When I was a kid, I loved to watch reruns of The Little Rascals. In my favorite episode, “Two Too Young,” Alfalfa must recite the famous poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade. In this poem, Lord Tennyson memorializes the disastrous and suicidal charge of a British light cavalry brigade during the Crimean War. In…
I’ve had a series of separate but similar conversations in the past few weeks with several clients on the subject of pricing. These clients are: Professional service providers in different industries Extremely good at what they do – among the best in their field and highly differentiated . . . Operating at full capacity –…
In the world of talent management and leadership development, companies place a lot of emphasis on identifying and developing “high potentials”. Often these high potential leaders are high performers in the middle levels of the organization who are viewed as future senior executives. Explore for a moment the paradox of high potential – as opposed…
How many times have you been in a meeting at your company when an idea comes up and someone says “that’s a no-brainer!” A no-brainer implies such a completely obvious solution to a problem that it only needs to be implemented and all of the benefits will be realized. To reference another management buzzword, a…
American Idol has moved from the initial selection rounds through “Hollywood week” into the winnowing down – from the top 24 contestants, week by week – and moving towards the final American Idol winner. In these initial post-Hollywood rounds, the contestants perform a song they have chosen. More than any other factor, what determines who…
