Category Archives: Leadership

Leadership is an insanely important discipline. Here you’ll find the thought, tools and tricks of the trade of great leaders.

Book Reviews, Happy At Work, Leadership

Book review: Birth of the Chaordic Age

November 12, 2002 Alexander 1 Comment

This is one of Dee Hock's favourite tricks to play on an audience. "How many of you recognize this?" he asks, holding out his own Visa card. Every hand in the room goes up. "Now," Hock says, "how many of you can tell me who owns it, where it's headquartered, how it's governed, or where … Continue Reading ››

Leadership

All you need is… Love?

November 9, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

I'm currently reading Tor N?rretranders' latest book "det gener?se menneske" (The generous human). It's all about how generosity and altruism can exist, in a cruel, Darwinistic, dog-eat-dog world. The answer seems to be that the the two basic mechanisms of Darwinism, natural selection and sexual selection, actually favour generous individuals.

This reminded me of … Continue Reading ››

Leadership, Quotes

Quote

November 8, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

Given the right circumstances, from no more than dreams, determination, and the liberty to try, quite ordinary people consistently do extraordinary things. - Dee Hock

Leadership

Movie review: Startup.com

November 6, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

The makers of this brilliant documentary got permission to follow the rise and decline of internet startup govworks.com VERY closely. We're there as the idea slowly takes form. As the first rounds of financing are secured. We cheer as the company grows, and the future looks rosy. And we're very much there as … Continue Reading ››

Book Reviews, Happy At Work, Leadership, Learning

Book review: An unused intelligence

November 4, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

There are many different theories about learning, but not a single one of them states, that the best way to learn, is to sit passively on a chair, while a teacher talks about the subject in question. No theory ever in the history of the world has claimed it, and yet this is how schools, … Continue Reading ››

Leadership, Politics

Quote

November 3, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

I hear people everywhere saying that the trouble with our time is that we have no great leaders any more. If we look back, we always had them. But to me it seems that there is a very profound reason why there are no great leaders anymore. It is because they are no longer needed. … Continue Reading ››

Book Reviews, Happy At Work, Leadership

Book review: The power of spirit

October 28, 2002 Alexander 1 Comment

Harrison Owen is the inventor of Open Space Technology, the most exciting and productive way of meeting with other people that I know of. In The power of spirit, how organizations transfrom he describes what an organization might look like, if it lived by the open space principles. And let me … Continue Reading ››

Book Reviews, Happy At Work, Leadership, Science/Technology

Book review: The soul at work

October 27, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

Complexity science is appearing more and more often in business literature (and just about everywhere else). This book with the subtitle "unleashing the power of complexity science for business success" shows a better way to manage organizations than the old command-and-control way, and describes some of the tools needed to get there. It … Continue Reading ››

Change, Leadership

Exercise: Faster or slower

October 22, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

Is faster always better? Try this exercise, and see what you think.

Let's say that you want to optimize some process to save time.

In many activities, you can take all the fun out of it if you hurry too much. For example, I used to be a hell-bent skier. This … Continue Reading ››

Book Reviews, Happy At Work, Leadership

Book review: Orbiting the giant hairball

October 16, 2002 Alexander 2 Comments

Gordon Mackenzie spent 20 years working for Hallmark, and his experiences there have enabled him to write what he calls "a corporate fools guide to surviving with grace". There's no doubt that Gordon is a free spirit, and here he shares the mindset and that allowed him to survive and prosper in a … Continue Reading ››