Harvard Business Review 5 years 2004 – 2009


Coming Through When It matters Most



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Coming Through When It matters Most How great teams do their best work under pressure by Heidi K Gardner. Pressure to perform drives people paradoxically toward safe, generic solutions that can be justified because they’ve worked before. By setting up their teams and measuring each person’s contribution more deliberately, ruthlessly insisting that no one’s contribution can be marginalized, and framing new information within familiar contexts, teams can escape the performance pressure paradox and keep doing their best work when it matters most.
As teams push toward completion, they drive toward consensus in a way that shuts down paths to critical information. Everyone unwittingly begins to defer to authority. Everyone values shared knowledge more than unique expertise. That’s unfortunate because one way customers judge the quality of a complex product or service is by the extent to which the solution seems custom- made for them. Customers who detect cut and paste job feel unloved. Teams feeling the heat of performance pressure rarely take the opportunity for introspection. Put client experts on the team. Know that everyone is supposed to contribute from the start. Check that everyone is actually contributing. Take the time to get back on track. Make unique knowledge more acceptable to the group.
The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do. The author who knew Steve Jobs well says these were the keys to his success: Focus: Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. This is true both for companies and products. He relentlessly filtered out what he considered distractions. What are the five products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest, because they are dragging you down. They are causing you to turn out products that are adequate but not great. Simplify: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. To be truly simple you have to go really deep. Emphasize clean lines and functional design with no frills or distractions. Take Responsibility End to End: The best way to achieve simplicity is to make sure hardware, software, and peripheral devices are seamlessly integrated. When Behind, Leapfrog: After the iPod became a huge success, Jobs spent little time relishing it. Instead he began to worry about what might endanger it. One possibility was that mobile phone makers would start adding music to their handsets. So he cannibalized iPod sales by creating iPhone. “If we don’t cannibalize ourselves, others will,” he said. Put Products before profits: Focus on making the product great and the profits will follow. The products, not the profits, were the motivation. Don’t Be a Slave To Focus Groups: Someone asked whether they should do some research to see what customers wanted. No, said Jobs, “because customers don’t know what they want until we show it to them. He invoked Henry Ford’s line “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me they wanted a faster horse.” Caring deeply about what customers want is different from continually asking them – it requires intuition and instinct about desires that have not yet been formed. Bend Reality: We did the impossible because we didn’t realize it was impossible. Impute: People form an opinion about a product or a company based on how it is presented and packaged. People do judge a book by its cover. Push for perfection: If it isn’t perfect go back to the drawing board. A good craftsman uses a good piece of wood even for the back side of the cabinet. /my lieutenant platoon teacher said – a true gentleman also polishes the back of his shoes, and my good friend from Tokyo tells me the lining of a samurai coat got as much attention as the outside/. Tolerate only ‘A’ Players: “I don’t think I run roughshod over people,” Jobs said, “but if something sucks, I tell people to their face. It is my job to be honest.” “When you have really good people you don’t have to baby them. By expecting them to do great things, they can do great things.” Engage Face-To-Face; “We designed the building to make people get out of their offices and mingle in the central atrium with people they might not otherwise see.” He gathered his executive team every week to vent ideas without a formal agenda, and spent every Wednesday afternoon doing the same with his marketing and advertising team. He said “I hate the way people use slide presentations instead of thinking. People who know what they are talking about don’t need power point presentations.” Know Both Big Picture and The Details; Even as he was laying out the grand visions, he was fretting over the shapes and color of the screws inside the iMac. Combine the Humanities with The Sciences; Almost at every product launch Jobs ended with a slide that showed a sign at the Intersection of Liberal Arts and Technology Streets. Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish: Jobs made sure that his business and engineering aspect of his personality was always complemented by a hippie non-conformist side from his days as an artistic, acid-dropping, enlightenment-seeking rebel.
A Reverse Innovation Playbook by Vijay Govindarajan. This article just shows that ideas and success can come from the periphery to the centre just as well as from the centre to the periphery. This involves throwing out old organizational structures to create new ones from scratch.
Wilderness Leadership On the Job by John Kanengieter and Aparna Rajagopal-Durpin. Our participants learn five key principles-practice leadership, lead from everywhere, behave well, keep calm and disconnect to connect. Getting out into nature achieves ‘attention restoration,’ i.e. it resets your brains allowing you to analyze problems. Leave technology behind, take a walk, and let the natural world work its restorative magic. /I have talked about crop rotation in my presentations – just as the earth needs different challenges to produce optimally, so our brains and bodies perform better by being exposed to novelty and variety- take a break, go for a walk, mix arts and science – keep fatigue, tedium and monotony at bay - my comment/

