Push-Pull, and the Physics of Organization Alignment

Business Improvement, Leadership Development, Leadership Transition, Planning

In his 1989 work Mintzberg on Management, Henry Minztberg describes professional organizations as “seemingly upside-down organizations, where the workers sometimes appear to manage the bosses.”  Mintzberg notes that he himself works in a professional organization (at McGill University in Toronto) at least partially “because it is the one place in the world where you can act as if you [are] self-employed [and] yet regularly receive a paycheck.” My work with organizations yields a similar understanding.  One of the striking attributes of professional services firms is the incredible autonomy enjoyed by practicing professionals, often alongside an apparent ’line item veto’ on […]

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Task, Process, and the Quest for Business Improvement

Business Improvement, Leadership Development

A client recently sent over an essay from the January 30th issue of the New Yorker entitled “Groupthink – The Brainstorming Myth,” by Jonah Lehrer.  Here’s the link: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/30/120130fa_fact_lehrer Having worked before together, and knowing my approach, he wondered what I thought. The nut of Lehrer’s argument is that brainstorming doesn’t work – for unleashing the creative power of teams. Brainstorming was first popularized in the 1940’s by Alex Osborn, then a partner in the highly regarded advertising agency BBDO, and today it’s still used widely across the business spectrum.  Lehrer sites a 1958 Yale University study which compared the […]

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Lost Opportunities and Long Term Success

Business Development, Business Improvement

I recently lost an opportunity to another consultant.  It’s always painful.  Frankly it doesn’t happen all that often that we’re in direct competition with other advisors. Greater are the threats of the status quo, fear of change, and general complacency in the client organization. Our strongest competitors are the client acting alone, or worse, not acting at all. Losing a new project opportunity, and more importantly a new relationship opportunity, always disappoints.  What’s more, I’m usually caught off guard – I just don’t see it coming.  (I know this doesn’t make sense. We’re not going to win them all, and […]

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New Year, Take Stock. First Step: The Business Management Audit

Business Improvement, Operations, Planning

At this time each year, organizations launch many new initiatives, to improve their businesses in marketing, leadership, operations, and profitability.  The first step for each of these projects should be a thorough and comprehensive organization assessment – the business management audit – to provide a solid understanding of “current reality” in the firm.  I’ve received a number of questions recently concerning these assessments – how to approach them, who should lead them, what should be included, and such – and so today I’ll share my thoughts on how to best design, execute, and utilize the business management audit. Again, the […]

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