Do employee engagement surveys filter out potential great leaders?
Did you see the recent article “Working at Amazon Is a Soul-Crushing Experience“? It was written by an ex-employee so he should know, or should he? It’s raised much controversy ranging from the defenders of Bezos to those who say I told you so. We have other poster-boys for alleged employee abuse including Elon Musk […]
Low EQ = High Business Acumen?
Well I’m sure that this post will get me flamed but here’s going anyhow. Emotional intelligence is hot. It’s supposed to make you a better leader. How so? By making you more sensitive to your fellow man, it’s supposed to make your followers more engaged, more loyal to you and so on. The same with […]
When Will Cyber-Spying Become Telepathy?
Another day, another mega-hack. Sears, JP Morgan, the US Post office, etc. The only organizations that haven’t been hacked are the ones that don’t realize it has happened to them anyway. It’s clear that a new type of digital ecosystem is emerging. In this ecosystem, cyber spies are continuously monitoring what you are doing. Meanwhile […]
What’s the Difference between Entrepreneurship and Innovation?
You can’t lift up any piece of news or commentary these days without seeing a discussion or article about entrepreneurship and innovation and how to improve one, the other or both. Prescriptions abound. But my question is: are entrepreneurship and innovation the same thing or are they different? I ask that because you usually see […]
Peter Thiel “Zero to One”: Monopoly-ness is Closest to Godliness!
I just read Peter Thiel’s new book “One to Zero”. You know Peter Thiel right? Co-founded Paypal, founded Palantir, well-known for his scholarships that give chosen entrepreneurs $100,000 if they quit college and start a company. Quite a guy. The book is really a series of reflections on innovation and entrepreneurship whose quality varies more […]
The Rosetta Probe and the New Era of Spacefarer Leadership
I guess you’ve been seeing all the news about the Rosetta probe that has now just rendezvoused with the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. To do that it had to travel 4 billion miles over a period of 10 years, and make several gravity-assisted flybys of several planets in an incredibly convoluted series of space maneuvers. What’s the odds […]
Can Good Leadership Trump Bad Corporate Genes? Why Tesla Should Buy Chrysler Out of Fiat
There’s that perennial debate about nature versus nurture. With companies it’s corporate genes and leadership. I think the issue is rearing its head again now that Fiat is buying out the rest of Chrysler that it doesn’t own. My prediction: it’s going to be a bust. Think about it. Two companies, both perennially unsuccessful, that […]
The Role of Chutzpah in Leadership: Re-Electrify GE with Elon Musk?
You don’t hear much about that one, chutzpah, right? Yet its probably one of the most under-rated of the leadership qualities. The polite definition of a person with chutzpah is someone who likes to disrupt the status quo. The impolite one is it’s someone who likes to stick it in the eye to an organization […]