Categories: Management

Tiger Woods: Finally, He Shows His Stripes

Posted by: Patricia O'Connell on February 19

Good for Tiger Woods for including his sponsors (including former ones), his foundation, and his employees in his much-anticipated apology. An abject, ashamed-looking Tiger Woods finally spoke out publicly about--and...

Bankers: Control Freaks

Posted by: Bruce Weinstein on February 17

“Are you kidding me?" That’s the yelp we’re hearing around the country as some of the wise elders of finance reveal their real identities: hard-core supporters of more government regulation...

Global Problem Solving? Stephen Harper Defends the Status Quo

Posted by: Don Tapscott on January 29

Although Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s speech on Thursday in Davos was received well, many of the delegates that I spoke with told me they thought Harper’s vision was too blinkered....

Davos: Climate Change, Transport and Logistics – The Road Ahead

Posted by: Peter Lacy on January 29

It is clear that even despite the challenging outcome of Copenhagen, climate change is still very much front and center at Davos as global/political, civil society, and business leaders contemplate...

Looking Beyond the Recovery at Davos

Posted by: Mark Spelman on January 28

Much of the first few days of Davos have been preoccupied with the speed and scale of recovery and the reform program for the financial sector. It was good to...

Davos 2010: The World is Broken

Posted by: Don Tapscott on January 25

This is a guest post from author Don Tapscott, chairman of nGenera Insight and Adjunct Professor, Rotman School of Business. Follow him on Twitter: @dtapscott As a Fellow of the...

Managing Temporary Workers

Posted by: Patricia O'Connell on January 11

Recently met with Joanie Ruge, Senior Vice-President of Adecco, "The world leader in workforce solutions." As such, one of the company's main businesses is providing temporary workers. It's no surprise...

Copenhagen, Carbon, Consumer Goods Supply Chains

Posted by: Peter Lacy on December 17

Business leaders across sectors are becoming acutely aware of the impact of Copenhagen and the transition to a low carbon economy in the next 2 to 5 years on global supply chains.

Benefits: The Good News. Sort of.

Posted by: Emily Thornton on October 01

Depending on your view of the general state of corporate benefits, here's some potentially good news: They're unlikely to change this year, according to a recent study by human resources...

A Message to Managers: Be Positive-- Or Else!

Posted by: Emily Thornton on September 14

When business is going badly, it's difficult to find positive things to talk about with your employees. But research conducted by Thomas O. Davenport, a principal at the human resource...

Will Ending Annual Reviews Make You More Like a Startup?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on August 28

Here's an unusual step a CEO took to make his company more entrepreneurial: Ban annual performance reviews. Sam Inman, CEO of Comarco, a small 32-person outfit which makes universal charge...

Women's Performance: A Perception Gap?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on August 10

Women may think they’re really good at their jobs, but they tend to suspect others don’t see it that way. At least that’s the finding of a study being presented...

Best and Worst Mid-Year Performance Review Comments

Posted by: Jena McGregor on July 23

A few weeks ago, we put together a special report on mid-year performance reviews: Why they matter more in a recession, why performance reviews don't work, and advice from an...

Are Fewer Competitors a Good Thing?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on July 21

Apparently, we perform better when there are fewer competitors. In the classroom, at least: Researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Haifa in Israel (highlighted in The...

Merck Ponders A Blockbuster's Generic Future

Posted by: Arlene Weintraub on July 21

Check out BusinessWeek's Managing Forward blog for comments on Merck's quarterly earnings report....

Obesity Drug Maker Takes Slow Road

Posted by: Arlene Weintraub on July 20

On July 20, Orexigen Therapeutics was living the dream of small companies everywhere. It announced that its experimental drug Contrave was safe and that it helped obese people lose...

GM's First Bailout Came from Delaware, not DC

Posted by: Matthew Boyle on June 01

Reading all the hand-wringing stories today about General Motors' bankruptcy, one wonders how such a corporate titan could fall so far, so fast. But what most of these stories don't...

Co-CEOs: A Good Shared Approach or a Recipe for Disaster?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on May 29

It's an unusual arrangement, but co-CEOs have been showing up at high-profile companies in the last year. Last summer, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia CEO Susan Lyne stepped aside, only to...

Retailers to the Rescue

Posted by: Diane Brady on April 16

Here is a guest blog from Madison Riley and Kathi Toll, consultants with Kurt Salmon Associates: Walgreens’ announcement this month that it would give free health care services to newly...

Teaching Employees a Lesson

Posted by: Emily Thornton on February 23

Here's a novel approach to motivating employees: Chairman of European-based private equity firm Permira Advisers Damon Buffini recently gave his partners a dressing down and ordered them to eat burgers...

