tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10316273715990141832011-11-28T10:27:14.428+09:00Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.comBlogger861100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-34193994813137898002011-04-11T00:14:00.008+09:002011-04-11T00:46:28.843+09:00

This blog post is long overdue. I actually drafted this post already about a year ago, but due to several reasons did not post it before now. Last year was extremely challenging for me, and I reduced my workload by stopping updating this blog. Let's see if I can bring it alive again.About a year ago I found this article about Five Hallmarks of Operational Excellence by Accenture. Here's my

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-63545197517539242352010-03-20T14:16:00.007+09:002010-03-20T20:18:13.820+09:00

What do you do when most of us know we have a problem, but are not convinced enough to change anything? Or when the problem is huge and it's too easy to wait for somebody to appear with a huge solution? The answer is not providing more information about the problem to convince you about the need of change. It is to appeal to your emotions and give you examples of small solutions to motivate you

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-38594886546721431522009-12-18T00:05:00.010+09:002009-12-18T07:54:55.179+09:00

Another year is coming to its end, and it's time look back at what we have achieved. It's also time to set objectives and plan actions for next year.How was your year? Did you meet your objectives? Did you stay focused? Did you manage to keep your work and life balanced?How about next year? How are your objectives? Are they focused? Will you be able to keep yourself and your relationships healthy

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-27459112479177233752009-12-16T05:56:00.017+09:002009-12-16T08:29:37.941+09:00

On the comments of my previous post my regular commentator Daddy asked: "have you ever thought of becoming a professional consultant by yourself?" That is a tough question to answer publicly, as Daddy is commenting anonymously, and the only thing I know for sure is that he is from Finland (and could even be my boss or his colleague).Here is my honest answer.Yes I have thought of becoming a

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-18744281220427790972009-12-14T07:14:00.006+09:002009-12-14T07:48:53.031+09:00

Two years ago I saw Presentation Zen guru Garr Reynolds talk about a new way of presentations. To me it was really eye opening and gave me a totally new of seeing, creating and delivering presentations. Last summer he delivered the following keynote speach about simplicity. His earlier talk is included in my earlier post Presentation Skills The presentation is 43 minutes long, and you

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-48535170437059567282009-12-09T21:42:00.007+09:002009-12-10T07:43:31.183+09:00

I created this blog about 3 years ago because I realized there were quite a number of things I needed to cover in my first management position. About two years ago I started updating my blog and it has become a way for me to process the challenges I face in my job.Now it is time to summarize the lessons learned - next week is my last week in my current position before relocating back to the

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-55453871387870485962009-10-26T06:11:00.007+09:002009-10-26T11:30:53.776+09:00

It's Monday morning, and I am getting ready to start another working week. Last week I saw this video and tweeted it. My friend Cheri wrote a blog post about it and I realized two things The noise in open office greatly reduces my productivity, like Julian Treasure points out in the videoThe office setting with no walls, and not even a meeting room door to close, makes it very difficult for me

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-88829276954028365012009-10-24T12:18:00.009+09:002009-10-24T13:36:15.124+09:00

Lately I have been thinking about Operational Excellence. Not the low cost strategic positioning I used to know as operational excellence, but something completely different. An article by Spencer Stuart starts by stating: Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, total quality management are just a few of the programs companies are implementing to increase profitability and eliminate waste. When

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-7302366381420807782009-10-06T07:15:00.005+09:002009-10-06T08:16:37.748+09:00

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet with Hayashida san, a retired Japanese gentleman who used to be the factory manager for a Lexus plant. This post is based on the notes I made during his presentation and during the long Q&A after his presentation, with many references to my earlier posts. Hayashida san uses the original term TPS rather than the western term Lean.It all starts with

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-30582694612240829662009-09-28T20:17:00.004+09:002009-09-28T20:24:19.931+09:00

Dan at Great Leadership blog listed last week how he would give an early warning to people who are being promoted. His list is actually pretty good list to think about - am I delivering any or many of these things and should I expect a promotion in the future?Here is his script for delivering the good news:Congratulations, you’re going to be promoted next month! You sure deserve it. Here’s why:

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-9226985157768675652009-09-23T17:37:00.004+09:002009-09-23T22:03:57.948+09:00

This TED.com talk by Dan Pink was posted recently on three blogs I follow.Cheri at The Enlightened Manager commented that "It's a fascinating look into when money changes behavior, and when it doesn't."The Heart of Innovation thinks it is a "Fabulous presentation on the power of intrinsic motivation and the utter goofiness of "carrot and stick" methodologies to improve business performance. 18

