Organizational Myopia


Book Description

The book examines the mechanisms that generate myopia in organizations and explores how organizations can foresee and contain unexpected events.




Overcoming Organizational Myopia


Book Description

SILOS IN BUSINESS ARE NOT BAD--STOP BREAKING SILOS DOWN! Over the years, I've witnessed organization after organization struggle to improve its operational excellence. Most fail! Companies that fail to bridge the gap between strategy and execution are seriously suffering. One thing often resides at the heart of the problem -- silos in an organization. Throughout my career, I've examined the shortsightedness, or myopia, that can develop because of silos and discovered ways to overcome it. Silos exist in every organization larger than a small business startup. They must exist for an organization to operate. - We want silos! - We need silos! - We naturally form silos! So why are we taught that silos are bad? Because of the myopia, that can affect any organization in which silos are not managed properly. There are nine root causes that occur within silos that, without identification and management, can cause any organization to become myopic. Shortsighted organizations--those that fail to see the big picture or fail to have a strategic long-term vision -- suffer from Organizational Myopia (OM). An organization suffering from OM is less effective or efficient at fulfilling its mission, or is simply unable to do so at all. All organizations are naturally susceptible to OM. Most suffer from it. Unfortunately, the normal quick-fix methodologies employed by leaders and managers to deal OM -- restructuring or tearing down silos -- are almost always ineffective and only short-term solutions. So, how do we solve OM? Any leader can take actions to solve the negative effects of OM. The nine root causes must be identified and managed through a consistent and systematic application of a full-spectrum of strategic and organizational improvement methods. OM can be overcome, and silos can be good! From a technical and teaching perspective, this book provides you with the tools to break through silos and improve any organization facing OM-related issues. As a guide, reference, and roadmap, this book is designed to provide you with strategic and organizational methods that you can apply, like a surgeon, to identify and eradicate specific OM issues within your organization. This book is based on 30 years of business improvement experience. It is already proven through several executive, business consultant, and educator pre-reviews. Written for Presidents, CEOs, Executives, and Business Leaders, this book is something everyone should have dogeared and tape-flagged on their bookshelf! However, anyone in the business world, concerned about improving operations, should own a copy. John Knotts is a strategic business advisor with 30 years of experience in military, non-profit, and commercial leadership and consulting. He has an extensive background in strategy, change, process, leadership, management, human capital, training and education, innovation, design, and communication. John believes strongly in a holistic and no-nonsense approach to establishing operational excellence. Overcoming Organizational Myopia is John's initial work, highlighting the many areas of expertise where he has worked to break through siloed organizations. This book forms a platform for several future business titles related to many of the nine areas addressed.




Marketing Myopia


Book Description

What business is your company really in? That's a question all executives should all ask before demand for their firm's products or services dwindles. In Marketing Myopia, Theodore Levitt offers examples of companies that became obsolete because they misunderstood what business they were in and thus what their customers wanted. He identifies the four widespread myths that put companies at risk of obsolescence and explains how business leaders can shift their attention to customers' real needs instead.




Webvision


Book Description




Overcoming Spiritual Myopia


Book Description

MOST OF US HAVE LIMITED SPIRITUAL VISION - and don't even know it! - With two trillion galaxies in an expanding universe, how could it be that only the Christians are "saved?" - Traditional religious symbols are losing power in a changing world (Most people don't even know they are supposed to be symbols) - Our rational minds keep wanting to question but conventional religious leaders tell us to just "trust" them (or trust scripture, or tradition) - Despite declining church attendance, interest in the spiritual search is at an all-time high. New ways of making meaning are arising. - A study of all religions reveals a common core - a longing shared by all humans. Could this be the basis of the spiritual search? - In the 21st century we need a BIGGER STORY of what religion and spirituality are all about. Our traditional scriptures were written in a time when people had no idea of the vastness of the universe. The spiritual messages they were able to receive suffered from lack of awareness about science and about wisdom from other cultures: their worldview was insular. Today educated people have little excuse for maintaining this kind of insularity. Advances in science and global communications call us to develop a more comprehensive (less myopic) perspective about the UNIVERSAL human search for meaning and connection that formed the basis for ALL our religions. In Overcoming Spiritual Myopia, practicing optometrist and award-winning author, Margaret Placentra Johnston* challenges you on a journey toward a BIGGER STORY about religion and spirituality.




