2009 March | Managing Leadership

Monthly Archives: March 2009

Funny business

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Have you ever noticed how some of the very best dramatic actors started out as comedians? It doesn’t seem a very likely outcome, does it? After all, dramatic actors can spend years of arduous effort perfecting their craft. . .

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The nature to nurture

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

One of the more entertaining scientific exercises to observe is the never-ending struggle to identify the capacity or characteristic that separates humans from animals. And one of the more amusing things about it is how involved we are with each new pronouncement on the subject. . .

Filed in Culture, Group Dynamics | | Comments (0)

Business Evolution

Monday, March 9, 2009

Many of us have a tendency to anthropomorphize the concept of evolution. We think of it as animated by a sort of ingrained competitive instinct, or, perhaps, straining toward a pure standard of excellence, a state of perfection. But the truth is . . .

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Brilliant conversationalist

Friday, March 6, 2009

The fellow had been conversing with an executive at a business gathering. Someone approached them, and the executive introduced the fellow, describing him, in all sincerity, as the smartest guy in the room. But the thing is, he hadn’t really said anything . . .

Filed in Communication, Management Skills | | Comments (6)

Fishy talk

Thursday, March 5, 2009

“If a fish could speak,” Marshall McLuhan once famously said, “water is the last thing it would identify as part of its environment.” Sounds right, doesn’t it? We all talk about what strikes us as remarkable, not what is so obvious as to fade imperceptibly into the background of our lives. This applies as much to what we do, ourselves, as to what we see being done around us. Oddly, though, we tend to assume that others talk, with ease and insight, about what is perfectly natural to them. But, truth be told . . .

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Double vision

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The pressure-cooker world of modern management drives many of us to seek to streamline our lives by defining our choices down. In the context of our recent discussion of the hedgehog and the fox, we want to develop and present ourselves as either intensely focused individuals or big-picture types. Or at least, we try to limit the problem to being only one of those at a time. Once we think we’ve got that sorted out for ourselves, we hope to convince everyone else that that is what we really ought to be. But the truth is, neither approach is effective – or meaningful – without . . .

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Oxygen deprivation

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

There is a lot talk in business, these days, about the 30,000 foot view. The problem is that if it remains an abstract overview – or even an isolated, strategic indulgence – it all too often simply drifts away, unanchored as its to our real daily lives and work. . .

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