What Peter Drucker Would Be Reading
Recent selections from around the web that, we think, would have caught Peter Drucker’s eye:
1. Lack of Measurement of Social Business Initiatives a Key Issue: Many businesses make use of social media and consider it integral to their future. Yet these same businesses often fail to measure its use. That is a disconnect highlighted by Leslie Brokaw at the Improvisations blog at MIT Sloan Management Review, and it can prevent an organization from going in the necessary direction: “The disconnect between the need for a clear vision and the lack of data to support it can mean that those who wish to step up their leadership in social collaboration don’t have the tools they might normally use to encourage action.”
2. It’s Not About Me. It’s About Our Company Values.: A business can focus a lot on the customer or the bottom line or the product. At Bulbrite, a lighting maker and supply company, President Cathy Choi focuses on values. Choi tells the New York Times that the company brought in an outside consultant to help employees discuss the value system of the company. Employees elucidated their values and the behaviors associated with them, distilling them down to some key points that have become bedrock. Choi says: “The culture thing takes on a life of its own when it starts from the ground up, as opposed to the leadership team going to an off-site retreat and returning with a credo that says, ‘This is what we’re doing now.’”
3. A tribute to Stephen Covey, from one leadership sage to another: Stephen Covey, who died yesterday at the age of 79, was not just a leader of seminars and the head of a business empire. He was also, writes Tom Peters in The Washington Post, a really wonderful fellow: “Many with whom Stephen had direct or indirect contact surprised themselves as they marched forward with their own enhanced humanism, courtesy of his work and example.”
4. The Dx Comment of the Week: Last week, when we asked people about how they have dealt or would advise others to deal with a bad manager, reader Marilyn Ambrosini advised everyone to keep in mind the distinction between difficult bosses (bad) and demanding bosses (good):
A demanding boss is some one who has certain expectations of employees. They are usually very reliant on their employees to get the job done, and done well. The demanding boss may not consider his/her employee’s needs but is not tuned out once an employee addresses any issues. … Some people might think a difficult boss is someone who is demanding. For those, consider your options for other positions because the relationship will never work.