January 2001

All kinds of traditional businesses are declaring themselves born-again dot-coms, but the truth is, most avoid the deep change required to really compete. Here are their ten favorite ways to fail—and two stories to show there’s still hope for companies that want to cross the digital divide.

360-degree feedback is all the rage in companies big and small. But it is frequently bureaucratic, politically charged, and agonizing. The good news is that by understanding four paradoxes inherent to peer appraisal, managers can take some of the pain out of the process—and get better results in.

Some executives thrive under pressure. Others wilt. Is the reason all in their heads? Hardly. Sustained high achievement demands physical and emotional strength as well as a sharp intellect. To bring mind, body, and spirit to peak condition, executives need to learn what world-class athletes already know: recovering energy is as important as expending it.

Status-conscious employees often keep their good ideas to themselves, afraid to test them in the workplace. Here’s how managers can help people feel free to experiment.

Proposed changes by the SEC don’t go far enough to guarantee impartial audits by the accounting profession.

When the business landscape was simple, companies could afford to have complex strategies. But now that business is so complex, they need to simplify. Smart companies have done just that with a new approach: a few straightforward, hard-and-fast rules that define direction without confining it.

To make your message heard, it’s best to paint a verbal picture.

To act fast in today’s digital markets, companies must rely on nonstop entrepreneurship, up and down the corporate ladder. So what’s a strategist to do? Dream on.

The merger between two pharmaceutical companies generated headlines first—and then headaches. One reason: CEO Steve Lindell has two executives for every available slot. As the stock price drops and talented people head for the exits, he must quickly decide whom to keep and whom to let go. Pass the aspirin.

If you want to see a successful peer-to-peer business model, don’t look toward Napster. Look at eBay.

Feeling baffled by the seemingly endless upheavals of the digital age? You’re not alone. But by learning to recognize two simple patterns in the evolution of networks, you may be able to turn chaos into opportunity.

While countless high-tech companies have soared and then crashed in recent years, EMC has successfully anticipated one new technology after another. Here, CEO Michael Ruettgers talks about the managerial practices that have allowed the data storage powerhouse to see—and exploit—emerging trends before anyone else.

It’s more popular than ever for business executives and management thinkers to use science to explain organizational dynamics, citing everything from complexity theory to the “alpha male” in the boardroom. Has the borrowing gone too far? Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins sounds a cautionary note.

The French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States in 1831 to determine what made the newest country in the world so vibrant—and so successful. As a new century dawns, renowned business thinker Charles Handy asks: What would Tocqueville think if he returned today?

Developing a new product involves trial and error, but beyond a certain point, redesign becomes wasteful. A practical and proven tool, the Design Structure Matrix, can help streamline the way a company innovates.

It’s easy to turn off prospective investors. Just feed them the same old lines.

Many companies position themselves at the intersection of art and commerce, but few as successfully as the famous German carmaker BMW. It’s no accident. The executive who manages the relationships among designers, engineers, and corporate managers says three operating principles guide their way.

What catapults a company from merely good to truly great? A five-year research project searched for the answer to that question, and its discoveries ought to change the way we think about leadership. The most powerfully transformative executives possess a paradoxical mixture of personal humility and professional will. They are timid and ferocious. Shy and fearless. They are rare—and unstoppable.