July 2010

Organizations don’t change, people change

Organizations are, quite simply, made up of social interactions:  groups of people.  Organizations will not change if people do not change.  There is no such thing as organization change, they don’t change, people change. All change:  transformation, business process reengineering, technology implementation, mergers & acquisitions, Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, strategic planning or, if you [...]

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Marketing interruption still trumps engagement, really?

Great post on Advertising Age website titled:  Why Interruption Still Trumps Engagement [click for .pdf to avoid onerous login]. The key to the blog is the closing and I think it is worth your read because it gives yet another view of social media’s critics. The author, Mr. Jonathan Salem Baskin, states the social-media revolution [...]

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Can you engineer regional innovation clusters?

Innovation comes from opportunity and diversity.  Can diversity and innovation be engineered?  We all see the newspaper pronouncements of local, state, or federal tax incentives to draw investors and to build innovation clusters . The key for clusters to succeed is for clusters to cultivate of high, value-add industries and supply chains as well as [...]

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Organization development is business growth

Organization development has yet to earn a role in all organizations.  Only the most progressive companies even have an organization development role, staff, department, or group.  The challenge to organization development success is that it is hard to find a linear trajectory for success.  Organization development may have clear goals, but the reality, there is rarely [...]

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Media’s two tribes – Rupert Murdoch’s Wall

In a follow up to July 12th’s post Media’s two tribes – charging for content Th Atlantic’s James Fallows reports The Times of London has placed their bet you will love their headlines so much you will pay for the opportunity to read the article. Click on any link within The Times and you are [...]

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Bill Beyer, Partner, Deloitte Consulting

“Toby worked with me at Deloitte, he was excellent at strategy, developing conceptual organization models that when implemented had huge impact. He did not fall into the trap of changing reporting lines but looked at holistic organizations and performed interventions that were long lasting and effective. “He is a great communicator and a guy that [...]

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Media’s two tribes – charging for content

The lines are drawn:  charge for content, give content for free. In Media’s two tribes The Economist breaks down the thought of charging for premium content over giving content away.  In this article from The Economist, read about what 2 UK media outlets weigh in their chosen strategy as well a look at some of the [...]

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Venture Capital and the descent into irrelevance

The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. Elemental finance: you assume the amount of risk suitable for an expected payoff. You assume bigger risk and its bigger payoff with the full caveat that there is an equally big downside loss that could happen. Invest in a money market and get slow, steady, decimal-point-% returns; [...]

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This social media fad will ruin organization development

What does the social media fad have to do with business?  How is this social media fad related to organizational development (organization development)?  Are you asking yourself if you really need to bother learning about social media? I’ve heard it all too often and continue to cringe hearing about the lack of effort OD and [...]

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Pavel Khizhnyak, Asia Marketing Director, Forex Club

“Toby is a solid business development and human capacity resource. Toby is easy to work with and has an upbeat personality. As such, he was an effective and supportive colleague, with great listening, interpersonal, and multicultural skills (international experience in Hungary and China as two, very challenging work environments). “I do not hesitate to recommend [...]

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How do you measure innovation: tax revenue

When we talk innovation, innovation is usually connected to a firm or a region.  Interest with innovation at the regional level is usually couched in economic development. So, what is economic development other than politicians, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and glad-handing photo-ops?  Why are so many incentive packages being offered?  Tax havens being offered?  Tax holidays?  Who [...]

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Sam Thompson, Vice President, Progress Partners

“Toby regularly demonstrates a noble ability to think on his feet when offered the challenge. He has a sound ability to quickly ramp up with a team, conceptualize process, communicate the options back to the room, and then provide actionable dialogue. “When a business or team becomes out of sync with it’s market, customers or [...]

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The maven or the laggard – Clive Thompson’s view

Those early market adopters, the techno-weenies that stood in line for Apple’s iPhone 4, they represent only about 13.5% of the potential market.  It seems many consumer and technology products look for the big splash that Apple seems to land as a sign their company and their product are cool, hip, and successful. Early adopters [...]

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Scope or: how to manage projects for organization success, part 2

The key for organizations to grow and to thrive relies on how to manage projects.  And how you and your organization manage projects for organization success is an industry competitive advantage.  But why do so many projects fail? Is it lack of preparation? Is it lack of communication? Is it lack of commitment? No, those [...]

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Organization sabotage and the butterfly effect

An intervention. Interventions are principal learning processes in the “action” stage of organization development (OD)*. An intervention is what people outside organization development [the majority of professionals are distinctly NOT part of, or aware of, organization development] might call a project, change, or transformation.   The reason a professional might call for an organization intervention, or project, [...]

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