Gordon Bell, a prominent investor who funds start-ups, is very blunt with executives of firms in his portfolio. For instance, when someone makes predictions for company performance, Bell will zero in on one number and ask the CEO, “Wanna bet? A side bet, you and me, for $1,000.” If the CEO gulps, Bell knows he or she has doubts. At least once, when an underperforming … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Management, Organizational Behavior / HR, Success / Failure / Achievement

Almost one thousand years ago, in Moslem Spain, there lived a Jew named Rabbi Samuel the Prince. He was very wise, and rose to great power, becoming the Sultan’s treasurer. This aroused the jealousy of the other ministers, who planted rumors that Rabbi Samuel was embezzling money from the royal treasury.

The Sultan decided to put Rabbi Samuel to the test. One day, without warning, he … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Ethics / Integrity, Miscellaneous

It is amazing how malleable memory and perception can be – much more than we think. For example, in one research study subjects were standing at an airport ticket counter. The ticket agent pretended to drop something, ducked behind the counter and a different person finished the transaction. Many of the subjects didn’t even recognize the change had been made. We tune out big chunks … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Organizational Behavior / HR, Personal Improvement

One of my most recent illustrations of leadership is an executive I know who was invited to a black-tie dinner in another city. Instead of taking her husband as escort, she took her 11-year-old son. I can only begin to describe how this simple act affected senior executives in a client firm with whom she was in the early stages of establishing a relationship. They … [ Read more ]

Subject: Leadership

In 1999, I was invited to speak in Wellington, New Zealand. … The invitation came from the Women’s Leaders Network, a group that brought together women from around the world ….

A fascinating thing happened the day before I spoke. During a Q&A session…, a woman stood up and began to tell a story about her life. When she was finished, several other women stood up … [ Read more ]

Subject: Miscellaneous

There’s the story about a top salesman in the aircraft industry who messed up. He lost a $5,000,000 contract. At his desk the next morning he starts going through his papers – tidying them up, clearing his desk. He gets a phone call from his manager,

“Have you got 5 minutes? ”

“Sure” he mumbles and slowly makes his way up the stairs to his boss’ … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior / HR, Success / Failure / Achievement

Examples of those who fail to see the road to the future are often cited with hilarity. Take Harry Warner of Warner Brothers Studios, who commented in 1927 on the advent of soundtracks for moving pictures: “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”

Or take the senior management at Procter & Gamble when the disposable diaper was first suggested. According to diaper business folklore, P&G … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Innovation, Organizational Behavior / HR

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings. After a few seconds of arguing over which one should go and answer the doorbell, the wife gives up, quickly wraps herself up in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.

Before she says a word, … [ Read more ]

Subject: Thought / Decision Making

U Thant was secretary general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971. “He was a great and spiritual man. Dag Hammarskjold had just been killed. There was a possibility of nuclear conflagration over a surrogate war being fought in the Congo, in which the West and the East were actually at war. U Thant was locked in a last-ditch meeting to avert disaster when … [ Read more ]

Subject: Personal Improvement

When Tom Watson Jr. was chief executive of IBM in the early 1960s, he summoned an executive to his office after the man lost $10 million in a venture. Watson asked the man, “Do you know why I called you here?” Knowing of Watson’s legendary temper, the man replied: “I assume you’re going to fire me.”

“Fire you?” Watson asked. “I spent $10 million educating you. … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Organizational Behavior / HR, Success / Failure / Achievement