I would be very neglectful in this “management series” if I failed to include one of the foremost thought leaders and pioneers of one of the most powerful engagement tools available to managers today – the Gallup Q12 – as part of the series.
When I was a young engineer at Procter and Gamble, Jack Stack was already becoming a legend in the business world for what he was able to do with a traditional, blue-collar workforce.
What’s wrong with having a conversation? For starters, conversations take place in real time and we can’t always control what we’re going to say. Some can be difficult to have and can get loud and unpleasant. Texts, emails, postings let us present the self as we want to be. They allow us to delete and edit. Our technology gives us control.
Creative genius is a myth. And great flashes of inspiration are never the work of just one person, even if one person gets all the credit. So argues author Kevin Ashton, technology pioneer and entrepreneur in his best-selling book, “How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention and Discovery”.
“When you teach people about how their brains work, they become more effective managers as well as leaders.” So says Dr. David Rock, Director of the NeuroLeadership Institute and a frequent speaker on TED as well as Google Tech Talks on such topics as “How to be a Provocateur” and “The Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distractions, Regaining Focus and Working Smarter All Day”.
In 2003, Jessica Jackley heard a speech by Grameen Bank founder and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus, an economist from Bangladesh who had pioneered the idea of microcredit: loans offered to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.
