I recently became aware of study by the Corporate Executive Board that analyzed 300 drivers of employee engagement and productivity. Guess what the one factor is that had the highest correlation to employee performance, productivity, and retention is "the connection between their work and the organizational strategy". Number 2 is understanding the "importance of their…
Great column from Rich Kaarlgard at Forbes called “How Fast Can You Learn?” In the new economy, he challenges leaders: “Your job is to enlist as many smart people as you can to pull your company in the direction you want it to go. Your job is to learn and adapt as fast as the…
When you think about strategy, are you assuming a continuous or discontinuous environment? In a fascinating book, Creative Destruction, Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplah note some remarkable trends. Most intriguing is how the turnover of S&P 500 companies is accelerating as companies are born and die. (The flipside is that the average tenure is declining…
Leaders are supposed to inspire their teams, right? Cast a big vision that everyone is motivated to work towards, then sit back and watch the results. I've been in several meetings recently where the leader has done just that — launched into a rousing,stirring, and even inspiring mini-speech about vision and values. Yet the intended…
Guess what the CEO’s number 1 concern is? Execution. According to Conference Board survey, “excellence in execution” is the number one concern of CEOs. The third concern is “consistent execution of strategy by top management”. Not sure exactly how they make a distinction between these concerns. Notably, number 2 and 4 are top line growth…
