MOST RECENT BLOG POSTS

'You're a strategist.' I watched Clare's face carefully to see if there was any reaction. I was recruiting for a city firm and this was her second interview with me. She returned my gaze evenly, like a cat regarding its owner. She knew I had given her...

Science has spoken and placed a massive question mark over the prominence given to skills in the career market. Psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist, in his widely-acclaimed 'The Master and his Emissary' discusses the roles of the two brain hemispheres and their...

'I really want to use my skills', the interviewee said. You're heading for trouble, I thought. Clare was a freshly minted graduate in a smart black suit with the most sparkling résumé I had come across all year. She had achievements in sport and drama as well as a...

Teams are where the work gets done In this 1 minute video Marcus Buckingham nails a big part of the productivity problem. Every company has its org charts and its hierarchical structures and its management trees. These are drawn up and set out neatly in...

What if there was no management staircase? Now I'm not talking about the organization that distributes the mail. I'm referring to the work environment that comes into play when authority (i.e. management) is no longer needed. So why am I even raising the 'end of...

Do you ever feel like the organization can't make up its mind on what it wants to be? Consider your favorite sports team.  They fire a manager after a losing season and bring in a new person to instill discipline.  The team still doesn't win, so they fire that manager...

Subcultures hide in plain sight When an organization's predominant culture fails to connect with its employees, there is huge danger. If team members don't want to work in that culture, they will create a subculture. This will often be a locus of rebellion. For...

Is it lights out or a new dawn for the oil industry? A recent article on oil industry website OilPrice.com relates how millennials are turning their back on the fossil fuel industries. Oil and gas are bad for the planet and the industries are not nearly creative...

It's not surprising you're fed up of the turtle necks on the Executive Floor demanding more integrity, honesty and hard work. Do they think that's culture? No wonder they're not connecting with the workforce. So now it's your turn. They've put you in charge of the...

There is so much talk about company culture.  It's intangible, yet probably more important than the bricks and mortar beneath your office. But if you were in charge, what would you do to create a great culture? Perhaps you don’t create culture as much as you...

Culture enters without permission Is culture a mission statement and values? Is it ping pong tables and beer taps? Or is it a shared belief system? Culture is not defined how we have experienced it. We’re more enlightened than those who went before us. Let’s reimagine...

In the mid-90s I went for an interview with Oracle. During the interview I decided the job wasn't exactly right for me. The manager was astonished. "Everyone who comes here just wants to work for Oracle. They don't care about details. They just want to get in the...

When you last created a strategy for a new product or service, did you have all four of these people on the team? First, someone who knows what the customer will buy and how much they will spend. If you don't have this person on the team you could end up with...

Confidence breeds success Jenny worked in a programming team in a German telecomms company. She was a natural networker with a proclivity to generate bold new ideas - but also to shoot them down. She had almost a savant's ability to see flaws in any new strategy or...