In the work of Patrick Lencioni on teams there is the challenge to agree an overriding commitment to a single, shared result within a team – a result that guides all actions and choices.
The most powerful example of this in action?
We think the response of Wal-mart colleagues centrally and locally to the 2005 flood of New Orleans.
This is an example of responsible autonomy in action too – around the guiding principle of “do all you can to help”. Read more here.
Tags: communication, management, Teams
In your work, do you think
1) How your staff are treated
2) How your suppliers treat their staff
3) Where your products are made – and how staff are treated
4) Where the raw materials in your products come from, and how workers fare there?
This talk gives lots to think about. As a rule of thumb (and not just for newsworthy Apple mobile devices), the further away in the supply chain, the more there is to be concerned about, but the less likely it is to get seen or discussed.
Do you like brands?
No, not just D&G or Gucci or Louis Vuitton…but John Lewis, Oxfam, Amnesty International, IPCC…
Is the gap they fill a sign of a weak ego and co-dependency? Or is it a deeper connection in terms of fashion or philosophy?
It seems most of us love some brands – commercial or charitable. We endow them with properties in response to the promise of improvement and fulfilment they offer us.
In a world where status is increasingly less due to our born class position (as that can change) or cultural appreciation (high and low art are blended and enjoyed in surprising places and ways), the brands we consume and the identities we construct matter like never before.
Tags: brand
Further to last week’s Business Briefing, the Action for Happiness movement might be helpful to you and others.
Tags: behaviour, confidence
The restaurants are full in London (we see that in our travels, and are told so by taxi drivers too). And even out of London, in January, town is busy. In 2007 I recall cycling through the same streets, first week of January – deserted.
Blue Monday whether you believe in it or not, is looming. However, some don’t seem to need many reasons to be cheerful at this time of woe it seems.
In a separate catering story, Cambridge has a much loved cake shop, Fitzbillies, that closed a year ago – it failed financially. Now after a slight rejig to its offer of drinks and cakes (though not by making it cheaper!!), it is vibey and popular again.
What does this tell us in these interesting economic times?
In consulting it is clearly the case that not everyone or every company is equally affected by the European recession in the same way. And some sectors and locations, even in the UK, are booming.
Can you think of some small and/or significant changes to help you make 2012 a ‘wow’ for your business/organisation/career?
How can you change your offer – in subtle ways (eg how you run the cake shop) or significant ways (eg getting into the top end restaurant business in our capital city!)?
Tags: change, choices, Decision-making
I get lots of emails from family and friends with viral ‘funnies’.
I liked this one.
The producers of this beer commercial borrowed a small, 150 seat cinema playing a popular film, and filled 148 of its seats with rough-looking, tattooed bikers, leaving only two free seats in the middle of the theatre.
They then allowed theatre management to sell the last pair of tickets to several couples for different showings.
What would you do?
This sad story shows how the internet fuels “power of the people” – for both good and bad purposes.
Tags: knowledge
Further to our recent post, how far to keep busy for a fulfilled life, how much do you like working (hobbies, home improvement, keeping up with people) but not Work ( – capital W…ie paid activity to cover your costs)?
How far could you align the two – doing the sort of projects you love, for a living?
What would be your most beautiful career, if you could create it?
Tags: future, working life
At this time of economic anxiety and woe, there are still, in the words of Ian Dury, reasons to be cheerful.
Recalling the seminal John Candy and Steve Martin film “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”, yesterday, on Thanksgiving eve, I travelled back from a client event and in just over 10 hours travelled by
– Taxi
– Train
– Underground
– Plane (two)
– Bus
– Car
I needed to manage a tram and ferry to travel by pretty much every sort of public transport!
The reason to be cheerful?
Unlike the film, how smoothly everything went – other than one escalator and one lift failure. I even managed to board an earlier plane for my second leg from Frankfurt airport.
It is easy to forget just how much goes right in the modern world, for those of us with more than minimal resources and who live in stable, developed counties.
In the film ‘Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy’ George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is confident he can beat the Russian chief spy because his opposite spook has no space in his life for doubt.
In this video Seth Godin, supremo blogger, makes a similar point that fundamentalism drives out curiosity.
I recall a medical colleague years ago sharing the three most important words for doctors:
“I don’t know”…
Tags: confidence, culture
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