Charan’s “10 Tools of Profitable Revenue Growth”

Ram Charan’s book Profitable Growth Is Everyone’s Business seems to be closely related to (and a summation of) Peters and Waterman’s In Search Of Excellence. Charan’s book in turn is summed up on his site.

U.S. jobs aren’t shorter, but they are riskier

James Surowiecki’s Lifers reviews some statistics and concludes that — contrary to popular belief — long-term employment in the U.S. hasn’t disappeared at all. But what has changed is the amount of risk employees are expected to shoulder in terms of… Benefits: Health benefits and pensions have decreased Stratification: “Companies now tie compensation more closely […]

The Bells remind Google who runs the Internet

From the Wall Street Journal today: Phone Companies Set Off A Battle Over Internet Fees Large phone companies, setting the stage for a big battle ahead, hope to start charging Google Inc., Vonage Holdings Corp. and other Internet content providers for high-quality delivery of music, movies and the like over their telecommunications networks. Ah, the […]

10 years of influential business ideas

To celebrate s+b’s 10th anniversary, they looked back at the conceptual breakthroughs that appeared in the magazine — and invited readers to vote on which were most likely to last. Execution The Learning Organization Corporate Values Customer Relationship Management Disruptive Technology Leadership Development Organizational DNA Strategy-Based Transformation Complexity Theory Lean Thinking

SarbOx flawed, but fixable

James Surowiecki’s Sarboxed In?… The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was a political knee-jerk even the Republicans couldn’t avoid, in reaction to Enron, Worldcom, etc. The complexity of the new rules went too far, requiring six figure enforcement costs, and possibly hindering small companies from going public. There are now talks of easing enforcement or modifying the Act. […]

Katzenbach and Smith’s team guidelines

Since I’ve been working on how to structure teams to do innovation work, I thought it would be a good time to revisit the basics in the form of The Wisdom of Teams by Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith. One point they make is to differentiate between “performing teams” structured in a mindful way and […]

Bill Swanson’s 25 Unwritten Rules of Management

Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson offered his 25 Unwritten Rules of Management and Jim Collins asks, “I wondered, how would his rules stack up against the behavior and leadership styles of the successful CEOs profiled in Good to Great? …the overall fit appears quite positive.” For posterity, here’s Swanson’s list: Learn to say, “I don’t know.” […]

Bloomberg and the open office

I’m a big proponent of tearing down the walls and cubicles in offices to encourage teamwork. Even Herman Miller, who introduced cubicles decades ago, is opening up the cubes and shaving down the partitions. So I love the story of how New York mayor Michael Bloomberg replicated the trading floor atmosphere at City Hall… Wandering […]

Scott Hirsch, Young Mogul

My partner Scott’s pretty face — arguably the second most handsome in our company — graces the front cover of this month’s Red Herring magazine. The story profiles 20 Outstanding Entrepreneurs Under 35 including great minds like Steward Butterfield and Andrew Zolli. They would have called me first, of course, but I’m a middle-aged mogul.

BusinessWeek on challenges in China & India

I applaud BusinessWeek for promoting serious discussion of the social problems in China, and India as well. A sample: A Big, Dirty Growth Engine (on polution in China) Waking Up To Their Rights (on workers rights) The State’s Long Apron Strings (on Chinese multinationals’ relationship to the Communist Party)

Flying High, part II

More notes from Flying High: “You can call every day to United and get a different price (for a ticket). The reality is you get nickel-and-dimed. And more importantly, the customer thinks ‘You’re screwing me.’ So it’s better to just ask one price. You want to keep the service offerings very simple. The whole key […]

Flying High

Just finished James Wynbrandt’s Flying High: How JetBlue Founder and CEO David Neeleman Beats the Competition… Even in the World’s Most Turbulent Industry. I’d give it 3 stars out of 5 for being engaging enough to finish (something I rarely do anymore) and educational while a little light in critical point of view. Wynbrandt is […]

Lance Armstrong’s giant heart

It turns out that intense, long-term cardio training actually enlarges the heart and therefore the amount of oxygen-rich blood that can be delivered to the muscles, according to this long-term study at the University of Texas… Lance Armstrong…improved his cycling efficiency by a phenomenal 8% as he matured from age 21-28 years… There is no […]

Kitchen as management microcosm

If you’ve only seen Gordon Ramsay as the Donald Trump figure in Hell’s Kitchen, you’re missing out on what he really has to teach. In Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares on BBC he goes into a slumping restaurant and tries to turn it around in one week. As a manager he can see the whole system: kitchen, […]

An approach for working in China: Economics

Given the destructive human rights situation in China, how do we decide to interact with companies there? I don’t think no action is a choice; the sheer amount of influence the Western world and China exerts on each other through commerce alone makes it impossible for any one person or company to remain unaffected. Free […]

Noise Between Stations

Humans