Disobedient Talk

I recently re-read a book entitled Employees First, Customers Second by Vineet Nayar.. In the book Nayar mentions that new knowledge or a shift in perception only comes about through ‘memorable, extreme or experimental’ communications. At an Intelligent Disobedience keynote presentation in the United States, one…

The concept of a change manager is growing in popularity, with the role becoming a standard part of many organisations, the Change Management Institute is gaining membership and Communities of Practice for Change Management are dotting the specialist landscape. Providing focus to this area is…

The process is regularly repeated in large as well as small businesses – an idea is generated from a middle or senior manager, a project proposal, project charter or other initiation document is created; it is evaluated, approved and a project is started. Although this…

Whether you call them key stakeholders, primary stakeholders or some other term, it is likely that every leader labels at least one person as ‘the person to please’ when delivering an initiative. By default, we call him the sponsor. As the sponsor is footing the…

Contingency elements – typically in the form of extra dollars or time – are a fundamental part of the way leaders manage risk.. Reasonable approach, right? Unexpected things happen and items that were considered in risk management plans sometimes do come to fruition and must…

Initiatives benefit from a sound and comprehensive governance structure consisting of an engaged sponsor and a steering committee of stakeholders that have a vested interest and influence over the results. Assembling this body of stakeholders is not particularly complex, especially when an engaged leader partners…

Many organisations struggle with the concept of portfolio management and its core process, an initiative prioritisation scheme. Why prioritisation schemes become such a major production, requiring every senior manager, administrative assistant, two security guards and four programmers to make happen is astounding. The process should…

Leaders around the world sing the praises of appropriate risk planning. Many even attempt to do risk management, beyond the typical document that is created at the beginning of an initiative but is destined to become lonely sitting in the bottom drawer of one’s desk….

Many lessons will undoubtedly be learned from Australia’s recent natural disasters. Incredible flooding, followed by one of the largest cyclones in recent memory have caused havoc across Australia, particularly in Queensland. The chaos of natural disasters places a premium on good communication. In this situation,…

This Intelligent Disobedience blog entry was contributed by Marjolein Towler. Thanks MT! Have you ever been faced with a decision to do something that is in your best interest, and is not directly hurting anyone, but is not entirely above board either? Ever been in…

In this blog and in our consulting and training services, we often promote approaches that stray from the norm. As a result, we do get involved in our share of healthy debates and an occasional argument now and then. These are fine; as an argument…

Common advice for a growth minded professional is to ensure they work with someone who can fill their role, so their management team is more comfortable with moving the leader to roles of greater responsibility. Sound advice, of course. The ambitious leader who engages in…