Friday, January 27, 2012

Top 3 Ideas for Managing This Week

Here at the Management Minute, I strive to share relevant items to stimulate the use of more creative thought and practice for engineering managers and managers of other enterprises, as well. So, let's see what we have for the top ideas this week:

1. Review how Alan Mulally addressed Ford's culture in the impressive turnaround of that firm. He tells an audience of Stanford students about how a 12-second interchange moved from an historical firing of a manager to a comprehensive effort to solve the technical issue. Watch here. Watch until 33:31, but you'll be compelled to listen longer to hear his story about driving into the Ford garage on his first day of work.

2. Absorb what having nearly a hundred billion dollars of cash on hand means. Read this WSJ report on Apple's blowout quarter--the second such report since Steve Jobs' passing. Here, in a different context, a non-legendary leader takes over and produces a record-setting performance. The Apple culture is stronger than its founder.

3. Dive into the business models of the top S&P performers of the past decade. Learn that world dominance is fleeting, but there are strategies to make your business a survivor. Read at ChangeThis.