Showing posts with label management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label management. Show all posts
Monday, February 10, 2014
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Hot Air !
A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She reduced altitude and spotted a man below.
She descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago but I don't know where I am."
The man below replied "You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."
"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist. "I am", replied the man.
"How did you know?"
"Well, answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I've no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip even more."
The man below responded, "You must be in management."
"I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"
"Well," said the man, "You don't know where you are or where you're going.You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems?!!"
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Turning 50(or 60,70) Means Keeping Up, Not Resting
If you wonder on a daily basis , as I do, as whats really happening at the workfront, it will give you some comfort reading this WSJ article on a middle manager in his 50s. as I have always argued in my blog, a new breed of management model is urgently required. Models which will go beyond Flat worlds, which will potentially shed light on decades of upcoming struggles. Models which Governments worldwide will use to create new programs to help their own citizens. Else we are doomed with rusted thinking which is prolonging agony across decades. Read on…
"I know I've peaked in my career," Mr. Toal said at the time. "I am never going to be a vice president. But I'm running as fast as I can, and I don't know why."
One of the things I did learn is that it's really hard to choose your own path. Things happen, and you go with it."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323997004578644281045966670.html
New Skills, Old Tasks
To stay afloat, he has reinvented himself again and again. Once specializing in managing production, he learned marketing, then purchasing, then finance. He gets up at 5 every morning and doesn't get home until 8 p.m. Yet he still does essentially the same job he did 10 years ago: overseeing a small staff, making revenue projections and supervising expenses in the sales division and resolving disputes over salary compensation.
Only this year did he get back to earning the salary he made in 1989.
When Mr. Toal's father, a union machinist, was 54, he had already begun planning for retirement, was respected by his union and company management, and had become active in the local United Way. Mr. Toal recently stopped coaching his 16-year-old daughter's soccer team because he has no time. He can't imagine retiring because he has no pension—just money in a 401K plan and a series of worthless stock options. He pays $27,000 a year to send one daughter to Simmons College in Boston. His other daughter heads off to college in two years. His wife works part time as a teacher's aide.
Eyes turn to Mr. Toal. "No clue," he says. "I feel like I've peaked in my career, but I don't think I've peaked as a human being." He loosens his tie. "Things are not what any of us anticipated--that with natural talent, hard work and good moral values, there would come some sense of stability. There is no security and no stability."
Thursday, August 1, 2013
How SMBs use (Cloud)startup software to save big bucks
Its a cliche to say Cloud is disruptive. Its already mainstream as evidenced by the adoption across the spectrum. I came across this article which expounds on this theme. Below are some excerpts:
CEO and founder David Soutar said that almost all of the software they used had come out of the startup community, and that because they can relate to how the development process works, they are willing to accept a few bugs here and there. But it also means that the businesses creating these products understand that startups don't have a lot of money to spend, and price themselves accordingly.
"The companies that come from startup roots understand that as a startup company, you don't have a lot of money to spend.
In fact, Soutar sees the minimal features of Google Apps and similar cloud services as being a cost saving compared to "installable" applications.
And there are areas where enterprise systems haven't yet caught up. For example, WattCost is using Flowdock to tie everything together on the social media and, to a degree, customer relationships management side. It's a combination of an internal instant messaging system and an inbox that can be hooked into other services like Twitter, Facebook, Zendesk, and GitHub.
http://www.zdnet.com/case-study-how-smbs-use-startup-software-to-save-big-bucks-7000017488/
Monday, July 29, 2013
Innovation destination– India calling?
Earlier this year N.R. Narayana Murthy pointed out the need to position India as an ‘innovation’ destination, build products and add value by strengthening its existing areas and looking at new ones. This clarion call is resonating amongst others in the Indian industry at a time when winning deals and getting Fortune 500 companies to open up their technology budgets are getting harder.
Analysts and industry watchers are of the view that despite growth in the sector’s contribution to India’s GDP, from 1.2 per cent in fiscal 1998 to 7.5 per cent in the 2012 fiscal, the sector still missed out on opportunities to position India.
The two most often cited areas are software products and the ability to go beyond body shopping and cost arbitrage. “When I look at Indian IT services players, I can’t distinguish one from the other,” says a US-based outsourcing advisor who does not wish to be identified as he works with some Indian IT companies.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Surprises Are the New Normal; Resilience Is the New Skill
Some management thinkers are at the cutting edge of management thought and rightly lead the world with their thinking. Rosabeth Moss Kanter is one such thinker who never fails to amaze. Below is an excerpt from her recent article which is a good guide for all of us in the business world.
