The importance of understanding your followers.

Peter Drucker, considered to be one of the wisest business educators of the twenty-first century coined the term, counterfeit executives.  According to Drucker, counterfeit executives were individuals who could present a stylish business image but lacked actual management skills. Chainsaw Al Albert J. Dunlap often referred to as Chainsaw Al, created an image of himself…

In Stephen R. Covey’s legendary best-seller, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People the term leadership isn’t mentioned.  But, given that successful leaders are usually highly effective people it’s worth considering how Covey’s Seven Habits could apply to our perspective on leadership. Independence Covey didn’t identify independence as one of the habits of effective people. …

In 1938 New Jersey Bell Telephone Company President, Chester I. Barnard, published a book entitled, The Functions of the Executive.  Barnard’s book laid out his understanding of leadership.  Challenging the Status Quo Academics of organizational behaviour were puzzled over Barnard’s ideas.   Some even thought his ideas were radical.  This is because Barnard challenged the traditional…

To build a strong team, it’s important to understand how teams develop.  Stages of Team Development Most business academics believe that teams undergo a series of predictable stages throughout their development.  One of the earliest theories of team development was created by B. Tuckman.  Tuckman’s theory is still widely used today.  Tuckman’s model outlined four…

Polarity Management Polarity Management is a set of management principles that can help a manager manage a business operation more effectively.  Polarity management requires a manager to discern whether an issue is one that can be solved or one that needs to be managed.  Doing so works to the advantage of the organization they are…

Heuristics, sometimes referred to as an educated guess, a rule of thumb, or even common sense, is a method of problem solving that many people use because it is quick and easy to use. The hindsight bias is a type of heuristics that many of us confuse for the ability to predict the future, when…

Peter Drucker The legendary business academic, Peter Drucker, first used the term “knowledge worker” in his book, The Landmarks of Tomorrow (1959).  According to Drucker, a knowledge worker was someone who functioned at a high-level in an organization by applying formally acquired training to develop products and services needed by the company they worked for. …

What is Peer-to-Peer Texting? In a world where people are inundated with emails, phone calls, and pop-up ads, how can you reach your target audience?   Texting is Different Many of us are quick to respond to text messages.  In fact, advertisers report, that on average, 98% of text messages sent out are opened within…