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-20756483406205132282009-09-15T07:26:00.006+09:002009-09-15T21:02:24.247+09:00

Last week I saw this presentation about A Trade / A Crime So MonstrousIt would be my pick to be the winner of World's Best Presentation Contest 2009. The last day for voting for presentations is today.Yesterday TED.com published a talk by journalist Misha Glenny about his investication on the same industry. About midway to his talk he says "A significan minority of those 500 million Europeans [

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-83772456335816650412009-09-10T20:34:00.009+09:002009-09-10T23:02:17.537+09:00

Earlier this week I received John Spence's new book Awesomely Simple: Essential Business Strategies for Turning Ideas Into Action. I have been waiting for the book since May last year, and it was worth the wait.Before listing the key strategies, let's look at what makes them so important. During his trainings and workshops John has been asking hundreds of executives a simple question: "What are

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-14394289429379946962009-09-03T19:29:00.005+09:002009-09-03T19:46:57.234+09:00

Toyota has designed a two-page mechanism for attacking problems. In July MIT Sloan Management Review published an article about what can we learn from Toyota's A3.The A3’s constraints (just 2 pages) and its structure (specific categories, ordered in steps, adding up to a “story”) are the keys to the A3’s power.Though the A3 process can be used effectively both to solve problems and to plan

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-17396216167489690762009-08-28T20:51:00.004+09:002009-08-28T21:01:56.810+09:00

I have been thinking about Lean lately, and run across some great (and basic) stuff by Gemba Academy. I'll let them do the talking:(notice how they are influenced by one of my favorite books Presentation Zen, and how the show it on their otherwise messy bookself!)(Notice how the bookshelf has transformed!)Gemba also gives you ideas how to apply 5S in an office, and what the 7 wastes look like in

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-42280479326464414832009-08-14T00:42:00.005+09:002009-08-14T01:14:46.966+09:00

I just received the latest ChangeThis newsletter including one manifesto on my favorite topic leading culture change. I decided to just quicly blog the manifesto as is (under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License)."When great starts have poor endings, it can leave change pioneers disappointed, hard working organizers disheartened, and skeptics with proof they were

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-45488004394156098632009-07-25T15:38:00.006+09:002009-07-25T15:56:07.091+09:00

This spring was extremely stressful for me. Mainly because of things not related to my work - but my high stress level naturally effected also my contribution at the office. I had difficulties to sleep, which led to poor concentration resulting to delays and forgetting things. I was even too tired to ride my bicycle. And that is alarming, since riding bicycle is my main method of relaxation. I

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-49964372772461991082009-07-21T17:22:00.006+09:002009-07-25T10:31:23.801+09:00

I just experienced the most impressive company visit during my career. I have visited quite a few companies in several industries during the past 15 years, but none of them compares to NBK in Gifu, Japan. NBK originally started 450 years ago as a pot maker and has during the years evolved to a maker of metal parts such as pulleys, couplings and screws, with 410 employees generating US$ 80 million

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-32094036236258731492009-07-13T21:40:00.008+09:002009-07-13T21:57:37.969+09:00

Recent blog post on Bill Matthies’ Business Wisdom got me commenting on creative chaos and productive neatness. And it got me thinking of brainstorming which might look like creative chaos. But when brainstorming is mastered the creative chaos is actually guided by productive neatness.I’m not that good at it, but here’s the best practice I learned five years ago by watching the video(s) below by

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-77707755422729272122009-07-09T20:06:00.004+09:002009-07-09T20:26:30.963+09:00

I have been writing a lot about organizational change from the organizational point of view, but this Nevin Danielson's ChangeThis Manifesto looks at change from the individual's point of view.He is talking about organizational change, but you can actually apply his thoughts to political change, economical change or other types of major changes happening around you. Nevin examines the options you

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-19781976850344107322009-07-02T20:57:00.005+09:002009-07-09T14:13:18.850+09:00

Lately I have been thinking about Kaizen (continuous improvement), and came across shmula.com blog by Pete Abilla. Earlier this year he wrote a post about The Atomic Rules of Kaizen. The post was so good I will quote it as such:Systems that are internally consistent and externally pragmatic stem from just a few rules. Systems with exceedingly many rules typically fail or will not endure. For

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-295292639790891182009-06-27T16:20:00.005+09:002009-06-27T16:44:13.757+09:00

