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Back to the Cottage is the story of John Sipple's odyssey from the ‘Cottage’ to the corporation, and how he has relied on the values and principles he has learned in the ‘Cottage’ business of his youth.
Back to the Cottage is the story of John Sipple's odyssey from the ‘Cottage’ to the corporation, and how he has relied on the values and principles he has learned in the ‘Cottage’ business of his youth.

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Published in Work and Stress, and reported in Psychology Today a study shows the adverse impact of a bad boss on employee well being. Dan Wooldridge explains four types of bad bosses.
Malcolm Salter's book may be the best informed treatment of Enron so far. And the questions he can't answer may be even more significant than those he can.
Jim Hancock / Jul 15 2008
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John Moore over at Brand Autopsy writes a pithy summary of an article on Steve Jobs (Good Steve, Bad Steve by Fortune, March 17, 2008) . It's worth the read as he provides capsule insights on topics such as:
  • Being innovative
  • Connecting with customers
  • Staying focused
  • Managing people
  • Hiring talented people

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Moreover, there is something unnatural in the high corporate mortality rate; no living species, for instance, endures such a large gap between its maximum life expectancy and its average realization...Why, then, do so many companies die prematurely?...Companies die because their managers focus on the economic activity of producing goods and services, [...] Arie de Geus
In this second part of the series, Dan Wooldridge witnesses the potential for damage if we ignore our influence on anyone who might be watching us.
John Sipple ends the Back To The Cottage series by reflecting on the personal experiences that accompanied him on his journey from the Cottage to the Corporation and back, pointing out the significant turning points that shaped his character.

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Five breakthrough techniques: unconditional responsibility, unflinching integrity, authentic communication, impeccable commitments, right leadership
In this chapter of Back To The Cottage, John Sipple gathers his newly formed teams together to redesign and reimplement the foundational principles and organization of the entire Foley plant. Along the way they give Foley employees a stronger sense of ownership of their work, and change the leadership model from a "straw boss" style to a coaching model. They also rework the way skills are developed with the organization.
At 35, Loïc Le Meur has carved a niche by ignoring business conventions, respecting competitors, building relationships and learning his lessons out in the open.
Jim Hancock / Dec 12 2007
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Second in Bernard Moon's two-part recollection on how business ethics can be passed from one generation to the next.
Bernard Moon / Jul 29 2008
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In this chapter of Back To The Cottage, John Sipple describes how the Foley pulp mill organization demonstrated their resilience after Procter and Gamble's unexpected sale of the mill.
In this chapter, John tells 5 stories of how the principles dictated by the employees and leadership of the Foley pulp mill began to play out in reality.

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"Fear can get you to stop doing something counterproductive, but it cannot motivate you to do your best." Kathleen D. Ryan
For six decades, family-owned In-N-Out Burger has delivered on its business philosophy: "Give customers the freshest, highest quality foods." So what's the problem?
Jim Hancock / Feb 23 2006
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The measure of leadership is not the quality of the head, but the tone of the body. The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict? Max DePree
In this final chapter of Back To The Cottage, John focuses on the art of leadership: who are the leaders? What exactly do they do? How are they developed?
As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.
Dan Wooldridge points out four things that jetBlue is doing to enable it to successfully respond to its recent crisis that stranded passengers on the runway for 11 hours.
Google, selected by Fortune as the #1 company to work for, exhibits a culture and leadership that seems more like the biblical concept of a household, oikos, rather than a modern company.

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An institution's future is fragile. What ensures it? A number of things, each of them fragile - every promotion, every decision related to changes in leadership, the degree to which leaders balance the forces of change and continuity. Annual plans or strategic initiatives do not guarantee an institution's future; they may even betray it by blinding the organization to other goals. [...] Max DePree

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Most people would agree that Lee Iacocca, Joan of Arc, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Margaret Thatcher were all strong leaders. With some ingenuity, we could extract a list of common traits they shared -- although the more you know about any of them as an individual, [...] William Bridges
Inc.com reports the finding from a recent Harris Interactive poll for Deloitte & Touche in Stress and Long Hours Prompt Employees to Lie, Cheat, and Steal. The article summarizes two key findings from a poll of over 1,000 employees nationwide this past February.

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...one last word of advice: build on the ordinary and expect the extraordinary. Build your team of people around the talents and skills of the ordinary person, not just around the special skills and talents of those few extraordinary people. After all, there are many more ordinary people - more [...] C. William Pollard

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Wooden-headedness, the source of self-deception, is a factor that plays a remarkably large role in government. It consists in assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts. [...] Barbara W. Tuchman
Starting his new assignment reorganizing the run-down Foley pulp mill in Florida, John begins building his cross-organization leadership team.
Thanksgiving is a feast of sports, mainly football, as well as of turkey. Dan Wooldridge shares some links and lessons learned about life, business, and the economy from sports.
Abraham Maslow is widely credited with originating the Four Stages of Learning model for individual and corporate change. Though Maslow never did much with it, a good many people have taken a swing at improving on his thinking about how organizations learn and change (Mike Vance introduced the model to us about 1980). The Change Engine is our attempt to account for key variables in perception and behavior — especially as they affect corporate learning. [first in a series]
Jim Hancock / Oct 2 2008
Articles
In this second part of the series, Dan Wooldridge tells the story of the second billionaire who, too, lost his legacy. Out of this story he pulls out a lesson on leaving a legacy in the business you have created.
Business can be messy — no news there. Sometimes it remains messy right to the end. Bernard Moon reflects on what can happen when you don't get a great finish...
Bernard Moon / Sep 10 2008
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Jim Hancock draws from Marcum and Smith's book Egonomics to point out the cost of ego in business.
Jim Hancock / Sep 18 2007
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