The difference 
That's a key finding from my ongoing research on great companies and effective leaders: no one can completely avoid troubles and potential pitfalls are everywhere, so the real skill is the resilience to climb out of the hole and bounce back.
Volatile times bring disruptions, interruptions, and setbacks, even for the most successful among us. Companies at the top of the heap still have times when they are blindsided by a competing product and must play catch-up. Sports teams that win regularly are often behind during the game. Writers can face dozens of rejections before finding a publisher that puts them on the map. Some successful politicians get caught with their pants down (so to speak) and still go on to lead, although such self-inflicted wounds are harder to heal.
Resilience is the ability to recover from fumbles or outright mistakes and bounce back. But flexibility alone is not enough. You have to learn from your errors. Those with resilience build on the cornerstones of confidence — accountability (taking responsibility and showing remorse), collaboration (supporting others in reaching a common goal), and initiative (focusing on positive steps and improvements). As outlined in my book Confidence, these factors underpin the resilience of people, teams, and organizations that can stumble but resume winning.
http://blogs.hbr.org/kanter/2013/07/surprises-are-the-new-normal-r.html
Monday, July 15, 2013
Innovation: Starting with the Basics
Building a foundation for innovation starts with the basics. In Robert’s Rules of Innovation™ the imperatives to Create & Sustain “NEW” in Business, number one is Inspire and Initiate. Innovation and ideation are pointless without buy-in from top management, and the support of your team. Engage the senior leadership team, employees of organization, and key external stakeholders in the development of a shared vision and the path forward.
Do you have an innovation culture? How do you quantify it?
One of the first steps to creating a solid foundation for innovation is to define the desired culture. Quantify your goal, whether it’s a sales figure or number of new products you hope to achieve, and this will help justify the resources to be allocated. Create a mantra like, “one new innovation idea a week”. Develop “core attributes” as in, attributes which will form the foundation on which your company functions and conducts itself.
What are the beliefs and practices that make your company, your company? What is the essence of your organization?
Once you set your innovation core attributes, it is easy to bring your team on board and empower your company to create successful, sustainable innovations. The common saying goes, “people support what they help to create”
Phil McKinney CEO of CableLabs (previously vice president and chief technology officer of the Personal SystemGroup at HP) suggests asking the following 4 questions:
1) What does your team believe your innovation culture to be?
McKinney suggests asking a number of people in your organization what they believe is the essence of what the organization stands for. “If you get different answers, that points to lack of clarity which then means each person is projecting what they think.” In order to create a sustainable culture of innovation, you want all members of your organization on the same page.
2) How is your organization similar or dissimilar to other organizations in the same industry?
According to McKinney, “If you are generic, with a generic culture, then innovation is NOT part of what you are about.” Reach past mundane product extensions, and the “me-too” business models of competitors. Remember that developing core attributes of innovation is not a one-size fits all glove. Your attributes need to be unique to your company and your culture.
3) What are the common traits of successful people in your organization?
What are the abilities or traits that get someone promoted? Different individual skillsets and mindsets are needed at different stages of the Innovation process, but when you know what works and has worked before; harnessing the abilities of your team becomes much easier.
4) What are the characteristic of the missed opportunities and failures of the organization?
Chances are, you won’t like every idea brought to the table, and not every idea will pan out. Rather than view failure as inherently bad, successful innovation requires that executives and teams commit to learning from each experiment gone bad – and incorporate those teachings into the next endeavor. “On every campaign our clients do, easily 30 percent of all the contributions are absolutely nonsensical,” says Luis Solis, president of innovation software firm Imaginatik. “Another 30 to 40 percent might not be properly timed. But what we don’t know is whether the first chunk inspired the best remaining 30 percent.”
Read on @ http://www.innovationcoach.com/2013/06/innovation-starting-basics/
How To Succeed In The Health-Care Vertical
Check out the video @
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Secret Sauce of the Business Cloud–SaaS
The next wave of the Cloud is well on its way. For a good time, SaaS models focused on inevitable Cloud disruptive factors – Subscription, Billing, Hosting, Zero Legacy etc. Disintermediation proved a big success mantra for upcoming SaaS companies. But the middleman took note and turned the tide against itself, defeating the objective of having the Cloud in the first place. Transactions started happening directly. Its now the turn of the new SaaS model – SaaS becoming the System of Record as opposed just a low cost line item. Businesses take note, it may well be the tip of the iceberg!!
