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Michele Zanini

Making a Bigger Difference Than You Thought Possible, with Frances Westley (Ep. 5)

New Human Movement Featured

Making a Bigger Difference Than You Thought Possible, with Frances Westley (Ep. 5)

As any CEO will tell you, changing an organization, particularly a large one, is an immensely complex undertaking. Research by Bain & Company suggests that only 12% of transformation [https://www.bain.com/insights/achieving-breakthrough-results-in-sustainability/] programs meet or exceed their objectives—and most of these programs are incremental, not ground-breaking.

JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon on "combating the enemy within."

bureaucratic drag

JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon on "combating the enemy within."

The new JP Morgan annual report is out, and with comes Jamie Dimon's always compelling letter to shareholders. This year's missive covers a number of notable trends, including the rising competitive threat to banks from alternative providers of financial services like Wal-Mart, Apple, and Fintechs, as

Most people don't hate their jobs, but they definitely hate how they're managed

Management Data Featured

Most people don't hate their jobs, but they definitely hate how they're managed

The engagement deficit isn’t about what people do at work, but how they’re managed.

Everyone a Creator with Tim Brown (Ep. 4)

Everyone a Creator with Tim Brown (Ep. 4)

In the fourth episode of the New Human Movement [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm4Dn_e0l31Pm2JE50pm96w] series, Gary and I spoke to Tim Brown, the chair of IDEO, the iconic Palo Alto-based design firm. Having led hundreds of innovation projects in the private and public sector, Tim knows more about

Building a Business With a Higher Calling with Paul Polman (Ep. 3)

New Human Movement Featured

Building a Business With a Higher Calling with Paul Polman (Ep. 3)

In our third episode of our New Human Movement series, Gary and I spoke to Paul Polman, the former CEO of Unilever (one the one of the world‘s biggest food and personal care companies.

Why Good Jobs Matter with Zeynep Ton (Ep. 2)

New Human Movement Featured

Why Good Jobs Matter with Zeynep Ton (Ep. 2)

In our second episode of our New Human Movement [humanocracy.com/conversations] series, Gary and I spoke to Zeynep Ton, professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and one of the pre-eminent experts on crating good jobs. [https://hbr.org/2017/11/the-case-for-good-jobs] Here are some of the topics

Entrepreneurs Everywhere with Eric Ries (Ep. 1)

New Human Movement Featured

Entrepreneurs Everywhere with Eric Ries (Ep. 1)

For the first episode of our New Human Movement [humanocracy.com/conversations] series, Gary and I sat down with Eric Ries--a serial entrepreneur, the bestselling author of the Lean Startup [http://theleanstartup.com], and founder of the Long Term Stock Exchange. [https://ltse.com] We covered a lot of topics,

Welcome to the New Human Movement

New Human Movement

Welcome to the New Human Movement

Given the unprecedented challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, we need institutions … … that can reinvent themselves on the fly, … that are infused with the spirit of entrepreneurship, … and that give every employee the chance to learn, grow and innovate. At present, few organizations measure up. When confronted with disruptive

Friday Links, Jan 14

Friday Links, Jan 14

1. The damage done by rampant credentialism. Using educational accomplishment as a proxy for skills and problem-solving ability is a deeply elitist and flawed approach. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Selling ideas "up the chain of command." This HBR piece has some useful advice, but the whole argument is premised on

Friday Links, December 10

Friday Links, December 10

1. The ESG mirage. A great Businessweek piece on how popular ESG ratings driving trillions into sustainable investing have little connection with a company’s impact on the planet. Sustainable Investing Is Mostly About Sustaining CorporationsWall Street uses ESG ratings to boost “sustainable” labels on stock and bond funds—but

What's really behind the "Great Resignation"

What's really behind the "Great Resignation"

I recently recorded a video on the "Great Resignation." There are so many bad takes in the business media about this phenomenon, which imply it's mostly about white collar workers contemplating their corporate existence in between zoom calls, that I felt I should try share some

Friday links, December 3

Friday links, December 3

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Domineering leaders reinforce domineering behaviors across the organization. This is hardly surprising. Advancement in organizations is almost invariably a product of zero-sum “promotion tournaments.” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tournament_theory] In such a system, domineering, cutthroat behaviors are the norm, not the exception. Unless we make structural

Bachelor in Bureaucratic Bloat

bureaucratic drag

Bachelor in Bureaucratic Bloat

The relentless rise of management and administration in U.S. universities has become a real drag on faculty and students alike, as Yale's experience suggests.

The great pharmacist rebellion against crappy work

Empowerment Featured

The great pharmacist rebellion against crappy work

You know things are bad if even pharmacists are revolting against poor working conditions.

De-biasing the performance review, once and for all.

Meritocracy Featured

De-biasing the performance review, once and for all.

Ideally, judgments about human capability would be comprehensive and impersonal—the product of standardized, data-driven performance systems. In practice is seldom achieved, as new study (and several others) suggest.

Can we manage without managers?

Can we manage without managers?

The management column (Bartebly) in this week's The Economist makes the case that managerial hierarchies are valuable & inevitable, and flat organizations represent a "false utopia:" Why companies need middle managersOrganisations embrace flat hierarchies at their perilThe EconomistThe Economist [https://amp.economist.com/business/2021/10/

Warren Buffet on why the institution matters more than individuals

Among all of Warren Buffet's legendary shareholder letters, the 1989 edition is among my favorites. In it, he makes a powerful argument that, when it comes to firm performance, institutional design is far more important that the talents of individual executives. Here's the key passage, drawn

Friday Links, June 25

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. If you pay people more, they will be more productive.Wow, who knew? Glad to see corporate executives rediscover the power of efficiency wages (i.e., paying above-market wages with the aim of improving employee motivation and productivity), something that Henry Ford recognized back in 1914. Commentary: Here’

Management History Featured

Chronicles of Management ADD (Ambition Deficit Disorder), vol. 1

In its 1976 annual report Procter and Gamble described itself as a company built on "freedom and individual initiative." The report devotes seven whole pages to unpacking these principles and the various practices that reflect and reinforce them--such as employee involvement, promotion from within, and profit sharing. Here&

Meritocracy Featured

The problem with corporate leadership successions

Leadership successions in large companies are similar to those in autocracies. That's nuts.

Friday Links, May 14

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Does WFM hurt productivity and collaboration? A large-scale study of work patterns at an IT services company during the Work-from-Home (WFH) period shows that: ⬆️ hours * same output = ⬇️ productivity. The culprit: a substantial rise in communication and coordination costs due to WFH. And it's not just near-term

Toxic Assumptions Featured

How to "Deep-Six" Innovation

Six Sigma worship nearly killed 3M's innovation engine

Friday links, April 30

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A "key to our success was that we isolated our scientists from financial concerns and freed them from excessive bureaucracy," says Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, reflecting on how the company developed its COVID-19 vaccine in record time. The CEO of Pfizer on Developing a Vaccine in Record

Power of Community Featured

Harnessing the power community: lessons from Formula 1

In a F1 team there are no silos, no middle managers and no BS staff jobs. Instead, there’s empowerment by the bucket load.

Friday links, April 9

Next time execs at your company say "innovation is a top priority," show them this tweet: > Want to know why it is so hard for big companies to innovate? Read the classic paper "On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B” on the power