|
|
Years ago, I ran a private company. Our major competitors were publicly traded organizations who ran their businesses to meet the expectations of Wall Street analysts and shareholders. We, on the other hand, enjoyed the freedom of privacy which enabled us to make decisions based purely on our own criteria rather than the demands of [...]
Many of my clients are very committed to diversity in their organizations. But I have always been wary of diversity programs because “diversity” – a code word for reducing existing levels of prejudice – signifies that we have a “problem” and that we need to “fix” it. But surely the problem cannot be “fixed’ with [...]
The cover of the August 26th. issue of Business Week features Rainn Wilson, “who plays everybody’s favorite workplace irritant on TV’s The Office”. It trumpets the headline, “Trouble at the Office? Toxic Bosses. Work/Life Balance. Generational Tension” and goes on to portray the story as a “milestone at Business Week” because, presumably, the article is [...]
Napoleon Bonaparte said that “A leader is a dealer in hope”. Yet our prevailing model of leadership is one based on fear: Buy my cosmetics or you will be ugly. Buy my drug or you will get sick. Pass this exam or I will fail you. Do as I say or I will fire you. [...]
Rushworth Kidder, whose thoughts and writings are always insightful, has recently completed a small pilot survey of members of the Institute for Global Ethics, of which he is the executive Director. The question: What is the most threatening global issue facing humanity today? Is it terrorism, violence against women, CO2 emissions, governmental corruption, mass migration, [...]