CategoryPerformance Management

Use this Richard Feynman Technique to Increase Your Team’s Productivity

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As World War II broke out, the physicist Richard Feynman was recruited to Los Alamos to assist in the development of the first atomic bomb. He was tasked with calculating the energy released by the nuclear explosion. Machines were brought in from IBM to assist in the task. Although state of art in their day, they were crude mechanical calculators that used punch cards to execute complicated calculations. The Army dispatched a group called the Special Engineering Detachment to operate the...

The 8 Most Important Qualities of Leadership at Google

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For most of Google’s history, and especially in the early years, it took a laissez-faire policy toward leadership. The company hired smart engineers, promoted the most brilliant into leadership positions and then pretty much left them alone. The assumption was that they were smart and would figure it out or ask questions if they needed help. As Google evolved, it became apparent that some managers thrived in this environment more than others.  In a recent article, Laszlo Bock, Google’s...

Feedback is a Gift

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“Get a feedback loop and listen to it. … When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it.” – Randy Pausch (1960 – 2008) was a Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and a best-selling author, who achieved worldwide fame for his speech The Last Lecture, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and having only a few months to live. Most people, by now, know the story of Randy Pausch and his Last Lecture.    The book was a best-seller and the video of the lecture...

Something to be Thankful for: Your People

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As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow with our families, now is an appropriate time to take account of the many things to be thankful for at work.  As a leader, what comes to mind for me is the debt and gratitude I have for the people I have the honor to work with everyday.  So how do I, as a leader thank the many people around me who not only contribute to my success, but more importantly to the success of the organization?  One way is to simply say “thank you.”  But another more...

Leadership and Time Management

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Earlier this month, while catching a flight home to Seattle from New York City after a long week on the road meeting with clients, I made it to my seat, sat down and breathed a huge sigh of relief.  For a moment, it was bliss.  I knew in a few hours I would be home to see my family.  But then the slow, creeping realization set in that my email in-box was overloaded with hundreds of emails I was unable to get to while on the road.  Furthermore, I had five voicemails on my cell phone and probably...

A Netflix Competition Highlights Trends in Talent Management

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In October 2006, Netflix announced a competition to significantly improve the recommendation system currently used at the popular movie rental site.   Teams and individuals were competing for a $1 million prize.   Last week, an article in the New York Times reported that two finalist teams have been selected and a winner will be declared in September. There was no shortage of entries for this competition, so what was it that contributed to the success of these two teams?  When pressed, these...

Deliberate Practice

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The common attribute of high performers in sports, music and chess is not talent, as is so often assumed, but 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.  This begs the question, what is deliberate practice and can it be applied to individuals and organizations to improve the quality of business leadership?  The following is an adaptation of a set of principles defined by Geoff Colvin in the book, “Talent is Overrated.”  By studying the principles of deliberate practice and how successful business...

How Wikis Transform Learning

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A wiki is an open-source application that allows any user to submit and edit content.  The most popular and famous wiki to date is Wikipedia, an open-source web-based encyclopedia written entirely by volunteer contributors.  Wikipedia has grown rapidly to become the largest reference work ever published in the history of mankind. The popularity of wikis has not gone unnoticed by the business community.  Companies are beginning to recognize the transformative nature of wikis and are using them...

Performance Review vs. Performance Preview

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On October 20, 2008, one of the top 3 articles emailed on the Wall Street Journal was not about the election, or the sinking stock market.  It was about one of the lowliest and least popular of all business activities — the Performance Review.  Why did an article about the performance review rise above the noise of a contentious general election and panicky stock market?  The answer just may be the title of the article itself, “Get Rid of the Performance Review!” by Samuel A. Culbert, a...

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