/ Notes by frank@olsson.co.nz 8 April 2012/


Harvard Business Review March 2012

This issue is a special on Reinventing America and there are some very insightful articles again. It seems it is not only the outer world looking into America that feels something has gone astray, the majority of people inside also see how the flaws have been building up. “U.S. competitiveness is in grave danger. The erosion of U.S. competitiveness began well before the Great Recession. A short term focus and political gridlock have prevented the U.S. from taking the steps needed to meet the challenge. Government will play a crucial role but business must lead the way.” No matter how severe your predicament, there is always a best way forward and some great thinkers are sharing their ideas. Many of the articles are well worth reading in their entirety. Even if this issue is about the U.S. it concerns us all. Please find below some notes from the issue.


First, Let’s Fire All the Managers by Gary Hamel

The term ‘manager’ is out-of-date, at the very least. Instead of supervising others, the true role for managers is to lead and develop people. Very little of that is actually occurring. It doesn’t mean we should eliminate all managers; rather, we should teach the managers how to lead. /David Chard, president of Engaging Minds /

Old-school, command-and-control thinking gives money and status to those who manage, not those who create. Senior business leaders would improve the morale and productivity of their organizations if they removed the aura of managers who are made to feel that they are better than their team mates. We need smarter more insightful team members, not dictatorial managers. Change the way money is doled out and you will change everything. /Roy Luebke, innovation consultant/

Ideally, an organization should not wait until someone becomes a manager to train him in management. Develop everyone and promote those who show a flair for leading and developing others. Or do away with the rigid structures and let their leaders be anointed by their followers. / Stephen Booth, business analyst /

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It takes two completely different kinds of thinking to create great products and create great retail experiences, and only if a brand is confident can it master both. /Veena Srinath IT marketing manager/



Not to decide is to decide. If we in business allow politicians to think that doing nothing is ok, then that is exactly what they will do. If we are unwilling to put aside individual wish lists and think about what is really important for the country, then we are going to face a world with a lot of hurt. / Erskin Bowles/

There is nothing inevitable about the industrial decline of the United States. We need to believe that we can design, develop and produce in the USA; that we can do it cost effectively and that we can win. If we do, our workers will prove America’s potential. /Jeffrey Immelt CEO GE/

When you are building an innovative team you need creative people but more importantly you need a variety of cognitive types – including detail oriented and conformists - for higher levels of innovation. / Ella Miron-Spektor, Miriam Erez, and Eitan Naveh/
Why U.S. Competitiveness Matters to All of Us by Nitin Nohria

In times of anxiety it is natural to begin pointing the finger to blame others. Business blames government for getting in its way; government blames business for acting irresponsibly. Much of the public blames the rich and the elite for exploiting everyone else. Parties on each side work hard to amplify these accusations, but their efforts do nothing to solve the problem. They simply divide people, obscuring the fact that we are all in this together. Let’s recognize that we are in a serious situation, one that predates and goes well beyond the recent economic downturn. A multidisciplinary approach of experts will deepen the awareness of the magnitude of our problems. Solutions proposed must be inspirational and perceived to be realistic. Our problems are huge, but not insurmountable.


The Looming Challenges to US Competitiveness by Michael E. Porter and Jan W. Rivkin

U.S. competitiveness is in grave danger. The erosion of U.S. competitiveness began well before the Great Recession. A short term focus and political gridlock have prevented the U.S. from taking the steps needed to meet the challenge. Government will play a crucial role but business must lead the way.

It is a nation’s ability to generate high output per employable person – not per currently employed person – that reveals its true competitiveness.

A survey of 10,000 HBS alumni resulted in 71% foreseeing a decline in U.S. competitiveness. Respondents perceived the U.S. as already weak and in decline with respect to a range of important factors: the complexity of national tax code, the effectiveness of its political system, basic education, macroeconomic policies, and regulation. Unique strengths in entrepreneurship, higher education and management quality must overcome growing weaknesses in many other areas.

In contrast, China has tapped virtuous cycles and has become a serious challenge for the U.S. China has used surpluses to fund productivity-improving investments that add to surpluses. China as a country has a strategy whereas the U.S. is lacking one. To address the challenges America needs a strategy and a consensus on direction, not self-interested steps promoted by single-issue advocacy groups.

A competitive nation exhibits a sound business environment (including modern transport and communications infrastructure, high-quality research institutions, streamlined regulation, sophisticated local consumers, and effective capital markets) as well as strong clusters of firms and supportive institutions.


A Jobs Compact for America’s Future. Badly needed investments in human capital are not being made. What can we do together to jump start the process? By Thomas A Kochan.

