Notable failures Even the most successful people have failures: James Dyson built 5,127 prototypes before he perfected one vacuum cleaner. Mozart wrote over 64 symphonies. How many have you heard? Richard Branson has launched over 400 business ventures, remember Virgin Vodka? Nope, nor do I. Over 30 years Albert Einstein published ~ 345 scientific papers but his major work […]
Three Types of Culture
1. Blame culture I am not a big fan of blaming people when things go wrong. There are two reasons why: It is hard to apportion blame correctly. Business is a team sport. With so many players involved failures are rarely the fault of one person. If a goal keeper lets in a goal, was […]
The Irresistible Force and the Immovable Object
A middle manager’s view of change As managers get older their chances of promotion shrink. There are fewer senior jobs than junior jobs. The sad truth is that if you haven’t “made it” by the time you are 40, you probably never will. There is little upside to being a middle-aged middle manager. But most middle-aged managers have plenty […]
Do Targets Work or Not?
In summary: I hope the last two posts have demonstrated admirably that: Targets work Targets don’t work I also trust that is nice and clear. So which is it? The problem isn’t the target, it’s the culture. Do you have a culture that accepts that failure is inevitable when you are pushing the boundaries? Does your culture treat failure […]
Blame and Ignorance
I made a fool of myself yesterday I had a road rage incident. Well it wasn’t so much road rage as pedestrian rage. I was crossing the street on my way to the railway station and some clown in 4 by 4 damn near ran me over. It ended up in a slagging match between me and […]
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