Mike Cardus

OCTOBER 22, 2023

Fostering Group Cohesion: Promoting unity at the cost of critical thinking. Conserving Emotional Energy: Quickly move on without engaging in emotionally taxing conversations. “You have to wear many hats.” Reasons for employing these clichés: Maintaining Control: Ensuring a grip on organizational processes and decisions.

Strategy 78

Strategy P&L Taylorism Taylor 78

Lead on Purpose

DECEMBER 10, 2009

The real question is: are you willing to invest the effort and make the sacrifices necessary to take on the responsibility of a leadership position? The authors propose three questions you should ask to assess your own leadership potential: How far do you want to go? What do you enjoy now but would have to give up?

Price 198

Price Leadership Long-term Short-term 198

HR Digest

APRIL 11, 2019

An inevitable trend underway in most companies is a cost-conscious culture, also known as “Ownership Culture.”. It may be tempting to deny but the cost of micromanagement is rarely noticed by micromanagers. They should clearly understand that a cost can be “critical” in one context and “wasteful” in another.

Micromanagement 89

Micromanagement Cost Resistance Bottom-up 89

N2Growth Blog

OCTOBER 10, 2010

but they expend far more energy intentionally searching for opportunity, but not just any opportunity – a game changer. In most cases simple can be translated as realistic, cost effective, quick to adopt, and fast to implement. What’s interesting is that the best leaders proactively focus on looking for game changers.

Blog 379

Blog Media Open-book Learning-by-Doing 379

Strategy Driven

DECEMBER 27, 2010

However, the proposed reforms could help spur entrepreneurial activity by increasing the incentives for talented Americans to launch their own companies, and could increase the pool of workers willing to work at small firms. Health insurance costs for small businesses increased from 1999 to 2007.

Uncertainty 57

Uncertainty Insurance Newsletter Incentives 57

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 5, 2014

Something reassuring happened Monday after EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy unveiled the Obama administration’s proposed Clean Power Plan , arguably the most important step the U.S. There will be time to debate whether the EPA’s proposed targets are sufficiently ambitious. over the last 18 months than the previous 30 years combined.

Power 8

Power Planning Proposal Energy 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

Each year several clients raise the same issue: the need to get buy-in from a skeptical senior executive in order to demonstrate a concrete benefit that will follow a proposed investment in an ethical business initiative or function. It can cost more to ensure better labor standards in a supply chain, or to meet environmental standards.

Ethics 14

Ethics Short-term Long-term Supply Chain 14

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

Those firms may even be your most dangerous customers because they treat you more like low-cost vendors than partners in design and development.". "So They use their "cheap sure thing" positioning to get credibility that what they're proposing won't cost an arm and a leg. So how do we get them to see us as innovation partners?"

CTO 15

CTO Lean Manufacturing Supply Chain Innovation 15

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 12, 2012

And as Sandy's $50 billion estimated price tag demonstrates, the cost of doing nothing is far greater than the cost of taking action. has proposed bringing them under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer , and we should begin ending their use here at home. Start a clean energy race.

Cost 9

Cost Price Energy Proposal 9

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 22, 2018

One of my clients hired a relatively junior staffer for his moxie, energy, and drive. In one case, a senior executive who had previously worked for a very large public company joined my client, a midsize family-owned company, with such unrealistic expectations about resources and autonomous decision making that he cost the business dearly.

Cost 13

Cost Learning-by-Doing Commitment Proposal 13

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

Pioneers of new business models, such as Alibaba and Amazon, are launching innovations in rapid succession, such as voice ordering and real-time pricing, while simultaneously building scale and driving down costs. By streamlining store complexity, the team was also able to slash the retailer’s supply chain costs by 20 percent.

Retail 10

Retail Chief Executive Officer Supply Chain Operations 10

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 12, 2013

Despite best efforts, the proposed American Airlines-US Airways merger will hit points of turbulence. Young scientists will invent energy-saving or health-promoting products, incubate new ventures while still in college, and sell them to markets eager for ways to control energy or health care costs.

