Blog Title: Management Development

The Mathematics of Persuasive Communication

A great article by Philip Yaffe (a former Wall Street Journal feature writer) on writing, speaking, communication At first glance mathematics and persuasive communication - writing, and particularly public speaking would seem to have little in common. After all, mathematics is an objective science, whilst speaking involves voice quality, inflection, eye contact, personality, body language, and read more..

How to be Creative

An extract from a brilliant piece by Hugh McLeod. This article is funny, brilliant and insightful. It seems to be not just a revelation about creativity but a way of thinking about working and living in the real world 1. Ignore everybody. The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able read more..

Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

A reproduction of the commencement address by J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame at Harvard University - copyright June 2008 President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates, The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard read more..

3 sentences that can change your life

Here’s a list of 3 sentences that can change your life - at work and at home. If you think this is just a tall claim, just read on and try practicing these over the next few days.. 1- I’m sorry I screwed up - I made a mistake People don’t like cover-ups. If you’ve made an read more..

7-S McKinsey Framework

If you want to look at a framework for the purpose of change management and organizational development, you may want to study the 7-S framework. This is a model that describes how to organize to effectively organize and manage the various elements of an organization in an integrated manner. Consider this as just an introduction read more..

Key Barriers to Listening

There are lot’s of explanations about the common barriers that people encounter during listening. Here’s the most common ones that challenge us.. Comparing: assessing who’s smarter, competent, more knowledegable etc. While the other speaks, I’m thinking “I earn more than that”, “my kids are much brighter” etc. I don’t let anything in because I’m too busy read more..

Introduction to Appreciative Enquiry

Appreciative Enquiry – AI - is an exciting alternative approach to organizational change developed by two American organization behavior professors, David L. Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva.In the usual change management model, management thinking is generally based around looking for and fixing problems.  In AI, the focus is identifying what works well in the organization, understanding read more..

What Bill Gates said at Harvard University

President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates: I’ve been waiting more than 30 years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree.” I want to thank Harvard for read more..

Re-thinking Communications

Based on an extract from a web article More effective communication can result if individuals follow a simple principle. This effective communication principle is: FOCUS ON FEELINGS RATHER THAN ON CONTENT An effective communicator should be able to avoid getting caught up in the CONTENT of another’s message and get to the FEELINGS behind the message… What is Content CONTENT read more..

8 Principles of Learning

In the late 1990s, a team of researchers including staff from Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) studied how learning takes place in organizations. Their conclusions which were very insightful then are even more relevant today. Another dimension that is interesting about these findings is equal relevance to any kind of learning, whether within a read more..