Setting internal improvement targets is relatively easy, but to make a real change in your business, try to do better than the best. What does your enemy do well? Define, quantify, and set targets accordingly. Maybe your competition has 98% on-time shipping. Maybe the salesperson down the hall brings in $40k in sales per month. You can’t compete unless you first determine what your competition does well.
Source:Jeff Haden Best Selling Author
Clayton M. Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
On the last day of class, I ask my students to turn those theoretical lenses on themselves, to find cogent answers to three questions: First, how can I be sure that I’ll be happy in my career? Second, how can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness? Third, how can I be sure I’ll stay out of jail? Though the last question sounds lighthearted, it’s not. Two of the 32 people in my Rhodes Scholar class spent time in jail. Jeff Skilling of Enron fame was a classmate of mine at HBS. These were good guys—but something in their lives sent them off in the wrong direction. To read the complete article, please click here
New Year’s resolutions can be overwhelming. Instead of tackling all of them at once, list all the things you would change if you had the time. Take a good look at the list and think about the one thing that would impact several things on the list. Make it short and simple. Perhaps you need to be more aggressive, or maybe you need to slow down, or speak up for yourself more often. If you’re not sure, try something for a few weeks and see if it’s working. Then, each morning, remind yourself of your one thing. Soon it will become second nature as the results reinforce your commitment to change.
Source: HBRManagement Tip
Adapted from “What’s Your One Big Theme?” by Peter Bregman.
Earn the Respect of Others
Consider ideas from staff at all levels of seniority.
People follow the leader first and the leader’s vision second It doesn’t matter if the leader shares a powerful vision; if the leader is not someone who people will follow the vision will never be realized. As a leader, who you are makes a difference. The most important message you can share is yourself. Jon Gordon
Do you have a “growth mindset?” Or a “fixed mindset?” Here are three questions to ask ourselves to help us grasp the difference
Written John R. Ryan Business Week
During my term as superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, I enjoyed dropping in on classes from time to time to learn from our world-class faculty and to chat with students. Whenever I asked, “How many of you want to be leaders?” everyone in the room instantly raised their hands.
A few years later, as an administrator at a large state university, I frequently asked students the same question. But usually fewer than half of those in the room put up their hands.
What explains the difference? Talent wasn’t the issue. Both institutions are blessed with bright, hard-working young men and women. Nor was instruction a problem. Both institutions employ top-notch faculty. The difference, I’m convinced, was rooted in mindset.To read the complete article, please click here
Leaders don’t have things happen to them. They do things.
Seth Godin
Written by Brian Stelter NYT
Oprah Winfrey is finding out just how hard it is to build an out-of-the-way channel into a television destination. OWN, her two-month-old channel, is attracting fewer viewers than the obscure channel it replaced, Discovery Health. At any given time this month, there have been about 135,000 people watching OWN, according to the Nielsen Company, and only about 45,000 of those people are women ages 25 to 54, the demographic that the channel is focusing on. To read the complete article, please click here
Courage
The virtue that enables us to conquer fear, danger, or adversity, no matter what the context happens to be (physical or moral). Courage includes the notion of taking responsibility for decisions and actions. Additionally, the idea involves the ability to perform critical self-assessment, to confront new ideas, and to change.
Just because you’re driving the bus doesn’t mean you have the right to run people over - Abraham Lincoln said “Most anyone can stand adversity, but to test a man’s character give him power.” The more power you are granted the more it is your responsibility to serve, develop and empower others. When you help them grow they’ll help you grow.
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