Leadership

Of Clouds and Clocks

Sir. Karl Popper, in one of his lectures, elaborates about the presence of two types of systems – the clocks and the clouds. Clocks: At one end of the spectrum are Clocks. Clocks are those systems that can be taken apart to understand how they function and assembled back together and when done right, will continue to function the way they were designed. They are predictable. They can be simple or complex but with enough time and skill, we can understand each and every part of the system, their role in the system and how they interact with the other […]

Leadership

3 Skills for all Leaders to Cultivate – Naming, Framing and Priming

Premise: One of the key responsibilities that we have as leaders is to make sense of what is happening in and around the teams that we lead and share this with our teams as and when required. The way we do this could be either through writing (emails, blogs, etc) or by speaking (in all-hands, at events, 1-1 calls, etc). In either case, we need to be careful about the language we use, as the way we use the language has a big impact on what others perceive or understand from our communication. So, today, let’s explore the importance of […]

Podcast

Using KPI’s to drive Peak Performance with Stacey Barr – The Performance Measure Specialist

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https://traffic.libsyn.com/pushingbeyondtheobvious/6-01_PBTO_S22E1_-_How_to_setup_and_measure_the_right_KPIs_with_Stacey_Barr.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Email | RSSIn this episode of Pushing Beyond the Obvious, we host Stacey Barr – The Performance Measure Specialist. Stacey is a specialist in strategic performance measurement and evidence-based leadership. She specialises in using practical performance measurement as the catalyst for creating a high-performance culture that achieves measurable success. She is also the creator of the PuMP® methodology. PuMP® is a performance measurement methodology that routinely transforms measurement cynics into its greatest advocates, which has been adopted in more than 90 countries and across industries. In this wide ranging conversation, we cover:  1. What is […]

Leadership

Unintended Consequences

When we are leading a team in an environment that is complex and full of uncertainty, it is important to understand that every decision we make will always have unintended and unpredictable consequences. As leaders, we need to not only expect that but go looking for it to ensure that the unintended consequence is not something that can have a significant negative impact on what we set out to achieve. In the early years of the last century, Hanoi had a rat problem. The French colonial government wanted to solve this persistent problem. After trying to exterminate the rodent by […]

Creativity, Innovation

Wishing you a very happy “World Creativity and Innovation Day” #WCID

Today, April 21st is celebrated as the “World Creativity and Innovation Day“. Do we really need a creativity and innovation day? Shouldn’t every day be about creativity and innovation? I think this is a discussion for another day. For now, lets stick with celebrating the day (recently, any excuse to celebrate is a good excuse, if we need one at all). Here is a short video of how and why the UN announced April 21 as the World Creativity and Innovation Day. Over the past decade, I have written many blog posts that talk about different perspectives on creativity, creative […]