Just Seven Things

Exploring why and how we do what we do, and how we can do it better

04 Aug 2011

The Only Three Things a Leader Should Focus On — ChiefExecutive.net

Brains—Bones—Nerves

You need to put in place a few important frameworks within which a large number of people can operate in a way that maximizes their energy.

The key is to control and shape the three most important levers of sustainable business growth—the Brains, the Bones, and the Nerves.

The brains of a business are its vision and strategy, and here the enterprise leader must shape and set direction.

The bones are the organizational architecture, and here the enterprise leader must design the organization in order to execute the strategy.

The nerves refer to the culture and climate of the organization, and here the enterprise leader must foster a culture of long lasting excellence.

Just as the human body needs all three systems—the brain, bones, and nerves—functioning in perfect harmony to maximize longevity and performance, a business needs its strategy, architecture, and culture to work in harmony in order to maximize results. As an enterprise leader, you should focus on these three as your most important focus areas; everything else must be delegated.

Here are a few simple but powerful ideas about how to lead a large workforce by shaping and managing the brains, bones, and nerves of your organization.

via The Only Three Things a Leader Should Focus On — Brains, Bones, and Nerves | ChiefExecutive.net | Chief Executive Magazine.

Posted in Business, Leadership, Management | Leave a comment
04 Jul 2011

Adaptive Group Coordination and Role Differentiation

Groups often struggle to balance incentives for individual members with incentives for the collective group. In standard common pool resource problems [1], [2], individuals are tempted to maximize individual resources, but this behavior destroys the resource and ultimately harms everyone. Conflicting incentives in real world situations such as pollution and harvesting of natural resources understandably stretch a group’s ability to coordinate for the common good, but it is still unclear how group members coordinate their actions in more constrained situations where only a shared goal exists.

Humans routinely form groups to achieve goals that no individual can accomplish alone, and presumably groups must flexibly and adaptively coordinate members’ efforts in order to achieve shared goals. For example, research labs rely on the combined contributions of individuals to develop a research program and lab reputation that leads to grant funding, which may in turn benefit all of the lab’s researchers. Similarly, statistical analyses in baseball and basketball increasingly value players based on the team’s performance while the player is in the game, rather than individual statistics such as points scored [3].

via PLoS ONE: Adaptive Group Coordination and Role Differentiation.

Posted in Collective Intelligence, Decision making | Leave a comment
19 Jun 2011

There will be a last time…

There will be a last time you hear the sound of snow falling, watch the moon rise, smell popcorn, feel the warmth of a child falling asleep in your arms, or make love. You will someday eat your last meal, and soon thereafter you will take your last breath.

– William B. Irvine, A Guide to the Good Life (the ancient art of stoic joy)

Posted in Change, Control, Deliberate Practice, Habits and Routines, Happiness, Mindfulness, Psychology and tagged , , | Leave a comment

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