Health Care 15

Health Care Merchandising Incubator Airlines 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 19, 2017

In many functional areas, such as plant maintenance, purchasing, sales calls, or accounting, more traditional structures and processes likely will deliver lower cost, more repeatable outcomes and more scalable organizations. Senior leadership teams that embrace agile do a few things differently. Systematic Inc.,

Agility 8

Agility White Paper How To Metrics 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 19, 2015

When you borrow talent, you obtain what you need more cost effectively than hiring it and without making a long-term commitment; and when you lend talent you’re offering your stars and high-potentials new opportunities for growth and development that they might not otherwise get within the confines of your organization.

CFO 8

CFO Leadership Development Telecommunications Cost 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 4, 2018

As an organizational psychologist and executive coach, I’ve had a ringside seat to the power of leadership self-awareness for nearly 15 years. For example, one study found that more-experienced managers were less accurate in assessing their leadership effectiveness compared with less experienced managers.

Self-aware 20

Self-aware How To Learning-by-Doing Participative 20

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 12, 2013

Despite best efforts, the proposed American Airlines-US Airways merger will hit points of turbulence. Young scientists will invent energy-saving or health-promoting products, incubate new ventures while still in college, and sell them to markets eager for ways to control energy or health care costs.

Health Care 8

Health Care Merchandising Incubator Airlines 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 12, 2013

You put your energy, your reputation, and maybe your future, on the line. Sam worked with colleagues from across Iron Mountain to develop a volunteer program, a solar energy pilot, and a strategic charitable partnership—which got people doing sustainability without having to pledge allegiance to a theory first. Expect backlash.

Organization 11

Organization Tips Metrics Entrepreneur 11

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 19, 2017

Growing food requires water, seeds, labor, machinery, energy, and fertilizer. Letting food go to waste, then, is a frivolous use of natural resources that drives up costs, inflates food prices, and weakens the food supply chain. The United Nations reports that the world population is expected to grow from 7.6 billion to 9.8

Retail 8

Retail Supply Chain Crisis Short-term 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

A third wanted to "expand the minds of its regional leadership team." The reason is a unique intersection of "supply" (increased knowledge about innovation and low-cost innovation enablers) and "demand" (need to innovate given increasing competition and accelerating pace of technological change).

Innovation 10

Innovation Disruptive Innovation Christensen Hotels 10

Strategy Driven

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Today’s digital revolution brings three new components: ubiquitous networks that connect people, devices, and systems instantly and globally; the data that these networks collect and the ability to store that data cost-effectively; and processing power and techniques that enable us to analyze and act on the available data.

Agility 65

Agility Banking Supply Chain CTO 65

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 8, 2013

If we could just make a higher impact during that time, it''s all upside with no cost. So here''s the question I''d like to propose you ask yourself throughout your day: What can I do, right now, that would be the most powerful use of this moment? What can I say? What action can I take?

CEO 13

CEO Follow-up Video Proposal 13

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Because better risk management in the future turns on corporate behavior, not just more regulation, and because that risk management is going to be driven from the top of corporations, the answers to these questions of leadership responsibility and accountability for organizational action and culture are of critical importance.

Report 12

Report Policies Risk Management Analysis 12

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

Exploring cutting edge ways to lower costs and improve quality. I put my immediate energies toward building an exceptionally strong executive team. We also had open questions in our surveys to give people an opportunity to express their concerns related to leadership, operations, compensation, and staffing. Insight Center.

Health Care 8

Health Care How To Operations Quality 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

Toward a New Leadership Agenda. To achieve those ends, we propose that business leaders support a new agenda, comprising seven areas of opportunity. While the last wave of globalization centered on accessing foreign markets and creating low-cost global supply chains, the next wave could follow a very different pattern.

Globalization 8

Globalization Supply Chain Human Capital Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 5, 2016

In the spring of 2014, we proposed a radical approach: offer anyone on staff – over 2,500 individuals, many of them union members – the chance to shape the library through strategic conversations with senior leaders. Leadership would shape the conversation to ensure proposals were strategically on-point.

