So much of the leadership conversation centers around the question “how do I get more out of my people?” I don’t think I’ve been at a conference or sat in on a conversation with business leaders where the subject—and that exact phrase— hasn’t come up. Now, without a doubt, bringing forth the full...
Take the Tweet a Hack challenge: Help us "Take the Work out of Work" and win a $100 Amazon gift certificate! Is your work as engaging, inspiring, and fulfilling as it could be? Do you (and the people you know) get enough meaning, freedom, energizing challenge, and fun from your job? Does your...
Most of the industrial pioneers who created “modern” management—individuals like Frederick Taylor, Frank Gilbreth, Henry Ford, Alfred Sloan, and Donaldson Brown—were born in the 19th century. These bold thinkers would no doubt be surprised to learn that their inventions, which included workflow...
This post originally appeared in Tim O'Reilly's Google+ feed and on O'Reilly Radar . This tweet by Steve Case ( @stevecase ) struck home for me, because in the aftermath of Steve Jobs' death I've been thinking a lot about O'Reilly, wanting to make sure that we streamline and focus on the stuff that...
Innovation poses two enormous problems for most leaders given the way they are trained to think. First, it’s a time-based form of value. It goes sour like milk. This year’s “must-have” gadget will end up in a landfill next Christmas or at least be overwritten by Version 2.0. Second, innovation only pays in the future for which you presently have no data. As Kierkegaard put it “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
We have a winner! We’re happy to announce Dr. Ellen Weber as the winner of our first-ever Tweet a Hack contest, which challenged you to offer up your bold ideas for “ taking the work out of work ” in 140 characters or less. The winning Hack Tweet? Host a Celebration of Innovation twice yearly,...
As you're putting together the guest list for your holiday parties you might want to consider this: not once, but twice over the last five years I've embarked on an in-depth review of the academic and practical literature on leadership. The first time was for a 2006 book with Jeff Pfeffer, Hard...
Most of the time you take your office computers for granted. OK, there’s a niggle or two, but generally the IT folks can sort it out. Occasionally, though, it gets more serious. When the system crashes regularly or a virus hijacks the network there’s no easy alternative: you need to upgrade the...
Bob Sutton is one of the most provocative, practical, and profoundly human thinkers and writers in the realm of management today. He’s written five important books over the last decade about closing the gap between knowledge and organizational action, evidence-based (rather than faith- or fear-...
Andy Warhol knew it all along: “Good business is the best art.” And lately, a number of business thinkers and leaders have begun to embrace the arts, not as an escapist notion, a parallel world after office hours, or a creative asset, but as an integral part of the human enterprise that ought to be woven into the fabric of every business—from the management team to operations to customer service.