By: Robert H. Miles  

Two of my colleagues, Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis, have just released a new book called “Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls” (New York: Portfolio, 2007). I’ve reviewed the book and wanted to share some perspectives on the book.

Hurrah for Noel and Warren. At the very prime of their careers, these distinguished scholars have pooled their knowledge and research to wade in to the deep end of the pool on the murky but critical subject of management judgment. This has been a domain in which many others have feared to swim because of the inherent ambiguity and almost certain exposure to criticism associated with such an interdisciplinary construct.

Both authors have worked in tight with some of the most powerful transformational leaders on the planet. The sheer access these scholars were able to create to high-profile leaders embroiled in some of the major business crises of recent times is quite impressive. Less established scholars would have had to sit on the sidelines as distant observers or head for the basement to run yet another round of experiments on college sophomores. Yet, despite their clear association with these industry titans, Tichy and Bennis make a strong fact-based case against the “superman” idea, focusing instead on the critical information and influence that resides in the members of the team and among the stakeholders surrounding a great leader during times requiring major judgment calls.

Here are some their more important insights into the phenomenon of judgment: (more…)

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By Michael Kanazawa

This last week the team at 800CEORead hosted their second annual Pow Wow. It is a gathering of business book authors and other publishing industry leaders. I didn’t know what to expect when I agreed to go and walking into the lobby of the Catalyst Ranch, which had wild paint on the walls, a small spring loaded rocking horse that they said was adult sized, and retro furniture looking like a Lucy and Ricky Ricardo garage sale only added a few more questions in my mind…like what the heck am I doing here?

Although in reality, the other Pow Wow attendees I had met the night before the event at dinner had already convinced me that the whole trip to Chicago had been worth it. And now days after the event, I’m still just starting to really undertand the astounding generosity of knowledge, genunine and authentic connections and inspiration that was happening between all of us at the Ranch.

No matter how well we can chat up people through our bluetooth headset, connect ourselves together indefinitely through LinkedIn and write on each others’ blogs…there is still no substitute for face-to-face, real-world meetings. There is a great post on relationships on Tom Peters’ blog that talks about the power of relationships, even to the point of saying that more than logical thinking, the relationships between people is what has allowed man to win out over the beasts. (more…)

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By Michael Kanazawa

A new good friend, Phil Gerbyshak, recently posted this video on the new tech bubble on his blog, Make It Great. He lives in the mid-West but obviously gets what is going on in Silicon Valley. First, laugh and enjoy the video, then go rebalance your investment portfolio, and then think about this question that was posed on Phil’s site: The question about a Web 2.0 bubble is if it will impact how blogs and social networking sites are used in business strategies.

To me, the answer is that the last tech bubble and this one (if you believe there is one now) have nothing to do with the use of technology, but rather just the stock market valuation of the companies providing the technology.

When the first bubble burst, people did not stop using the web for e-commerce, b2b transactions or newsfeeds. In fact, the usage kept going up. It was just that the market valuations of the web companies took a nose dive. So whether you belive that Web 2.0 companies are overinflated in valuations or not, the fundamental changes they have created will continue to grow. The proliferation of content on the web (writing, video, music) and greater collboration through wikis and networking sites will continue to grow and will continue to challenge traditional media and ways of doing busienss.

If you are in a more traditional business and laughing at the bubble pop video, hoping it will all go away soon…think again. I agree with Phil’s perspective. Keep blogging, keep networking online, and also keep writing, building real-world relationships in person, and most importantly…keep learning and evolving your strategies. Don’t let your competitors be the ones to burst your bubble.

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