I came across an excellent article along the same lines:
By serving as the access portal to the marketplace, the system of record and most importantly, the paywall that drives predictable revenue, SaaS can revolutionize the marketplace model to offer modern advantages the failed B2B marketplaces of the early 2000s never had. These include revenue predictability, favorable unit economics and a barrier to disintermediation.
Read more at http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/14/why-saas-is-the-secret-to-success-in-the-business-marketplace/#VYgSbOwdc32dTuM3.99
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
What am I Doing?
Quite frequently, Executives at large organizations ask themselves the same question:
In his words:
“As a consultant, I did not manage employees,” he said. “I was not responsible for budgets. I didn’t give presentations to other Sony groups. I didn’t track progress on milestones. I didn’t negotiate contracts.”
In other words, he could focus on doing the work, communicating with groups inside and outside of Sony. It was like being the director on a game rather than a manager (responsible for employees) or a producer (in charge of the budget).
“The director’s role is to shape the shared vision and communicate it,” he said. “I’m free to think about where we need to be in five years.”
If the PS4 is a success, Cerny will get the credit. If it isn’t, well, he’s just a consultant.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Add Yesware, Become more productive
One of the key objectives of my blog is to provide my readers details of tools which are cutting edge (and usually free) which moves their productivity needle several notches higher.
So introducing Yesware - the Boston-based startup that helps sales and marketing people assess how effective email campaigns are by tracking who opens what and when. A big part of that story is that Yesware’s service integrates with Gmail and contacts as well as with Salesforce.com, synchronizing appointments between Gmail and Salesforce.com accounts.
Get your free Yesware at http://www.yesware.com/
Product Tour
Yesware is a free add-on for Gmail that helps you sell more effectively right from your inbox.
Email Tracking
Get actionable insights into how your prospects and customers are reacting to your messages with our email tracking features.
- Get alerts each time someone opens an email or clicks on a link
- Know exactly when to follow up with your clients and prospects
- Know where in the world your message is being viewed
- View the device that prospects are using to open your email
Team Collaboration
Yesware Teams make it easy to share winning messages and viewing detailed team reports.
- Name your team and invite colleagues to collaborate
- Share all of your winning email templates with each other to increase sales and productivity
- View detailed team reports & analytics on emails sent, opens, response rates, & much more
Custom Templates
Create personal, customized email templates for every stage of your sales process.
- Choose your best templates by seeing which ones your customers reply to most
- Incorporate links and rich text to send great looking messages at the click of a button—every time
- Use [brackets] to indicate custom fields to make your templates even faster and easier to use
Reminders
With Yesware Reminders, you'll never miss a follow-up again.
- Remind yourself to follow-up on important emails
- Use Reminders to easily prioritize critical messages that don't receive replies
- Get detailed tracking information about your emails when your Reminders come due
Salesforce Sync
Harness the best that Yesware and Salesforce have to offer. We let you manage your sales funnel, right from Gmail.
- Create and Edit Salesforce contacts directly from Gmail
- Automatically sync all tracking data— sent emails, opens, link-clicks, and replies— to Salesforce
- Quickly add new tasks to Salesforce while you're reading an email from a contact
- Get activity reporting for each contact, lead, account, and opportunity
CRM Syncing
With just one click every email you write can sync automatically with your CRM. You can focus on selling, we’ll take care of the data.
- Ease of use thanks to partnerships with popular providers like Salesforce, Batchbook, Pipedrive, Base, Highrise, SugarCRM, and other services like TimeTrade
- Save time and avoid mistakes from manual entry
- Actionable information when it matters most
Reports and Analytics
Our reports and analytics turn you into a sales superstar by helping you close more deals—faster.
- Know exactly who’s best to follow up with by using our personal tracking reports and gauge your email opens for the last 30 days
- See where in the world people open your emails from inside your inbox
- Find out if your message is reaching top decision makers
- Prioritize your email prospecting with subject filters and email activity sorting
Team Reports
Quickly and easily monitor your team's performance, and goal progress, with Team reports.
- Learn how your team's messaging is resonating with your target market
- Know what your team is doing everyday without having to rely on manual data entry
- See which emails get high open rates and leverage these insights to share expertise amongst the team
- Reward best practices and winning approaches
Thursday, March 25, 2010
The Checklist Manifesto
http://us.macmillan.com/thechecklistmanifesto
We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies—neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. First introduced decades ago by the U.S. Air Force, checklists have enabled pilots to fly aircraft of mind-boggling sophistication. Now innovative checklists are being adopted in hospitals around the world, helping doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches. Even in the immensely complex world of surgery, a simple ninety-second variant has cut the rate of fatalities by more than a third.
In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds.
An intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference, The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to get things right.
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