Earlier this week Toyota president Akio Toyoda gave a speech which was almost like an answert to my previous post about How should business leaders learn from GM's latest turning point?In HBS Newsletter last week Nancy F. Koehn, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, highlighted three fundamental management issues on which GM has failed for decades:First, pay close

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-38428353642539661942009-06-18T07:20:00.006+09:002009-06-18T07:44:04.731+09:00

In this weeks Harvard Business School Working Knowledge Newsletter several faculty members write about GM: What Went Wrong and What's Next. Nancy F. Koehn, Professor of Business Administration, highlights same fundamental leadership and management issues I have been blogging about earlier.General Motors was formed in 1908, the same year Henry Ford brought out the first Model T. Ford Motor

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-11739634774175199482009-06-06T12:39:00.004+09:002009-06-06T12:58:21.064+09:00

Today I found another good manifesto from ChangeThis. It is based on concepts discussed in Tony Jeary’s latest book, Strategic Acceleration: Succeed at the Speed of LifeHe is on spot writing how business as usual is unrealistic in our current economic climate. Leaders must accept the fact that success is likely to become a moving target and their organizations must become faster, leaner and

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-18908817836023950562009-05-30T21:14:00.009+09:002009-07-09T14:15:03.800+09:00

I just finished Matt May's new book In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing, which I had been waiting for. Matt explores the elements of Elegance in innovations of different types - technological elegance, fast food elegance, architectural elegance, elegance in top athlete training, elegance in art, etc. This variety of fields covered makes it truly an interesting book

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-34683690152184923372009-05-24T21:22:00.008+09:002009-07-09T14:16:02.695+09:00

I visited two Japanese factories this week and I was impressed on how extremely organized their production lines where. This got me thinking about the Japanese manufacturing line, the Montessori classroom and Google - and the power of being organized.One of the principles of Lean manufacturing is 5S, a philosophy and a way of organizing and managing the workspace, especially a shared workplace (

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-61743026544671919622009-05-17T14:11:00.003+09:002009-10-05T22:16:54.627+09:00

I can't wait to get my hands on Matt May's new book In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing which will be published next week. His recent ChangeThis manifesto provides a sneak preview of th content:Matt's previos book The Elegant Solution: Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation is one of the most referred to books in my blog. It captures what I have been doing for

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-65953026482476457562009-05-09T08:41:00.004+09:002009-05-09T08:58:03.554+09:00

During the past months I have been under quite some stress caused by unexpected difficulties in many areas of life. One by one these difficulties are being solved and my energy level is back to normal. When you are feeling stressed, one thing to do is toTurn to your friends, family and mentors for advice!While I was planning to write about stress, John Spence whose blog I follow, did me a favor

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-17628635470670281582009-04-24T05:49:00.007+09:002009-04-24T07:05:44.621+09:00

This time my blog post is a little different. It is a case example of howI have been trying to teach business strategy to my wife.She is an elementary school teacher and could not care less about business strategy. But I decided to try, because her situation makes it rather relevant. She has been a teacher for more than ten years in Finland, which has been ranked the highest-performing country in

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-28678107491286715532009-04-14T20:23:00.006+09:002009-04-15T09:24:16.784+09:00

I was reading the latest issue of Harvard Business Review in the train on my way back home. The editorial was giving some advice for leaders during these hard timesLeadership is never easy, but it’s incredibly tough right now.Some of the advice sounded familiar as I have been blocking about similar topics lately.Hire the best possible people to work for you, even if they fought you for your job.

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-40436616794270771862009-04-07T21:03:00.004+09:002009-07-09T14:14:22.719+09:00

I was reading an article from the Washington Post about how “The sea of new cars, 57,000 of them, stretches for acres along the Port of Baltimore. The customers who once bought them by the millions have largely vanished, and so the cars continue to pile up.” This reminded of theBeer Gamewe once played at the university. OK, we played many beer drinking games, but this one, The Beer Distribution

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-13267934878522010792009-03-30T06:50:00.008+09:002009-03-31T13:38:57.555+09:00

Originally this was Advice to a King on the book Zen Lessons: The Art of Leadership. The same advice is true for every leader.”In your daily activities,vigorously carry out whatever is rightand put a firm stop to whatever is wrong.You should not change your will on account of difficulty or ease. If because of today's difficulty you shake your head and pay no heed, how can you know that another

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-26172794480459612332009-03-25T07:00:00.006+09:002009-03-25T07:24:34.187+09:00