Recession Relief? Don't expect it this year

Posted by: Diane Brady on February 02

I did an informal survey of attendees at Davos to ask when they thought the economy would begin to pick up. Of the roughly four dozen people I asked, about...

A new way to track Web censorship

Posted by: Diane Brady on January 31

I was just speaking with Harvard Professor Jonathan Zittrain (author of "The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It") He has launched Herdict, a new site that lets...

What's Your Big Idea?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on January 27

Back in December, I posted here on Management IQ about a special upcoming package we're working on about game-changing management ideas. The business world may be gripped in the throes...

What Does Innovation have to do with Six Sigma?

Posted by: Emily Thornton on January 12

Many managers make the mistake of believing that innovation is something they can only afford during the good times. They limit their definition of innovation to boosting investment in potentially...

Hank Greenberg on AIG's 'Punitive' Bailout

Posted by: Diane Brady on December 01

Just because someone is angry and clearly motivated by self-interest doesn't mean he's wrong. Former American International Group chief Maurice Greenberg has railed against the Fed's bailout of the insurer...

Vote for the Best or Worst Manager of the Year

Posted by: Diane Brady on November 26

Dear Readers, We're mulling over who should get the prize as the best, or worst, manager of the year. We would love to get your views on this. Take a...

Immelt Keeps His Word

Posted by: Jena McGregor on October 10

This morning, General Electric chairman and chief executive officer Jeffrey Immelt met his lowered bar. The battered conglomerate, pummeled recently by its exposure to the financial services sector, reported third-quarter...

GE Announces $12 Billion Stock Offering; Investment of $3 Billion by Warren Buffett

Posted by: Jena McGregor on October 01

The Oracle of Omaha has done it again. After investing $5 billion in Goldman Sachs on Sept. 23, he’s now agreed to buy $3 billion of perpetual preferred stock from...

Memo to Conservative Companies: Web Surfing's Okay

Posted by: Jena McGregor on September 19

Here's an interesting statistic for a Friday, as you find your mind (and your mouse) wandering to the weekend. A survey by the Creative Group, a staffing division for advertising...

Financial Fallout: Can the 90-Day Honeymoon Survive?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on September 18

It is astonishing, really, to look back at the last three months and watch how fast AIG fell. When AIG's board announced that it was replacing Martin Sullivan with Chairman...

A Real Managing by the Numbers?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on September 02

For anyone who hasn't yet read my colleague Stephen Baker's fascinating book excerpt this week, Managing by the Numbers, check it out. Baker's new book, The Numerati, looks at the...

Micromanagement: Is Your Boss Going to Start Using Sensors On You?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on August 29

Talk about frightening workplace technology: This story in the Economist highlights new research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in which researchers strapped high-tech "identity badges" to workers to study...

GE's Olympic Score

Posted by: Jena McGregor on August 25

Well, the Olympics are over, and Michael Phelps may be going home with eight gold medals, but he might as well start receiving GE dividends. The extraordinary swimmer helped to...

Management by Freek

Posted by: Jena McGregor on August 08

I'm always on the lookout for good management blogs to read, but they're a fairly rare breed, especially ones written by business school profs. For example, I'm a big...

Ford's Other Problem : Retirees

Posted by: Nanette Byrnes on July 24

As if rising gas prices, a bad product line up, and staggering credit problems, weren’t enough for Ford brass to worry about , a recent analysis by Credit Suisse shows...

Ram Charan Wants to Help

Posted by: Jena McGregor on July 10

Think you could use some tips from a pro? Seek no further. BusinessWeek has enlisted the noted author, professor, and business consultant Ram Charan to help you chart a...

Superstar CEOs Don't Equal Superstar Performance

Posted by: Jena McGregor on July 06

It's one of those things we all learned in the scandal-laden earlier years of this decade: Celebrity CEOs aren't always what they're cracked up to be. Those who get showered...

An About-Face at Netflix

Posted by: Jena McGregor on June 30

Netflix will not be eliminating its "profiles" service after all, an email in my inbox just informed me. In the process, it just saved thousands of DVD-watching marriages nationwide. For...

Email Overload Can be a Good Thing, Too

Posted by: Jena McGregor on June 30

There's a smart post over at the Harvard Business Review's Editors' Blog about email overload, and whether it's really as bad of a thing as everyone's talking about. Editor Paul...

