Skip Prichard

JUNE 22, 2022

One of those books is Richard Rumelt’s The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists. As it turns out, what passes for strategy in many businesses, government agencies, and military operations is ultimately just a mix of wishful thinking and a jumble of incoherent policies. Richard Rumelt.

Film 102

Film Licensing Long-term Strategy 102

LDRLB

MAY 3, 2011

I’ve started to believe that perhaps the distinction, for the purpose of an operational definition for study and practice, need not be made between leaders and managers. Indeed, few leaders would get very far without management skills, and few managers have room to grow without learning the art of leadership.

Definition 118

Definition Middle Management Reference Positioning 118

LDRLB

MAY 3, 2011

I’ve started to believe that perhaps the distinction, for the purpose of an operational definition for study and practice, need not be made between leaders and managers. Indeed, few leaders would get very far without management skills, and few managers have room to grow without learning the art of leadership.

Definition 74

Definition Middle Management Reference Positioning 74

LDRLB

JANUARY 27, 2011

That’s the thesis of Rick Kash and David Calhoun, authors of How Companies Win. In a moment, I’ll tell you how to get a free copy of this book courtesy of the authors and LDRLB. Overall, How Companies Win is a worthwhile read if you’re in charge of strategy for a large-scale business operation.

Review 60

Review Books Company Competitive Advantage 60

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 9, 2018

As one of my clients was going through a series of organizational changes, a valued middle manager reacted negatively in each town hall, asking inappropriately detailed questions as if it was a game of “gotcha,” to show that the ramifications hadn’t been fully considered. Here’s How to Create It.

Team 14

Team How To Planning Follow-up 14

Sales Wolf Blog

DECEMBER 24, 2010

 In just over 15 minutes you will learn a lot of important information about the upcoming flu season - I know I certainly did. .  In just over 15 minutes you will learn a lot of important information about the upcoming flu season - I know I certainly did.

System 167

System Human Resources Presenteeism Blog 167

Sales Wolf Blog

AUGUST 9, 2010

 In the latest installment to his Little Big Things video series Tom Peters declares war on these systems and encourages managers to make it easy for all members of an organization to identify problems with an organization's systems and provide bottom-up feedback for improving the way the company operates.

Blog 124

Blog Human Resources Human Capital Talent Management 124

Sales Wolf Blog

JULY 21, 2010

Larger companies are often owned by shareholders who are removed from day-to-day operations of the company and therefore more likely to demand performance accountability from the management. One might say this is a good thing. I do not believe so. Low Job Performance Toleration puts the entire company at risk. I do not believe so.

Company 140

Company Human Resources Welch Emotional Intelligence 140

LDRLB

MAY 13, 2014

It talks about the 4 underlying key leadership styles and visionary, operator, processer, synergists that determine which stage an organization settles into. They tend to work very closely with what I call operators, that’s the second natural style. Operators are the symbolic opposite of visionaries. Same for the operator.

Brainstorming 60

Brainstorming Learning-by-Doing Operations Leadership Styles 60

Sales Wolf Blog

JUNE 18, 2010

  After illustrating the clear benefits of using checklists to prevent simple errors, Gawande goes on to describe how to implement them into your professional life.   After illustrating the clear benefits of using checklists to prevent simple errors, Gawande goes on to describe how to implement them into your professional life.

Human Resources 100

Human Resources Blog Emotional Intelligence Welch 100

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 15, 2012

Given the unrelenting pace of change surrounding organizations in virtually every industry, companies are looking for executives who know how to innovate and introduce change, not simply caretakers who can manage the status quo. In most companies there's more than a kernel of truth to these managers' complaints.

Innovation 15

Innovation Merchandising How To Proposal 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 28, 2011

I am a big believer in "being the change you want to see" in your organization, no matter whether you are a middle manager or a CEO. So how have we done since we began this journey? Our employee engagement has been operating at world-class levels for years. Their performance on this front affected their bonus payouts.