I read another interesting post by IdeaChampions. This time about enabling an nurturing innovations. They compare Innovation process to a river - If you want to create a river, you will need two things: flowing water and two river banks. If you want to create a culture of innovation, you will also need two things:new ideas and the organizational structures to keep those ideas flowing forward.Like

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-43010875506240174312009-03-18T07:20:00.009+09:002009-03-25T06:46:06.778+09:00

If you are committed to accomplishing extraordinary results, chances are good that you will need to collaborate with others. IdeaChampions posted some weeks ago aTeam Reality CheckMost people's experience of being on a team -- especially those who work in large companies -- is less-than-ideal, filled with frustration, power struggles, and the belief that it's not worth the effort.OK. Those days

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-11050109521016772072009-03-13T04:54:00.007+09:002009-03-13T14:29:34.083+09:00

3,5 years ago a I applied for, and was selected to my current position of running a country organization. That was a bold move which ment that my first supervisory position and my first cost center responsibility was to happen in a different culture without any supervisor near me.Little did I know about the challenges I would face!Rather than going trough those challenges in public, I refer to a

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-34880836962745725752009-03-09T06:49:00.005+09:002009-03-09T07:03:30.854+09:00

How will your organization find its next great idea?Matt May invited me to test a new idea management and collaboration tool for groups - Kindling. If you want an invitation, please visit his blog, and leave a comment, Matt is inviting 100 people for 1 month trial.I was bloging earlier about how similar tool is used by DELL to capture and rank customer requirements - to really listen to the voice

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-89526426702831696222009-03-06T05:51:00.007+09:002009-07-14T19:47:31.903+09:00

My friend Jenni, who is in design industry, commented my previous post saying one of her favourites among the management's grand challenges was how toFurther unleash human imagination.Much is known about what engenders human creativity. This knowledge must be better applied in the design of management systems.I started thinking about this and realized I have come across a perfect example some

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-82652687144997346912009-03-03T20:22:00.003+09:002009-03-03T20:43:32.468+09:00

Last year June I posted about Management's new role inspired by Gary Hamel's conference for 35 really smart folks to find answers for a fundamental questionWhat great challenges must we tackle to reinvent management and make it more relevant to a volatile world?After all, the foundations of “modern” management were laid by people like Daniel McCallum, Frederick Taylor, and Henry Ford, all of whom

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-48280630557606854362009-02-28T07:09:00.009+09:002009-02-28T14:41:07.230+09:00

I am working for a healthy and profitable company and have not had to deliver these hard messages. And I hope I do not need to deliver them anytime soon. But this week I saw good advice onHow to execute orders from head office to pare down the workforce as a means of reducing cost?Because the reductions will be general in nature, the most common reaction of the local management is to deal with

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-32761371743606067632009-02-25T06:28:00.012+09:002009-07-09T14:14:22.719+09:00

It's been several weeks since my last post. I could say that I have been too busy lately, but actually I ran out of ideas (because of being ”too busy”). So it's time to think howInnovation, problemsolving and learning employ the same iterative process—blending supposition, logic, creativity and reflection.This post is based on Matthew E May's ChangeThis manifesto Mind of the Innovator: Taming the

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-72342851960573423202009-01-31T17:41:00.021+09:002009-02-25T06:45:40.554+09:00

This week I have been thinking of Customer Satisfaction. Thursday I was reading John Spence's blog. He talks about customer satisfaction as the single most important indicator of business success. He also talks about Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is measuring customer satisfaction by one simple question:“How likely are you to recommend our products and services to your family and friends?”I

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-76100865464977351762009-01-22T20:38:00.006+09:002009-02-01T08:08:42.550+09:00

I was talking the other day with a friend of mine who was preparing for lessons in budgeting on his MBA class. I know January is normally not the time for budgeting, but I decided to write about budgeting anyway, becauseSo many companies are currently revising their sales estimates and cutting costs In other words they are revising their sales and cost budgets.About a year ago I was reading

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-46064789182847325162009-01-22T07:02:00.005+09:002009-02-01T08:10:18.558+09:00

Last week I wrote a post about Toyota being known for their innovations. Earlier I have been writing about how ideas come from everywhere, and how ideas come from customers. NowToyota is organizing an Innovation Experience andcalling for your ideas to make this world a better place."We're constantly challenging ourselves to think of breakthrough ways to make the world a little better. Now it's

