Politics: Brother can you spare a thought?

LONDON — Tomorrow you will catch your tie in the feed tray of the photocopier. It won’t be a pretty end, but it will be final.

What do you want to leave behind?

Imagine your family will be looked after.

What do you want to leave behind?

Would you like to leave the world a better place?

That’s what politics is all about. And that’s [...]

What motivates stars?

It seems appropriate to talk about stars as the Olympics are in full swing in Britain, and we have just won our first gold medal  in rowing.

Identifying star performers is part of common management theory in many businesses. However, while identifying them may be a challenge in itself, doing it consistently and often across many functional disciplines is even more [...]

‘Don’t!’ Olympics, London, social media and businesses

TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD — A guy I like called Guy Adams has been banned from Twitter.  He’s a Brit in LA and he lost his head a bit when talking about NBC’s coverage of the Olympics.

Now he’s really angry and much more popular than ever before.

Jell Immelt of GE knows his name.

Read about it [...]

London at the Olympics is open for business

LONDON — Saturday it was my friend Terry from Toronto.  Sunday it was Jack from Amsterdam.

Sometime this week a man called Clem is coming by the office. We almost recruited him, but he joined the Army instead. We know why he’s in town.

Then there’s Trevor, coming by this week, who I haven’t seen in years…

We know that there are games [...]

Stephen Covey and the hidden mystical agenda

LONDON — It is sad to hear that anyone has died.  Stephen Covey supported and inspired many people.

I will admit, though, that I struggled with his advice.

I also admit that it may be cultural.  As a skeptic about most things, when someone’s own website says “[he] dedicated his life to demonstrating how every person can truly control their destiny with profound, [...]

Bosses who see Yahoo! hire as shocking need their heads examined

PICCADILLY — Okay, I’ll have a go.

“Yahoo! hires pregnant CEO”

…is a good headline. And the articles that follow are food for thought as well.

There are, of course, the requisite quotes about never hiring women of an age to be having children. There is also the fact that in the United States of America, where the Yahoo! CEO will [...]

Employee engagement is meaningless

CARTHAGE — It’s very fashionable to talk about ‘employee engagement’ these days.  British PM Gordon Brown set up an enquiry to look into it.  Job titles are sprouting up for people who tend to it.  Even the boardroom and shareholder’s favourite Forbes magazine has written glowingly [...]

Leadership and transformation: It’s not what you think

BALTIMORE TRAIN STATION — Harvard Business Review has a cover story about Apple founder Steve Jobs.

THE REAL LEADERSHIP LESSONS OF STEVE JOBS

The title is not capitalised like that, but it might as well be.  It screams from the news-stand. And maybe some people will part with $25 to buy [...]

Details, dress & diplomacy: Why your big brain won’t always be enough

LONDON — There are several converging thoughts in this article.  All of which are probably likely to get me in trouble. For this is a topic that we should be able to talk about, but many forces conspire against it.

As background to this, there are a few things going on in the business.  We are interviewing right now.  I am [...]

The fine line between business vanity and genius…

FULHAM — The title should read: “The fine line between business vanity and genius: that’s change management.” But it was too long.

I have just read about the Galacticos Island this morning.  A billion-dollar plan to build a Real Madrid theme-park island in the UAE.  It was being derided as a wild and silly idea.  [...]