AIG's Sullivan Stepping Down, Reports Say

Posted by: Jena McGregor on June 15

American International Group CEO Martin Sullivan is stepping down, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, following a Sunday meeting of the insurer's board. Following weeks of outspoken shareholder dissent calling...

Are Two Heads Better than One at Martha Stewart?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on June 11

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia CEO Susan Lyne has stepped down. Replacing her is not one, but two CEOs--and no, neither of them is Martha. They are Robin Marino, MSLO's president...

Is Google Squeezing Its "20% Time"?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on June 06

Silicon Valley blog Valleywag had a post yesterday about "Google's Ever-Shrinking 20% Time." Google's now infamous management practice, which allows employees to spend 20% of their time working on...

Need more Welch?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on June 02

If you're somehow not getting enough of Jack and Suzy Welch (BusinessWeek's management columnists record podcasts, write columns and tape videos), they now have their own Web site. There, the...

Thompson Out at Wachovia

Posted by: Jena McGregor on June 02

Just weeks after Wachovia's directors stripped the bank's CEO, G. Kennedy Thompson, of his chairman duties, they've gone and taken the CEO job, too. This morning, Wachovia announced that Thompson...

A Community Goes Up--And Wins a Round--Against Nestle

Posted by: Michelle Conlin on May 28

A while back, I wrote a story about how some residents in the tiny, no-stoplight town of McCloud, Ca. had gone up against the multinational Nestle. Nestle wanted to...

A New Power Principle?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on May 20

You may think it’s your boss who’s always the one messing things up. But according to new research in the journal Pyschological Science, people with lower-ranking titles are more likely...

What Should Immelt Do Next?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on May 15

So now that General Electric is apparently selling its major appliance business, what should Jeffrey R. Immelt do next? "Deliver, deliver, deliver," says Noel Tichy, a long-time GE watcher and...

Is AIG battling a break-up--or just internal strife?

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 12

I was struck by a report in The Wall Street Journal today that officials at International Lease Finance Corp. are contemplating a split with American International Group. Wow! ILFC is...

The real surprise at GE

Posted by: Diane Brady on April 11

When General Electric sent out news of its earnings shortfall this morning, the surprise wasn't so much in the numbers. With its extensive financial and consumer-oriented businesses, the company was...

Profiting from Olympic Protests

Posted by: Diane Brady on April 08

For many people, the Olympic torch relay tends to be a yawner. Not this year. Protesters in London, Paris and San Francisco are helping to turn this year's 85,000-mile PR...

The Art of War

Posted by: Diane Brady on April 03

Thomas Huynh, a regular reader of this blog and founder of Sonshi.com, has just come out with a new book: The Art of War--Spirituality for Conflict. A lot of leaders...

Close the Door, Already

Posted by: Jena McGregor on March 04

Diane mentioned MIT professor Dan Ariely's new book, Predictably Irrational, last week. For anyone who missed the New York Times piece that caused such a stir (it was among the...

The Importance of Being Irrational

Posted by: Diane Brady on February 18

MIT professor Dan Ariely has a new book out that shows how irrationality affects every aspect of our lives. It's called Predictably Irrational, and it looks at why our diet...

What Ceos Can Learn from Barack

Posted by: Michelle Conlin on February 12

How did a non-elite newcomer manage to unhinge the trajectory of a seemingly unstoppable Democratic dynasty? The political writers will be a-wag ad infinitum about this one. But there are...

Armchair Consulting

Posted by: Jena McGregor on February 01

Everyone, it seems, would like to play McKinsey to Howard Schultz. When the New York Times ran a story on Wednesday ahead of Starbucks' quarterly earnings report, the first with...

Time Sensitive Customers

Posted by: Diane Brady on January 31

There's a new book out today that makes the case for being sensitive to how time affects typical shopping choices. It's called Stopwatch Marketing and it examines how companies can...

The SocGen Saga: Risk Management isn't the Only Lesson

Posted by: Jena McGregor on January 28

Today's New York Times has a story about the Societe Generale trader, Jerome Kerviel, who made huge, risky bets on derivatives that caused the bank to lose $7.2 billion. According...

Death in the Workplace

Posted by: Diane Brady on January 17

I remember the first time a colleague died. I was 16, dishing out lemon tarts in a hospital kitchen after school, when a supervisor announced to all of us that...

The Breakthrough Company

Posted by: Diane Brady on January 14

Every entrepreneur wants to be the one who breaks through; who doesn't just chase his industry's trends but helps to shape them. Keith McFarland has just written a book (The...

Returning CEOs no Real Boost or Bust

Posted by: Jena McGregor on January 11

An interesting piece of research I came across in the course of reporting this story on Howard Schultz's return to the helm at Starbucks, which we first blogged about here:...

