Corporate Hunger Games
In The Hunger Games series the overlords keep rule over the people by conducting an annual battle to the death between adolescent representatives from each of the 12 districts of Panem. The Hunger Games are battles designed to lethally weed out the weak and reward the winner with eternal glory. The organisers manipulate the game…
“And what do you do?…”
What is your reply when you get asked the cliched dinner party question “What do you do?”. Do you talk in general terms? “I am in finance” – worried that you will be judged. Or do you mention your job title? “I am senior vice president of [insert very important dept name]” hoping to impress.…
The Dangers of Transformation Mountain
Since “retiring”, as well as helping companies transform, I have been taking full advantage of living in Scotland by regularly hiking in the beautiful Scottish Highlands. Compared to other mountain ranges the peaks of Scotland are not particularly high but they are demanding and in certain conditions dangerous. To ensure a safe return you need…
The Music of The Devil
The most common complaint from leaders of transformation is that one of their key stakeholders “simply does not get it” – “it” being the need for change or the understanding of the approach. How can this be? Surely the need for change is clear, the concept is not hard to understand. The implication of such a…
Inciting a Movement
Why is it that the vast majority of corporate transformations do not achieve their stated ambitions? Why are people in companies so cynical about change programs? Why are employees so keen on keeping things the same even when it is clear that the very survival of their company depends on changing. Success or failure depends on your…
The Power of Impatient Learning
What happens to our curiosity as we grow up? As soon as we are born we are asking questions of the world. Before we can talk we are looking at, touching and (in the case of my children) tasting everything around us. The moment we can string a question together we ask incessant mostly unanswerable…
Curiosity Killed the HIPPO
One of the hardest things for leaders to do as they find success in their careers is knowing when to shut up. The more senior a leader becomes, the more the people in their organisation scrutinise their every word and action. Suggestions become commands that quickly cascade throughout the company. A view stated too early…
The Fight Against Corporate Inertia
People do not resist change, companies do. Companies are designed for inertia. They are made up from standard processes to drive productivity and policies to ensure people do not cross lines. We hire people who are like us and place them in an organisational structures where they sit with people with the same skills. We…
A Ticking Timebomb
When the pandemic first hit most of us were surprised at the effectiveness of distributed virtual workforces. We also learnt how relentless Zoom calls and lack of demarcation between work and home can lead to burnout and other mental health issues. However, as we gradually emerge from COVID 19 it seems that most office-based companies…
It’s breakfast time and digital culture is hungry
Why is it that everyone sagely agrees with Peter Drucker’s aphorism that culture eats strategy for breakfast but the vast majority of companies spend far more time on their strategy than their culture? We organise strategy offsites, strategy departments are set up, extensive strategy documentation is developed, expensive strategy consultants are engaged and we present…
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Paul Cobban 