Hang on to your Unicorns
Unicorns are so rare, they are almost mythical. And they are invisible to managers, visible only to leaders. Hang on your Unicorns. You need as many of them as possible.
Coach for behaviors, not attitudes.
As a leader, do you find yourself chafing at people’s inability to change in their own interest? Rookie leaders confuse attitude and behaviors. Wise leaders know that while attitudes do not change, or take longer to change, behaviors can be molded. They drive outcomes by isolating attitudes and working out specific, step-by-step changes in behavioral patterns.
How to be fair as a leader
New leaders must demonstrate fairness in dealings with people. People are unhappy when they perceive unfair treatment. Such unhappiness can lead to disengagement with the team’s mission. Yet, fairness is not about pleasing people.
Roll with the punches. With rolling-wave planning.
Among the challenges that leaders new to the role face is planning and organizing work for success. Leaders must quickly grasp that planning is business of a different order as compared to delivering an assignment. Excellence in executing assignments provides no assurance of success in planning a team’s work. Leaders may spend too much time in planning leading to “paralysis … Continue reading
Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh enter our site.
Do you have the right balance between the forces of creation, maintenance and destruction in your team? The world around us keeps changing. We must respond – or die. When was the last time you asked – what should we do more of, less of and same of?
Leading in turbulent times
Global warming, epidemic outbreaks, geo-political uncertainty .. constant turbulence seems to be the new normal. Do you have what it takes to lead in turbulent times? Shackleton’s failed attempt to journey across Antartica makes a compelling study of leadership in turbulent times. One of the most sought-after studies in Harvard Business School’s case-book, shall inspire … Continue reading
How to lead the millennial generation
The millennials are here. And your organization is going to have to adapt to them. But how?
Chicken and egg (and omelette)
Growing people is like hatching eggs. Apply pressure from the outside. The egg cracks. You only get an omelette. Work off the pressure from the inside. Provide the right conditions on the outside. You give people wings.
Winds of change
If you have an untested person undertaking an unfamiliar challenge with new technology, you shall fail. Introduce a new technology for a familiar challenge with proven leadership. Assign a new leader familiar challenges with technologies that are proven to work. And finally, undertake any new and unfamiliar challenges with tested leadership and proven technologies. Violate any … Continue reading
Keystone Enterprise Architecture 