33: The Talent Fantasy
Enron recruited big talent, mostly people with fancy degrees, which is not in itself bad. It paid them big money, which is not terrible. But by putting complete faith in talent, Enron did a fatal thing; it created a culture that worshipped talent, thereby forcing its employees to look and act extraordinarily talented. [...]
Look, you think you're smarter than Daniel.
No enigmas can stump you.
Your sharp intelligence
made you world-wealthy.
You piled up gold and silver
in your banks.
You used your head well,
worked good deals, made a lot of money. [...]
32: Hiring
Aug 16 2010Bradford D. Smart, Ph.D.
You, the hiring manager, meet the candidates, perhaps for lunch, explain what the job needs are, ask a few questions about their experience and interests, sell the job a bit, and respond to questions. [...]
Proverbs 26:10
Like an archer who wounds everyone,So is he who hires a fool or who hires those who pass by. [...]
31: Simple Essence
Aug 2 2010Peter Arnell
You have to find the inner truth about the message of your product. To gain the loyalty and trust of consumers, your message -- conveyed through advertising or marketing -- has to be authentic. [...]
II Corinthians 11:3
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. [...]
30: Clarity in Confusion
Jul 26 2010Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand, Joseph Lampel
...the leader creates the combination of optimism and action that allows people to turn their confusion into meaning and find their way home. [...]
Acts 19:32
The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. [...]
29: Crisis Economics
Jul 19 2010Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm
Financial crises disappeared only after the Great Depression, a period that coincided with the rise of the United States as a global superpower. At the same time the U.S. government reined in financial institutions with legislation like the Glass-Steagall Act and shored them up by creating agencies like the SEC and FDIC. [...]
Jeremiah 17:7-8
7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. [...]
28: Out of Gas
Jul 12 2010Gordon MacDonald
...one who is dried out has reached that state by not taking anything into the inner chambers of life for quite some time...The unfilled spiritual tank is an invitation to disaster, and many of us have known that awful moment when, like a car out of gas, we seem to cough and sputter and pull over to the shoulder, out of service, not able to go any further. [...]
Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God,earnestly I seek you;my soul thirsts for you,my body longs for you, [...]
27: Freedom
Jul 5 2010J.I. Packer
One aspect of this freedom is integrity, that simplicity and purity of heart which, as Kierkegaard analyzed it, consists in willing one thing, namely the will and glory of God, so that one's motives are freed from the taint of self-regard. [...]
I Peter 2:16
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. [...]
26: Perspective on Work
Jun 28 2010Dan Miller
The Bible gives dignity to any work. All occupations are sacred. "Called to ministry" or "full time service" are simply cultural misrepresentations of God's view of meaningful work. We need to eliminate the artificial ranking of the godliness of work. [...]
Colossians 3:22
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, [...]
25: Effective Praise
Jun 21 2010Daniel Coyle
...Dweck did (a series of experiments) with four hundred new York fifth graders...It's goal was to see how much a tiny signal - a single sentence of praise - can affect performance and effort, and what kind of signal is most effective. [...]
Proverbs 25:11
The right word at the right timeis like a custom-made piece of jewelry, [...]
24: Goals at Work
Jun 14 2010Geoff Colvin
Self-regulation begins with setting goals. These are not big, life-directing goals, but instead are more immediate goals for what you're going to be doing today. In the research, the poorest performers don't set goals at all; they just slog through their work. [...]
I Corinthians 9:26-27
26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. [...]
23: Strategic Arrogance
Jun 7 2010Admiral Bill Owens with Ed Offley
Historians tend to focus on the reasons for success. Their fascination is with victory, and although a lot has been written about why losses occur, most historical tracts address the reasons that one side won. [...]
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction,a haughty spirit before a fall. [...]
22: Purposeful Practice
May 31 2010Matthew Syed
Purposeful practice is about striving for what is just out of reach and not quite making it; it is about grappling with tasks beyond current limitations and falling short again and again. [...]
James 1:2-5, 12
21: Danger of Elitism
May 25 2010Joshua Cooper Ramo
Today our global policy is largely conducted by elites who are descendants of Morgenthau and disciples of Babst. By definition such people make pretty poor revolutionaries. Why change a system that's been working well for you? [...]
John 11:47-48
Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." [...]
20: Importance of Culture
May 17 2010Jeremy Gutsche
Culture is more important than strategy. Culture underlies your organization's ability to adapt, and times of dramatic change magnify this importance. [...]
I Thessalonians 1:3
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. [...]
