Leaders and Strategies in Real Life: 8/21/18

  |   Leaders and Strategies in Real Life Print Friendly and PDF

Instead of studying leadership, why not spend some time studying leaders and strategies in the wild? You can learn a lot from leadership experts, but you always see the leader and what he or she does through the expert’s personal lens. Supplement that learning with studying real leaders in real life situations and draw your own conclusions. The posts in this series will help you.

Every week I’ll point you to articles by and about real leaders in real situations and to articles about how real companies are faring in the marketplace. Read them. Think about them. Draw your own lessons and conclusions from them. Then try to apply those lessons in your own real life.

This week I’m pointing you to articles about Longfor Properties, Yvon Chouinard. General Electric, Ursula Burns, and DaVita.

From Quy Huy: The Cultural Attributes of the Most Innovative Companies

“The case of China’s Longfor Properties proves that ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’ is not a recipe for innovation.”

From Yvon Chouinard: Brand Patagonia: A Founders Story And Strategy

“In April 2017, the authors of Legacy In The Making visited me at Patagonia’s headquarters, in Ventura, California, to talk about the legacy I’m building as the founder of Patagonia. We talked about a lot of things, some of which I’d never spoken about before. Afterward, when they asked me if I’d share some of those insights and stories in the foreword to their book and I made it clear: I never wanted to be a conventional businessman. I liked climbing rocks, not corporate ladders.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From Harvard Business Review: Learning from GE’s Stumbles

“Roger Martin, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, offers two main reasons General Electric has lost its competitiveness. GE’s stock has been removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Martin blames pressures from activist investors as well as a short-sighted mergers and acquisitions strategy.”

From Ursula Burns: How Do You Change a Successful Company?

“Every company needs to be ready to embrace change to keep pace with the modern economy. The prospect is particularly fraught for a company with a long history of success. Ursula Burns, former CEO of Xerox, talks with Yale Insights about how a company can build its legacy by transforming its identity. She says that to drive change, leaders have to communicate, communicate, and communicate.”

From Dave Hoerman: Inside DaVita’s Corporate Culture: ‘A Community First And A Company Second’

“Employee engagement company Limeade writes that the biggest trend of 2018 among chief human resources officers is building an intentional workplace culture. An intentional culture that’s embraced by each individual pays dividends and makes for a more productive and happier workforce.”

For some ideas about how to get more from this series of posts, check out “Studying Leaders in the Wild.

Join The Conversation

What People Are Saying

There are no comments yet, why not be the first to leave a comment?