Why the Most Productive People Don’t Always Make the Best Managers
Not every top performer makes for a good manager. In this piece, the authors argue that the difference between a good individual contributor and a good manager hinges on six key abilities: being open to feedback and personal change, supporting others’ development, being open to innovation, communicating well, having good interpersonal skills, and supporting organizational changes. The problem for most organizations is that they hope their new managers will develop these skills after being promoted, but that’s exactly when overwhelmed new managers tend to fall back on their individual contributor skill sets. Instead, the authors suggest that organizations should start developing these skills in all of their employees early on — after all, they’re useful for individual contributors, too.
^ADJ: We need to ensure remuneration frameworks encourage Individual Contributors to do their best work, rather than seeing a Management track as the only way to grow their remuneration
A New Path to COO. For the last 5 or so years I’ve …
For the last 5 or so years I’ve actively been on the path to COO. I don’t mean, “in retrospect I now see I’d been on this path all along”, I mean I have had a post-it note above my desk with a checklist for years…
^ADJ: I thought this was a great article to help business leaders think more about the roles they have in their senior management team, and the functions that are being provided, as well as helping people think laterally about roles they could aspire to.
China’s Factories Accelerate Robotics Push as Workforce Shrinks
China installed almost as many robots in its factories last year as the rest of the world, accelerating a rush to automate and consolidate its manufacturing dominance even as its working-age population shrinks.
^ADJ: We need to understand this as nation (NZ) to improve our productivity we have to be smarter with our resources
Microsoft exec: My 2-step rule for having hard conversations at work
All of us have had to — or will — deal with a frustrating work situation at some point in our careers, whether it’s a loud deskmate, an unproductive meeting or a project that went off the rails …
^ADJ: Twice in the last week I have been asked advice about having hard conversations, so I created a one page slide with all the references and ideas I have on the subject (email me if you want a copy), having these conversations are hard, but so important - quick bit of advice - do more of it!
Some Notes on Executive Dashboards
Why are executive dashboards so bad? In my consulting work, almost every company has lackluster reporting and dashboards. These days it’s less a case of completely missing reporting (though that still happens) but rather the things the executive team are looking at regularly lack any real insight into the business.
^ADJ: Dashboards are hard, because I think it is too tempting to start talking about data that can be collected, rather than metrics that would indicate the strategy is on target (or not), and what the underlying activity is, rather than outcomes. Example would be a focus on the number of #leads, rather than the nurturing activities required to generate.
The Best Foods to Slow Aging, According to Leading Longevity Experts
In the last five years, scientists have made significant breakthroughs in the field of aging and longevity. Aging is a complex, multi-factorial process that starts in our cells, resulting in a gradual decline of the larger systems in the body. Scientists have proposed various theories for the reason we age, including mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, DNA damage, cell senescence, and telomere reduction—all of which will be discussed throughout this article. Fortunately, longevity scientists are discovering the power of certain fruits and vegetables to slow down the aging process.