Management Lessons from Charlie Wilson's War?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on January 08

Yesterday, I linked to management lessons from an NFL offensive tackle. Today, it's career and success advice from Charlie Wilson, thanks to the ever exclamation-pointed Tom Peters. I haven't...

Seth Godin does it again

Posted by: Diane Brady on December 26

It wouldn't be a new year without a new book from marketing blogger/guru Seth Godin. The author of such tomes as Unleashing the Idea Virus and, most recently, the dip...

Chairman Mao, Management Role Model?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on December 19

I have to say I'm not sure I quite get The Economist's cover this week. Titled "Staying at the top: Mao and the art of management," the Economist's piece positions...

Advice from a CE-Yo

Posted by: Diane Brady on December 17

I have long admired Gary Hirshberg's business philosophy. The co-founder and chief of Stonyfield Farm combines his drive for profits with a deeply held desire to improve the environment. He...

Big Think Strategy

Posted by: Diane Brady on December 06

Everybody likes to think of themselves as "big thinkers" -- the kind who bring bold ideas to the table. Bernd Schmitt has a succinct new book out today on the...

How Much Does Sustainability Really Matter to Managers and Employees?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on November 27

Employers have been falling all over themselves to tout their environmental chops, whether it's their corporate sustainability efforts or their offers of hybrid-car charging stations for the Gen Y green...

Brownie's Back!

Posted by: Michelle Conlin on November 27

It has been said that there are no second acts in American life. Oh, but how there are. Especially when it comes to disgraced government officials and buffoonish business...

Why Wal Mart, Why?

Posted by: Michelle Conlin on November 19

Many a journalist has chronicled the classic, management-101 missteps of Wal Mart's PR apparatus. This post has to do with my own little rendez vous with the company not...

Planning a smooth succession

Posted by: Diane Brady on November 15

Succession is notoriously botched. Now comes Joseph Bower with a new book (The CEO Within) about the importance of nurturing "Inside Outsiders" in succession planning. What kind of creature is...

Facebook is Fine ...

Posted by: Diane Brady on November 08

My colleague Michelle's experience on Facebook is food for thought, and I notice others are starting to gripe about the onslaught of social networking. And yet these sites are growing...

CEO Antics: Special Belated Halloween Edition

Posted by: Jena McGregor on November 06

Ok, so I'm a little late to the punch (yes, I know Halloween was last week) but I couldn't help blogging about this photo. Can you imagine if this...

Is Gossip Always Toxic?

Posted by: Diane Brady on October 31

I have mixed views about office gossip. On the one hand, it can be a great way to gain intelligence about what's going on and who's moving where, especially if...

Stressful Times in the Talent War

Posted by: Diane Brady on October 22

Everyone knows it's tough to find great employees these days. The stress is taking a toll, according to a new study by Watson Wyatt Worldwide and WorldatWork (a global group...

The Books You Need to Succeed

Posted by: Diane Brady on October 18

We spend a lot of time on this blog, looking at the merits of new books and studies that come our way every week. This time, I want to talk...

Disruption Days

Posted by: Diane Brady on October 15

Jean-Marie Dru, CEO of ad giant TBWA, became well-known a decade ago for his "Disruption Days." These are brainstorming sessions with clients and the folks in his agency to overturn...

How to Hire Your Kids

Posted by: Diane Brady on October 12

Many successful entrepreneurs face a dilemma when it comes to hiring their kids. Donald Trump has long talked about the value of having his kids work for what they want...

Pat Woertz says Good Gossip is Good

Posted by: Jena McGregor on October 10

I just stopped by World Business Forum, the mega leadership confab at Radio City Music Hall, to hear Patricia A. Woertz, the CEO of Archer Daniels Midland and the sixth...

Getting the best out of mentoring

Posted by: Diane Brady on October 02

Our parent, McGraw-Hill, just wrapped up the fifth phase of a mentoring program that pairs up people from different parts of the company (including Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education and...

How the 'Aha moment' happens

Posted by: Diane Brady on October 01

Strategic intuition--those insights that emerge through thinking rather than emotion--is a hard thing to pin down. Columbia Business School professor William Duggan has just put out an interesting book on...

Sarbanes-Oxley = a downturn in corporate risk-taking

Posted by: Diane Brady on September 26

For all its noble intentions, the five-year-old Sarbanes-Oxley Act prompts many complaints from the corporate community. It has been blamed (wrongly, in most cases) for prompting companies to shun public...

