Have you ever been in a meeting to make a decision and before the context can be outlined, a few meeting participants have taken over and are going deeper and deeper into a solution based on a suggestion of one of the individuals? Today’s reading, ”Go Broad Before You Go Deep,“ from Roger Schwarz’s Fundamental Change Newsletter and found below, considers just that issue.
In the sports world, a “clutch” player performs best when the pressure is on. [See “Learning to be a ‘Clutch’ Leader” by Sean Silverstone, editor of HBS’s Working Knowledge newsletter.] In the thinking of Paul Sullivan, New York Times business columnist and author of “Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t,” the best example of a “clutch” person is the military leader – someone trained to make combat decisions with life or death consequences. [See, “How Cadets Learn to be ‘Clutch’,”.]
Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft and previously a key figure at Software Arts and at Lotus, and founder of Groove, is leaving Microsoft after a short transition period. Shortly after he made his announcement, Ozzie wrote “Dawn of a New Day,” as an email to Microsoft’s Executive Staff and his direct reports. He also posted it at <http://ozzie.net/docs/dawn-of-a-new-day/>. I believe that this piece is a “must-read” for everyone who is, or who aspires to be, a university IT leader. Ozzie has a good track record at
This Tuesday’s Reading “Lessons in IT Leadership: Doing Less with Less and Failing for Success” is from Mark Katsouros, Director of Telecommunications and Network Services at the University of Iowa.*