Management by Objectives
Peter Drucker introduced the idea of Management by Objectives and Self-Control (MbO) as all encompassing management concept, which he set in context in The Practice of Management: The word ‘philosophy’ is tossed around with happy abandon these days in management circles [to create effect to mask the lack of substance]. But management by objectives and […]
G. K. Chesterton on George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw, the most influential 20th-century playwright, indisputably can claim the distinction as the best English dramatist ever since Shakespeare. The English writer, poet, and philosopher G. K. Chesterton wrote about Bernard Shaw in his essays Shaw the Puritan, He is a daring pilgrim who set out from the grave to find the cradle. […]
How We Lose Our High Aspirations
John Stuart Mill in his celebrated book Utilitarianism, Capacity for the nobler feelings is in most natures a very tender plant, easily killed, not only by hostile influences, but by mere want of sustenance; and in the majority of young persons it speedily dies away if the occupations to which their position in life has […]
Understand Your Assumptions
From Peter Drucker’s The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization, My friend Philip Kotler, a professor at Northwestern University, points out that many organizations are very clear about the value they would like to deliver, but they often don’t understand that value from the perspective of their customers. They make […]
The Tenderness of Compassion
Tara Brach writes in Radical Acceptance: Awakening the Love That Heals Fear and Shame Within Us: To cultivate the tenderness of compassion, we not only stop running away from suffering, we deliberately bring our attention to it. Buddhist compassion practices usually begin with being aware of our own pain because once our hearts are tender […]
Not Doing Anything
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche in the article Do Nothing from the Winter 2009 issue of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review: Meditation is one of the rare occasions when we’re not doing anything. Otherwise, we’re always doing something, we’re always thinking something, we’re always occupied. We get lost in millions of obsessions or fixations. But by meditating […]
We Don’t Know Anything About the Future
From investor Howard Marks’s interview at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania: There’s no such thing as analysis of what’s coming. We don’t know anything about the future, and you can’t prove anything about the future. But if you’ve been in business and you’ve seen some cycles, and you’ve gained some experience and you’ve gone […]
Investor Activism is Intensifying
Americans activist investors have targeted Procter & Gamble, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, eBay, Burger King, PepsiCo, Netflix, and even the once-venerable General Electric. Differing from the stereotypical scavenging hawks of the 1980s, today’s activist investors often aspire to enhance boards of many companies instead of stripping companies of assets. They work with other shareholders. From Nicholas […]
Employee Retention: Do You Know Your “Poach Rate?”
Employee poaching is hiring the finest talents of competitive firms. It can also be described as targeting the competitors’ pool of talent. Poaching is done to acquire the trained, the experienced, and the most talented employees from competitive firms. John Putzier defines “poach rate” in Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a […]
Normative Meaning of the Word ‘Tao’
Michael Lafargue writes in The Tao of the Tao Te Ching It seems important to add to the mix here one message coming from another culture besides our own, namely the Chinese word or concept, of the “Tao” which has become part of our own Western philosophical and religious lexicon (though in a distinctive way […]