My Job is … Disruption
My job is to disturb the system. I give people new ways to think. It’s more a matter of offering people different perspectives and influencing their thinking than trying to drive them. Chris Turner, Xerox Business Systems
Paradigms
Power of Work Words
How words change? Five years ago, key words in business advertising and thinking were steadfast, enduring, and solid. These words now convey a thud. Now, key Brand U advertising words are agile, flexible, and responsive. The words convey light on the feet, a step ahead, and lightning fast. Any industry, company, plant, team, or individual …
Project Work Stressors
The project life can be personally wrenching. Forty or more percent of us have incomes that rise or fall dramatically. The ‘feast and famine’ Brand U earns large sums of money when the economy is strong but when the economy falters income can drop precipitously unless the Brand U is always retreading his/her skills. Increased …
End of Entitlement
The old entitlement mentality was that my employer owed me for any number of reasons. The new entitlement mentality is ‘I owe myself as Brand U’ because if there’s an economic blip I know my employer will look out for itself instead of me to stay competitive. I may be out the door. So, it’s …
Brand U = Personal Branding
So, the critical question for these specialists and professionals is: How do they differentiate ourselves from the competition when others provide the same services or products. Some believe that we will wear many hats as Brand U professionals so that at each employment project stop, we’ll be enhancing our Brand U resumes by acquiring skills, …
Disappearing Professions
Professions, such as accounting, medicine, and architecture are at a crossroads. All professional cartels are disappearing. These professions were once thought to be the road to riches or the lifetime meal ticket. No more! They’ve changed unalterably due to competitive pressures, cost pressures, social attitudes, business habits, and technology. For example, accounting is changing because …
Creative Dissatisfaction
The achievement of excellence can occur only if the organization promotes a culture of creative dissatisfaction. Lawrence Miller, Business person
The Top 1/2/3 Rule
There have been lots of mergers in the last year in telecommunications, auto, banking, and healthcare industries. What are the signals for a merger or rapid change? Well there is the ‘top three’ rule. In competitive, mature markets, the rule says there is room for only three major players along with several niche players.” Some …
Creative Destruction
Forward leaning companies believe in ‘creative destruction.’ Peter Drucker, the dean of management gurus, calls it ‘organized abandonment.’ It’s a tough process. “The change leader puts every product, every service, every process, every market, every distribution channel, every customer and every end use on trial for its life,” says Drucker. [i] If we agree that …
Early Warning Signs of Impending Change
Changing competitive environment Deregulation Low internal and external customer satisfaction Low profit margins Poor quality, cost, or product development performance Slow or very fast company growth Mergers, acquisitions, reengineering, or other organizational transformations New external management Resistance to change No top level management commitment Inflexible organization Strong departmental silos Poor intra and inter organization communications …