19: Execution
May 10 2010Derek Sivers, quoted in Inc. Blogger Logic
"It's so funny when I hear people being so protective of ideas. (People who want me to sign an NDA to tell me the simplest idea.)…The most brilliant idea, with no execution, is worth $20. [...]
James 2:20
But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? [...]
18: Worldview Matters
May 3 2010Joshua Cooper Ramo
As a perplexed Alan Greenspan confessed to Congress about his own thinking in 2008 ... "I have found a flaw. I don't know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by the fact." [...]
Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. [...]
17: Commitment to Employees
Apr 26 2010Geoff Colvin
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly understands the point. The company has had no layoffs in its thirty-eight years, and while he makes no promises about the future, he knows what's at stake. [...]
John 10:27-29
27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. [...]
16: Theft
Apr 19 2010Charles Gave
Most illuminating! An investment is made, at great expense. A contract is agreed and the labor will be paid by a share of the wine-harvest. To begin with, the wine-growers merely want to avoid paying the farm rent, which amounts to saying that they do no want to give what is due to capital. [...]
Matthew 21:33-41
33"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. [...]
15: Insight
Apr 12 2010Tim Brown
Insight is one of the key resources of design thinking, and it does not usually come from reams of quantitative data that measure exactly what we already have and tell s what we already know. [...]
Proverbs 24:32
I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw
14: Conviction
Apr 5 2010Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
When you don't know what you believe, everything becomes an argument. Everything is debatable. But when you stand for something, decisions are obvious.For example, Whole Foods stands for selling the highest quality natural and organic products available. [...]
Joshua 1:7
Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. [...]
13: Means of Production
Mar 29 2010Stan Davis and Christopher Meyer
... Capital continues to change its appearance, or guise, and has come to mean different things to different people at different times ... capital is a constant, in that it represents an accumulation of productive capacity. [...]
Proverbs 3:19-20;
19By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place;20 by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew. [...]
12: Disruption
Mar 23 2010Michael J. Panzer
Mounting logistical disruptions, tighter borders, heightened geopolitical instability, rising costs of key inputs like water and energy, and an assortment of dislocations will shoot holes in many of the old theories about how to improve efficiency and boost growth. [...]
Revelation 18:11-19
11"The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more— 12cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; 13cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men. [...]
11: Timing
Mar 15 2010Malcolm Gladwell
The sense of possibility so necessary for success comes not just from inside us or from our parents. It comes from our time: from the particular opportunities that our particular place n history presents us with. [...]
Esther 4:14
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" [...]
10: Denying Reality
Mar 8 2010Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
...it's basic human behavior for many, if not most, people to deny reality, and embrace unreality, when the reality is more than they can bear. Business is no exception, despite the tendency of businesspeople to consider themselves uncommonly realistic. [...]
Matthew 13:13-17
13 This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: " 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. [...]
9: Leadership Juggling Act
Mar 1 2010Robert Kegan
Were Peter to tell us what it really felt like to be "Mr. President," he might say something like this: "Honestly? It's definitely a different ballgame! What game is it? Well, let's see. [...]
Exodus 18:17-26
17 Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. [...]
8: Ending Winning Streaks
Feb 22 2010Rosabeth Moss Kanter
All too often, long periods of continued success are undermined not by the competition but by self-inflicted wounds...Winners become sinners when confidence turns into complacency and arrogance. They over-estimate their own invincibility and under-value mundane disciplines. [...]
Ezekiel 28:4-7
4 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself and amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.5 By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, and because of your wealth your heart has grown proud. [...]
7: National Debt
Feb 16 2010Lawrence H. Summers
How long can the world’s biggest borrower remain the world’s biggest power? [...]
Proverbs 22:7
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. [...]
6: Finish Strong
Feb 8 2010Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
We must develop a compelling vision of later life, one that does not assume a trajectory of decline after fifty but recognizes this as a time of potential change, growth, and new learning, a time when our "courage gives us hope." [...]
II Timothy 4:6-7
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. [...]
5: Customer Retention
Feb 1 2010Ethan M. Rasiel and Paul N. Friga
Focus your client retention efforts on the long term. Base every decision on how it will affect the long-term relationship with your client. In the case of McKinsey, one of the most important elements of ensuring long-term successful relationships in the Firm's ability to generate lasting change. [...]
I Thessalonians 3:9-10
For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account, as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith? [...]
4: Best Advice
Jan 25 2010Gary Vaynerchuk
I want to share with you the best business tweet of all time: "What can I do for you?"You'll be amazed at the response you get. You're in business to serve your community. [...]
Mark 10:45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. [...]
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