Inspiration to learn about yourself

When you call some companies, you sometimes hear music before getting through to an employee. Also, at some shops, you hear music when entering the store. I’d like to ask you if you think it matters which kind of music the company plays for its (potential) customers, and/or if it matters which sound quality the music, you experience, has. You’re very welcome to talk about a concrete experience you have had. In addition, if you know about one or more companies, that handle the music, they play for their (potential) customers, professionally, please do tell about it.

Innovation has gained strong importance - not least because companies, in order to be attractive for customers, need to differentiate their products from the products of competitors in the increasingly global marketplace. Considering this, please reflect on what is characteristic for the way people at the company, you work for, think: Is it creative thinking that dominates? Or is it analytical thinking? And why? Analytical thinking People think and act highly logically/rationally and spend much time on, for example, gathering data, calculating, and formulating. Strong focus is on formal rules and routines. Consistency/stability is important. The general idea is that if people in a strongly disciplined way follow procedures, it will be an advantage for the company. Creative thinking People use their imagination - strive to think untraditionally / ”out of the box”. Focus is on new opportunities, variation, flexibility, and spontaneity. The idea is that if people do things in new ways, co...

I’d like to ask you how you think a good manager should manage - which management culture leads to the best results. To inspire you a little bit, I’ve written below about 2 different ways of managing/leading. Naturally, you are more than welcome to come up with a third way, or suggest some kind of a mix between # 1 and 2. It’s great if you have examples. Management culture # 1 The manager is relatively authoritative and formal in the way he/she acts/communicates. He/she often has a narrow department focus and communicates primarily vertically. This type of manager is often sure of his opinion, rarely asks others, and often commands, i.e. tells/instructs people in detail what to do. He/she has a relatively low level of trust in people. Therefore, he/she makes rules and uses various kinds of control mechanisms. The person has a strong focus on administering status quo. Management culture # 2 The manager communicates with everyone, for example through various internet communities and/or b...

In this 3-minute audio , Mr. Jim Collins, the author of these books , says, among other important things, this: "You don’t set core values. You discover your core values." What experiences do you have regarding discovering the core values of a company?

A relatively powerful and efficient way to change way people behave - and thereby change the culture of the company - can be by changing the way people are paid for the work they do. For example, if you want to make the culture of the company, you work for, more performance oriented, one possibility is to make salaries depend more on how the team/division/company performs. To give a more concrete example: If the profit margin is above a certain percentage, a bonus will be paid to each employee / manager. Do you have further suggestions on how to move the culture in a certain direction by changing the types of compensation used? It would be interesting to hear about what you have experienced work well for the company as a whole.

On page 43-44 of the book "Die Schneekönigin. Weihnachten mit Hans Christian Andersen" , that I enjoyed reading, I noticed not least the following letter from Hans Christian Andersen to Hans Christian Ørsted. H. C. Andersen wrote the letter in Rome on December 5th, 1833. "Lieber Herr Etatsraat! Fast jeden der letzten zehn Weihnachtsabende habe ich in Ihrem lieben Kreis verbracht, in den Sie mich schon frühzeitig aufnahmen, den Fremdling, der so allein dastand. Seien Sie überzeugt, dass ich mich allezeit jedes kleinen Zuges Ihrer Güte und Freundschaft mit Dankbarkeit erinnere – wenn ich diese Formulierung gebrauchen darf. Nun nähert sich das Weihnachtsfest wieder. Auf der Straße draußen spielen schon die Hirten von den Bergen auf ihren Dudelsäcken und verkünden das frohe Fest. Aber hier ist es noch sommerlich warm, die Pinien und Zypressen sind grün, und die gelben Orangen hängen vis à vis über die Mauer. Alles präsentiert sich mir in einer anderen Gestalt als vor Jahr un...

Have you thought about why people are different from one another? This Yale University lecture addresses the question by reviewing the latest theories and research in psychology on two traits in particular: Personality and intelligence. You will hear about how these traits are measured, why they may differ across individuals and groups, and whether they are influenced at all by one's genes, parents or environment. Interested in watching/listening to another lecture from the Open Yale Courses? If yes, then choose one from the available courses here .

On a recent poll I asked the question: How important is power to you? 1. Very important 2. Important. 3. Neither important nor unimportant. 4. Unimportant. 5. Totally unimportant. Of the 15 people, who participated in the poll, 59% answered either very important or important. When you hear the word "power", what do you think of / what comes into your mind?

Inspired from Mr. Claus Buhl, who wrote a blog post yesterday about how boring many museums are, I thought about some ways to develop museums. Here are 6 ideas: Idea # 1: Give customers the possibility to use their mobile phones Imagine that you walk through a museum and can get a variety of information about the paintings/sculptures you see – via your mobile phone. It would be great, wouldn’t it? So how about attaching, for example, RFID tags to each exhibit in the museum? Perhaps there could even be an opportunity to chat – via the mobile phone – with the artist or other people who want to share their knowledge about what is happening in the museum. Are you interested in getting more inspiration about RFID in museums? Then have a look at this article . Idea # 2: Facilitate communication between customers/guests Often, communication between museum customers/visitors does not happen by itself, for example because many people are too shy/polite to start a communication with another per...

I thought about why some people resist change and found these 5 reasons: | View | Upload your own Thinking about what a company can do to adapt faster to changes, for example changes in customer needs, I got the idea that it would be useful to help people - for example employees, managers, and/or suppliers - reduce the fear they have for change. Do you have any suggestions on how to help people overcome fear for change? What are your experiences?

