Tag: culture
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How Apprenticeships and Processes Share Their DNA
At the heart of apprenticeships and processes lies a shared core DNA. You will be surprised to trace their ancestry and discover how much they have in common. The years-long journey of apprenticeship is celebrated, while stepwise processes are dismissed as bureaucracy. Yet both serve one unyielding purpose. Understanding them will change how your business…
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Why Do Companies Coddle Their Employees? The Unintended Consequences
Have you seen executives talk to employees as if they were children? Good intentions aside, coddling damages far more than what they realize. Performance plummets, disengagement spreads, and the company and customers end up bearing the costs. But there’s a better way, and it’s not optional. Learn what great leaders do.
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Nostalgia: a trap for leaders looking backward
Nostalgia can be a trap, anchoring everyone to the past and signaling a lack of vision for the future. Clinging to the “good old days” is a failure to envision a future worth pursuing. Leaders take note: your job isn’t to relive the past but to work on a future worth building.
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Rewards and punishments between innovators and second movers
Ever wondered why some companies can launch flawed products and still succeed, while others must be flawless to compete? This article breaks down the strategies that set innovators apart, and how second movers can steal the spotlight.
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Escaping the Peter Principle
The Peter Principle is the idea that people rise to their “level of incompetence.” But is that always the case? I say no—and here’s the good news: it’s entirely preventable! This article shows how unpreparedness, not inability, is the real culprit. With the right training, support, and a willingness to learn, you can break through…
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Disconnected upstream managers
It’s common to find upper managers who lack domain knowledge about the products the company makes. This leads to ineffective leadership. Hiring trusted past connections can amplify the problems. Better predictors for a leader’s effectiveness include data, customer feedback, professional experience, and caring. Trust then emerges from good outcomes achieved.
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Managerial serfdom
You are not a serf. Advice to work to make your manager “look good” is detrimental to you and your career. A functional working relationship requires manager and managed supporting each other to be successful doing the work.
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Preconditions for legitimate leadership
Legitimate leadership is earned through trust, skill, and aligned goals. It’s not a natural state as it requires a partial and temporary surrendering of agency. Thus, it must be based on agreements that are neither imposed by force nor circumstances alone.
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Great job, here’s more work
The phrase “no good deed goes unpunished” reflects the feeling many professionals report when they are given more work without a matching recognition. Promotions are not merely rewards for good performance but indicators of consistently operating at the next level. Factors like budget and headcount availability are real constraints and can slow down career progression,…
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The meaning of leadership is independent of scale
The meaning of leadership is invariable from scale, just like the number of degrees in a circle doesn’t change with its size. Larger teams may require more work, but not more leadership.