“I was expecting people to be dragging large sacks of rocks behind them,” said Ben Brooks, VP and Practice Leader of Human Capital Management (HCM) at a giant risk-management firm. “But it wasn’t like that at all. Speakers were forward
Where to Begin
One type of work I do with organizations on their road to more collaborative and social relationship-oriented cultures is to surface their organizing principles. These are the core beliefs, assumptions, and values that guides their behaviors and decisions. These are
Shoot An Arrow, Then Draw A Target Around It
The mere mention of a test makes hearts race and palms sweat. Err, umm, I have someplace else to be… More than any other, the word test draws gut-level memories of difficult times in school-like settings when we felt unprepared
Mutual Adjustments as Sharing Arrangements
Harlan Cleveland (1918-2008) had more insight decades ago into how to work in the distributed social world than most leaders have today. In this early draft of a chapter we wrote together for Creating a Learning Culture (Cambridge, 2004), he
Meet A. Human Asset
I have a dirty little secret I need to share. I wasn’t always a Human Asset. I didn’t always think about my hiring bonus, my yearly bonus, my variable pay, my stock options, my gym membership, my personal concierge, my
What does collaboration mean to you?
Buzzword bingo has a new term: Collaboration. For some it means adding your two cents to a meeting agenda. For other it means providing a foothold and working together to climb high and see wide. If we are to collaborate
Lisi Bansen is Dancing
Have you ever had the sense that someone you love has died and any minute you’ll be receiving a call? That was how I felt Saturday morning before receiving word that Elizabeth “Lisi” Bansen died Friday from complications associated with