Diversity 14

Diversity Human Resources How To Mentor 14

Harvard Business Review

JULY 6, 2011

Provide management processes for implementing ideas. For many years the Latin American operations of breakfast cereal maker Kellogg's relied on functional managers and consultants to drive improvements that would reduce costs and optimize manufacturing capacity. The results?

Process 13

Process Software How To Tools 13

Sales Wolf Blog

JUNE 11, 2010

  I really like the carnival's focus on lean management techniques, which I feel is especially relevant in today's tenuous business environment as all of us can afford to seek out additional operational efficiencies via lean management processes.   Ready to improve your management skills? .

Management 133

Management Six Sigma Human Resources Kaizen 133

Sales Wolf Blog

AUGUST 30, 2010

 He is struggling to understand why it is that HR is not considered a core function of a an organization like sales, marketing, or operations when it is afforded the opportunity to "direct, deliver, and develop" the employee talent necessary for the company to achieve its goals.  Why?  Why?

Blog 124

Blog Maslow Talent Management Human Resources 124

Sales Wolf Blog

DECEMBER 3, 2010

 Numerous forecasting models are based off economic indicators like the Consumer Confidence Index and it is critical that you follow and understand how these leading indicators relate to your organization's operations. I really like how The Conference Board takes a high level approach to monitoring the business climate.

Conference 133

Conference Human Resources Human Capital White Paper 133

Sales Wolf Blog

JUNE 13, 2010

In a nice post to read in conjunction with Sharlyn's post above, Tim points out that we aren't operating in Q1 of 2009 anymore and that fewer and fewer employees are willing to stick around in a job working for a boss they can't stand.   Tim Sanders, Sanders Says : Don't Take Your Employees for Granted! -

Blog 100

Blog Talent Management Human Resources Welch 100

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 22, 2014

There were major overlaps in corporate and operational management positions, but most employees would be retained. An urgent challenge was to have all managers — including those who knew or feared they would eventually be terminated — be engaged as dynamic leaders. Trust was forged, and it grew.

Pharmaceuticals 8

Pharmaceuticals Uncertainty How To Middle Management 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 2, 2013

Middle managers with limited resources and set evaluation metrics will simply operate in a predictable fashion. Small victories point us in the right direction, and small failures tell us how to change. Small victories are important in informing innovators how to move forward. No one notices them initially.

Innovation 8

Innovation Execution How To Ries 8

LDRLB

JANUARY 13, 2014

She was looking at these leaders, these middle managers in large companies that were in stagnant industries, but these managers were still able to have double-digit annual growth even though their industries were stagnating. I joined Jeanne Liedtka and her research project in the Growth Leaders.

Innovation 104

Innovation Tools Open-book Learning-by-Doing 104

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 28, 2016

Point being: New managers always can benefit from plenty of support. It’s hard to find precise spending data on the amounts invested in management training (for supervisors and middle managers) and leadership development (for senior executives). Without solid shop-floor management, operations grind slowly.

Training 14

Training Development Management Budgeting 14

Michael Lee Stallard

JUNE 23, 2010

Navy One example of a leader who intentionally developed a Connection Culture using all three bridges is Admiral Vern Clark, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) from 2000 until his retirement in 2005. To Bono, U2 is “the best example of how to rely on others.” Connecting the U.S. These experiences have shaped them in important ways.

Long-term 207

Long-term Consensus Class Follow-up 207

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 18, 2016

Fields spent nearly a decade overseas learning how to compete with leaders in the industry in their markets. While learning the Ford organization, he could also learn how powerful competitors operated and develop his own skills free from the bubble of Detroit’s automotive society.

CEO 8

CEO Automotive Survey Middle Management 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 27, 2014

Create portfolios – When operating in high-uncertainty environments, look for opportunities to diversify. As a product manager, you can run quick experiments to remove uncertainty from potential projects; as a middle manager, you can sponsor more than one project to increase the probability and magnitude of success on risky projects.

Career 8

Career Planning Kahneman Uncertainty 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 24, 2018

And because organizational change tends to be driven by those who most acutely feel the pain, it’s often line managers who are the strongest champions for “talent tech”: innovations in how firms hire people, staff projects, evaluate performance, and develop talent. Insight Center. Adopting AI. Sponsored by SAS.

