Tag Archive
approaches business change change management cognition compliments conscious creativity culture decisions emotions employees feelings Harvard Business Review Influence innovation intuition knowledge leadership listen logic management organization people Performance Personality perspective power problem process rationale relationships sensitive people sensitivity solve subconscious Talent Techniques technology The Atlantic The Economist The New Yorker think Thoughts training
Why Problems Occur (Alert #1): Easy over Difficult
This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Why Problems OccurWhen problems occur or when trying to anticipate them in problem solving, I look for seven alerts. While no single one automatically creates a problem, two or three get me there. The first alert is when I find people tending to do the [… Read More]
Solving the Nonproductiveness of Telecommuting Workforces
The article “Face Time” (The New Yorker, March 18, 2013 edition) by James Surowiecki discusses telecommuting’s downsides by focusing on its interpersonal challenges. For instance, studies find in-person informal and spontaneous interactions are extremely productive, and managers suffer from accurately valuating the work of telecommuters. All hurt telecommuters’ productivity. For example, Sociometric Solutions’ CEO, Ben [… Read More]
Top Seven Sun Tzu Quotes: #6 Seeking Victory
This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Sun Tzu Top 7At number six in my list of top seven Sun Tzu quotes from The Art of War, I have: Therefore, a skilled commander seeks victory from the situation and does not demand it of his subordinates. One aspect of Sun Tzu that [… Read More]
Natural Mistake of Grouping
Look at the figure to the right. The top is a multicolored square, the bottom a gray one. Yet, only one single attribute distinguishes the two: the top is a 10,000-x magnification of the bottom. The “gray” square is too large for me to load on the blog; however, if you copy and magnify it, [… Read More]
Best Sun Tzu Quote: Pinnacle of Skill
This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Sun Tzu Top 7Before his writings became a business management guide, I had read Sun Tzu’s The Art of War back in the early eighties. Yes, it can be almost psychopathic to view any business competitors as the “enemy.” Yet, if we view the enemy [… Read More]
Creators vs. Pruners: Personality Typing
In the development of ideas, we generally see two types of people: creators and pruners. While people often display both types, usually one is dominant. Creators birth ideas or develop existing ones further by adding onto them. Pruners take ideas and modify them to fit a situation. Whereas ideation tends to be a growing process [… Read More]
Creative Innovation (Pt 15): Prototypes as Obstacles
This entry is part 15 of 15 in the series Creative Innovation“Once he gets an idea in his head, there’s no changing it!” As common as this comment is, it’s true for us all to some degree. It’s formally called anchoring. Such ideas can alter our thinking and feeling processes and undermine our creative efforts. [… Read More]
Predictability as Hell: A Problem-solving Perspective
Businesses strive for predictability. Standardization helps them achieve that. Still, many employees like their jobs for their variability, “It’s something different every day.” Herein is a paradox. On one hand, we have predictability containing expenses by minimizing surprises. On the other hand, work’s variability gives us pleasure. Could predictability make us wealthy but miserable too? [… Read More]
Lightning-rod Employee (Scapegoat)
Early on in my career, I witnessed a manager’s termination for the incompetence of her boss. The strategy he outlined for her area failed, and she became the scapegoat. Ironically, the firm terminated her boss a couple years later, but not until he had wreaked havoc on other careers. We commonly see it in sports [… Read More]
Assessing Creative Problem Solving: Outlier Technique
Identifying creativity isn’t easy, but it is possible and can be done without assessment tools. It begins with identifying outlying answers to our questions. There are differences between people who give standard answers and creative ones, and differences between people who can solve problems and people who are problem solvers. In other words, when we [… Read More]