Posts

How and why asking the “ultimate question” can create the ultimate competitive advantage

September 23, 2011

I have read and reviewed all of Fred Reichheld’s previous books and thus was especially interested in reading his latest, The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer Driven World, co-authored with a Bain colleague, Rob…

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How and Why to Disrupt Yourself

September 23, 2011

Here is an excerpt from an article written by Whitney Johnson for the Harvard Business Review blog. To read the complete article, check out the wealth of free resources, and sign up for a subscription to HBR email alerts, please click…

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Bottling Customer Experience

September 23, 2011

Here is an excerpt from an article by Theodore Kinni and featured by strategy+business magazine, published by Booz & Company. In it, Kinni — the co-author of Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service — introduces a lesson in creating…

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The Sugary Secret of Self-Control: A book review of Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

September 22, 2011

Here is an excerpt from an article that appeared in The New York Times (September 2, 2011). It is Steven Pinker’s review of Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney’s Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, recently published by Penguin Press.…

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The Back of the Napkin: A book review by Bob Morris

September 22, 2011

The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
 Dan Roam Portfolio/Penguin (2009) I read the original (published in 2008) and then this second edition with increasing admiration. As I began to work my way through Dan…

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Unfolding the Napkin: A book review by Bob Morris

September 22, 2011

  Unfolding the Napkin: The Hands-On Method for Solving Complex Problems with Simple Pictures Dan Roam Portfolio/Penguin (2009) In this sequel to his previous Napkin book, Dan Roam reaffirms many of the same core values and principles while developing them…

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Richard Rumelt’s reflections on Apple and Steve Jobs

September 22, 2011

Here is a recent post by Richard Rumelt. He is the author Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters and the Harry and Elsa Kunin Professor of Business and Society at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.   I…

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Getting People to Decide Already

September 22, 2011

Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here. Indecisiveness plagues many companies. Often, both leaders and employees struggle to make or…

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Squirrel Inc.: A book review by Bob Morris

September 22, 2011

Squirrel Inc.: A Fable of Leadership through Storytelling Stephen Denning Josey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint (2004) Nuts R Us Think about it. Who are among the greatest storytellers throughout history? My own list includes Homer, Plato, Chaucer, Aesop, Jesus, Dante, Boccaccio, the…

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The Curse of Being a High Achiever

September 22, 2011

In the June 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review, “The Paradox of Excellence,” Thomas J. DeLong and Sara DeLong explain how and why high achievers often undermine their leadership by being afraid to show their limitations. Here are some behaviors…

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