Most plans are one-dimensional. They use the best thinking from experts to create a narrow range of possible variances to a set of underlying assumptions. You might get lucky and see those assumptions manifest themselves, or you might be incredibly wrong. If the future doesn’t fit your assumptions, you will find your organization, at best, scrambling to react, at worst, selling … [Read more...] about If You Think You have a Handle on Organization Next, You Might be Lucky, But You are Probably Wrong
Collaboration
Collaboration Strategy
Every collaboration opportunity should raise a number question for the person(s) involved: Who should I be working with? What exactly do I need to collaborate on when it comes to this assignment? How do I prioritize what is important—a clean inbox or a quick response to a social media query ? Should I use the information that's readily at hand, or keep searching?. … [Read more...] about Collaboration Strategy
Time to Rethink Performance
My colleague Diane Spiegel of Sage Leadership Tools pointed out this OP-ED from the NY Times on why performance reviews are bad, and what should be done to correct them. Why Your Boss Is Wrong About You I agree with the premise. Reviews, and the lack of mutual objectives between manager and employee, drive the wrong behavior. No employee should be an "underperformer" at a … [Read more...] about Time to Rethink Performance
What’s the Issue with Apple Magazine Subscriptions
As a consumer, I see nothing wrong with subscriptions coming through the Apple App Store, as was announced today (Apple Launches Subscriptions on the App Store). At least from the business model standpoint as we transition from paper to digital formats. Obtaining traditional magazines in digital format, however, is not the future of content. In the long run, content needs to … [Read more...] about What’s the Issue with Apple Magazine Subscriptions
What We Won’t Learn from IBM’s Watson Playing Jeopardy!
The game show Jeopardy! will host an unusual array of contestants on Februrary 14-16, 2011. Two of the shows superstars, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, will be pitted against Watson, an artificial intelligence (AI) created by IBM engineers. Watson will not teach the world anything new about a generalized artificial intelligence. In the moment, as Watson answers questions, it … [Read more...] about What We Won’t Learn from IBM’s Watson Playing Jeopardy!