In his book, Seeing What Others Don’t, Gary Klein retells the story of a seminar attendee. It illustrates perfectly the contrast between what managers should and should not do if they want to be fully engaged with their employees. The person in question said that when she went into her boss’ office, he was focused […]
Many believe that organizations have to continually reinvent themselves in order to keep up with all that is changing around them. They point to the fact that those who cling to the status quo eventually die or are acquired by those who don’t, and they often – quite proudly – point to themselves as the […]
It’s been suggested that successful change can be better achieved by working with or within the culture of organizations rather than against it. On the face of it, this seems to be so obvious that there’s no need to mention it all. But as Sherlock Holmes once observed, “There’s nothing so deceptive as an obvious […]
Deep organizational transformation is a combination of changed processes, procedures and behavior. While changing procedures may be relatively easy, transformation processes often stall a missing consequential behavioral change. A different dance “If you want a different dance, change the music.” This African proverb reminds us: If you want to stimulate different actions, find the driving […]
In the book The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael Porter suggests that differentiation is one way that companies can set themselves apart from competitors. While some advantage may be possible at a national level due to inherent natural resources, for example, we now know that this, as well as all the other means he suggests, […]
It’s an undisputed fact that a poisoned organizational culture can kill all change initiatives. It doesn’t matter how competent your project management team is, how enthusiastic the board is, or even if your strategies have worked in every other company that you know of. If your culture is poor, then you have a serious problem […]
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 […]
Organizational narratives are the manifestation of the shared beliefs an organization holds about itself as a collective. “Our organization stands for innovation,” is a common example; “This will never work here, we are too conservative for that” yet another. Corporate narratives that deal with the collective view the organization holds about itself often form and […]
Jesse Jacoby
Erika Jacobi
