Recently, there was an ad for Putnam Investments: “You think you understand the situation, but what you don’t understand is that the situation just changed.” Amen! When I think I’ve just got it, ‘got’ and ‘it’ both change. It’s scary and at the same time exciting – the thrill of being a Brand U. Work …
Things do not change; we change. Henry David Thoreau, Writer
The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude. William James, writer
Brand U values and principles are personal. As well, organizational principles have often dominated individual values. However with the recent robust job market, our values, Brand U principles are becoming more important as we try to balance work, life, and family. More employers are respecting personal values and concerns to stop valuable people from walking. …
We created the hierarchal, pyramidal managerial system because we needed to keep track of people and the things people did; with the computer to track, we can restructure our institutions horizontally. John Naisbitt, Futurist
The workplace is full of mixed messages. Cooperate, team, but compete simultaneously. Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Packer football team said: “winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” Kids, both male and female, are imbued with this message when playing sports. Later in life, entrepreneurial competition replaces sports competition. Competitive type A behavior …
So, you want to be a leader at school, work, ball team, or church? Do you have the right Brand U stuff? More and more, the ‘right Brand U stuff’ is getting in touch with your inner child. This is called sensitivity training and it’s done all over the place. For example, Army sensitivity training …
Silo management is dead. What’s a silo? Think of a cornfield silo. It stands alone storing all the grain in a region. Well, people, teams, departments, and plants can do the same thing. They don’t participate, cooperate, or work with others. They protect turf and use special information to devalue others. This is now dead! …
What makes a Brand U leader? We know what Brand U organizations feel like by reading Fast Company Magazine. We have some idea what Brand U organizations look like by seeing how virtual teams work. We have some idea how Brand U CEO’s lead by looking at who’s taking over organizations. But, we still have …
The essence of leadership is a burning Brand U question to many that believe that we’ve become a nation of command/control managers instead of a nation of Brand U leaders. Mort Meyerson, the President of Perot Systems, said: “the essence of leadership today is to make sure that the organization knows itself. There are certain …