<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" The first math problem. n My parents were married for sixty-seven years. They got married in the depths of the Great Depression, which I always thought was the heights of optimism. n They were very different people. Dad was an extravert; my mother described him as u201cterminally gregarious – not that heu2019ll […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" This way, follow me n Those who know my writing know that I frequently boil down leadership to actions in an abnormal environment like war, or emergencies or change. In such an environment a leader has two accountabilities, provide direction and attract followers. I use this conceptual reduction to differentiate leaders from […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" The Firm Off-Site n I think it was at the end of our first year, a new start-up consultancy with one u201dfamousu201d founder and his two founding partners, and by this point twenty people total. Weu2019d had a good year; some very large clients had hired us and weu2019d hired many impressive […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" Celt-crazy after all these years n Iu2019m not sure when I became fascinated by the Celts, the Bronze and Iron Age people, who fought Julius Caesar as the Gauls. I know I was young, teen or preteen. I grew up in a Boston suburb and suddenly Celtic didnu2019t just describe the hometown […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" Seventy percent of mergersu00a0fail* to create value that is greater than the sum of the parts. n So how do you know if your merger is failing while there is still time to do something about it? n Watch for these signs: n The Goat Rodeo: A lack of executive alignment n […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" The Company, CEO, Division Head, Shareholders, Workers, Humanity? n u201cWho is the client? Are you kidding me? Itu2019s the person who hired us, the person who will pay us or not pay if you donu2019t do your job!u201d n The newbie who asked this wasnu2019t being a smart-aleck. The project manager met […]
Ancient History “Oh Wow!” Human beings have gotten cricks in our necks staring at the night sky for a long time. The Lascaux caves in France, dating from 30,000 years ago have a graphical representation of the Pleiades; a carved mammoth ivory tusk carbon dated to 32,500 years ago has what may be the oldest […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" Leaders require followers n u201cIf you think youu2019re a leader look over your shoulder. If there is no one there, you might just be delusional.u201d n u201cI get what youu2019re saying, but. . .u201d n I was delivering leadership development; it wasnu2019t really training per se. Oh we did apply some new […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" The Ancient Late Adopter speaks n Let us be clear, I am old. I started as a consultant in 1980; I retired as a consultant five years ago. Most of what I write about consulting comes from those thirty-seven years. I look back over my career and try to extract lessons from […]
Acme Grand Opening It was a sunny spring Saturday and I was on a roll. When I worked, Saturdays were all about errands and it was only ten-fifteen and, man, I was checking things off the old index card to-do list to beat the band. I’d dropped and picked up shirts and taken shoes off […]
