Leadership transitions

On this blog, I’ve speculated on the factors that lead to highly talented women dropping out of their once-chosen careers and thus not being available to take the next step, leading to one consequence that these folks are not available in the pool of candidates for top jobs. With this as backdrop, it was fascinating […]

In business, one must always look at possible upsides. Even with all the dire predictions about what could happen in North Korea after the sudden death of its “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il, this event could possibly pave the way for South Korean and foreign companies to make new inroads into the reclusive country. The […]

Talent can be hard to scout when it’s family.

If you're trying to do your team's work for them, probably not.

Last spring Brett Favre pulled the plug on his pro football career, saying that he didn’t have the heart to play any longer. This July he’s had a change of heart. This is not the first time Favre has changed his mind about retirement. But what’s different this time is that his team, the Green […]

The morning after a hard-fought campaign is the time to savor the sweet taste of victory. And what a campaign it has been, scaling new political heights...

How one architecture and engineering firm does it.

Six actions to take to sustain progress, create profitable growth opportunities, and build a more capable organization.

Questions to ask when you’re going through transitions.

An insider’s guide

The biggest mistakes I see executives make when hired in from the outside are (1) trying to recreate the organizations they left behind and (2) overestimating their change mandates. Both set up vicious cycles that can end in outright derailment for the new leader. And you can usually see these problems start during the recruiting […]

Shortly after the sudden death of her beloved husband, Priya Gowda learns that the company he built from a small dairy farm into a major Indian conglomerate...

Here’s how to “inboard” them.

Emphasize learning, not just doing.

As with most mergers, the announcement this week that United Airlines was joining forces with Continental Airlines to become the world’s largest airline touted all of the benefits of the combination: Complementary routes that will give consumers more choice and flexibility; scale that will provide cost synergies; and resources that will allow for strategic investments. […]

Husband-and-wife entrepreneurs fight over who should stay home with the kids.

Leaders spend almost 40% of their time making decisions, but it’s rarely discussed in the hiring process.

It's early days, but David Cameron and Nick Clegg, Britain's new "first couple", are proving unexpectedly engaging and entertaining. After the drama of...

When do leaders become management tourists? By “tourists,” I mean leaders who occupy positions for too short a time to have a positive impact, and who may in fact do significant damage to their organizations. I got to thinking about this after a recent conversation with a manager at a Fortune 100 bank. Her group […]

Succession doesn’t end when a new CEO is hired.