“Actual productivity = potential productivity – coordination & motivation loss” Rich Kalgradd However, productivity is not the most important factor in team or company success. Like running a race, you will not win by running the fastest in the wrong direction. If you have chosen the right direction, .e., made a good decision about what […]
Category Archives: effectiveness
August
09
Leadership hack 024 – is getting better more important than getting work done?
posted by Max
“Improving daily work is even more important than doing daily work” Gene Kim You never have enough time and resources, so you throw everything at the task at hand – getting the product shipped or the problem fixed. We have all been there. It is very, very easy to focus relentlessly on getting your work […]
December
15
How to grow your start-up, product or company – what you could learn from ‘Hacking Growth’ by Sean Ellis (2017, 276 pages)
posted by Max
How did companies like DropBox, Airbnb and Facebook attract many more customers than their competitors?
March
17
What you could learn from ‘Smartcuts’ by Shane Snow (2016, 198 pages)
posted by Max
What makes some people wildly more successful than others?
In his book ‘Smartcuts’, Shane argues that there 9 things that super successful people do differently.
February
19
Leadership hack 019 – feedback
posted by Max
Anders Ericsson found that truly world class performers invested more time in deliberate practice (see his seminal paper) than their less successful peers. Anders defined deliberate practice as: “repeated experiences in which the individual can attend to the critical aspects of the situation and incrementally improve her or his performance in response to knowledge of results, feedback, or both from a teacher.” The importance of feedback […]
January
17
What you could learn from ‘Team Genius’ by Rich Kalgaard and Michael Malone (2015, 250 pages)
posted by Max
How did the team that designed and delivered the US’s first ever fighter jet (P-80 Shooting Star) do it in less 143 days? In their book ‘Team Genius’ Rich and Michael suggest that there are five things contribute to team effectiveness. Stay as small as possible, and stick to optimum group sizes. That is 7±2, […]
January
07
Leadership hack 019 – The one thing you can do to make the most of 2017
posted by Max
2016 was a tough year for most of us. How was it for you? More importantly, what can you learn from it? I try to take two weeks off at Christmas. This time off allows me to decompress and remind my wife and daughter what I look like, and also see my wider family. I also […]
November
22
What you can learn from ‘Talent is Overated’ by Geoff Colvin (2016, 206 pages)
posted by Max
What separates the truly exceptional from the rest of us? Is it talent or is it hard work? In ‘Talent is Overrated’ Geoff argues that while there are some qualities that make us more predisposed to certain achievements, it only when people spend a lot of time (10,000+ hours) in deliberate practice that they can become world […]
November
18
Leadership hack 017 – you can only fix what you can see
posted by Max
The amount work expected of leaders keep growing, increasing the chance that important tasks are missed. As companies adopt a flatter, agiler, structure leaders get more responsibility and more people to work with. It is now very easy for one of your many spinning plates to drop crashing to the ground. The way we manage tasks […]
November
11
Leadership hack 016 – what 80/20 actually means
posted by Max
5There is much advice out there ‘don’t boil the ocean‘ or be ‘80/20‘. A lot of people think that this means just do 80% of the work. Few understand its true meaning that you should only focus on the very small, but very significant 20% of the work which creates 80% of the impact. Understanding that […]
October
24
What you could learn from ‘The Innovation Book’ by Max McKeown (2014, 245 pages)
posted by Max
What is innovation? How do you and your company become more innovative? How do you lead and manage creative people? How to you turn your companies best ideas into reality? All of these questions are challenging for leaders in large organisations. Max McKeown’s ‘The Innovation Book’ is an excellent resource to help you answer these […]
October
21
Leadership hack 013 – balancing exploitation with exploration
posted by Max
Success only lasts so long. If you, or your company, are successful others will imitate, and competition will erode your advantage. Therefore, to remain successful, you need to capitalise on your current success, and use then redeploy the resources from this success and invest them where they while hopefully generate future growth. Exploitation is defined as ‘the action […]
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