Sublime

Once that identity and the contributions that it brought to the organization were recognized, it was easier to take the risks necessary to venture into less familiar terrain.

John Zenger and Joseph Folkman point out that most people, when they first become managers, enter a period of great learning. They get lots of training and coaching, they are open to ideas, and they think long and hard about how to do their jobs.

Grey Hair-type projects the problems to be addressed are somewhat more familiar, at least some of the tasks to be performed (particularly the early ones) are known in advance and can be specified and delegated. The opportunity is…

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The odds of moving from being an average performer to a top-quintile performer over a ten-year period are only one in twelve.

over time, the proportion of juniors to seniors required by the firm in a particular practice area will tend to increase.

Here’s the lesson: set your organization goals thoughtfully. If the organization celebrates and pays bonuses only for successfully achieved targets, don’t be surprised by endless sandbagging and employees setting low-risk, easily achievable targets in the first place.

I’ve watched too many leaders shield themselves from task conflict. As they gain power, they tune out boat-rockers and listen to bootlickers. They become politicians, surrounding themselves with agreeable yesmen and becoming more susceptible to seduction by sycophants. Research reveals that when their firms perform poorly, CEOs who indulge flattery

Matching McDonald's accomplishment-and that of every other organization that creates value across the knowledge funnel-requires two very different activities: moving across the knowledge stages of the funnel from mystery to heuristic and heuristic to algorithm and operating within each knowledge stage of the funnel by honing and refining an