Most Recent Blog Posts

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...

Brené Brown and the way to be enough. When you find out who you are, you find the courage to be YOU. Almost everyone I know tries to be perfect. The perfect salesman. The perfect web developer. The perfect manager. No-one wants the world to see that they have any...

Will the Strategists in your company always be unrecognized? 8% of the world's population are strategists. There are plenty of them working in your company right now, though nobody recognises them as such, not even them. If you could identify them - and put them where...

Can you spot the strategist in your company? "The real challenge in crafting strategy lies in detecting subtle discontinuities that may undermine a business in the future. And for that there is no technique, no program, just a sharp mind in touch with the situation."...

Does your boss or co-worker continually find fault? There's a solution. Your co-worker does not have an 'attitude problem'. They find fault because they are programmed to. Understanding it through teaming science can help you both work together. Steve is a project...

More intelligent use of peoples' talent is set to rival the process and technology improvements of the last three decades. Every efficiency breakthrough has a lifespan of about 30 years. Starting in the late 80s, a massive focus on IT and business process allowed...

You're a business or department leader and you've just been told 'Next year you have to cut costs, but achieve the same or even higher output'. Has it ever been any different, you ask yourself? This year, however, there is an answer. It's a little thing called...

Teaming science will make us all happier and more productive Consultancy firm Deloitte launches its own teaming science offering with a write up in Harvard Business Review.   OND is no longer the only vendor with a scientific solution to better teaming. Major...

Don't be another cubicle-filler. Get a career pilot to guide you at every move and job change. "If you don't take charge of your career, someone else will." Have you watched those around you get sliced up and canned by the corporate machine? It's not enough to be...

Seth Godin recently blogged about trust and how 'nothing is more important to our survival'. Trust is primordial, he says. 'We look for clues in each other all the time.' We often check out other people's skills and put our trust in these. We do that all the time in...

There is a client tribe out there who have the work you yearn for. They're desperate for real talent. When they find it, they'll pay more for it than they are currently paying for people only offering skills. Do you have a sense that you are here to do something...

Do you think this team is diverse? Wrong! Appearance is a poor indicator of true diversity.  This group was recruited in the intellectual image of their boss. Managers naturally recruit people who 'think' like them. It's an all-too-common phenomenon. Networkers...

Here's a true story that perfectly illustrates why 80% of people hate their jobs. A US-based start-up was looking for a strategist. The successful candidate would be driving an innovation team. Here are the role summary and responsibilities. Job Title: Strategic...

After centuries of traditional practices, recruitment is finally changing. Exciting times in HR and recruitment generally. The game is moving from a buyer's to a seller's market. An analysis of trends among major multinationals shows that competition to recruit the...

It's more important to align talent, not skills, to job role - official! Simon Sinek, the TED talking author, motivational speaker and marketing consultant explains that our attitude to work is driven by what lies deep within us, not what we know. The oldest parts of...

If you could find a management tool that would tell you… Exactly how to manage successful staff Exactly how to manage difficult staff Exactly how to manage conflict, when it arises Exactly the right people to hire Exactly where to put them in your team Exactly how to...

We've been carrying out massive career mutilation for decades in the way we develop leaders. The cost in wrecked lives and marriages is high enough. But it's the lost productivity that the bean counters will focus on. Here's the received wisdom: you've got a bright...

Managing. Human. Capital. When you ally the word 'capital' to 'human' you start to make people into an asset that can be invested. They begin to be equated with money. And that, I submit, is the way that we should - and can - view the whole process. When we invest...