List

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February 18th, 2016

If I were the CEO’s speechwriter for a day, this is the speech I would pass on.

Don’t look at us, at the leadership at the top. We are the wrong mirror. Of course, we are committed […]
February 16th, 2016

‘Joining a cause’, vs. ‘being employed’. Can you articulate the reason for your enterprise?

From time to time you see the occasional and mostly not very solid comparisons between ‘the company’ and a religion. […]
February 15th, 2016

Strong thinkers are critical thinkers. Critical thinking can be embedded in the culture.

Strong thinking and strong ideas are great. We need people to defend them, champion them and feel passionate about them. […]
February 14th, 2016

Reacting on spot, and responding in agility mode can be engineered and role-modelled.

Organizations need a Rapid Reaction Force. OK, unless you are in the military, it does not mean military fatigue uniforms […]
February 13th, 2016

I wouldn’t hire anybody who is likely to follow the job description.

The job description is dead. It is replaced by a Lego box, no instructional manual and a map. Welcome to […]
February 12th, 2016

Built to what? Dare to ask your people, and open a little Pandora’s box.

More than 20 years ago, Jerry I. Porras and James C. Collins, wrote the bestseller ‘Built to Last, successful habits […]
February 11th, 2016

Reclaiming the human values language for the corporate world

Well known Conservative American columnist and writer David Brooks has written a piece in the New York Times entitled ‘I […]
February 10th, 2016

Leadership dialects: you are supposed to join a party, but don’t get an invitation

The language of leadership is often plain and monotone. Used to explain slides and with a screen behind, leadership language […]
February 7th, 2016

‘Problem Three’ appears when we treat complexity with more complexity. Many organizations breed it. The UK NHS is caught in it.

At some point of the organization’s growth, complexity kicks in. Before that threshold, you had two problems: managing growth and […]
February 6th, 2016

Engagement, empowerment and ownership culture meet in one single point. Obvious, simple, and incredibly forgotten.

Employee engagement efforts, ownership values and empowerment behaviours must meet at one point. It’s simple, not terribly controversial, based upon […]
February 5th, 2016

After change you need a period of stability and consolidation’, a last Century employee said.

After the third reorganisation and the fourth quality programme and the second change management initiative, the cry is loud: give […]
February 4th, 2016

Habits have no meaning, they create it. Start with behaviours, get meaning

In my organizational consulting work, and in behavioural terms, I am very used to be told, and challenged, that there […]
February 3rd, 2016

‘Sceptical people and enemies of change need to be sidelined’. Really?

We all have our share of ‘difficult people’. Conventional management of change has taught us that there is always going […]
February 2nd, 2016

The soft stuff, and the hard stuff. Convenient split, but unreal. Leadership is neither hard not soft

There is business and, then, there is all that stuff about leadership and teambuilding. This seems to be the worldview […]
February 1st, 2016

‘Customer Obsession Disorder’ is gaining ground. Bad idea.

Perhaps because custumer focus was not enough, we created customer centrism. Apparently this is not enough and we now need […]
January 30th, 2016

A lot of trumpeted customer-centrism is company-centrism, or us-centrism, disguised as customer and with a customer music in the background

‘We are reorganising in Business Units to meet customer expectations’. Actually, not, no customer has called you to ask you […]
January 29th, 2016

Critical Thinking is up in the list of skills in the 2020 Davos shopping list. If anything, I have a problem with the date. The skill gap is now, well and alive

A report on the Future of Jobs by the World Economic Forum compares the skills priorities of 2015 with the […]
January 27th, 2016

The myth that only change at the top can ensure change within the organization.

Sure, you need change at the top. You wish to see that the top leadership takes things seriously and that […]
January 26th, 2016

‘Big changes requires big actions’ is a myth based upon the wrong maths. At the very least, a wrong start.

That ‘big change requires big actions’ is the commonly held belief that is behind the majority of so-called ‘large interventions’ […]
January 25th, 2016

‘There is nothing I can do’ must be fought before it becomes collective belief.

Feeling trapped, is at the core of some aspects of one’s mental health, and also organizational distress. The deep awareness […]