It must be a sign of the times, and a wonderful one at that. Everywhere I seem to look these days up pops these magical words: making a difference. More specifically the question, how do I make a difference? Looking around, it is clear that individually and collectively we are experiencing a yearning for a more meaningful, purposeful life. Rick Warren’s book A Purpose Driven Life sold over 30 million...

Last week I had the chance to give my talk called ‘The Art of Tribal Leadership’ to an iMBA class here in Taipei. The group was as diverse as it gets, with students from all over the world (at least 12 different countries). We had a great time—they were a highly intelligent, inquisitive bunch. What really struck me however was how deeply interested they were in understanding the 7 emerging...

This came across my desk…it ties in brilliantly with this article How to get people to say Yes! to Leadership… Edited excerpt from Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel H. Pink 2009 http://www.alternet.org/story/146457/ A little past noon, only a third of CEO Jeff Gunther’s employees have shown up for work.  But Gunther — entrepreneur, manager, capitalist...

Last month’s article exploring why people would say No Thank You to leadership generated a wonderful array of responses and insights. It seems to have struck a cord (or a nerve, depending on who you talk to). And the question that inevitably came up was how to get people to say yes! If you didn’t have a chance to read it, I suggested that people are saying No Thank You to leadership—consciously...

A number of years ago I made a critical decision. I said No Thank You to leadership. It took me a while to recognize that I had made that decision, because I’d certainly not been conscious of it at the time. But I did. I walked away from leadership; I didn’t want anything to do with it any more. I suspect I’m not alone in that. A few weeks ago I was handed a copy of Seth Godin’s...

晌午剛過，執行長Jeff Gunther的員工只有三分之一來工作。但Gunther先生，這位創業家、管理人、資本家，既不擔憂也不動氣，可能是因為他自己也是一個小時前才出現在辦公室的原因吧。也可能是因為他知道他的手下不是在逃避，他們是在工作，不過是用他們的作息方式。Gunther將他提供軟硬體設備幫助醫院整合資訊的公司變成一個ROWE，只重成果的工作環境。在ROWE的工作環境中，大家沒有行事曆。他們想來的時候就會出現。他們不需要在固定時間或任何時間只為了出席而出席。他們只要能完成工作就好了！ 在這位剛過30歲的Gunther看來，「管理並非走來走去看大家人在不在辦公室，而是提供讓大家能將工作做到最好的環境來。」當他的公司為了擴充在尋找新辦公室時，他宣布在接下來新的一年（2008）的90天22人規模的公司將成為ROWE（實驗）。 「剛開始，大家並不喜歡」Gunther說。辦公室上午9點就坐滿人，傍晚時變得空蕩，一如往常。幾週之後，大多數人找出了最適合他們的節奏。接著生產力提昇、壓力下降。雖然有兩位員工離職，在實驗結束前Gunther決定將ROWE變成常態。 在這新的安排下，團隊的完成率更高了。他們專注在工作上，而不是擔心下午三點離開去看女兒的足球賽會不會被別人貼上「懶人」的標籤。「對他的團隊（高度創意性質的工作）來說，重要的是技藝。而且他們需要高度的自主性。」 人們還是有特定的目標要達成。如果他們需要協助，Gunther會伸出援手。但他決定不以目標達成當做報酬獎勵。「這樣會創造出只談錢、不論工作的文化」。他深信，錢只是一種「最低門檻激勵因子」。人們要獲得充足的報償得以照顧好家庭，他說。然而一旦公司達到了這個標準，金錢數字對於績效與激勵的影響程度就不大了。事實上，Gunther認為他們能夠做出最好工作的自由度才是比調薪更重要，更難滿足的；員工的配偶、伴侶和家人都是ROWE的（最大）擁護者！ 「對我而言，像是我和員工之間的合夥關係。他們不是資源，是夥伴。」而夥伴是需要能掌控他們自己生活的。「管理」是人類發明出來的。管理是一門技術。就像激勵2.0版，是一門過時的技術。管理的核心百年來沒變過。它的中心倫理是控制，主要工具都倚賴（外在的）激勵因素。 這樣做與世界上多數經濟仰賴的非制式、右腦能力則大相逕庭。 管理的前提是要採取行動或像前進，我們需要督促—不需賞罰—，我們就能快樂且無動力地存在。它還假設一旦人們開始前進，他們需要方向—失去了堅定、靠得住的指引，他們就會迷失。 我們天生就會被動、怠惰嗎？還是我們天生是主動的、積極的？我深信是後者。 我們以經濟生存為名而掩沒在內的天性可以是很敏感的變化。我的祖先是這樣，你的也是。有些時候，就像現在，我們毫無選擇。但是今日的經濟成就並非來自埋沒我們的天性，而是要發揮我們的天性。它需要抗拒控制他們的衝動，更要盡其所能去喚醒他們最深層的自主性。 人類天性中最重要的自主品質是以提出自主性為人類三大基本需求之一的自主理論為中心。（其他兩種需求為能力與連結性）三者中，它是最重要的。自主與獨立不同。不是要堅毅、自己往前衝、不靠任何人的美國牛仔個人主義者。而是慎思而行，能夠兼顧自主性同時能夠快樂地與別人互動。 自主權的激勵因子可激發更寬廣的觀念理解力、更好的成績、在學校或運動中更好的持續力、更高的生產力、較低的耗損和更好的心理健康。研究者發現工作滿意度較高的員工其主管都提供了「自主性的支持」。這些老闆們從員工的角度看問題，提供有意義的回饋和資訊，在做什麼、怎麼做之間提供豐富的選擇和鼓勵員工選擇有助提昇績效的相關任務。某項研究指出，提供自主性的企業成長是控制導向企業的四倍，而員工流動率只有1/3。 讓我們就「賦權」來看，它認定了組織有權力並仁慈地用大杓舀出一些倒進心存感恩之員工捧在手心的碗裡面。但這不是自主性，只不過是稍稍文明一點的控制罷了。 再來看看管理中提到的「彈性時間」。彈性只是將界線放大、偶爾敞開大門。這也是更多控制的偽裝。也許該是丟棄「管理」這個字眼的時候了。這個世代不需要更好的管理，而是自主性的大復興。 編輯自...

The show is called Weeds–Showtime’s hit series currently playing on small screens near you. The plot revolves around the exploits of a suburbanite mother of two teen boys who, when her husband unexpectedly dies, takes up selling marijuana to pays the household bills.  The fun of the show lies in the zany cast of characters that evolve around homemaker turned pot dealer Nancy Botwin as she...

I’m intrigue by this emerging concept of design thinking, founded on the notion that the way designers think can be applied to the things companies do, other than their products, messages and interiors. It can be applied to the organization itself. Design thinking centers around the attitudes and thinking of approaching a business problem. In a design approach you are not trying to apply well-defined...

Dear Santa, I’ve been a good boy all year. (Isn’t that how the Dear Santa letter often starts?) I’ve been nice to my sister, I helped Mom and Dad around the house a lot, and I cleaned up my room every Saturday. Okay, almost every Saturday. (A brief overview of deeds considered ‘good’ in Santa’s books.) I didn’t kick the cat at all this year except that one time she peed on my bed,...

Excerpts from The Myth of Best Practice A look at the creative process by Robert Fritz (www.robertfritz.com) The arts are unique in that the creative process is a foundation for everything you do.  Most other professions do not demand the same orientation.  In fact, most of us have learned that to succeed in life, we must follow, what in business these days is called “best practices.” So-called...