Management
M ore than 80% of restructuring efforts in firms fail. Most explanations focus on poor execution or bad strategy. Our research points to something more uncomfortable: Embarking on organizational transformation isn’t always a rational response to a business challenge but can be a defensive…
On a Tuesday morning, a support agent in Dublin closes a tricky ticket while an engineer in Bengaluru ships a fix, and a sales manager in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, joins a customer call spanning four time zones. None of them set foot in the same building, yet the work clicks.
…
A problem shows up, and the fix usually arrives five minutes later.
“We need more training.”
“We need a better system.”
“We need another person.”
“We need a new checklist.”
Sometimes one of those answers is exactly right. Too often it’s not. The…
People pitch ideas all the time. Most of those pitches never get heard. Why? Because they don’t consider the audience.
I get ideas pitched to me all the time. My inbox is flooded by emails from PR professionals asking me to carry guest blog posts, do book reviews, share their…
In my earlier writing, I’ve leaned on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s ladder. This is the closing move of his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, where once you have climbed through the propositions you discard them because they have “served their purpose.” I’ve used this language game often enough that I…
When former United States secretary of state Madeleine Albright said, “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other,” that quip captured a widespread expectation that women who reach the top should pull others up behind them. Yet it’s not uncommon for junior female…