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-91222025796591528132009-01-18T08:22:00.010+09:002009-07-09T14:18:25.473+09:00

I was walking past a small Toyota car dealer and service shop in Tokyo on Friday morning. I saw a typical Japanese morning meeting being held on the shop floor. I became wondering what might the manager be saying to his staff whenCar sales are falling, exchange rates work against Toyota, and the company expects to post an operating loss for the first time since 1938.I became curious and checked

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-2760405301286259262009-01-10T08:07:00.006+09:002009-02-01T08:13:46.874+09:00

Just before Christmas Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge Newsletter contained an article about corporate culture. I had just been blogging about culture a week before.The article asks: Why is it that many of the same companies appear repeatedly on lists of the best places to work, the best providers of customer service, and the most profitable in their industries? The answer lies in

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-25169999592675815442009-01-03T07:21:00.008+09:002009-02-01T08:15:02.058+09:00

I start this year with a blog post by John Spence. He gave a great example of his leadership philosophy and business targets for 2009.”I believe that two of the most important factors in running a successful company are:robust communications and a sharp focus on the key organizational strategies.Unfortunately, it is been my experience that most leaders do a relatively poor job of communicating

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-66661405799732401102008-12-14T07:07:00.008+09:002009-02-01T08:15:50.265+09:00

Organizational culture is created by little things. I experienced this some time ago when we renewed some office furniture.I realized one day that I was sitting on a nice chair (which I had inherited)while all the other chairs in the office were literally falling apart.We started changing the chairs from our service team as they were getting new desks at the same time. This caused some

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-68245282967618963362008-11-10T09:21:00.006+09:002009-02-01T08:17:49.036+09:00

I read another great article at ChangeThis. Jon Gordon wrote a manifesto about Positive Business. He states that you would have to live on another planet not to notice the plethora of business books and articles discussing the importance of developing a positive organizational culture at work. The research is clear, he continues.Positive leaders, positive work environments, and positive engaged

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-79521976247767986622008-11-05T06:42:00.005+09:002009-02-01T08:19:34.149+09:00

I was browsing trough Zen Lessons - The Art of Leadershipand I was again amazed how correct the ancient wisdom is. The rest of this post is simply a copy of what Master Fushan Yuan said in a letter written about 800 years ago:There are three essentials of leadership:humanity, clarity, and courage.Humanely practising the virtues of the Way promotes the influence of the teaching, pacifies those in

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-59823017164929051372008-10-30T06:06:00.007+09:002009-02-01T08:20:37.750+09:00

Some years ago I was coached by a management consultant. Looking back the past couple of years in my recent position, I can sayThere have been times when I could have used some coaching again. Two specific features of coaching had a prominent impact on me earlier; the opportunity to openly discuss things without the political pressures and restraints of the organisation and receiving an

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-21399086537877322332008-10-25T07:24:00.012+09:002009-02-01T08:22:47.290+09:00

This week I have again had several discussions about change resistance - at home, in the office, company wide, ... It always amazes me howPeople use a lot of time, energy and innovativeness on resisting things.If only that time, energy and innovativeness could be usedto develop things and create something new.Some days ago I read an interesting post about Lessons in Organizational Resistance by

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-23181206138696739562008-10-09T23:56:00.009+09:002009-02-01T08:24:03.841+09:00

As I mentioned, I have just been trough a training on Situational Leadership - a model that presumes that different leadership styles are better in different situations, and that leaders must be flexible enough to adapt their style to the situation they are in. Quite interestingly the main story of USA Today this morning is about The Candidate's Leadership Styles, titledDifferent styles, same

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-28551069613848258312008-10-02T06:16:00.009+09:002009-02-01T08:26:43.063+09:00

My son's class started reading The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teens and I went back browsing The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People.In the book I found a quote from Peter DruckerManagement is doing things right,Leadership is doing the right things.The author, Stephen R. Covey illustrates the difference with a little story.You can quickly grasp the important difference between the two if you

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-30884961870893739692008-09-07T22:34:00.005+09:002009-02-01T08:28:44.138+09:00

The well known saying “People are our most important asset” is very true, if you concentrate on getting the right people for the right jobs. This is something that I have read lately in several books and witnessed in real life during organizational restructuring.Charan and Bossidy, in their book Execution, state, “given the many things that businesses can’t control, from the uncertain state of

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-61585839144312695942008-08-31T07:59:00.007+09:002009-02-01T08:29:44.719+09:00

