It's time to reinvent management. You can help.

Humanize the language of business

“The noblest human ideals must become the noblest business ideals.”

The goals of management are usually described using words like “efficiency,” “advantage,” “value,” “superiority,” “focus,” and “differentiation.” Important as these objectives are, they lack the power to rouse human hearts. To create organizations that are almost human in their capacity to adapt, innovate, and engage, management pioneers must find ways to infuse even the most mundane business activities with deeper, soul-stirring ideals and to develop an authentically homegrown vocabulary for communicating their ambitions. How you talk reflects how you think (and how your organization works). If you want to inspire people to extraordinary accomplishment, the language of honor, truth, love, justice, and beauty can no longer be relegated to the fringes of management discourse and action.

32 Stories
87 Hacks
4 Barriers

Humanize the language of business

“The noblest human ideals must become the noblest business ideals.”

The goals of management are usually described using words like “efficiency,” “advantage,” “value,” “superiority,” “focus,” and “differentiation.” Important as these objectives are, they lack the power to rouse human hearts. To create organizations that are almost human in their capacity to adapt, innovate, and engage, management pioneers must find ways to infuse even the most mundane business activities with deeper, soul-stirring ideals and to develop an authentically homegrown vocabulary for communicating their ambitions. How you talk reflects how you think (and how your organization works). If you want to inspire people to extraordinary accomplishment, the language of honor, truth, love, justice, and beauty can no longer be relegated to the fringes of management discourse and action.

Filter By:
It is no secret that happy employees have more chances to stay longer within the company. Which means employee retention rates for managers who keep their employees happy tend to be high.
Story by Barret Selby on November 21, 2017
Bart was my first Chef at the Admiral Benbow hotel in Birmingham. He set up the kitchen and planned our daily luncheon buffet. The buffet was a great success.
Story by Jim McGriff, Jr. on January 24, 2017
Hack the way we start projects. Be yourself, be human, ask powerful questions and benefit from interdisciplinary wisdom.
Hack by Frank Habermann on April 22, 2016
For a large corporate company, to become an innovative company, the involvement of the employees is an important key to success. Old school corporate communication is not sufficient anymore.
Hack by Ad van Dongen on February 27, 2016
Over-thinking is what I have done as a first line manager for my career. My main concerns were for our customer care, employee understanding, and department effectiveness.
Story by Jim McGriff, Jr. on January 23, 2016
 The first line manager’s responsibility is to keep a positive atmosphere in their work group. There is a saying that people do things for their reasons not yours.
Story by Jim McGriff, Jr. on December 1, 2015
The big breakthroughs in business, in innovation, in life, all come during moments of great vulnerability.  Yet, most of us go out of our way to avoid being vulnerable.  How do we overcome t
Hack by Dan Asleson on October 21, 2015
I have never tried to define a bureaucrat, even thought I have encountered many over my career. Now, I think I have a definition of how it feels when you meet one.
Story by Jim McGriff, Jr. on August 26, 2015
What truly makes teamwork effective? It is about the perspective of the individual member not the managers.
Story by Jim McGriff, Jr. on July 2, 2015

Pages