Have you heard any of the following lately? “I’m OK with how things are.” “The timing for this isn’t quite right.” “Seems like a lot of pain for such little gain.” “We need more buy-in to do this.” “That may work elsewhere, but not here.” “We tried something like this before, and it didn’t work.” These are early warning signs that your once high-spirited startup is vulnerable to what might best be termed “big company …
Read More
Need New Ideas? Take A Trip!
In addition to the reasons you already have for taking a vacation this summer, there’s another one you may not have considered: Travel is thought to increase creativity. One of the difficulties we all face is the “curse of knowledge,” also known as subject matter expertise.Expertise is obviously valuable and required for success, but it can also hamper creativity. It can blind us to radical new ideas, because our mindset is so strong. That’s why it’s …
Read More
8 Stupid Things Managers Do To Mess Up Their Companies
In a business climate where only the best companies survive and thrive, one thing is clear: you must avoid the stupid stuff. You must eliminate the things that leave customers and employees scratching their heads, frustrated and mystified. The problem is that every company, no matter what size, battles to some degree a central tension: people with ideas on how to make things better, and hidden obstacles that keep those positive changes from actually happening. …
Read More
The Art of Being Unreasonable
George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has it write when he adds to this thought by writing, “We have all met unreasonable people in our lives. Some of us have even been called unreasonable—or worse. But if ever there’s been someone qualified …
Read More
The Downside of Transparency
Massive information and idea sharing is the hallmark of a high-performing and innovative company, right? When critical information and good ideas flow freely, everyone’s on the same page, everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and that transparency can only be good, right? Maybe not. Maybe too much information isn’t so good. Maybe Law #3: Limiting information engages the imagination, has some social and company cultural consequences. According to Indiana University cognitive scientist Robert Goldstone, when …
Read More