Total Articles: 16
Happy MLK Day!
Words of wisdom from Dr. King on work, leadership, ethics, vision, values and justice.
Part 1: Are Your Employees Really Important Business Partners?
Most employers say they value their employees. After all, it would sound pretty harsh for an employer to say that its employees are, with a few exceptions, a bunch of idiots who can seldom do anything right. Besides, what would such a statement say about the company itself?
The Pink Prescription: Facing Tomorrow's Challenges Calls for Right-brain Thinking.
Change may be the only constant, but it's also a constant challenge for educators trying to prepare students for the future. If the world is always in flux, what should teachers be teaching? What should schools be doing to develop the next generation for the dramatic shifts taking place in the way the world works and lives? Does the current curriculum make the grade?
Is Your Team Too Big? Too Small? What's the Right Number?
When it comes to athletics, sports teams have a specific number of team players: A basketball team needs five, baseball nine, and soccer 11. But when it comes to the workplace, there is no hard-and-fast rule to determine the optimal number to have on each team. Should the most productive team have 4.6 members, as suggested in a recent magazine article? What about naming five or six individuals to each team, which is the number of MBA students chosen each year by Wharton for its learning teams? Is it true that larger teams simply break down, reflecting a tendency towards "social loafing" and loss of coordination? Or is it that the best number of people for a team is driven by the task at hand and by the roles each person plays? Research by Wharton faculty offers some insights.
Good Managers Focus on Employees' Strengths, Not Weaknesses.
Marcus Buckingham knows enough about good management to know he's not a good manager. The author of First, Break All The Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently and The One Thing You Need to Know, Buckingham says the best managers share one talent -- the ability to find, and then capitalize upon, their employees' unique traits. "The guiding principle is, 'How can I take this person's talent and turn it into performance?'"
AmEx's Ken Chenault Talks about Leadership, Integrity and the Credit Card Business.
According to Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and CEO of American Express, adaptability is one of the keys to company success in the rapidly changing terrain of the global marketplace. Applying Darwinian theory to the business domain, he told a Wharton audience on March 17 that "it's not the strongest or the most intelligent who survive, but those most adaptive to change. Over the past 10 years, the need for, and focus on, adaptability has accelerated." Chenault also spoke about his version of mentoring - "the best mentors are not always high up" - and what he calls "the tyranny of averages."
Wishing Upon a Star: Hiring a CEO from Inside the Company Vs. Going Outside.
When Robert A. Iger was promoted from president to CEO of the Walt Disney Company on March 13, the decision raised a few eyebrows in the corporate world.
Five Takes on Creative Leadership.
How do you lead an increasingly diverse, creative and eclectic workforce? It's a question that senior executives at this month's Wharton West Leadership Conference tried to answer based on their own leadership experiences.
Should Your Next CEO Be a Philosopher?
What differentiates a winning company from an also-ran? For many analysts and investors, the answer involves technology, which increasingly permeates every step of a business's operations. But according to a Wharton professor and an Israeli venture capitalist, a company's ability to understand its customers' philosophical outlook may be as vital to its success as R&D and other efforts.
Clash of the Titans: When Top Executives Don't Get Along with the Team.
Testifying in a Delaware court last month, Stanley P. Gold, a former Walt Disney Co. director, joined a long list of company executives who had dirty laundry to air regarding the 1995 hiring of Michael Ovitz as Disney's president and his subsequent firing in 1996.
Ralph Shrader's Leadership Test: Is Anybody Following?
Ralph Shrader, chairman and chief executive of Booz Allen Hamilton, would seem to have little in common with Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones.
Teamwork in a Shock Trauma Unit: New Lessons in Leadership.
Imagine that you, as a mid-level manager in your company, have been assigned to a six-person team asked to complete a top-priority project on a very short deadline.
Splitting Up the Roles of CEO and Chairman: Reform or Red Herring?
There may be good reasons, based on specific circumstances, for companies to divide the roles of CEO and chairperson between two people. But Wharton faculty members say there is no evidence that separating these positions, as a general philosophical rule, improves corporate performance.
Why Global Business Needs Kinder, Gentler Entrepreneurs and Leaders.
Images of entrepreneurs and leaders tend to focus on the vision and guts needed to get ventures off the ground or on the solitary hero leading the crowds. At the recent Lauder Institute Alumni Association Global Business Forum in New York , however, two panels on entrepreneurship and leadership debunked these notions. Speakers at the conference said entrepreneurs need social networking skills as much as business savvy to succeed. As for leaders who want to be effective in global business, they need to learn that arrogance is out, humility is in.
Being Captain of the Boys' Baseball Team: Four Women Talk about Leadership.
Despite gains made by women in the ranks of upper management, the typical American corporation still consists of a middle-aged man sitting at the top, projecting his authority down through the ranks of the hierarchy.
Getting Reorganization Right: How Bruce Chizen Drove Change and Innovation at Adobe Systems.
Forced to swim or sink, Adobe Systems launched a massive turnaround effort spearheaded by executive vice president Bruce Chizen, who is now the company's president and CEO.
