Management's Dirty Little Secret

A great piece from Gary Hamel's Wall Street Journal blog on Management. How would you feel about a physician who killed more patients than he helped? What about a police detective who committed more murders than he solved? Or a teacher whose students were more likely to get dumber than smarter as the school year progressed? And what if you discovered that these perverse outcomes were more the rule than the exception—that they were characteristic of most doctors, policemen and professors? You’d be more than perplexed. You’d be incensed, outraged. You’d demand that something must be done! Given this, why are we complacent when confronted with data that suggest most managers are more likely to douse the flames of employee enthusiasm than fan them, and are more likely to frustrate extraordinary accomplishment than to foster it? Consider the recent “Global Workforce Survey” conducted by Towers Perrin, an HR consultancy. In an attempt to measure the extent of employee engagement around the world, the company polled more than 90,000 workers in 18 countries. The survey covered many of the key factors that determine workplace engagement, including:

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9 Traits of Successful Innovators | Stefan Lindegaard: Leadership+Innovation

In my last post, I give my five cents on how a career looks like for innovation leaders and intrapreneurs. But what does it take to get a successful career within innovation? It starts with traits and through my many interactions with innovation leaders and intrapreneurs, I have identified the below 8 characteristics that set these great people apart from others: eader • Holistic Point of View: Since their role involves assuring that innovation becomes part of the DNA of your organization, innovation leaders need to be capable of analyzing the big picture both in and outside the company. This includes the ability to decipher the internal political landscape that will impact their ability to move innovation forward as well as having a thorough understanding of the outside forces that shape your company’s marketplace opportunities. This trait is a

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Managing with the Brain in Mind

Neuroscience research is revealing the social nature of the human brain and its implications for management. In a high-performance workplace, people’s social needs — for status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness — matter more than money.

Full article from strategy+business