Competing on – and investing in – human capital is often not in the short term interest of individual companies. Strategies and practices aimed at achieving both high productivity and high wages are not spreading widely across companies and industries. Little constructive dialogue about elevating human capital as a source of competitive advantage takes place among the stakeholder groups: the business community, government, labor and others. Top business schools are perfectly positioned to jump-start the effort of changing those realities, with investments in apprenticeship programs, technology-education partnerships, and a variety of other evidence-based ideas.


The business culture needs to move from shareholder only focus to stakeholder focus. There is no panacea for the undervaluation of human capital in the U.S. But it is possible to tackle the problem systematically – if we work together.
Rethinking School! For the U.S to remain competitive, its students need to learn vastly more, much more quickly. New approaches prove they can. By Stacey Childress
Over the past 30 years, nearly every labor intensive service industry in the U.S. has seen a dramatic increase in productivity, whilst public education has become roughly half as productive spending twice the money per student to achieve the same results. Among 34 OECD nations American 15 year olds ranked 25th in math, 17th in reading and 22nd in science. Chinese students took the tests for the first time in 2009 and blew everyone away, ranking first in all three areas. More that 50% of China’s students scored in the top two levels (out of six) in math, while less that 10% of U.S. students did.
We must give our teachers and students the breakthrough tools they need so that next generation of Americans will be better prepared to contribute to a stronger economy.
How to Make Finance Work! The U.S. financial sector has boomed, but that hasn’t always been good news for the rest of the economy. By Robin Greenwood and David S Scharfstein.

The recent crisis was in part the consequence of a shift from traditional deposit based banking to a market-based system, without adequate regulatory adjustments. The key functions of a financial system are to facilitate household and corporate saving, to allocate those funds to their most productive use, to manage and distribute risk, and to facilitate payments.

Over the past three decades the U.S. financial system has grown much faster than the overall economy causing three problems: The financial system is less stable than it was 30 years ago. Second, the financial sector has steered trillions of dollars into residential real estate and away from other, more productive investments and third, the cost of professional investment management is simply too high.

In a recent competitiveness survey of HBS alumni, respondents listed the capital markets as an enduring strength of the U.S. economy. Yet aspects of the financial sector have distorted the allocation of talent and capital and have left the economy vulnerable to crisis. In the end, the financial sector should be judged not on its profitability and size, but on how well it promotes a healthy, more competitive economy over the longer term.


Macroeconomic Policy and U.S. competitiveness. A reformed fiscal policy is vital to renewing America’s productivity. By Richard H K Vietor and Matthew Weinzierl

The United States is on a glide path to fiscal disaster, with experts projecting that the federal government will take in far less money than it spends – indefinitely. Many public goods provided by the government contribute directly to productivity. Spending on improving education can increase human capital and spending on infrastructure can increase physical capital. Publicly funded R&D, effective regulation, and incentives for private sector innovation can lead to a more efficient use of human and physical capital.


Currently U.S. fiscal policy is deeply worrisome on several dimensions. The evidence suggests we are not investing enough in infrastructure and education. Policy makers looking to reduce deficits may hinder – rather than support – the ability of companies to compete. Spending on the public goods essential for competitiveness ought to be protected from cuts, and tax revenues ought to be increased through instruments (such as VAT) that don’t discourage productive activity and investments.
Green Rules to Drive Innovation by Daniel C Esty and Steve Charnovitz.

It is increasingly clear that investing in sustainability can enhance national competitiveness. Consider that the 10 highest ranked countries on the Environmental Performance Index all sit in the top half of the World Economic Forum’s 2011 Global Competitiveness Index and six are in the top quartile. Fully 95 % of the world’s largest 250 firms regularly report on their environmental performance, highlighting their commitment to sustainability as a tool for reducing risk, improving efficiency, driving innovation and building intangible value. The article lists ten proposals for future energy and environmental policy. This includes a carbon tax more funding for research.


The Incentive Bubble. Outsourcing pay decisions to financial markets has skewed compensation and with it, American capitalism. By Mihir Desai

Nothing is more important for a market economy than the structure of incentives for managers and investors. Unfortunately, the idea of market-based compensation is both remarkably alluring and deeply flawed. The result has been the creation of perhaps the largest and most pernicious bubble of all: a giant financial-incentive bubble. These changed incentives and rewards have contributed significantly to the twin crisis of modern American capitalism; repeated governance failures, which lead many to question the stewardship abilities of American managers and investors, and rising income inequality. Remedying these distorted incentives and restoring faith in the fairness of American capitalism will require that we pop the financial-incentive bubble by exposing the intellectual flaw behind it, restructuring compensation contracts and separating legitimate investment activities from systemically important financial institutions.


