We’ve all gone to Starbucks for our daily coffee fix. Twenty customers are waiting in line. A customer can order a ‘double-shot, decaf, grande, iced, half-skim, vanilla, dry, cappuccino.’ Surprisingly the baristos get it right most of the time. Wow! How do they do it? Starbucks has proceduralized the sequence of words and activities that …
Brand U’s understand that to maintain work sanity they have to understand their employer’s or customer’s values. An organizational culture can empower or kill a career. If you understand and reinforce your customer’s or employer’s culture, then there’s a much higher chance you’ll excel. If the organizational culture jangles you, then deal with it or …
Brand U’s Want to Work for An Organization They Believe In Read More »
Brand U culture is dynamic not static. Culture must reflect the environment and competitive marketplace. Culture then changes with the times. For example, AT&T as a regulated monopoly for a hundred years had a culture that stressed the highest production standards and highest service. Customers were willing to pay for the service through their rate …
The average American pays little attention to profitability or stock performance when evaluating a corporation. We really don’t respond to faceless corporations but to their products, reputation, and media character. It turns out that we relate to simple, gut things such as the organization’s stand on safety, environment, trust, and yes, even babies. “Reputation is …
Principles: A basic truth, law, or assumption; a basic source. Jost, David, Ed., The American Heritage College Dictionary, 3rd Edition, Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
“We don’t have time for this stuff.” “This too shall pass.” “We have no help.” “This stuff isn’t relevant.” “I’m a short termer.” “They’re not walking the talk!” “This stuff is …” “Don’t bother me with small stuff.” “This stuff isn’t working.” “They’re acting like a cult.” “I’m a temp, so it doesn’t affect …
Brand U leadership often surfaces in battle where the consequences of poor judgment are fatal. But, can an extraordinary Brand U make a difference in a business organization or a team? Studies continue to indicate that leadership is often exemplified in teams and small organizations. For example, small product development teams have developed breathtaking products, …
Brand U leaders also have the common touch and are often hands-on. Brand U leaders are closely involved with workers, suggesting and demonstrating as opposed to directing or managing. Dana Mead, CEO of Tenneco, said: “to be successful, leaders will have to be less arbitrary, more directly involved with what’s going on the shop floor, …
Good management is difficult to define. However, identifying toxic management is much easier. W. Edwards Deming, the great quality innovator, said that 85% of an organization’s problems are management derived. Bad management is often a personal issue as well. When you hear of people complaining about their jobs, some supervisor or manager pops up into …
What’s good management? Scott Adams framed the discussion of management in his famous Dilbert Principle, when he said, “it takes less brains to be a manager than to be the people who are managed.”[i] Adams also said that it took more brain horsepower to write a complicated data encryption algorithm than to write daily status …