Re-Educating the Corporation


Book Description

Presents five approaches--strong visible leadership, "thinking" literacy, overcoming functional myopia, creating effective learning teams and managers as enablers--essential to create a true learning organization. By focusing on the learning requirements of employees, companies can impact major change initiatives such as reengineering and TQM.




The Milkshake Moment


Book Description

Growth is the central focus of every business, yet many businesses continually find ways to shoot themselves in the foot. In Milkshake Moment, Steven Little shows you how to identify and overcome the stifling behaviors built into your organization and get you back on track to substantive change and real growth. Read Milkshake Moment and find out how to ditch the pointless policies and stupid rules so you can give your customers what they really want; they'll reward you for it.




No More Meetings From Hell!


Book Description

This breakthrough guide was written by a recognized leader in the field of facilitation; it provides a no-holds-barred look at organizational change and ways to structure and deliver facilitation engagements for success. Topics include a look at why facilitators often fail, techniques for identifying the real client, structuring the engagement and the contract, creating or choosing a bullet proof methodology, examples from Jack Rahaim's practice, the art of facilitation, how to start and manage meetings, how to keep participants engaged and a number of detailed facilitation approaches. The book is written for facilitators, consultants, managers, group leaders, teachers and therapists.




The Power of Noticing


Book Description

A “must-read” (Booklist) from Harvard Business School Professor and Codirector of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership: A guide to making better decisions, noticing important information in the world around you, and improving leadership skills. Imagine your advantage in negotiations, decision-making, and leadership if you could teach yourself to see and evaluate information that others overlook. The Power of Noticing provides the blueprint for accomplishing precisely that. Max Bazerman, an expert in the field of applied behavioral psychology, draws on three decades of research and his experience instructing Harvard Business School MBAs and corporate executives to teach you how to notice and act on information that may not be immediately obvious. Drawing on a wealth of real-world examples and using many of the same case studies and thought experiments designed in his executive MBA classes, Bazerman challenges you to explore your cognitive blind spots, identify any salient details you are programmed to miss, and then take steps to ensure it won’t happen again. His book provides a step-by-step guide to breaking bad habits and spotting the hidden details that will change your decision-making and leadership skills for the better, teaching you to pay attention to what didn’t happen, acknowledge self-interest, invent the third choice, and realize that what you see is not all there is. While many bestselling business books have explained how susceptible to manipulation our irrational cognitive blind spots make us, Bazerman helps you avoid the habits that lead to poor decisions and ineffective leadership in the first place. With The Power of Noticing at your side, you can learn how to notice what others miss, make wiser decisions, and lead more successfully.




Transforming the Clunky Organization


Book Description

Organizations, like people, get stuck! They get ensnared in routines and processes, and they fall back into old habits. This is the dangerous period of inertia, the period that precedes failure, when organizations show signs of sluggishness. In Transforming the Clunky Organization Samuel B. Bacharach specifies why organizations fall into patterns of inertia and details the critical pragmatic leadership skills leaders need to regain organizational momentum. From Alfred Sloan, to Lee Iacocca, to Lou Gerstner, to Indra Nooyi, to Steve Jobs, to Jeff Bezos, Bacharach argues that their pragmatic leadership skills assured that their organization did not get trapped by the doldrums of inertia. He employs case illustrations to identify clunky tendencies and inertia within organizations across a wide range of business sectors including technology, finance, banking, home entertainment, and retail. Illustrations are drawn from organizations such as Amazon, Apple, Borders, Merrill Lynch, Nintendo, Starbucks, and Unilever, among many others. Bacharach argues that in order to achieve their potential, organizations need to be perpetually involved in two activities. The first is discovery—organizational leaders need to continuously explore new opportunities and transfer new insights into new products, processes, and directions. The second is delivery—organizational leaders need to be able to mobilize support for ideas, sustain and drive these ideas forward, and achieve results. Successful discovery and delivery allows organizations to truly thrive and continuously meet their potential. Expanding on The Agenda Mover, the first book in the BLG Pragmatic Leadership Series, this book offers a roadmap for individual leaders at all levels to create the agility and synergy needed for the continuous organized flow of information and the movement of ideas. Clunky organizations need leaders that are explorers and innovators in the discovery phase and mobilizers and sustainers to deliver solutions. Transforming the Clunky Organization provides the keys for necessary behaviors that allow leaders to successfully break inertia and foster agility. This book will appeal to leaders at all levels within organizations, change-management consultants, and business-school professors.