Sterling Performance

Why Everything’s Urgent Now

Joanna Higgins — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:59:27 +0000

The approach of September always seems to bring with it a quickening pace. But while people seem a little more focused, will they get more done? Business guru and author John Kotter believes there’s still a lot of ‘busyness’ masquerading as true urgency — not a state of affairs that can go on much [...]

For Compelling Visions, Keep it Simple

Jo Owen — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:00:49 +0000

Great leaders have great visions. But for every leader who takes you to the Promised Land, there are another dozen who march you straight back into the desert. A great vision is not always good: it can be evil, foolish or evil and foolish - step forward Pol Pot, Stalin and Hitler. In more positive vein, [...]

C K Prahalad: Are Your Business Beliefs Outdated?

Joanna Higgins — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:13:39 +0000

A century ago, Henry Ford’s idea of choice when it came to its Model T was “any colour, as long as it’s black”. Today, the customer calls the shots — increasingly so, says best-selling author and strategy professor C K Prahalad. In his latest book, “The New Age of Innovation”, he argues that customers will increasingly seek [...]

What Makes a Job Miserable?

Joanna Higgins — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:41:38 +0000

It may be silly season, but the numbers on this survey are pretty alarming nonetheless: according to hospitality recruitment website Caterer.com, 66 per cent of 4,300 people it surveyed detest their current job and 43 per cent actively dread going to work every day. The hospitality sector’s employees came out as unexpected cheerleaders for their sector [...]

Why Great Ideas Go To Waste

Robin Stuart-Kotze — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:34:02 +0000

Are you creative? There’s a mistaken belief that very few people are creative and that the rest of us poor plods couldn’t come up with an original idea if it were served to us on a platter. Quotes like: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” (Steve Jobs) are pure rubbish. Everyone has ideas. Some [...]

C K Prahalad: “Don’t Try to Eat the Whole Elephant”

Joanna Higgins — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:20:28 +0000

Laying out how Apple outstrips Facebook, Havas Media Lab’s Umair Haque argues we should start thinking of platforms as markets, like Apple. “Apple took something terminally closed — the mobile value chain — and pried it radically open,” he writes. In doing so, Apple and Google and a handful of others have opened up a new way [...]

The Call for Candour at Work

Joanna Higgins — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:55:38 +0000

A couple of tips: Candour’s much to be admired. But our social upbringing teaches us the need of a little opacity, argues Stefan Stern in the FT. He’s considering the merits of a new book, “Beyond Bullsh*t” by Samuel Culbert, a professor of management at the University of California in Los Angeles, which advocates a return to [...]

Innovate by Numbers: Interview with C K Prahalad

Joanna Higgins — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:36:16 +0000

Author C K Prahalad sees a future where the customer really is king, and businesses will be able to offer individuals just about anything. It’s all explained in his latest book, “The New Age of Innovation”, as much a practical manual as a manifesto for change. It expands on ideas first laid out in previous [...]

What Does the Boss Want from You?

Jo Owen — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:32:54 +0000

Much is made of the art of leadership. But for every leader there are many more followers, and there’s not much in the way of advice on how to follow well. Just as followers complain about their leaders, so leaders despair of their followers — they always seem to want more time, more attention, more money, [...]

How to Get Lucky in Business

Joanna Higgins — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:00:38 +0000

How is it that some companies seem to get so lucky? London Business School professor of strategy Freek Vermeulen discusses the importance of chance events to business in his podcast. Researching his study, “Fortune Favours the Prepared Firm”, Vermeulen discovered that business success often has an element of luck, especially during the early stages of a [...]