The Coming Brain Drain

Posted by: Jena McGregor on September 25

It's hard to miss all the cries of fear about the coming brain drain. The boomers are going to retire, and if you listen to most workplace consultants, there's going...

Is Management Really a Profession?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on September 18

Doctors must take the Hippocratic Oath and earn continuing education credits for years. Lawyers must pass the bar and adhere to strict codes about attorney-client privileges. But although managers have...

High-Impact Nonprofits

Posted by: Diane Brady on September 13

Non-profits often operate on the principle that delivering great service or putting together a great board are the only real barometers of success. Some of them are trying to adopt...

Smart move for Pepsi

Posted by: Diane Brady on September 12

Pepsi has launched a red can in China that closely resembles the packaging of arch-rival Coca-Cola, according to a piece in today's Wall Street Journal. Smart move, or dumb? I...

Hands up: Who Else Sees A "Perfect Storm"?

Posted by: Diane Brady on September 10

I'm just back from a fun stint as a guest host of CNBC's Power Lunch and was struck by the increasing popularity of the term: "A perfect storm." People are...

Women Business Owners--Having It All?

Posted by: Diane Brady on September 07

I wanted to follow up on the earlier post. One way women succeed, of course, is to opt out of the workforce and go out on their own. A new...

A chat with Starwood's new chief

Posted by: Diane Brady on September 04

Frits van Paasschen says he has “always gravitated towards fun jobs.” Sure enough, his background includes (most recently) being CEO of Coors Brewing Co., running Nike's operations in Europe and...

Race Car Algorithms for Managers?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on August 24

What can managers learn from race car driving? Plenty, it seems. There have been several stories over the years about how some management teams have participated in NASCAR pit crews...

The Curse of the Chinese Toy

Posted by: Diane Brady on August 03

Here's something manufacturers don't want to hear from their customers: "Is this made in China? I don't want something made in China." That's what a customer at Toys R' Us...

Decisions, Decisions

Posted by: Jena McGregor on July 02

Over at Harvard Business Online, Babson College professor and management thinker Tom Davenport is saying that decision-making is the next big thing. Or rather, the next big thing will be...

Terry Semel: Cheapskate?

Posted by: Michelle Conlin on June 27

It's fascinating how often leaders bungle the small but crucial details. Think of it as the tiny-mythic paradox. Case in point is Terry Semel's recent managerial disaster at Yahoo,...

Secrets of Super Bowl winner!

Posted by: Diane Brady on June 27

How many business books can keep tapping the sports world for pithy truths about how to succeed? Now comes "Hiring Secrets of the NFL". I'm sure there's something to this, as long as we don't have to pay NFL-style salaries, but it made me laugh. Is professional football really such a rich resource for management expertise?

What kind of leader is the gamer in the next cube?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on June 18

My colleague Aili McConnon broke news last week on an interesting bit of research done by the folks over at Big Blue. Yes, it supports IBM's push into creating virtual...

Do you communicate like a leader?

Posted by: Diane Brady on June 12

Why do so many people choose to skimp on details? Often, it stems from a leave-the-thinking-to-us mentality that makes managers dispense nuggets to staff on a need-to-know basis.

The Six Sigma-Innovation Debate

Posted by: Jena McGregor on June 12

There's an interesting conversation going on over at management guru Tom Peters' blog (can anyone believe his book "In Search of Excellence" is 25 years old?) about my colleague Brian...

Why managers should cheer the new minimum wage

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 25

Managers should cheer a $2.10 increase in the federal minimum raise ... I would brush off the fear-mongering of the National Restaurant Association, which predicts fewer jobs for entry workers because of the move. Smart employers will figure out a way to spread responsibilities and trim elsewhere to make sure that the most important assets they have--human beings--improve in value, rather the understandable instinct of underpaid workers to head for the door.

The YouTube Job Hunt

Posted by: Jena McGregor on May 23

It had an inauspicious start, but the video resume trend is gaining steam.

Does AIG have courageous leadership?

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 23

Heading a company like AIG, GE and Exxon Mobil forces you (by virtue of size) to also have a strong voice on issues affecting your industry. Which heads of public companies right now embrace the notion of courageous leadership? Some of the most outspoken leaders I've met are now working in private equity.

Now What for GE Plastics?

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 17

All these people talking about ecomagination and Six Sigma; all the ambitious execs shooting for a chance to get to a high-level pow wow at Crotonville. In many respects, employees feel they enter a social pact when joining a company like GE. What now?

Welcome to Management IQ

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 17

In our coverage of management trends, workplace issues and executive talent, we noticed something missing: a concise and timely blog to get what you need to know to become a leader in business.