Financial markets cannot be relied upon in simple ways to evaluate and compensate individuals because they can’t easily disentangle skill from luck.

The corporate governance crisis in the past 15 years had many roots; large stock option grants and the distorted incentives they provide loom large among them. The entire premise of financial-markets-based compensation is that returns are extraordinary only after the risks undertaken have been accounted for.

Inefficient risk taking engendered by incentive contracts has widespread consequences for the allocation of capital in our society. Talent will continue to be misallocated in the economy as long as outsize rewards are available in certain professions. Thirdly, it caused the surge in income inequality, which is troubling many people. The transformation of investment banks into risk hungry institutions is connected to the growth of financial-markets-based compensations.
Markets are powerful, but they are not a panacea when monopolies are present and when agents aren’t serving their captive principals.

The turn to restricted stock and vesting based on long-term accounting metrics is best practice at some leading corporations today. Board members must continue the move more toward subjective, long-term, accounting-and finance based measures of compensation.


Awakening our monitors to their responsibilities and to the flaws of market-based compensation provides the best hope for correcting these misallocations and strengthening the US economy for the challenges of this century.
Fixing What’s Wrong with U.S. Politics. By David A Moss

60% of Harvard alumni say that the U.S. political system is less effective than that in other countries. Policy making in America is approaching all out war, where victory is paramount, “compromise” a dirty word, and virtually any issue or development can become a weapon for bludgeoning the other side. Business leaders can take four steps to make a difference. Speak out for democracy. Clarify public priorities. Invest in History. Stand up for civics.


Enriching the Ecosystem by linking innovation, enterprises and jobs by Rosabeth Moss Kanter.

The key to Stanford and MIT successes has been strong industry ties and networks, connecting faculty, entrepreneurs, and funders. Competitiveness requires the unique capabilities and involvement of companies in collaborations that produce innovative solutions and innovative growth business. An enriched business ecosystem moves ideas into use, strengthens enterprises that create jobs and educates people to be job-ready. This is good for individual business, the economy and society.


Shattering the Myths about U.S. Trade Policy. Stop blaming China and India. A more active trade policy can lead to a stronger U.S. economy. By Robert Z Lawrence and Lawrence Edwards.

Surveys show a majority of Americans believe trade is bad for the U.S. because it leads to job losses and lower wages. Erecting higher trade barriers would be misguided, impractical and unwise. Misguided because there are substantial gains from trade; impractical because the intertwining of domestic and foreign production in supply chain networks makes withdrawal difficult and costly; and unwise because doing so could prompt retaliatory responses that endanger the fragile world economic recovery and make everyone worse off. Freer trade, not protectionism may be a better option.


New Project? Don’t Analyze –Act. Entrepreneurs make small quick steps to get initiatives off the ground. You can do the same in your organization by Leonard A Schlesinger, Charles F Kiefer and Paul B Brown.

(Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ and Tom Peter’s ‘Ready, Fire, Aim’ refers)

Entrepreneurs forecast, plan and model only when they have to. These rules are suggested: Use the means at hand; Stay within your acceptable loss; Secure only the commitment you need for the next step; Bring along only volunteers; Link your move to a business imperative, and produce early results; Manage expectations. In the face of positive results, move quickly. Embrace negative surprises as useful learning.

Notes by frank@olsson.co.nz 11 March 2012

Harvard Business Review January, February 2012

The theme of this issue is ‘The Value of Happiness’ - How employee Well Being drives profits. I think it a great issue and have always sought to create happy environments where personal growth and satisfaction are central and are seen as preconditions to good business results. Common to all business in my view is that they are about delivering units of happiness (and satisfaction) or alleviating agony such as in medicine and pharmaceutical business. It is obvious to me that this goal cannot be fully achieved unless the whole production chain – be it in goods or services – is characterized by happiness and happy participants. This is now being scientifically proven. You can of course argue why it should be necessary to prove that happiness is worth striving for when it is such a central human aspiration. However, for those who can’t see the value, some solid proof may perhaps be helpful.  A few notes from the issue:


How Leaders Spark and Sustain Change by Peter Fuda and Richard Bradham. In studying how ineffective CEO’s transformed themselves into successful leaders, the authors found common themes, which they describe with four metaphors. Fire represents burning ambition, a motivator that is far more important than fear. A snowball should be a cycle of mutual accountability that creates momentum for change. Naming your mask or revealing the persona you believe conceals your flaws, allows you to be authentic. The movie metaphor captures the idea of self-reflection: You should view, replay, direct, and edit your behavior continuously.
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