Businesses today are plagued by people who are "installed" in leadership positions just because of their prior performance as a "worker". I have seen some excellent technical brains failing miserably as project leaders. Why so? The answer is simple – they got into a leadership position as a natural progression without any reality check on […]
On 8th Jan, 2010, I wrote a post on Quality and Quantity – Compliance and Excellence. The post resulted in some very interesting conversations in form of comments and in-person conversations. The gist of my post was: Quality is to first ask “Why are we doing it?”, “Is it worth doing it at-all?”. Quality is […]
You are not doing much if you are not being criticized, it is said. As you set out to start your week, remember the following quote from Theodore Roosevelt. It is awe-inspiring. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of […]
Going by numbers is a great way to stay in control (or at least feel that way). Numbers are exciting. But when you choose to go by numbers alone, the tradeoff can be huge. Numbers should map with a purpose, else they can mislead. Consider the following conversations. Have you heard them before? I have! […]
A few weeks back, I wrote about “toxic leadership” and how it is a huge cost to organizations. This week, I was led to think about another cost – “reactive leadership”. Leaders cannot be instinctively reactive. Have you ever seen leaders who react to situations and take immediate tactical decisions without analyzing the long-term, strategic […]
Nicholas Bate is a prolific thinker, blogger and author. More than that, he is a wonderful friend. He shared some of his best work with me in 2009, in form of his books and innovatively done cards. With his book titled “Instant MBA" – Think, perform and earn like a top business-school graduate” – I […]
When the year ends, we tend to retrospect. Look back and see what worked and what not. Here is a collection of some of the chosen posts, some essential lessons from each month of 2009 (our of total 93 posts written in Y09): January 2009: Explicit versus Tacit – Content versus Process This post talks […]
I was recently studying the anatomy of failed/troubled projects and following came out as a learning. Here are top 10 project management mistakes that should be avoided: Estimating project tasks based on poor inputs on scope and too many assumptions. Starting project without 102% clarity (100% clarity on scope/technology and 2% knowledge of how you […]
Seth Godin recently released a free eBook titled “What Matters Now” – it is a collaborative effort of 70 great thinkers who have presented brilliant ideas that will truly shake you up to think deep and wide as we approach 2010. I read it and found it to be truly REMARKABLE with short and profound […]