I read an interesting post by Mitch Ditkoff, the author of Awake at the Wheel: Getting Your Great Ideas Rolling (in an Uphill World). It's all about creating a culture of innovation, and I could not agree more with what Mitch writes. Below is a slightly shortened version of his original blog post."Intellectual capital" is the name of the game these days -- and it is the enlightened manager's

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-82619443003364764002008-08-28T06:47:00.009+09:002009-02-01T08:31:03.253+09:00

A couple of weeks ago I received this question from Laura.I sometimes read your blog. I like the posts about designing impactful presentations. I also saw something that caught my eye about employees submitting ideas to their employer online. That sounds like an outstanding idea. I am known to be skeptical so I ask you, "How do you decide what to post on your blog?"Are you concerned about

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-31751847980885350192008-08-23T20:40:00.010+09:002009-02-01T08:33:54.718+09:00

Many wise people have said many wise words about change resistance. Jack Welch, in his book Winning says "What you have heard about resistance to change is true." I prefer more what Michael T. Kanazawa says in his ChangeThis manifesto People Don’t Hate Change, They Hate How You’re Trying to Change Them:If you believe that people hate change and that it is your job to change them, they will hate

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-76365096017351317932008-08-12T20:57:00.009+09:002009-02-01T08:35:15.547+09:00

Earlier this year I joined one of my colleagues to a presentation by Garr Reynolds, the author of the great book Presentation Zen. During his presentation I realized thatI have given many bad presentations and I have seen many bad presentations.I decided to try a different approach, in the office, and at SlideShare. But as pictures tell a story better than words, I'll show you what I mean.This

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-56116754712120898272008-07-17T14:29:00.013+09:002009-02-01T08:35:54.796+09:00

There is a lot of talk about the need of change, but much less aboutHow To Lead ChangeJohn Kotter presented his model of Leading Change in Harvard Business Review in 1996. In 2006 he slightly updated the model in his book Our Iceberg Is Melting - Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions.I created a presentation about the model, which is rather simple and universal. It can be applied to any

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-45511226257035984812008-07-05T22:02:00.007+09:002009-02-01T08:37:52.144+09:00

A week ago in Friday I heard about World's Best Presentation 2008 Contest and figured out that I would like to participate.I have worked like crazy this week on the presentation, on marketing it, and on running the office in my job.Now I need a holiday!Luckily my holiday starts now.Jack Welch wrote a chapter about Work-Life Balance in his book Winning:In the '60 and '70s all my direct reports

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-87176443276525632592008-07-01T20:58:00.010+09:002009-02-01T08:39:07.487+09:00

I believe that theFoundation for Lifelong Learning is laid at schoolLiving abroad, we often have to answer the question:"How do you educate your children?"Some times people want to know about education when living in a foreign country, but most often about education at our home country. To answer that question I made a presentation, which is my entry to the World's Best Presentation Contest 2008.

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-58882122199146663932008-06-29T21:58:00.005+09:002009-02-01T08:40:23.131+09:00

I have been busy doing other things this weekend and did not think of blogging, butAs I was reading some of my favourite blogs, I noticed an interesting post worth spreading.John Spence blogged a list of 10 Things Authentic Leaders Do by Robin Sharma.The post was so good that I decided to simply blog a short version of it. See John’s blog for the whole story.10 things that authentic leaders do on

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-16851031626690012662008-06-25T21:48:00.010+09:002009-02-01T08:41:36.353+09:00

I found a strange article the other day about readatwork.comNew Zealand Book Council has made classic book summaries on powerpoint formatAnd not only powerpoint but a slideument format so you can read them at work without your boss noticing.Why would you do that?Because you have nothing better to do than pretend you are doing something useful?The people who created this really must have had too

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-77291504614045771612008-06-20T22:26:00.011+09:002009-02-01T08:43:16.774+09:00

I have just returned from a Leadership training and to summarize that I decided to write about Management skills. Why? Because the trainer, Dr. Angelo Kinicki, links management and leadership tightly togetherThe management skills constitute a cycle of goal creation, commitment, feedback, reward, and accomplishment,with human interaction at every turn.In his book Angelo points out that management

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-7724217560837623662008-06-13T10:14:00.009+09:002009-09-18T21:46:35.137+09:00

This questions was printed on HBR when I was born:What are the big tasks waiting for management today that require both new theories and new practices?Maybe the time is finally right for lasting answers. In May Gary Hamel and HBR invited 35 really smart folks to reinvent management for the 21st century.They focused on the following key questions during their meeting:What are the deep-seated