Technology 10

Technology Talent Management Process Management 10

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 9, 2016

How to Create an Exponential Mindset. One of the CEOs I most admire can do this — she goes from 10,000 feet to ground level in 30 seconds, linking her answers to the macro questions (this purpose, this brand positioning, this customer offer) to the micro operational implications for the business. You and Your Team Series.

Micromanagement 12

Micromanagement Constraint Middle Management Long-term 12

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 21, 2015

In all of the loud and necessary debates over how to reform health care in the United States before it bankrupts the country, there is one element that has been continually overlooked: the management systems employed by hospitals. At each level of management, leaders help to create their own standard work. Insight Center.

System 8

System Health Care Management COO 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 25, 2011

Firefighting operations continued for two days. Second, the outcome risk — the "bad things" that happen in financial and operational performance metrics as a result of the process problems. The choice facing you is how to act to measure and proactively manage this risk. A few weeks ago, the U.S.

Risk Management 10

Risk Management Management Supply Chain Metrics 10

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 25, 2011

It has had the luxury of having a personification of its ethos, and now it must either allow someone else to be that, or learn to operate effectively without one. Sometimes, too, organizations go onto greater glory because they've learned how to manage without a legend walking the halls. History shows it isn't easy.

Licensing 10

Licensing Entrepreneur Consensus CEO 10

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 5, 2018

Connectors in the middle. Although long ignored, these middle management positions have become increasingly recognized as critical to executing a company’s strategy. Note that essential experts typically don’t want to manage others; they only want to manage themselves. So how do you keep them?

McKinsey 8

McKinsey Human Resources Reputation Brand 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

Hectored by the blogosphere, mocked by the press, UBS has recanted its 43-page employee primer on how to appear polished, proficient, and professional. Women, certainly, struggle more than men to achieve the look of leadership, a factor that contributes to their overall stall in middle- and upper-middle management.

EPS 15

EPS Banking Handbook Micromanagement 15

Harvard Business Review

MAY 15, 2014

The team’s mission was to come up with new products for the European market — and then, significantly, to convince senior management in South Korea to invest in those projects — several of which, it turned out, required Samsung to deviate from their current strategy within the product categories in question. Present a portfolio of options.

Innovation 8

Innovation Marketing Disruptive Innovation Project 8

Skip Prichard

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

In practical terms, what that means is we start asking questions about our purpose, our identity as a group, our way of getting work done, and how to improve what we’re doing. It shapes how we think about our goals or strategy, our organizational values, how we make decisions big and small, and how we respond to our environment.

Succession 131

Succession Environment Learning-by-Doing Innovation 131

Harvard Business Review

MAY 21, 2018

The interviewees, who were in the process of an M&A deal or who had recently been through one, included C-suite executives, private equity dealmakers, business owners, entrepreneurs, and middle managers. How to make your company more nimble and responsive. Insight Center. Competing in the Future.

Company 9

Company Direct Marketing Execution Taylorism 9

Harvard Business Review

MAY 2, 2016

Through mindfulness practice, a person is able to notice how the mind reacts to thoughts, sensations, and information, seeing past the old storylines and habitual patterns that unconsciously guide behavior. This creates space to deliberately choose how to speak and act. Organizations, like individuals, need this kind of space.

Strategy 8

Strategy Goleman Strategic Planning Parcell 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 31, 2015

Internal operational issues including execution, budgets, and deadlines are paramount in a company’s deliberation, but what other players will do is hardly ever in focus. This “island mentality” is surprisingly prevalent among talented, seasoned managers. That is, until a crisis forced them to wake up.

Competitive Intelligence 8

Competitive Intelligence Company Drucker Review 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 6, 2015

The key strategic questions you face are not whether combinations such as these are necessary but, rather, how will they create value, and how are you going to capture that value? How are these ventures going to enhance your competitive position? In my work with executives, I’ve noticed a distinct gap in their toolkits.

Competitive Advantage 8

Competitive Advantage Strategy Short-term Resources 8