The appointment of Cathie Black to the position of School Chancellor sparked a debate of sweeping proportions within the New York region. A New York Times’ headline cut to the heart of the issue: Can a Publisher Run the New York City Schools? The opposition appears to put Cathie Black, accomplished leader in newspaper and magazine publishing, into a neat little box called “Publisher.” It assumes that publishers are a homogenous lot, incapable of doing anything different – the same type of rigid thinking that permeates so many organizations that need to build anew. It’s the mindset that keeps organizations on auto pilot, unable to change course, while continuing to struggle.
Most Americans would agree that the issues of our time require fresh thinking and capable, new leaders. Nearly half of Likely U.S. Voters say the nation’s best days are in the past. That will be true unless American enterprises, educational systems, and governments change the way they organize and staff, even for highly visible jobs accountable to broad constituencies. Continue reading…
Joseph Plumeri, chairman and CEO of Willis Group Holdings, is an interesting guy. It’s unusual for a top executive to admit he is changing his ways, and for the better. A command-control leader for most of his career, Plumeri says that business has changed, and so too must he. Instead of dictating a solution, he wanted to create a culture of collaboration and debate where innovative, practical solutions are developed.
In an interview with Adam Bryan of the New York Times, Plumeri talks about the downsides to his former approach: When you give people their marching orders, you’d better be right. “The problem is when it doesn’t work, and people start to grow and feel like they’ve got more to contribute, it wears out. I think that’s what happened to that whole command-and-control approach.”
Managers are increasingly finding that “Doing what you always did will no longer get you what you always got.” Customers, business partners, and others are demanding better, faster, cheaper. Working harder will not suffice; change is needed. Yet, the requisite resources to undertake large-scale initiatives to produce these results do not exist.
A solution: look for meaningful, smaller changes that will affect the way separate units – departments, functions, businesses - interact with each other. Relatively small steps can yield huge dividends: Continue reading…
Gen Y (aka the Millennials) will be invading the workforce for some time to come. I have personally discovered a few things that managers can do to successfully motivate and direct young professionals.
As businesses adapt to a changing economy, we expect the job market to remain extremely competitive. Gen Yers are feeling more pressure to get professional experience before officially entering the workforce. Roz Courtney confronted Gen Y/Millennial stereotypes in her post on September 10, daring the business world to involve us and reap the rewards. If you want to motivate and retain the best talent, perhaps it helps to understand what the Millennials need and how they think. Here are several rules of the game – Gen Y rules – which make good business sense. Continue reading…
