Tag: leadership

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Design Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: Execution

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. Bossidy served as Chairman and CEO of Honeywell and held executive roles at General Electric for over 30 years. Ram Charam spent 35 years working with executives at GE, Bank of America, DuPont, Novartis, EMC, 3M, and Verizon among others.

Chapter two reveals many strong points about company failures due to a lack of leadership. From Xerox, EDS, and Lucent. So many glaring mistakes top executives.

The lack of key knowledge regarding P&L or supply chain can kill. Yet those promoted into senior roles resulted in quarterly sales slumps. Bossidy shares firings began after two slumping sales quarters.

Looking back one can wonder how did they actually hold a job so valued yet be so inaccurate in leadership. Bossidy and Charan provide the insights needed.

Hiring during a pandemic? Execution can provide valuable insights to efficient execution by Baxter and Duke Energy. Bossidy took personal time to ensure executive and senior management hiring was a success. His spent time calling candidate references.

Execution also reveals HR should be honest in rethinking hiring timelines. This must include support by senior management in order to stay afloat or thrive.

To be fair, Bossidy also rewrote the executive’s rules on promoting long time managers. A company open to honest, critical analysis proved a key indicator when search was moving external.

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Education Globalization Reading

Latest read: 13 Bankers

Reading 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown can be considered a good introduction to the country’s long relationship between Wall Street and Congress.  A new reference for how our country began its relationship with Wall Street and the massive changes during the Reagan, Clinton, W. Bush and Obama Administrations reveal how well the financial elite have directed legislation in Congress.
To read about how our republics leaders’ viewed banking was a refresher.  Of course it would be a great insight to hear their views of the 2007-2009 financial collapse and the new banking world we must struggle through.

Clearly Congress was pitched a bill of goods manipulated by Wall Street. That simply bit them in the ass.  I was amused to see how they were asking for the government to bail them out when their house of cards folded in on them.  And yet I’m amused to read and listen to “specialists” or “experts in the field” in the financial marketplace or even the vast field of TV “analysts” who say the government is socialist for ”buying” the banks.

TARP was issued under W. Bush?  If the Treasury did not step in and bail out Wall Street we would be in the middle of a global revolution.  Sure — ignore it all and watch our entire economy totally collapse.

I was impressed with the book’s level of detail surrounding the relationships between W. Bush and Obama’s senior leadership (who transitioned to the Democratic White House) and their twisted histories with the major banks on Wall Street.  Its clear the amount of money funneling through Congress today provides Wall Street with a clear avenue to set policy — and even give away free money.  Well its not exactly free…the money handed to Wall Street to protect their horrible investment decisions on terms they could bargain for collectively.  And of course they all took it.

As Jamie Dimon from JPMorgan Chase stated, somehow during the financial  collapse they managed to have the best year in the company’s history — and paid out billions in bonus compensation while most Americans who purchased their products lost everything:  jobs, mortgages and ultimately their future as a result of the recession that followed.

13 Bankers blog
13 Bankers - Simon Johnson

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Hot, Flat, and Crowded 2.0

Sometimes a 2.0 release is viewed as a fix for shortcomings in the initial release of just about any product….except this update from Tom Friedman: Hot, Flat, and Crowded 2.0: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America.
I quickly read version 1.0 as soon as it hit bookshelves and was just amazed at Friedman’s writing about the state of research, business and culture surrounding our planet. Missed reading this when it was originally released?

Yet as of late I have been reading so much about Wall Street’s clusterf*ck that I missed his update Hot, Flat, and Crowded 2.0: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America.

An overview to the version 2.0 release:Friedman explains how global warming, rapidly growing populations, and the astonishing expansion of the world’s middle class through globalization have produced a planet that is “hot, flat, and crowded.”  In this Release 2.0 edition, he also shows how the very habits that led us to ravage the natural world led to the meltdown of the financial markets and the Great Recession.  The challenge of a sustainable way of life presents the United States with an opportunity not only to rebuild its economy, but to lead the world in radically innovating toward cleaner energy.  And it could inspire Americans to something we haven’t seen in a long time—nation-building—by summoning the intelligence, creativity, and concern for the common good that are our greatest national resources.

In vivid, entertaining chapters, Friedman makes it clear that the green revolution the world needs is like no revolution before. It will be the biggest innovation project in American history; it will be hard, not easy; and it will change everything from what you put into your car to what you see on your electric bill. This is a great challenge, Friedman explains, but also a great opportunity, and one that America cannot afford to miss. Not only is American leadership the key to the healing of the earth; it is also our best strategy for the renewal of America.

Or consider the following accolades for his writing:

  • A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year
  • A Washington Post Best Book of the Year
  • A Businessweek Best Business Book of the Year
  • A Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year
  • A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year
  • A Business Week Best Business Book of the Year
  • A Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Year
  • A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Best Book of the Year
  • A Booklist Editors’ Choice Best Book of the Year
  • Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize
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Latest read: Competing on Analytics

How can you compete today in a globalized, highly competitive world? One very smart solution: Analytics. From Google and Amazon to the Boston Red Sox organizations (yes sports teams included) are succeeding by competing on analytics with proven results. Just ask the Yankees…
competing on analyticsCompeting on Analytics: The New Science of Winning from Harvard Business School Press is simply a must read for your organization. New data analysis tools and the internet have changed the rules for competition.

This book is not about Google Analytics. This book has a focus on business intelligence, analysis and data reporting that changed the competitive landscape. Consider this NY Times article about the use of analytics in the Boston Celtics organization.

It would be a mistake to think your organization is immune to the lessons shared in this book. I was even surprised how poorly my former employers rate in this book. Some feel colleges need not apply business intelligence to admissions, continuing education, communication and strategic planning. This book proves that notion dead on arrival.

The shift in data gathering tools and enhanced analysis proves this a key tool for any organization moving forward in a tough economy and market with a shrinking pool of customers. Your probably losing prospects to your competition as a result of analytics and business intelligence conveyed in smart communication.

Michael McIntyre taught me lessons regarding You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know (YDKWYDK) and how it deeply impacts organizations. The single key to winning with analytics is the total support by the CEO — from the top down — and this is where most organizations simply fail.

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