Random Musings:

101 Dumbest Moments In Business

Business 2.0 magazine has a list of the 101 dumbest moments in business during 2005. Snippets:

Scenario Planning in the UK - NOT

Management-Issues.com, a UK site that "focuses on the leadership, management and people issues that are at the heart of the changing workplace," has an article reporting results from a survey conducted by Ernst & Young and recruiter exec-appointments.com of 50 non-execs age 50 or under. The survey suggests that there is a diminished talent pool from which major UK public companies can recruit. Among the talents deemed in short supply are individuals and boards who can provide strategic leadership.

The research also uncovered a consistent undercurrent of anxiety over the low priority given to strategic and scenario planning.

"The overarching picture is that there is a real and worrying call for better board strategies, backed by rigorous scenario and contingency planning," the report warned.

"Few are satisfied that their board process delivers the quality of forward-looking plans that will enable them to deliver expected results," it added.

Thayer [CEO of exec-appointments.com] argued many non-execs were not comfortable that they were sufficiently engaged in strategy, that development strategies were not being developed which explored multiple scenarios and not enough time was being given to debate and refine proposed strategies.

Organizational Culture Promotes Innovation

The Australian business magazine BRW has an article by Simon Lloyd stressing the importance of an organizational culture that encourages experiments and forgives mistakes. Snippets:

...Enlightened senior management promotes a culture in which employees are allowed to make mistakes in their pursuit of innovation. This attitude must be communicated most strongly from the chief executive.

The operational development manager at the communications provider Ericsson Australia, John Snooks, says his company has enthusiastically embraced this concept. "One should never be too critical or dogmatic. We set expectations with our key performance indicators but you certainly should not stifle ambition by rejecting some of the smaller [ideas], because sometimes that is the only way many of your people can contribute. How to get the message across, how to invite the input, how to get the ideas and the talent bubbling up are crucial."

 

Scenario Planning Keeps TDS Telecom Ahead

The Wisconsin State Journal has an interview with Jim Barr, CEO of TDS Telecom that briefly notes the company's use of scenario planning to stay ahead of the competition. Snippets:

A: It's certainly a constant battle to keep up. (Joking.) We do have five-year plans we create every six months.

Sometimes there isn't a big difference between one six-month period and the next. We're always in the situation of trying to understand what's going to happen in our strategic planning.

We do a lot of scenario planning, figuring out, where the industry is going. And will our strategy work in the widest variety of scenarios?

WSJ Tribute To Peter Druker

The WSJ Online has an extensive tribute to the late management consultant Peter Drucker here [Subscription required, I believe]. In addition to articles of praise, the tribute also includes, among several other of Drucker's pieces, the full version of the Five Deadly Business Sins article.

The Banished Word Lists

Lake Superior State University has published it's list of words to be banished in 2006 (and thereafter, presumably). The 2006 list includes gems such as hunker down, FEMA, and person of interest.

The archives also have banished word lists going back to 1976. The list for that year included gems such as dialog, detente, and (horrors) scenario. About the use of scenario, LSSU says

Scenario - Spread like wildfire after Watergate. It can be roughly translated as "I don't know what had happened (or will happen) but this is a scenario." Means: "I'm making this up." Also used when reporter doen't want to use "according to unimpeachable source."