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-48282321125036674532008-06-12T06:00:00.011+09:002008-12-09T17:00:13.858+09:00

Mine does, I told him, and his boss and his boss. But due to generation gap, I do not know if they understand (yet).This presentation should help understand how blogs workand how they can be useful at work. | View | Upload your ownSome facts about Generation Y: 97% own a computer, 76% use Instant Messaging, 44% read blogs, 28% author a blog.I am not really Generation Y, since I was born in the

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-10504576291274663532008-06-08T09:59:00.012+09:002009-02-01T08:47:43.360+09:00

Peter Drucker and Elisabeth Haas Edersheim point out the importance of knowledge management in their book The Definitive DruckerDelivering value depends on your listening and translating of customer needs, and innovating accordingly.My friend told me about this great tool of exchanging ideas with your customers. It’s a tool created by Salesforce.com. They are naturally using their own tool on

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-87504781103182408032008-06-05T22:26:00.006+09:002008-12-09T17:00:14.135+09:00

Last week I heard a presentation about knowledge management, which got me thinkingWhat is the theory and practice of Knowledge Management?Year ago I thought Nonaka's Knowledge Creating Company provided the best answer with SECI model:Socialization: the sharing of tacit knowledge between individuals through joint activities, physical proximity. (Must happen before I post to this blog)

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-48508033635487574092008-06-02T17:15:00.006+09:002009-06-18T06:53:11.942+09:00

15 years ago I was reading books about organizational culture by Edgar H. Schein. At that time I was a studying Leadership and Management at the university and did not yet understandThe power of organizational culture.Now I am starting to understand it. Culture is more powerful than Strategy. As Schein says in The Corporate Culture Survival GuideThe organization clings to whatever made it a

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-75960614398355306142008-05-31T02:05:00.006+09:002008-12-09T17:00:14.562+09:00

I just can’t help quoting Josh Kaufman the editor of Personal MBA:“The Personal MBA is a DIY approach to business education - it's taking responsibility for learning into your own hands. The best way to learn about business is to spend time gathering the most useful concepts you can, then putting them to use in the real world. Experience teaches better than any professor can. Sure, you'll make a

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-53635161130915223962008-05-27T03:59:00.007+09:002009-02-01T08:50:26.216+09:00

My original idea for this blog was to document here “the best practices I have collected trough the years”. In order to “have 5 pages of text and examples of every tool and”Enough material for 1-2 hours training and 2-3 hours workshop on each topic.While I was writing my previous posts, I realized that I in deed enough text about Balanced Scorecard as a management system and about building a

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-77469963944707649412008-05-23T12:53:00.006+09:002008-05-31T13:17:11.373+09:00

Another book I have been reading lately is a classic The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Yesterday Marina had posted this great visual summary of the book to SlideShare. | View | Upload your ownI especially like these habitsHabit 1: Be proactive “You are respons-able: able to choose your respons!"Proactive people focus their efforts in their circle of influence, causing

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-22807169090901863622008-05-21T10:07:00.003+09:002008-05-24T01:17:46.689+09:00

Garr Reynolds published another great post at his blog. This time aboutDelivering a presentation in a waythat will ensure internalizationby the receiving brainNot surprisingly, he created a presentation around the topic. It is based on the book Brain Rules by John Medina, a down to earth brain scientist. Garr’s presentation is embedded below and can be downloaded at SlideShare. | View | Upload

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-25956416438432623272008-05-16T05:47:00.009+09:002009-02-01T08:52:20.797+09:00

Post graduate studies have tempted me ever since I graduated from the university. I have had an urge to combine theory and practice. Earlier I did not have sufficient time for that (and was too busy with the practice), but now I have found a wayThis blog is my personal MBA - one page at a time.There is a whole community of like-minded people out there. The Personal MBA (PMBA) is a project

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-60833840375867550942008-05-14T06:21:00.006+09:002009-02-01T08:54:54.429+09:00

My previous blog post and especially the presentation in it has been an unexpected success.The presentation was featured on SlideShare front page by the editorial team, has been viewed for over 1200 times in three and half days (that's 15 times an hour, 24 hours a day), and is among the most viewed shows this week. If you read this later, see how it has managed within a month from publishing or

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-29288718163568950972008-05-10T09:06:00.010+09:002008-12-09T17:00:15.378+09:00

