Could BP have avoided the Gulf Oil Spill if it had more Women Executives?

May 26, 2010

Tweet How much has the paucity of women executives at BP and the overall gender imbalance in BP’s managerial ranks contributed to the Gulf Oil Spill? I’m betting that had there been more women in the executive ranks at British Petroleum, more women (especially from inside the Company) on BP’s Board of Directors, and more […]

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The Best PR that $1.6 Million Can’t Buy: Authenticity in Action at Zappos

May 25, 2010

Tweet Gotta love those folks at Zappos. They screw up, they explain, they apologize, and they fix it. And we applaud. Why? Because Zappos’ actions support the company’s stated purpose, and Zappos’ actions support its claims about who they are as a company. It’s Authenticity in Action. The Zappos’ Mistake Story in a Nutshell An […]

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Is Authenticity the key to being “Meaningfully Different”?

May 20, 2010

Tweet If organizations are going to be successful at attracting good members and good clients or customers, they have go beyond showing how they are different from other, similar organizations. They have to take that extra step, and demonstrate why these differences are meaningful. “Meaningful difference” “Meaningful difference” is an important concept in both organizational […]

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3 Types of Employee Engagement Advocates: Which type are you?

May 17, 2010

Tweet Is there ever a time when our reactions don’t reflect our own perspectives on an issue? The whole wisdom behind the dictum: “Seek First to Understand” turns on our awareness of the near-impossibility of uncoupling our initial reactions from our personal standpoint. Our experience with an issue, as well as our general world views, […]

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Registering Dis-engagement: How would you respond?

May 13, 2010

Tweet Here’s a little story, compelling in its simplicity, about an organizational situation that raises issues of loyalty, commitment, and engagement. When I heard about the initial situation, I had an immediate reaction. My analysis was quickly followed by a few recommendations for the employee involved.  [ Of course, as an ENTJ, I am quick […]

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3 Reasons Why Employee Engagement is a Scam

May 10, 2010

Tweet We should all maintain a hearty skepticism about employee engagement. While it is true that engaged employees contribute more and more willingly to an organization, the contributions of the employee are rarely if ever matched by compensation from the organization. Last week I had a long talk with a mid-level executive about the rollout […]

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Empty, Mute, and Disrespected: Pompeii as a failing cultural organization

May 6, 2010

Tweet [I can’t really find a link between these ideas and concepts of authenticity, but I had to write this anyway. So go easy on me with this one…] My recent visit to Pompeii offered me a great example of an organization that isn’t working. Cultural Organizations Must Work on Two Dimensions Every organization has […]

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Rebranding Pompeii as a Living City

May 4, 2010

Tweet It seems that you can’t escape the demands of rebranding, even if you go back 2282 years. In one of the more intriguing examples of rebranding I’ve seen in a while, the world historical site of the City of Pompeii is currently engaged in its own rebranding campaign. The ‘old’ brand of Pompeii To […]

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Cognitive Bias Video Song: Why should it be a YouTube Sensation?

April 29, 2010

Tweet I have decided that this Cognitive Bias Video Song video is a YouTube sensation, despite its having only 1,046 hits as of this writing and the subsequent (and temporary) absence of social affirmation of its sensation-ism. This song about Cognitive Bias was made salient to me by Mediation Channel, an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) […]

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Misleading Image for Army: New York Times, PowerPoint and Complexity Fail

April 27, 2010

Tweet Was anyone else annoyed by the use of this image, below, on the front page of today’s New York Times? The image is being used to illustrate an article on “death by Powerpoint“, or the overuse of linear, bullet-pointed presentation methods in today’s information-drenched warfare. I have no quarrel with the reporting in the […]

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