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What to Do When Each Department Uses Different Words to Describe the Same Thing

Harvard Business Review

Specialized vocabularies develop in the business world every day to support new or specialized disciplines, departments, problems, and innovative opportunities. Instead, companies must thread the needle, following two rules: First, do all you can to encourage innovation and the growth of specialized language that comes with it.

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Mary Barra Brings Teaming to General Motors

Harvard Business Review

According to a recent New York Times article , Barra is known inside GM as a “consensus builder who calls her staff together on a moment’s notice to brainstorm on pressing issues.”. That’s part and parcel of Mary’s success, and the rest of the team plays well together, too.” Innovation is always the product of teaming.

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Will Moneyball Analytics Kill Loyalty and Leadership?

Harvard Business Review

That's the new quantitative consensus reshaping professional sports worldwide. Bill Parcells, the Super Bowl-winning coach, was famous for saying , "You are what your record says you are." Future potential matters (much) more than past performance. We have a luxury in sports," says Morey. Today, that's no longer true.

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How to Revive a Tired Network

Harvard Business Review

Make you more innovative. And in a connected world, build­ing stronger external networks to tap into the best sources of insight into environmental trends is also part and parcel of the leadership role. That’s how groups become mired in consensus, and after a while, everyone thinks and acts alike. The list goes on.

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