John Spence, whose mission is “Making the very complex ... awesomely simple” has posted a great manifesto on ChangeThis. ChangeThis spreads important ideas and change minds by giving people access to relevant, thoughtful and constructive information through the vehicle of ”Manifestos.”(Click the picture to go to the original 0,6 Mb pdf manifesto)John hasUncovered the patternof business

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-91498933488701950742008-05-06T11:45:00.017+09:002009-07-09T14:17:59.028+09:00

Matthew E. May begins his book The Elegant Solution: Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation with a chapter telling thatThe Toyota organization implements a million ideas a year.That’s a fact, he says. It is their greatest source of competitive advantage. It’s their engine of innovation. But more than that, Toyota has created a culture where every idea counts. It’s an environment of everyday

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-26582953204419562732008-05-03T22:58:00.025+09:002009-07-09T14:17:59.028+09:00

Simplicity seems to be becoming a trend. Lately it has been a topic touched in many books and articles. In factManager’s Toolbox exists in order to simplify and remember management and leadership best practices – to make them stick. In this post I will simply tell you what other people say about simplicity.Presentation ZenIn February I was listening to Garr Reynolds’ presentation about good

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-26390092870990539142008-05-02T08:40:00.009+09:002009-02-01T08:58:43.896+09:00

A management system must be handled carefully. Kaplan and Norton warn about risks right at the beginning, with companies formulating grand strategies that they then fail to translate into goals and targets that their middle and lower managers understand and strive to achieve. You should understand thatBuilding a Balanced Scorecard is a great test of project managementIt all starts with well

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-11590780852234195702008-04-27T08:58:00.007+09:002008-12-09T17:00:16.993+09:00

Some people say it’s too complex, some people say it’s out of date, but I am still a true believer of the Balanced Scorecard, BSC. But it must be properly used which requires that you understand thatBalanced Scorecard is a management system(not just a measurement system)Just like you use a heart rate monitor to manage your performance during your exercise, not just to measure your heart rate!

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-87392369368925760782008-04-20T09:12:00.006+09:002008-12-09T17:00:17.421+09:00

A good strategy is about choosing to run a different race than your competitors, not trying to run faster the same race. The real Eureka moment for my Manager’s Toolbox strategy was when I realized thatI have no competitors! And that is no coincidence. That is a result of the strategic choices I explained in my earlier post. There are no competitors because nobody else could internalize knowledge

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-27293272039707610882008-04-12T06:42:00.014+09:002008-12-09T17:00:17.837+09:00

What Is Strategy? is a classic Harvard Business Review article by Michael Porter. He points out that the essence of strategy is choosing a unique and valuable position rooted in systems of activities that are difficult to match. Strategy itself is a long term action plan designed to achieve a particular goal, the vision.There are some unique and valuable positions behind my Manager’s Toolbox

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-33533030387581037952008-04-05T07:10:00.011+09:002008-12-09T17:00:17.939+09:00

If I am my own CEO, at the same time it meansI am my own OrganizationAn organization, which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment.An organization must have mission and vision. As a non native English speaker I have always had trouble distinguishing the difference between them. Not anymore! Before writing this blog

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-80883862121057654032008-03-29T09:01:00.013+09:002008-12-09T17:00:18.425+09:00

I am not talking about managing self. What I mean isI am my own CEO"Each of us is a CEO" managing his own career, says Peter F Drucker on the final pages of The Definitive Drucker. The book is based on interviews Elisabeth Haas Edersheim had with Peter Drucker during the last years of his life. It can be called, as is printed on the cover “Final Advice from the Father of Modern Management”. When

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-67228511663856160962008-03-24T18:25:00.012+09:002008-12-09T17:00:18.700+09:00

A year has passed since I decided to start this blog. A year ago I though of this as a project, but it was not. It's a hobby. A year ago I was thinking of making a project plan for this blog, but how could I do a project plan for a hobby? And that's what has been taking all this time.But I have not forgotten the idea. How could I forget a hobby?Actually, this was just another year that passed.

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031627371599014183.post-26362403022114169242007-01-15T21:41:00.003+09:002008-05-10T09:33:43.235+09:00

My original idea is to collect here the best practices I have collected trough the years. Currently I have them unorganized as books, book summaries, articles, PowerPoint presentations, etc.Here are some topics that I plan to cover. At the end I will see if these are the topics or if this blog will draw some attention and I will change some of the topics.Project managementGroup work

Samulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15504157703165646237noreply@blogger.com0