Ten Common Mistakes Companies Make when Recruiting.
1. Focusing on a candidate’s resume rather than on exploring in depth their aptitude, past behaviors, and current attitude. The right candidate can share specific stories illustrating their past behavior that will give you confidence they can quickly overcome challenges … Continue reading
Managing employees and raising children
My wife Mary and I decided to have children in our late twenties, somewhat later than many of our peers. One of the advantages of waiting, however, was the decade of experience we had accumulated in managing independent, unrelated employees. … Continue reading
Water wasn’t invented by a fish
Digital Equipment Corporation didn’t survive the death of the minicomputer. K&E didn’t survive the death of the slide rule. GEISCO didn’t survive the death of mainframe timesharing. Why? One of Marshall McLuhan quotes I love is, “I don’t know who … Continue reading
Where to look for innovation
At every annul planning meeting with a client company, we have the team take a look at their business from a different perspective, inspired by a current business book or article. This year’s inspiration is Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building … Continue reading
Beware hiring a “Charles Ponzi” to lead your sales or IT team
“How strong is our sales pipeline for next year?” Bob, the CEO of Creative Analytics asked in the annual strategy planning meeting. “Great!” replied Pat, the sales VP. “I’ve got a dozen projects lined up, at least half are a … Continue reading
Implementing accountability: lessons from Brazil
We facilitated a strategic planning meeting in southern Brazil. While there, we had the opportunity to visit IguaçuFalls, one of the great sites on the World Heritage List. IguaçuFalls has a flow capacity equal to three times that of Niagara … Continue reading
It isn’t enough to tell people what you want
In 1979, Ted Kennedy, brother of the assassinated President John Kennedy, was asked this straightforward question during an interview with CBS Newsman Roger Mudd. “Why do you want to be President?” Kennedy couldn’t come up with a straightforward answer. He … Continue reading
“Plans are nothing… Planning is everything.”
“Plans are nothing… Planning is everything.” Dwight D. Eisenhower Maria Birkhead, Senior Facilitator at Myrna Associates, discussed this famous quote with a client’s executive team during a recent review meeting. She noted that Eisenhower’s quote is an amazing statement, coming … Continue reading
Size Matters
How large do you want your company to be within five years? Why? When you hire an architect to design a new headquarters building, the first question he asks is how many square feet you want. If you tell him that … Continue reading
First things first – the lesson of rocks, sand, and water
Author Steven R. Covey inspired today’s retelling of a time management classic. Covey’s story starts with a speaker showing a group of business students a large glass jar and a box of large rocks. The speaker pulled rocks from the … Continue reading