not having fun doing it, you don’t really love it, you’re going to give up. Continue reading
What happens when you see a company as a part of nature?
It shifts profoundly how you think about leadership and change. If you use a machine lens, you get leaders who are trying to drive change through formal change programs. If you use a living-systems lens, you get leaders who approach change as if they were growing something, rather than just “changing” something. Even on a large scale, nature doesn’t change things mechanically: You don’t just pull out the old and replace it with the new. Something new grows, and it eventually supplants the old. Continue reading
10 challenges of change
In “The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations,” Peter Senge and his colleagues identify 10 challenges of change. Grouped into three categories — challenges of initiating change, challenges of sustaining momentum, and challenges of systemwide redesign and rethinking — these 10 items amount to what the authors call “the conditions of the environment that regulate growth.” Continue reading
First Things First
You need less than you think
Do you really need ten people or will two or three do for now?
Do you really need $500,000 or is $50,000 (or $5,000) enough for now?
Do you really need six months or can you make something in two? Continue reading
The Apple Marketing Philosophy by Mike Markkula
By 1977, as Jobs and Wozniak were frenzied, taking orders for the Apple I and looking for venture capital as they developed the Apple II, the men brought on investor Mike Markkula into the business. In addition to injecting $250,000 into the company and becoming a third partner, Markkula penned “The Apple Marketing Philosophy,” a three-point call to action that has served the company well. It can also be an example for other startup businesses. Continue reading
Meetings are toxic
The worst interruptions of all are meetings. Here’s why: They’re usually about words and abstract concepts, not real things. They usually convey an abysmally small amount of information per minute. They drift off-subject easier than a Chicago cab in a snowstorm. They require thorough preparation that most people don’t have time for. They frequently have agendas so vague that nobody is really sure of the goal. They often include at least one moron who inevitably gets his turn to waste everyone’s time with nonsense. Meetings procreate. One meeting leads to another meeting leads to another … Continue reading
Having the inner will to do whatever it takes to create a great outcome, no matter how difficult.
Discipline in essence, is consistency of action – consistency with values, consistency with long term goals, consistency with performance standards, consistency of method, consistency over time. Continue reading
Federalism
There are five elements to federalism and we have talked about two: subsidiarity (responsibility at the lowest point) and the separation of functions at the center. But there are three more, of which perhaps the most important is interdependence. Continue reading
ONE TUSK 