goals

Communication, change, and your mission – if you choose to accept it

Change is fun for some:  the energy of the unknown, the passion instilled in people looking forward to a new adventure.  Some embrace the unknown as an opportunity to both learn, grow, and stretch their current perspectives. Change is pain for some:  the feigned excitement for heading into unknown, the new roles and responsibilities to [...]

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The value of information and the link to development

Information is not competitive advantage, knowledge is competitive advantage.  What you know is information, only when you socialize your information does it then have potential to become knowledge.  An organization’s socialized knowledge is really their competitive advantage and information and knowledge are both human capital issues. Enterprise knowledge management is a critical strategic need and [...]

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Michele Simos, President, Simos Consulting

“When I needed a social networking presence, I turned to Toby. He helped identify my needs, analyze my goals and audience and quickly turned that information into an action plan. “He has supported me every step of the way. “He has the patience of a saint, the intuition of a sage and the knowledge of [...]

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Larry Coates, PMP, CSM Programmer & Analyst Leader, Department of Transportation

“I am a Co-Chair of the Cambridge Round Table group, a part of the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Mass Bay Chapter. We have utilized Toby as a speaker for our meetings in the past and he is scheduled for future meetings as well. “Over the past year I have had the privilege of getting to [...]

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Dan Sorger, Founder, Dutch Bicycle Company

“I can honestly say that without Mr. Elwin’s input we would not be in business today. “Our importing business was suffering and we were losing money, we asked Mr. Elwin to analyze our business to help us determine what we need to do and how best to implement the changes. “He acquired a deep understanding [...]

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Change management stormtroopers and system theory

When did systems theory get hijacked by process engineers and change management stormtroopers? When did we allow our organizations to be built and led by analytical, causal, deductive, drones and an over-adherence of frameworks to analyze past events? Frameworks and theories that rely on past events ignore all opportunity for organizations to interact in an [...]

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Viral marketing and Twitter gone right – the comment & the blog

On my last blog I received a comment I thought deserved a longer response than should be posted within the comment section. So, I decided to pick up the comment and carry it onto a new post. The blog comment david_becker: I disagree with this article as this is a “contest” and not a viral [...]

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The VC’s missing formula: human capital discounted cash flow

What valuation models measure human capital ability to meet financial and strategic business goals? What formulas are used to measure human capital contribution to profits? What are the human capital risk factors you justify when you build your financial statements and projections?  Accounting’s assignment of assets and liabilities and financial management’s current or pro forma [...]

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Twitter is a waste of time

Twitter has changed the way people communicate. The marketing world, as it was known, has been carpet bombed. The rules have changed. The roles have changed. In a series of earlier blogs I talk about communication in the age of saturation, so I won’t repeat those points. However, I will revisit one reality: people don’t [...]

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George Washington slept here

Statues are built for leaders, or leaders are built for statues, one way or the other statues are built for pioneers, those who sought a new way; who risked conformity for their vision of what could be; who sacrifice an easy path to retirement for an audacious goal. The statues you see in your town [...]

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Diversity facade, part 1

Intelligence does not guarantee insight. However, diversity does. The very leverage of knowledge is dialogue. And dialogue, a true exchange of ideas and opinions, is only possible in an environment that welcomes and fosters diversity, not the diversity facade, but the diversity lever of possibility. Although diversity can be a sensitive and often incendiary issue, [...]

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In review: Leaders and fishing

May 2009 in review.  A roundup of blogs from the previous month: Leaders and fishing — Leaders craft the vision and convey how to embark on a course from what is to what could be.  Leaders must rely on their managers to manage, but leaders need to roll their sleeves up and steward the message [...]

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How goals help us fail

March 15th I read an article in Boston’s Sunday Globe Ideas section on how goals have a dangerous side. The article called Why Setting Goals Can Backfire jumped-started my thoughts on goals. The past two weeks I have spent time thinking and scribbling notes all over this article. I thought I’d share some. [the .pdf [...]

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