Posts Tagged ‘competition’

The Mindless Mantras of Management

A mantra is, properly speaking, “a word or sound used to aid concentration during meditation.” From that it has come to mean any slogan or saying that is constantly repeated, often as a substitute for thinking deeply (or at all) about an issue. Management has more than its fair share of such mantras. Many have entered the folklore of leadership and are repeated as if they contain timeless wisdom… » Continue

December 4 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: Communication, competition, leadership, Management | 2 comments»

Finding More Entrepreneurs . . . and Fewer Jerks

I have two topics this week: the present-day obsession with clinging grimly to the status quo, when we have rarely needed change and entrepreneurial flair so much; and the obnoxious jerks whose presence in leadership positions disfigures too many organizations. These topics are linked by a recurring theme: the way that Hamburger Management—that dismal system of cutting corners, hounding people to reach crazy targets, and driving down every cost except… » Continue

November 20 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: achievement, behavior, bestpractices, business, business-fundamentalism, businesslife, competition, creativity, effectiveness, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Hamburger-Management, innovation, leadership, Management, motivation, organization, performance, respect, slow-leadership, work, work/life-balance | 1 comment»

Why We Should Put an End to “Hamburger Management”

Hamburger Management is a shoddy, debased version of real leadership that focuses on just three things: whatever demands least, can be used fastest, and costs least. It thrives wherever organizations seek to meet unrealistic targets with insufficient resources to maximize short-term profits. Indeed, Hamburger Management is short-term by nature, and will habitually sacrifice long-term advantage and value for the immediate gratification of bosses and investors.

To force people to work long… » Continue

November 6 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: accomplishment, anxiety, business-ethics, change, civilized-work, competition, creativity, effectiveness, Hamburger-Management, innovation, leadership, lifehacks, Management, manager, micro-management, organization, slow-leadership, strategy, stress, trust, value, work-life, work/life-balance, worklife, workplace | 3 comments»

Antidotes to Hamburger Management

I’ve been thinking and writing quite a lot this week about Hamburger Management: the type of management approach that is based on always doing whatever is quickest, simplest and (above all) cheapest. Hamburger Managers provide the kind of leadership that is best described as: “Never mind the quality, look how fast it goes and how cheap it is.” Sadly, this approach is being forced on a great many otherwise perfectly… » Continue

October 23 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: attitude, behavior, bestpractices, business-ethics, civilization, civilized-work, competition, decision-making, effectiveness, empowerment, engagement, expectations, guideline, Hamburger-Management, innovation, integrity, leadership, lifebalance, Management, meetings, organization, performance, priorities, prioritization, slow-leadership, strategy, stress, success, trust, work, work-life, work/life-balance | 4 comments»

Competition Re-visited

The case of Floyd Landis, plus the earlier doping scandals bedeviling the Tour de France, ought to make us all think again about the true impact of competition. Sport (together with warfare) is one of the commonest sources of ideas about business, so when the world of sport seems to be in trouble, it’s worth asking what is going wrong, and whether it might reveal anything relevant to the business… » Continue

August 7 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: accomplishment, achievement, competition, high-fliers, leadership, managememt, Management, motivation, office-politics, organization, performance, Productivity, relationships, reputation, success, winners, winning, work, work-life | 1 comment»

Work is Not a Game

Sport and competition go together. Taking the competition away from sport would reduce it to a pointless, illogical activity. Competition and business go together too, and many links are made between sporting achievement and business success. But work and business are not games. Competition is no longer healthy in the workplace when it gets out of hand.

The essential difference between sporting competition and competition in the business world is choice… » Continue

July 3 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: accomplishment, achievement, commitment, competition, evaluation, freedom, fun, mentoring, motivation, winning, work/life-balance | 1 comment»