Library 8

Library Strategy Reference Bottom-up 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 22, 2013

Let’s say you’re in the energy sector. Convergence is not simply about combining ideas and technology; it is a primary leadership competency that allows organizations to design the right future. Once they find it, they work on finding radical ideas and developing business proposals for top executives to review. Find Pivots.

Skills 8

Skills Power Six Sigma Disruptive Innovation 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

Paula encouraged me to talk with Paul because he “is the real thing when it comes to global business leadership.” See here for more about the turnaround and Paul’s leadership style and philosophy.). In fact, BHP posted a $1.6 billion profit – the largest in company history. And in 2001, profits jumped to $2.2 Paul got the message.

CEO 8

CEO Advice Workshop Execution 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 5, 2016

The innovative system promised to reduce local governments’ energy consumption and maintenance costs and improve their constituent relationships. Some localities had bought lights but failed to fully utilize the accompanying technology, which meant they couldn’t service them properly or achieve the hoped-for energy savings.

Case Study 8

Case Study Business Model CFO Software 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 9, 2015

You may already know that the other side is under pressure because of supply-chain issues, or new leadership. Jeff Haydock was spearheading bidding negotiations on behalf of a solar energy company for a large installation project in a Massachusetts town. We have to remember that they may be operating under constraints as well.”

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain How To Price Case Study 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 21, 2016

When obscure financial instruments threaten the global economy, transparency is the proposed solution. In a tragic example, at a Dutch energy supplier that used rigorous, transparent safety standards to deal with toxic waste, employees came to work one day to find the company’s safety officer dead of a workplace accident.

How To 8

How To Ethics Supply Chain Learning-by-Doing 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 5, 2018

Today’s climate challenge is so far beyond our collective experience that it demands a radically different kind of engagement from senior leadership teams in the private sector. Or Siemens explaining that the major job cuts planned for its gas turbine business have been partly triggered by the renewable energy boom.

Execution 8

Execution White Paper Shaw Price 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 20, 2013

First, for perspective, they ran the numbers on what it might cost to go entirely carbon free. His team implemented a rigorous process of collecting ideas for emissions cuts and estimating the costs. As a result, Diageo North America achieved a 50% carbon reduction by 2012, mainly with a mix of no- and low-cost initiatives.

Globalization 8

Globalization Cost Bottom-up Creativity 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 20, 2011

The military continues to lead the way on energy and climate. Malthus strikes back: Coca-Cola takes an $800 million hit on commodity costs. Coca-Cola was not alone in facing increasing costs in 2011; one of my clients, Kimberly-Clark, took an earnings hit from record pulp prices. trillion market for clothes and shoes.

Supply Chain 15

Supply Chain Apparel P&L Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 24, 2014

Smart companies form brand councils to meet this leadership imperative. It uses the brand identity and positioning as guardrails to assess the appropriateness of proposed initiatives and as standards to evaluate their execution. The brand council is charged with using the brand as the lens for strategic business decision-making.

Brand 8

Brand Strategy Advertising Brand Management 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 26, 2013

The Trans-Pacific talks have involved 11 developed and developing Pacific Rim nations with a combined GDP of $40 trillion,and which recently got a jolt of energy and complexity when Japan (GDP=$6 trillion) joined the negotiations. The economic costs would be very high for the US and the world. This authority expired in 2007.

GDP 8

GDP Short-term Globalization Long-term 8

Strategy Driven

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

Exploring Space with Nuclear Energy Some Space missions run for years, or even decades. Executive Briefing Cost Reduction Opportunity: Inventory Optimization. Economic demands place increasing pressure on executive and managers to reduce costs while maintaining high levels of operational safety, reliability, and efficiency.

Execution 56

Execution EPR Energy Engineering 56

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 21, 2017

The Trump administration has proposed cutting the EPA’s budget by over 30%, and the agency’s staff by 15,000 jobs. Some sectors and companies bear more of the up-front expense of tackling carbon emissions, with the energy sector being the most obvious one. And that’s just direct health care benefits.

Supply Chain 10

Supply Chain Health Care Apparel Leadership 10