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The Sportification of Politics and the Possibility of Governing
Things have changed in the political arena. That’s the unavoidable conclusion we have to draw from the last year. No matter who or what you voted for, one thing we might be able to agree on is that things have changed. There are, to be sure, a number of troubling trends. The role of a…
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Evil Geniuses Win $6.6 Million Playing Video Games: eSports May Be Good for You
The prevailing parental narrative about video games is that they are likely to be an anti-social addictive waste of time or, at best, mind-numbing entertainment. It might be time to reconsider that narrative. Imagine an arena with tens of thousands of fans and millions watching online cheering for their favorite team in a team-based video…
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What One Horse and an Open Sleigh Taught Me About Change Management
Too many managers seem to think that people ought to let them drive the corporate strategy based on what really amounts to blind trust. “I know what I’m doing. I have a vision. Just focus on the future and where we are heading. Trust me.” I learned the painful consequences of this approach early in life from…
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Transparency is a Great Way to Start Growing a Company Culture, But It’s Only a Start
What does transparency mean in the context of growing a company culture? A high degree of transparency means that how the company operates is visible to all employees and in some cases to customers and stakeholders. Transparency means that not only can people see our results, but how they were achieved. They can “see through” the surface…
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Five Secrets to Briefing Stakeholders, Senior Management, or the Board Effectively
Does your job require you to brief senior management, the board, or other stakeholder groups? People who have a stake in your business, organization, or program want to know what’s going on so they can give you good guidance. If the group you are briefing has a governance role, they want to be well-informed so…
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What Do You Do If Your Boss Manages Straight Up?
An effective manager has to manage tasks and relationships in all directions. Even if the organizational structure is relatively flat, good managers manage up, down, and across the organization. They develop good working relationships with their own staff, their boss(es), and their peers. Most managers have difficulty finding the right balance. So sooner or later…
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Do Me a Favor? See Whether the Ben Franklin Effect Makes Sense to You?
If you have worked in a large complex organization, you have probably discovered that getting things done depends on figuring out who can actually do something you need to have done even if they aren’t the persons who are technically responsible. Sometimes these folks are long serving people in junior positions who have seen it…
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How Students Taught Me the Best Strategy for Changing the Game
It was 1973 and I was sitting in the faculty lounge at a New England boarding school listening to the veteran teachers bemoan the state of “students today.” The consensus seemed to be that students were unmotivated, unengaged, poorly prepared, and lazy. “They never speak up in class and just sit there like bumps on…
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Four of the Most Common Mistakes in Team Management and How to Fix Them
A high-performing team whose members trust each other is a beautiful thing to watch. The story goes that a tourist in Amish country stopped to watch a barn-raising. He observed for a long time trying to figure out who was in charge. When he was finally sure, he went up to the man while the…
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Being Smart About Being Smart: Invite Others Into a Shared Thought Process
Arne Lewis, was my Art History professor and advisor. He combined a soft-spoken style with an intense curiosity about how people learn. I still remember his critique of my draft of my first chapter of what would be a hundred-page senior thesis. “There are a lot of provocative ideas here,” he said, “but I am…