The culture of protecting our subordinates is a good one. However, it can easily be overdone. This point is very effectively made in the movie ‘12 O clock High’ starring Gregory Peck. In that, the de-briefing of an Air Force bombing mission reveals that the Bomber Group had suffered heavy casualties due to technical error …
Last month, India almost went to war with Pakistan. Since both countries are nuclear powers, it was a momentous decision by PM Modi. It will surely benefit India if we debate this objectively. However, that benefit will come only if we do so with a ‘back to basics’ approach rather than in light of theories …
Let us apply complexity theory, which is the backbone of innovation and leadership, to the current issue of Ind-Pak relations. As is known, India and Pakistan are having perpetual problems over Kashmir. Of late, the issue has got exacerbated by an attack on a bus near Pulwama (J&K) carrying paramilitary forces of India, resulting in …
I am occasionally struck by the dilemma – why do most organizational efforts fail. Then I saw why they did – primarily a failure of culture. Irrespective of which type of effort it was or what was the type of organization, failure of projects was mainly due to the wrong culture. Being an innovation person, …
Here are a few tips on how to lead better, or innovate better, by tackling complexity head-on. Better still, here’s just one core reason why most solutions we produce to deal with complex issues, mostly fail. Also, you’ll find pointers on how to do better. A complex issue is one that has several actors, each …
Here are some pointers on how to break the vicious cycle of desire for improvement and factors that work against it. I am talking of the conundrum in which there is pressure for performance leading to change initiatives, which leads to disruption, which makes it difficult to change, which builds pressure for performance, which leads …
Yes, the title of this post is the question you must pose to yourself. As a leader, what do you measure in your organization – what is easy to measure or what really matters? The large majority of measurements are made based on things that are visible. Not surprisingly, when we can physically see something …
Leaders must be sensitized to look for causes of failure in performance, or conflict, in the right places. A failure, whether of an individual or a department, is not necessarily in the ability, motivations or intentions of an individual or the department. This is true of most conflicts too. Mostly, the fault lies in the …
Complicated is actually not so complicated. In it, things are complicated, but predictable. In a clock mechanism, there are wheels within wheels and it takes an expert to be able to unravel that. However, all clock maker get to master it easily. This is so because despite the numerous connections, a person with knowledge can easily …
If there is one management insight I have learnt in my career of 30 years in several organisations, it is that most managers shy away from hard decisions regarding the weak links in the organisation. In this regard, I directly reproduce Colin Powell’s words – ‘Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which …
