Leader's Digest March 2008
From LLN
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Leader's Digest March 2008
by Leslie Dillon
- Items appearing elsewhere have been replaced with links to those articles.
Innovation
Lessons in innovation from Tata’s Nano
Now in Innovation lessons
Leadership
Ten management lessons
Now in Leaders and followers
Keep your ego in check
Now in Speaking up, keeping quiet and listening
Timeless leadership
Now in Qualities of successful leaders
Three-dimensional leadership development
Now in Leadership development notes
Management
Is yours a learning organization?
Now in How healthy is your organization?
Marketing
The shrinking advantage of brands
Now in Brands
Miscellany
Searching as a team
Now in Searching notes
Illumin8: Semantic search from Elsevier
Now in Searching notes
People
Minding mentoring
Now in Mentoring notes
360 mentoring
Now in Mentoring notes
Building success one relationship at a time
Now in Mentoring notes
How to deal with anxious people
Now in Problematic and star employees
Twelve steps to stop scapegoating
Now in Problematic communication and behavior
Technology
Google Books API
Now in Google Book Search, Open Content Alliance and Live Search Books notes
2007 ebook Sales up 23.6 percent
Now in Ebook notes
Pew Internet report on mobile access to information
Now in Mobile notes
Not yet moved elsewhere
Why you should talk politics at work
Conventional wisdom says we shouldn’t talk politics at work, but Stewart Friedman, founding director of Wharton’s Leadership Program and Work/Life Integration Project, argues that talk about politics among people who work together is right on target.
Civil conversations about our political future give people a greater sense of belonging, build community and a sense of trust, and enhance performance. “Smart managers, therefore, encourage real connections among people, not just as employees but as real human beings dealing with the difficulties of everyday life.”
Managers should take advantage of any opportunities that help people get to know each other. “Encourage conversation about the important things in life and people will feel better about you and their workplace.”
(Stew Friedman, "Why you should talk politics at work", [http://conversationstarter.hbsp.com/2008/02/join_online_conversations_abou.html Conversation starter, Harvard Business blogs, Feb. 25, 2008.) Friedman's book, Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life, will be published in June by Harvard Business School Press.)
Long-distance Wi-Fi
Intel is now able to stretch a Wi-Fi signal over 60 miles. Later this year, Intel will begin selling a Wi-Fi platform “that can send data from a city to outlying rural areas tens of miles away, connecting sparsely populated villages to the Internet.”
The technology, called the rural connectivity platform (RCP), will help computer-equipped students in developing countries. The connections will also be able to be used for video conferencing and telemedicine.
Intel has installed and tested RCP in India, Panama, Vietnam, and South Africa, and in late 2008 will begin selling it in India, “with a target price below $500. The point-to-point technology will require two nodes, which could provide 'full back-end infrastructure' for less than $1,000.”
(Kate Greene, "Long-distance Wi-Fi", Technology Review, Mar. 18, 2008.)
How to avoid becoming the isolated executive
Too many executives become isolated once they reach the top. How can they protect themselves from isolation? Here are a few suggestions:
- Engage customers and employees in authentic, unscripted conversations.
- Watch how your customers behave. Don’t just rely on summary data.
- Put yourself in your front-line employees’ shoes. Work “on the line” for a day.
- Interact with young people. That will expose you to new societal and technological trends and provide a fresh perspective.
“In sum, executives must work hard to break out of the bubble that often forms around them as they rise to the top of large organizations. It takes a concerted effort, but the payoff is great. They will keep themselves grounded, … and they will create bountiful opportunities for learning. That learning can drive innovation and improvement in their organizations.”
(Michael Roberto, "How to avoid becoming the 'isolated executive'", Conversation Starter from Harvard Business blogs, Mar 13, 2008.)
Management lessons from the Girl Scouts
William C. Taylor, writer, entrepreneur, adjunct professor at Babson College and a former associate editor of Harvard Business Review believes the Girls Scouts of the USA are a study in change and renewal. The organization, whose brand was for a number of years “decidedly uncool,” has re-engineered itself and made itself relevant in a new era. Their successful change is based on four principles:
- Real change begins from the inside out. The current CEO of the Girl Scouts was promoted from within. She knew the organization’s culture, understood its nuances, and started with built-in trust.
- The way to build the future is to rediscover the past. The Girl Scouts organization studied the vision and goals of their founder, Juliette Gordon Low, and asked, “What would she do now?”
- Real strategy change is about bottom-up discussions. The new CEO assembled a 26-member team from all parts of the organization. They examined the Girl Scouts from many different points of view.
- To build a great organization, it takes a lot of smart cookies!
(Bill Taylor, "Video blog: Management lessons from the Girl Scouts," GameChanger, Harvard Business blogs, Mar. 3, 2008.)
Growth in emerging internet markets
The most recent study from comScore highlights how worldwide Internet usage is changing:
- The U.S. now has 21% of worldwide Internet users, down from 66% in 1996, while the Asia Pacific region has more than 300 million Internet users (up 14% in one year).
- Visits to social networking sites has grown 34% since last year to 530 million and MySpace and Facebook each attract over 100 million visitors per month.
- Google is the dominant search brand in most countries, except where Chinese, Korean, and Russian languages dominate.
- Online video has become the dominant online entertainment format, led by YouTube with over 250 million visitors in January.
(http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2115 "comScore 'Digital world: State of the internet' report highlights growth in emerging internet markets"] press release via OCLC Abstracts, Mar. 25, 2008.)
