I’m not sure who’s the most frustrated: CEO’s who can’t get their communication people to help improve business results, or communication people who want to add value but don’t have what it takes to do so. Most internal communication people play the role of town crier rather than business problem solver. They’re focused on distributing… Read more
Business Literacy
Change the Game: Save The Dream
Jack Stack has done it again. He’s produced another superior book about the huge successes that open book management is having on organizations of all sizes and industries. The book is “Change the Game: Saving the American Dream by Closing the Gap Between the Haves and the Have-nots.” Jack is CEO of SRC Corporation in… Read more
Ask These Five Questions and Get Started.
The question I most often get from communication professionals who want to make the shift from the current town crier role to one that’s more aligned with improving business results is, “How do I get started? How can I make a difference in our organization’s outcomes?” I recommend beginning by asking five questions. Here they… Read more
The Purest Form of Organizational Communication
Last month, I spoke at the Gathering of the Games, the world’s largest conference on open book management. Hundreds of open book leaders and communication practitioners from around the world were in attendance to learn, share and celebrate the principles and practice of open book management. Open book management is a leadership philosophy that’s grounded… Read more
Results That Last
How do we create results that are sustainable and become fully ingrained in the culture? Many organizational leaders make significant changes, smile at their work and walk away from the effort, naively assuming that the improvements will last forever. But over time, people sometimes revert to the old ways of the past because they’re more… Read more
Resolve to Form a New Habit
It’s a new year. Time for testing those personal improvement resolutions that we set for ourselves. Sometimes they are easy, sometimes more challenging, and sometimes we write a list of things we never intend to follow through anyway. But what about professional resolutions? What can you resolve to improve in your career during 2019? CEOs… Read more
Open for Business
Is your business an open book? Open book management is a leadership philosophy that’s grounded in the notion of creating businesses of business people where everyone in the organization thinks and acts like business owners. I’ve been taking clients to open book management pioneer SRC Corporation in Springfield, Missouri for more than 25 years. For… Read more
Win Big and Repeat! A Case Study
When a communication assessment at FedEx Express brought senior leaders and the communication department closer together, it paid off in a huge return on their investment. The assessment made it clear that there were considerable opportunities to improve results if the communication department could shift its focus from distributing news and information to improving business… Read more
Most IC Departments Don’t Add Real Value, But Can!
Last week, I delivered a keynote presentation in Dallas to more than 50 internal communication people representing many companies. The event was sponsored by Poppulo, the social media firm based in Ireland. The focus: How to shift from cost centers to value creators. Historically, internal communication managed formal channels that included town hall meetings, newsletters,… Read more
The High Performance Cocktail
Open book management is the purest form of organization communication that I’ve seen in more than 30 years. Blended with a sound change management process, it can take business performance to heights never thought possible. It is the high performance cocktail. I met Jack Stack nearly 25 years ago. He was CEO of SRC Holdings… Read more