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...
What Baseball Can Teach Us About Team Chemistry
In the movie, Miracle about the 1980 US men’s Olympic hockey team, there is a scene where head coach Herb Brooks is evaluating talent. At one point he turns to his assistant coach Craig Patrick and says: “I’m not looking for the best players, Craig. I’m looking for the right ones.” Brooks was searching for that elusive element: Team Chemistry. What is Team Chemistry exactly? It is something that has vexed coaches, players and fans for ages. It appears that successful teams have Team Chemistry...
7 Leadership Lessons from a CEO
I recently had an opportunity to hear Gail McGovern speak to a group of high-potential leaders at the American Red Cross headquarters in Washington, DC. She shared her personal history from her early career at AT&T where she started as a computer programmer and rose to Executive Vice President. There were a lot of lessons learned along her career journey, and here are seven she shared with the next generation of leadership at the Red Cross: 1. Pick the best people. Attract, retain and...
Urgency for Leadership Development is Growing
Leadership development has long been considered a discretionary expense. During economic downturns it is often one of the first budget line-items to be cut. However, there was a different feeling this time around. As we entered the recession in 2008 and 2009 there was hope, and some evidence, that companies had learned from past downturns. Eliminating leadership development only left them further behind when the economy did start picking up again, as it inevitably does. In the Wall Street...
A Netflix Competition Highlights Trends in Talent Management
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...
Using Soccer to Teach Leadership
Soccer is by far the world’s most popular sport. In many ways, soccer, or football as it is known outside of America, transcends the sports world and is deeply embedded in the culture of most countries. The hype and media saturation of soccer is going to increase steadily as we approach World Cup 2010 in South Africa. The Confederation Cup Final, June 28th featuring the United States versus Brazil, was an exciting prelude to what we can expect next summer. ...