In 1981 I joined Monarch Marking Systems as their president. This subsidiary of Pitney Bowes was the leader in price-marking equipment used by retailers. But scannable bar codes had just come out, so price-marking equipment might become obsolete. I was stoked by this strategic challenge! Monarch had wisely reinvented itself as a bar code printer … Read more
“I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game – it is the game.” -Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM in Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance Most leaders know the importance of culture but have little first-hand experience with how to develop a healthy, trusting, high-performance culture. … Read more
“Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game—it is the game.” –Lou Gerstner, former IBM CEO Most boards think “culture” is the soft, fuzzy stuff that some CEO’s or HR leaders may pay attention to. These boards are sadly wrong. A high-performing, ethical culture can be a great source of competitive advantage. An organization’s culture … Read more
Our colleague in leadership, Harvey Kaufman, edited down one of his longer pieces on alignment so that we might share some of his wisdom and insight here. A few years ago, I attended a Corporate Social Responsibility conference. As you might expect (although I didn’t) a major focus of the conference was how to market … Read more
“Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game—it is the game.” –Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM How can your organization gain a sustainable competitive advantage? Technological breakthrough? Killer patents? Brilliant strategy? Protected regulatory position? We suggest another, perhaps even more powerful, way: Create a high-performance culture of character. Create a culture intent on building … Read more
Are you working more but enjoying it less? Stressed out? Overloaded? Does it feel like things are slipping out of control? These conditions are becoming “the new normal” for leaders today; they also indicate that your organization is out of alignment: People are working at cross-purposes Turf wars break out between departments Everyone is criticizing … Read more
“I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game.” –Lou Gerstner, former Chairman and CEO, IBM, and author, Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? (2002) How can leaders build a high-performance culture? Culture is powerful. Culture has a huge influence on what people do … Read more
Disengaged employees are a growing problem for many organizations today. People lack commitment, can be cynical mutterers, and even saboteurs of company initiatives. How can you as a team or organizational leader motivate better performance, even breakthroughs? The answer has many components, from creating a high-performance culture of character with clear goals and empowered followers … Read more
Guest Blog by Barbara Kimmel #1 Trustworthy leadership – A culture of trust cannot exist with an untrustworthy leader. Trustworthy behavior must start at the top and flow down through every person in an organization. Trust should not be confused with compliance. Being “legal” is not synonymous with being trustworthy. #2 Transformation – Productivity and … Read more
“When aligned around shared values and united in a common mission, ordinary people accomplish extraordinary results.” –Ken Blanchard, leadership author Managers today have a daunting job. With their downsized staff, often depending on people over whom they have no authority, they are expected to produce better results than last year, all on a reduced budget. How … Read more
Interview with Mike Critelli Former CEO and Chairman, Pitney Bowes Leaders Speak Series Mike Critelli was the CEO of Pitney Bowes (PB) from 1994 until 2007, continuing afterwards as Executive Chairman until 2008. PB, a leading provider of customer communication technologies, was one of the eleven companies identified by Jim Collins as “great” in Good … Read more
Culture is simply “how we do things here,” a set of beliefs and habits that influence how people behave. Culture forms over time and determines what happens when authorities are not present, setting the tone for the organization and the norms for acceptable behavior. Lou Gerstner, after his spectacular turnaround of IBM, wrote, “…culture isn’t … Read more
Whistleblowers play an important role in divulging ethical breaches, but we must reframe their role in order to preserve the ethical imperative in organizations. Unethical behavior is rampant nowadays. We see it across the board. We see it in business (e.g., Walmart bribery scandal, LIBOR scandal, Peregrine scandal, and many more); in universities (Harvard, Penn … Read more
