by Mark P. McDonald | November 22, 2010 | 2 Comments
That sounds like a personal question. It is not. Just an observation that size of your presentation deck tells more about you than you might imagine. This is particularly important as we enter a period of intense communications as we consolidate 2010 achievements and finalize 2011 plans. This observation came up when we were discussing [...]
Category: CIO Signs of weak management Tools Tags: Business, CIO Tools, IT and Business, Leadership, Management, Signs of weak management, Tools
by Mark P. McDonald | November 11, 2010 | 1 Comment
Every leader needs to know when its time for change, or they will be the ones who face the change. This requires that CIOs lead from the front in terms of looking at the current state of IT in a clear and balanced way. Recognizing the need to change is hard, because change essentially means [...]
Category: 2011 CIO Leadership Signs of weak management Strategic planning Strategy Tags: 2011 Planning, CIO, CIO strategy, IT strategy, Strategy and Planning, symposium, Tools
by Mark P. McDonald | November 5, 2010 | 2 Comments
Raising revenues is harder than cutting cost, which is one reason executives favor cost cutting. Most think that raising revenue is hard because it requires turning prospects into customers and having them spend more with you. That is true. But. The quest for revenue is hard because it carries with it greater internal disruption, finger [...]
Category: 2011 Leadership Signs of weak management Strategic planning Tags: 2011 Planning, Business Management, Business Strategy, cost cutting, Economic conditions, growth, revenue, Strategy and Planning
by Mark P. McDonald | August 1, 2010 | 3 Comments
Thursday’s Wall Street Journal was all a twitter about changes at Goldman Sachs to reduce the use of profanity in emails and other forms of communication. The article points out that such rough language has become part of the rough and tumble world of competitive finance. And while certainly not the most professional, it was [...]
Category: Leadership Signs of weak management Tags: Business Management, Leadership, Operational Leadership, Signs of weak management
by Mark P. McDonald | July 15, 2010 | Submit a Comment
FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out, influences our behavior often in ways to do not consciously recognize. FOMO is real and it influences our decisions. Brain research has found that we tend to over value things we do not have and undervalue the things we have. While FOMO can be described as human nature, we often [...]
Category: Leadership Personal Observation Signs of weak management Tags: 2011 Planning, Business Leadership, CIO Leadership, Operational Leadership, Personal Observation, planning
by Mark P. McDonald | June 7, 2010 | 2 Comments
That’s true. Enterprises and their systems act like they are more interested in the person – the shell rather than what is inside the person. It is what is inside that matters. You want people’s passion, their knowledge, their motivation, their creativity. Getting inside the shell is one of the things that separates high performing [...]
Category: Leadership Signs of weak management Tags: Change leadership, Leadership, people, Signs of weak management
by Mark P. McDonald | March 20, 2010 | Submit a Comment
Note: My apologies for the prior version of this post. I wrote it too quickly and did not give it a good proof reading. I read an article the other day by Arthur Langer about how IT can survive the current economic recession. I was struck by the following piece of advice: “Move more IT [...]
Category: CFO CIO Signs of weak management Tags: 2010, 2010 planning, CFO, cost cutting, Economy, Finance, Signs of weak management
by Mark P. McDonald | December 10, 2009 | 3 Comments
This blog has discussed various signs of weak management (see link to the core post). Here is another one related to financial planning and goals. Back when I prepared my first project estimate. I do not remember the exact number but I do remember the precision of the estimate – down to the dollars and [...]
Category: 2010 budgets CFO CIO Personal Observation Signs of weak management Tags: 2010 planning, CFO, Signs of weak management
by Mark P. McDonald | November 13, 2009 | 2 Comments
Note: This piece seems to have missed its posting. Its part of a series on Signs of Weak Management so please consider this as part of that series, just a little out of sequence. All business is a people business to one extent or the other. Business effectiveness or dysfunction results in part from the [...]
Category: Leadership Signs of weak management Tags: Leadership, Management, Personal Observation, Signs of weak management
by Mark P. McDonald | November 10, 2009 | 4 Comments
Process means different things to different people. For some it is a four-letter word. Something to be avoided. Something that is bad. Every organization is taking a fresh look at their processes as they look for new ways to raise performance. This is transitioning views on process, its importance and its role in companies that [...]
Category: Economy Leadership Lean Thinking Signs of weak management Tags: Business Leadership, Business Management, Business Strategy, CFO, stupid management tricks
