Are You a Good Manager? How Can You Tell?

On August 31, 2009

Are You a Good Manager? How Can You Tell?

What makes a good manager? Is it something you’re born with, or something you learn? Is there management instinct? I don’t know for sure. I’ve been in business for more than 30 years now, and I still don’t know. A few years ago I was trapped on a plane with nothing to read but The One-Minute [...]
On August 31, 2009

Love in the Workplace? Heck Yes!

Dear Stanley, Do you think there is a feeling of love in your workplace as there is in mine? Signed, Huggy Bear Dear HB, Of course I do! There's love all over the place here. I love the people who work for me, as long as they do a good job. They love me, too, as long as I treat them well, do not yell at them more than once a quarter, and give them the occasional raise and "work at home" privileges. I love my colleagues, too. In fact, I've loved hundreds and hundreds of them over the years, in a completely sincere and situational way. I am still friends with about three of them from 25 years of...
On August 31, 2009

Increase Customer Desire Through Rejection

Facing rejection can increase people's desire to ultimately obtain a hard-to-get object. Whether they cop to it or not, companies have long been aware of artificial shortages as a way to create desire for new products. However, the research shows that this approach can eventually backfire.
On August 31, 2009

Exploring Vanguard Companies in Kanter’s ‘SuperCorp’

Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter calls them "vanguard companies," a short list of firms redefining themselves for business success in the 21st century. These companies are rewriting their strategies to infuse a sense of wider societal purpose in their corporate values, Kanter writes in her new book SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good. More importantly, these values are not just something tacked up on the lunchroom wall but are actively baked into each company's core mission. Among the companies she writes about are Mexico-based Cemex, one of the world's largest building materials companies; Omron, the Japanese electronics company; and Banco Real, a bank headquartered in Sao Paolo, Brazil. I also found some surprising...
On August 31, 2009

Mansell Replaces Montgomery as Chairman with Kohl’s Confronting Next Phase

Kohl’s is facing a new future with a new chairman as Larry Montgomery retires and Kevin Mansell takes over the chairman of the board slot. Montgomery, who is only three years older than Mansell, led the company’s rapid rise to national prominence. And while Kohl’s still has room to grow, it’s also a maturing retailer. Mansell has been given the freedom to deal with taking what had been a new idea and keeping it compelling. As was the case with Bob Ulrich at Target and Jeff Noddle at Supervalu, Kohl’s is getting a new top kick at a time when things are changing rapidly at retail, when national chains have become dominant forces rather than fresh ideas and when the...


On August 31, 2009

Getting Small Firms on Board With BPM

The greatest obstacle small business operators face in adopting business process management is themselves. That factor could account for the underutilization of BPM by small businesses -- and the reason BPM vendors have targeted the small business sector as a huge potential market.


On August 31, 2009

When the Lawyers Come Knocking: Info Management and E-Discovery

Today, the discussion is on gaining control over information sprawl at enterprises. We'll take a look at the short-term and potentially massive savings from thwarting legal discovery fulfillment problems in advance by controlling information. And we'll examine how management life cycle approaches can bring long-term payoffs through better analytics and regulatory compliance.


On August 31, 2009

Tips for Showing Holiday Shipping Deadlines

Today’s post was originally published November 29, 2007 and is part of our Get Elastic “Best Of” rerun series. Though the examples do not reflect current site design, they are still helpful in crafting your own strategy for communicating shipping deadlines as Holiday ‘09 rapidly approaches. Though you may only have a few early-bird holiday shoppers [...]


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