I was just crying over the Lincoln assassination (news travels slowly around here). Doris Goodwins’ excellent Team of Rivals’ primary theme is a management lesson. Here are my top 9 management takeaways. 9. Surround Yourself By People On Different Sides This is the book’s primary management lesson. Bring the people who are on opposite sides […]
My wife and I are amusement park addicts. We were at Disneyland Hong Kong on Thursday. Beautiful. Magical. The next day we went to Ocean Park. Most things about Ocean Park are better than Disney. More and better rides. Unbelieavable view. Great animal exhibits and shows. Imagine Sea World built on the edge of a […]
Just spent a great day in Hong Kong Disneyland. Judging by many of the kids I was watching, Disney may be, as they claim, the happiest place on Earth. What to learn: Disney is the master at execution. Whenever I’m at a different amusement park I think of how Disney would have less downtime loading […]
Some will say there’s only one don’t to performance evaluations — don’t do them. Tom Peters said it takes the average employee six months to recover, and that performance evaluations are the worst things manager do. I think he’s exaggerating — I’ve done much worse things. But I accept much of his point — it’s […]
“Pickle Makers probably think pickle-making makes the world go round.” — George Will It’s human nature to appreciate ourselves and our contributions far more than we appreciate others. I know how difficult and important what I do is, but why do we need so many people in finance? Or engineering? OK, maybe it’s time consuming, […]
One of the many asinine word plays that always bothered me is “there’s no I in Team.” OK, that’s true. It’s also true that anybody who makes decisions based on verbal coincidences should be distanced as far as possible from any decision making process. My equally asinine rebuttal is that the difference between a losing […]
It’s easier and more fun to criticize and discuss negatives, but let me describe what work is like when it’s going well, so we can remember what our goal as managers is, and why it’s worth it. You look forward to going to work every morning. You already know what you’re going to accomplish today, […]
Think you’re a good manager? Now imagine that many of the people who are building your site don’t even work for you. You can’t tell them what to do. They don’t rely on you for their jobs or paychecks. They owe you nothing, and your business is to help them create. It shouldn’t be surprising […]
My weakness (among others): I try to impress people with my knowledge. I need them to know that I’m on top of key issues and that I work hard. The situation: I’m on vacation and an e-mail is sent to the senior management team with a partial analysis of some key numbers. My (very incorrect) […]