Strategy

01.06.2015
New Year's Resolutions
Happy New Year! At the beginning of each new year, many individuals, particularly Americans, develop New Year’s Resolutions for themselves. Doing this is neither new nor all that unique. Babylonians made resolutions 2500 years ago, and since then, everyone has followed. About 45% [1] of all Americans will make resolutions this year – typically to […]

12.16.2014
The First 10 Minutes of Your Day
Today’s Tuesday Reading, “How to Spend the First 10 Minutes of Your Day” <http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/06/how-to-spend-the-first-10-minutes-of-your-day/>, appeared in the HBR blog and is from the pen of Ron Friedman, founder of ignite80, a consulting firm that helps leaders build thriving organizations. Friedman notes that if you were given the privilege of working in the kitchen of legendary […]

12.09.2014
Personal Priorities
Today’s Tuesday Reading is a reflection written for his cohort by Patrick Widham, IT Support Manager at Montana State University and recent IT Leaders Program alum. When we started the first session, I mentioned that I was like a sponge and wanted to soak in all of the information I could. Looking back on […]

12.02.2014
4 Ways to Retrain Your Brain to Handle Information Overload
Today’s Tuesday Reading, “Why We Humblebrag About Being Busy,” comes from the pen of Greg McKeown and recently appeared in the HBR blogs. McKeown is author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less and is a business writer, consultant, and researcher specializing in leadership, strategy design, collective intelligence and human systems. McKeown begins his essay “We have […]

10.28.2014
Creating a Pocket of Greatness
Last summer, for a leadership reflection, John Shutt, Instructional Media Coordinator at Michigan State University, pointed his colleagues in their leadership program, to a short audio clip of Jim Collins’ discussion of “Creating a Pocket of Greatness.” Collins is a noted leadership author known for his books Good to Great and Level 5 Leadership. The central focus of […]

10.20.2014
3 Underappreciated IT Leadership Skills?
The Tuesday Reading today is “3 Underappreciated IT Leadership Skills?”, a commentary appearing this past July in Information Week. The essay’s authors are Whitney Hischier and Rajiv Ball, lecturers at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business where they teach the Business Leadership for IT Professionals program. Ball and Hischier note that today’s world is far […]

10.07.2014
My Workable Combination of Tools to Strategically Plan and Manage My Tasks
Today’s Tuesday Reading is a reflection written for his cohort by James Lewis, Academic Technology Support Infrastructure Manager, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas, Austin and a recent IT Leaders Program alum. While preparing to write this leadership reflection, I initially thought I would focus on the challenges of creating networks for those of […]

09.30.2014
Take a Walk, Sure, but Don’t Call It a Break
The Tuesday Reading today is “Take a Walk, Sure, but Don’t Call It a Break”, an essay that appeared early in the year in the HBR blogs. Its author, Dan Pallotta, is an expert in nonprofit sector innovation and a pioneering entrepreneur. He is founder of Pallotta TeamWorks, which invented the multi-day AIDSRides and Breast […]
09.09.2014
Develop Strategic Thinkers Throughout Your Organization
The Tuesday Reading today is “Develop Strategic Thinkers Throughout Your Organization” by Robert Kabacoff, Vice President of Research at the Management Research Group. The essay appeared in the HBR Blog earlier this year. Kabacoff begins his essay by noting that multiple studies have shown that “strategic thinkers are found to be among the most highly effective leaders.” He […]

06.10.2014
Every Leader Needs a Challenger in Chief
This week’s Tuesday Reading is Every Leader Needs a Challenger in Chief, an essay, which appeared last fall at bloomberg dot com, by Noreena Hertz. Hertz is professor of globalization at Rotterdam School om Management, Erasmus University and University College London, and is author of Eyes Wide Open: How to Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World. Professor […]

03.18.2014
Four Keys to Thinking About the Future
The Tuesday Reading this week is “Four Keys to Thinking About the Future”, an essay by Jeffrey Gedmin that appeared on the Harvard Business School blogs. Gedmin is President and CEO of the Legatum Institute in London. Prior to joining the Legatum Institute in 2011, he spent four years as President and CEO of Radio […]

03.04.2014
Strategy Without Execution Is Hallucination!
The Tuesday Reading today, “Strategy Without Execution Is Hallucination!” has a title that comes from a presentation to a McGill MBA class by Mike Roach, the CEO of CGI, a 31,000 person IT firm. The essay first appeared in Karl Moore’s Forbes column on Leadership. The author is Rebecca Black, a McGill graduate and now a […]

02.25.2014
Three Leadership Lessons from Sochi: Practice, Practice, Practice
Today’s Tuesday Readng, “Three Leadership Lessons from Sochi: Practice, Practice, Practice,” appeared in the strategy+business blog. It comes from the pen of Eric J. McNulty, director of research at the National Preparedness Leadership Institute. No one excels without lots of practice. Most athletes at the 2014 Olympics have been practicing hours almost every day for […]
02.11.2014
6 Management Lessons From Visionary Leaders
Today’s Tuesday Reading, “6 Management Lessons from Visionary Women Leaders,” is from the pen of Lydia Dishman, a business journalist covering innovation, entrepreneurship and style, and appeared recently in FastCompany. Dishman notes that it has been a big year for women in leadership. In her piece, she focuses on women who have recently become or […]

02.04.2014
Doing Less, Leading More
Today’s Tuesday Reading is an essay, “Doing Less, Leading More” by Ed Batista. The essay recently appeared in the Harvard Business Review’s Blog Network. Batista is an executive coach and an Instructor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He writes regularly on issues related to coaching and professional development at <edbatista.com>. This essay was recently […]

01.14.2014
After Action Reviews
Peter Senge has written that After Action Reviews (AAR), the subject of today’s Tuesday Reading, are “one of the most successful organizational learning methods yet devised.” AARs were designed by the Army as a tool to be used after a project or major activity has been completed. It allows employees and leaders to learn what […]

12.03.2013
Real Influence – Part 1
I’ve titled this week’s Tuesday Reading “Real Influence” from the title of Mark Goulston and John Ullmen’s book “Real Influence: Persuade Without Pushing and Gain Without Giving In.” Goulston is a business psychiatrist, executive coach and cofounder of Heartfelt Leadership. Ullmen oversees the website MotivationRules.com and teaches at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. This reading is […]

11.12.2013
I'm Thinking. Please. Be Quiet
Today’s Tuesday Reading is the essay “I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.” which appeared in the August 24, 2013 issue of The New York Times. George Prochink, the essay’s author, is also author of the forthcoming book, “The Impossible Exile.” Around 1850, philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who felt that he had been tortured by noise all his life, […]

11.01.2013
World Series MVP David Ortiz's Big, Bold, On-the-fly Leadership Lessons
Leadership lessons continue to flow from the recent worst-to-first Red Sox season. Here is a great article from Fast Company on David Ortiz and leadership, “World Series MVP David Ortiz’s Big, Bold, On-the-fly Leadership Lessons“. It’s lessons: 1. Borrow from other industries. I.e., the huddle. Video of Papi rallies his teammates in dugout […]