Until quite recently, the expression “As rare as hen’s teeth” meant pretty much never. But several years ago, scientists at two universities (Manchester and Wisconsin) learned how to make them grow. Chickens, it seems, didn’t need dentures after all. That is an especially appropriate metaphor with respect to great managers, because although they can be […]
One of the biggest time-wasters in organizations today is meetings. There are so many of them, that it can take an army of personal assistants to make sure that everyone arrives at the right place, and at the right time. To say that there numerous books available about meetings would be an understatement. At present, […]
If you have a science background, then you’re probably familiar with the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Like nearly everything scientific, it’s defined in terms that only those who live in that world understand easily. For laymen, it perhaps can best be understood as the tendency for just about everything to change from order to chaos. […]
Leadership is probably the most discussed and least understood topic in organizations. The word itself yields more than two billion returns on Google. That alone should give you some idea, not only of its popularity, but also the wide range of opinions that surround it. So at the risk of adding to the billions of […]
Clients and change practitioners often ask us, “what’s the best change management methodology?” Unlike ten years ago, today there is a plethora of change methodologies and models from which to choose. While the processes, activities, and tools vary by methodology, many of them share the same principles and practices. It is more important to execute […]
In 1959, Frederick Herzberg published his now famous two-factor theory of motivation. It articulated two categories of activities that occurred in organizations, and which defined what compelled people to be productive. To this day, it continues to surprise organizations, managers, and scholars. The factors were named hygienic and non-hygienic. Hygienic factors were those things that […]
The business of business has always been to provide products and services to customers. Throughout the ages, plans have been made, resources organized, people recruited (or conscripted), and everything coordinated together so that as near as possible the desired outcome was realized. Of all these elements, however, there is one on which the success or […]
As discussed in Secrets to Business Transformation Success, successful projects are characterized by six things: a well-defined governance structure, strong sense of urgency, active sponsorship from leaders, engagement across all organizational levels, alignment with the organization’s existing systems and structures, and strategies for sustaining changes over the long term. Of these six characteristics, sponsorship is one of the most fundamental factors and the one that correlates […]
Jesse Jacoby