In this Credit Suisse emagazine interview , Mr. C. K. Prahalad talks, for example, about how the mobile phone is becoming a wallet not least in developing countries. Here’s an extract from the interview: "In the majority of developed countries, it is not yet possible to carry out a financial transaction by SMS. But this technology already exists in the Philippines and is now being tested in India. The so-called "mobile banking" was developed by banks together with telecommunications providers and is aimed at people with low incomes. This innovation could now be further expanded so that the mobile phone really does become a wallet in the industrialized nations too." Using the power of the Internet, kiva.org has introduced another efficient way of speeding up economic growth in developing countries by releasing the entrepreneurial potential there. Choose a business and try it out yourself for $25 here .

Sometimes, it can be useful to look at the opposite of how you, your colleagues, and managers work - in order to find out if you are doing the right thing. In that regard, it would be great to hear about your experiences regarding the dilemma between, on the one hand, planning, and, on the other hand, trying things out continuously. Situation # 1: Planning Planning, i.e. deciding in advance - in a structured, systematic manner - what to do, how to do it, when to do it, as well as who should it, can be useful for more reasons. Through planning, a direction is pointed out. Planning also encourages people to think about/reflect upon the consequences of actions and alternative actions, before actions are implemented. A plan is often prepared after thorough research/analysis - and can thereby help people to a better understanding and to making better decisions. The idea is that through good planning, resources will be used in effective ways. It is important to mention that planning is not l...

Among humans, a smile is often an expression of happiness. To get inspired, have a look at these photos , watch this 1 minute video , and/or glance through these top 10 reasons to smile . Among the 10 reasons mentioned, I find, not least, reason # 3 "Smiling is contagious" quite interesting. As the author writes, "when someone is smiling they lighten up the room" . In other words, people who smile influence the project/company culture in a positive way. Do you have some examples of how smiling affects the culture of the project/company you work for?

"Humor is one of the things associated with a positive affect, which increases not only productivity, but also the ability to communicate well with the boss, co-workers, and customers" , writes the author of this BusinessWeek article . In other words, humor can lead to better corporate performance. The extent to which a person will find something humorous depends not least on which culture he/she comes from. In other words, the use of humor in a group - for example a project group - in which people share the same values, can make that group even stronger. On the other hand, humor can be difficult to understand for a person, who comes from a different project/company culture and/or national culture than the other persons in the group. What are your experiences using humor in different situations? How about telling a little success story about an experience, you have had, where the use of humor led to better performance for the project/company?

Following up on changes that influence the way we think and act, a topic I wrote a bit about in the last blog post, I had a look at the Global Risks 2007 report of the World Economic Forum. To get an overview of core global risks, have a look at page 8 of the report. Note, for example, that "Asset price collapse", "Oil price shock", and "China economic hard landing" are all classified in the high likelihood and high severity corner. I have a couple of questions for you: 1. Which risks with high likelihood and high severity do you think we’ll see in the Global Risk 2008 Report? 2. How will you change your behaviour in order not to be negatively affected by these risks?

Changing the way you think and act is important in a world, where changes in the external environment are happening more or less all the time. The needs of customers change. Technologies change. As an example, just consider how various communication technologies develop in these weeks/months/years – and how these technological changes influence the way we communicate with each other. In addition, economic changes, political changes, environmental changes, and/or legal changes influence the way we think and act. Here are 17 initiatives to make change - including cultural change - happen. To what degree is change a part of the culture of the company you work for? | View | Upload your own

Situation A: 1-way communication There are still many companies for which communication - even through the Internet - is primarily going in 1 direction, for example from management to employees and/or from company to customers. Strong focus is put on supply. Customers are looked upon as passive consumers consuming (standardized) products. Situation B: Participation through blogs Blogs are changing the way things are done, i.e. they are changing the culture of many companies. Blogs make communication a 2-way street . They invite people to participate, to express their ideas, thoughts, opinions, and that way inspire others. Through blogs, more focus is being put on demand: Customers tell the company what kind of products they want - and how they want them. In other words, input/feedback from customers is, at anytime, possible through blogs. In addition, employees can also easier get involved. Their good ideas for any topic can be spread more efficiently – across functions/divisions/compa...

Reflecting on the results of the research on different cultures conducted by Geert Hofstede , I noticed that, on the dimension “individualism”, Asian cultures rank, in general, lower than, for example, the U.S. culture and cultures of many European countries. Studying the guiding principles on the first page of the Toyota Code of Conduct , I noted not least principle # 5 of the 7 principles: “Foster a corporate culture that enhances individual creativity and teamwork value, while honoring mutual trust and respect between labor and management.” Is this combination of individual creativity and cooperation/teamwork one of the keys to success for a globally working company? Thinking about the culture of the company, you work for, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts and experiences about what the right balance between individualism, in general, and cooperation/teamwork is? Please feel free to also communicate any examples you may have. You could, for example, write about compensa...

The recently launched Global Gender Gap Report 2007 shows relatively large differences between countries throughout the world when it comes to inequality between men and women. In particular, the gap between women and men on economic participation and political empowerment is wide. The top 3 places are taken by Sweden, Norway and Finland. They have all closed over 80% of the gender gap. Of the countries in Europe, Italy - which is positioned at 84th place - is doing worst. The report shows that there is correlation between the gender gap and national competitiveness. In other words, by giving women the same rights, responsibilities and opportunities as men, a country will increase its competitiveness. If you don’t have time to read the report, then get a short overview by watching this 2½ minute interview. Let's hear what you find interesting?