November 19th 2008
Like a bunch of eager bunnies, Internet advertising has split, combined, and multiplied into a bewildering array of approaches to advertising on the Web. Using abbreviations such as CPM, CPC, CPA, CPT, and CPS make the novice Net advertiser’s eyes glaze over when he sees this alphabet soup of Net advertising jargon. If this is you, don’t feel bad. You’re not alone. Continue Reading »
November 11th 2008
Perhaps one of the best examples of caring for employees is Raymond Ackerman, who credits part of his success to his good relationship with them. He has always attempted to pay the highest wages and provide the best working conditions in the retail business. He celebrated his sixtieth birthday by sending cake to every one of Pick ‘n Pay’s 27 000 employees!
Keep out the red tape where possible - high achievers are intensely demotivated by it. If you nit-pick about unimportant aspects like taking leave you are on a losing wicket. Continue Reading »
November 10th 2008
The performance of his product was his best publicity! Let it also be yours.
If you are the first in the right market you may need little advertisement. Sun Microsystems’ workstations were the first on the market with the new UNIX operating system and needed no advertisement. They became the world leaders with their Sun workstations and in the early nineties were voted the fastest growing company on the Fortune 500 list, with a phenomenal 114 per cent compounded annual growth rate. Continue Reading »
September 29th 2008
Now that you know the difference between skills, knowledge, and talents, you can use these terms to throw light on all the other words used to describe human behavior—words like “competencies,” “habits,” “attitude,” and “drive.” At present many of us assume that they all mean virtually the same thing. We use phrases like “interpersonal skills,” “skill set,” “work habits,” or “core competencies” so naturally that we rarely question their true meaning. Continue Reading »
September 29th 2008
MYTH #2: “SOME ROLES ARE SO EASY, THEY DON’T REQUIRE TALENT”
The famous management theorist Oscar Wilde once said:
“A truth ceases to be a truth as soon as two people perceive it.”
All right, so Mr. Wilde was better known for his wit than for his management advice; nonetheless, every manager should be required to remember this one remark. Although he phrased it in the extreme, Mr. Wilde simply meant that the only truth is your own. The world you see is seen by you alone. What entices you and what repels you, what strengthens you and what weakens you, is part of a pattern that no one else shares. Therefore, as Mr. Wilde said, no two people can perceive the same “truth,” because each person’s perspective is different. Continue Reading »
September 9th 2008
Getting focused on outcomes is one thing. Figuring out which outcomes are right is something else entirely. So how can you define the right outcomes? Of all the things your people could be doing, how can you know which are the few things they should be doing?
Well, as you would expect, we can’t offer you a step-by-step solution. First, it takes a certain talent to hear the siren song through the clamor. Second, even if you have this talent, this talent to focus, to discriminate, then you will undoubtedly have your own way of deploying it. What we can offer you are some deceptively simple guidelines from some of the world’s great managers. Continue Reading »
September 4th 2008
So, you have selected for talent and you have defined the right outcomes. You have your people, and they have their goals. What should you do now? What should you do to speed each person’s progress toward performance?
Great managers would offer you this advice: Focus on each person’s strengths and manage around his weaknesses. Don’t try to fix the weaknesses. Don’t try to perfect each person. Instead do everything you can to help each person cultivate his talents. Help each person become more of who he already is.
This radical approach is fueled by one simple insight: Each person is different. Each person has a unique set of talents, a unique pattern of behaviors, of passions, of yearnings. Each person’s pattern of talents is enduring, resistant to change. Each person, therefore, has a unique destiny. Continue Reading »
September 3rd 2008
“Everyone is exceptional” has a second meaning: Everyone should be treated as an exception. Each employee has his own filter, his own way of interpreting the world around him, and therefore each employee will demand different things of you, his manager.
Some want you to leave them alone from almost the first moment they are hired. Others feel slighted if you don’t check in with them every day. Some want to be recognized by you, “the boss.” Others see their peers as the truest source of recognition. Some crave their praise on a public stage. Others shun the glare of publicity, valuing only that quiet, private word of thanks. Each employee breathes different psychological oxygen. Continue Reading »
August 22nd 2008
But everybody wants to grow, and you can’t blame them. So what should an Internet brand like Amazon.com do? There are five fundamental branding strategies for a leader in any category.
There are more than 5 million dotcom sites registered on the Internet, and you want your site to stand for more than one thing? Amazon.com should stay focused on books and music CDs. After all, the site accounts for just 4 percent of the $24.6 billion book market in the United States. Continue Reading »
August 22nd 2008
The biggest mistake of all is believing you can do anything.
Success in business doesn’t just show up on the bottom line of the profit-and-loss column; it also goes to the top. Success in business inflates the egos of top management.
Supremely successful companies believe they can do anything. They can launch any product into any market. They can make any merger work. It’s just a question of having the willpower and the resources to throw into the task. “What is it that we want to do?” is the question that management usually asks itself. Continue Reading »
