I have a lot of trouble with integrity. That’s not a personal confession and it’s not a statement about today’s (occasionally challenging) business climate. Instead, it’s a problem I have with the word itself. My difficulties emerge when I’m doing a values exercise with a senior team. As we discuss what makes their organization unique, someone inevitably suggests that “integrity” be included on the list. That’s when my brow furrows and my headache starts.
According to a Harvard Business Review article[1], 55% of all Fortune 100 companies define integrity as one of their “core” values. When working with a senior team, I could just cite that statistic if I wanted to discourage the inclusion of integrity on their list. Or, I could add that integrity was one of Enron’s values too. But either because I’m too polite to take a cheap shot or an optimist at heart, I take a deep breath and say: “Okay. If integrity is one of your values, let’s define it in a way that is meaningful to your organization.” And let the fun begin. Continue reading » »
Several years ago I was scheduled to fly from Rochester, New York, to Southern California to deliver a commencement speech at a community college.
As I arrived at the airport in Rochester, I learned that my connecting flight to Chicago had been canceled. The airline put me on a plane to Washington, D. C., where I was to catch a connecting flight to Los Angeles. As we pulled away from the gate and approached the runway, the pilot came on the radio and said we would have to go back to the terminal. The engine was on fire!
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Last week, we railed against publishers and their resistance to e-books by going heavy with the sarcasm and using just enough Econ 101 to sound dangerous. This week, we post an article from Mokoto Rich at the New York Times that delves into the actual economics of producing and profiting from a single book. Rich reports that publishers are sensitive to the criticism that they are not lowering prices enough for e-books. They defend themselves by noting that printing and shipping are not the biggest costs of producing a book. While we remain skeptical about the logic publishers are using – and highly suspicious of their institutional resistance to innovation – we’re happy to showcase someone else’s reportage of the facts for you to ponder. As Rich noted:
In the emerging world of e-books, many consumers assume it is only logical that publishers are saving vast amounts by not having to print or distribute paper books, leaving room to pass along those savings to their customers.
Publishers largely agree…
Middle managers have a tough job and they are the engines that fuel stretegic implementation. Great middle managers engage their employees and create an environment where people are focused, results oriented, and interested in helping the business thrive. Middle managers are a key lever (maybe THE key lever) that a senior team can pull to ensure their intentions come to fruition. So you would think that organizations would know to invest in the care, feeding, and development of their middle managers. I find that the opposite is more often true.
Many of the organizations I worked with using improvement processes and philosophies like Lean. They make HUGE investments in money, time, and other resources to do Lean well. When I ask why they are willing to make this investment, most of my clients talk about how Lean has helped them manage their business, do things more effectively, and involve everyone in quality improvements.
Hmmm…somthing seems amiss here.
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Today, the cliché that knowledge is power is truer than ever, which makes withholding key data extremely counterproductive — inhibiting or suppressing vital information for any reason eliminates value. So, why is this such a common problem?
Essentially, there are two reasons. The first is when people take their competitive nature too far. It’s the same old need to win, only more underhanded. People take the phrase “knowledge is power” too literally, thinking the object of the game is to hoard as much information as possible.
The problem with willfully withholding information, though, is it rarely achieves the desired effect. Continue reading » »
