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Author Archives: David Shedd
Managing a Diverse Workforce
Diversity in the workforce can be a polarizing topic. But having a diverse workforce is more common and more essential than it would have been 15 – 20 years ago: Many companies have made great strides in having women and … Continue reading
Let’s Improve Our Forecasting and Policymaking
In reading and studying history, I never cease to be amazed at how badly political, economic, business, academic, and media policymakers and thinktanks forecast the future. Their predictions for a strategy or the effects of a law or policy are … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Communication, Leadership, Perform / Execution
Tagged Forecasting, Policymaking, Predictions
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10 Words to Improve Our Communication
As an individual, as a company, as a nation, and as a world we continue to struggle with effective communication. Here is a list of 10 key words to keep front of mind to improve as we work to become … Continue reading
Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen
Inevitably, there will be times when there are too many managers and executives involved in a decision. This often happens for significant decisions that cross department or business unit lines. As leaders, we need to ensure that the decision-making process … Continue reading
Making IT Work
In today’s world, technology is everywhere, and we collect more data than ever before. But just having lots of data doesn’t mean we’re using it well. “We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.” E.O. Wilson That’s why good … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Leadership, Team / People
Tagged Actionable Data, Best Practices, Communication, IT
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A Good Leader is a Good Facilitator
As a leader, our objective must be to drive success and move our companies forward. To do this, we need to have effective team communication and decision – making. In short, we need to have excellent meetings. “As a consultant, … Continue reading
Relearning
Much has been written about the importance of learning throughout our careers and how we can Learn Better. As we progress in our careers, it is equally important to relearn. That is, to review previously learned material to revise and … Continue reading
Career Advice (For All Ages)
It is graduation season again. Having just come from my 35th reunion for business school, I feel inspired to offer some advice to recent graduates and some reminders to all of us (old and young) in the working world. “When … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Personal Success, Team / People
Tagged Career Advice, Humility, Learning, Simplicity
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Avoid Problems
There are two ways to look at avoiding problems. The first way, as the cartoon points out, is to ignore the problem, sweeping the problem under the rug and hoping it just goes away. Humorous for a cartoon; deadly for … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership, Personal Success
Tagged Avoid Problems, Insight, Vision
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Be the Right Kind of Lazy
Laziness gets a bad rap and deservedly so. Of course, we, ourselves, are never lazy. No… Never… But we know other people who are lazy. They procrastinate. They only do the minimum work necessary to stay employed (quiet quitters). Or … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Perform / Execution, Personal Success
Tagged Getting Things Done, Laziness
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Be a Decision Architect
Good individual and group decision-making is key to being a successful leader and driving a successful business forward. But we are all subject to individual biases (such as Confirmation Bias) and group behaviors (such as Groupthink) that lead to poor … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Personal Success, Team / People
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Criticize Less
As leaders, we need develop and maintain a strong, positive culture within our companies. To help us do this, we need to stop criticizing so much!! “The first order of business should be to eliminate the negative, not accentuate the … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Personal Success, Team / People
Tagged Criticism, Positivity, Winning Teamwork
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Learn Better
When learning new ideas or concepts, most of us learn as we did in high school and college. We listen to a lecture or podcast, read a book or textbook, highlight the key ideas, and then re-read our highlights as … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Perform / Execution, Personal Success
Tagged Learning, Training
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The When of Negotiation
In negotiation, there is always a bargaining range within which a deal can be struck – a zone of potential agreement. This bargaining range runs from the Seller Breakpoint (the absolute least that the seller will sell their product or … Continue reading
Overcoming the Stupidity of Smart People
Every day, we experience the consequences of smart people making stupid decisions. What causes intelligent people to make decisions that do not work and could never work or decisions that have unintended, negative consequences? Arrogance: Far too many smart people … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Communication, Leadership, Personal Success
Tagged Decision Making
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Make Continuous Improvement Easier
For all companies, continuous improvement is vital. We and our companies need to be better today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we are today. Unfortunately, most improvement initiatives (including most lean kaizen events) fail. They fail because … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Leadership, Personal Success
Tagged Continuous Improvement
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Don’t Be a Comfort Junkie
I just finished reading an excellent book, The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self. As written by Michael Easter, the comfort crisis results from each of us not doing anything uncomfortable: not exercising, never going … Continue reading
Manage the Data Overload
We are awash in data – round the clock news, social media, E-Mails, texts… The challenge for the business leader remains the same: “The important thing is detecting whispers of useful information in a howling hurricane of noise.” The Economist … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Perform / Execution, Personal Success
Tagged Data Management, Data Overload
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Let’s Complete Our Projects On-Time
The data on project performance is distressing. A staggering 91.5% of projects go over budget, over schedule, or both. Worse. Less than 1% of projects are completed on time and on schedule, and actually deliver the benefits promised. Bent Flyvbjerg … Continue reading
Posted in Other
Tagged Consistent Execution, Do the Right Thing, Process Improvement, Project Management
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Why Be Humble?
Humility is vital as a business leader and for our teams in several different ways: Humility ensures stronger relationships: With humility, we put ourselves at the same level as those with whom we communicate. This is especially true with subordinates; … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Personal Success, Team / People
Tagged Business Leadership, Do the Right Thing, Humility, Winning Teamwork
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David M. Shedd - Move Your Company Forward 