Harvard Business Review or HBR has always been one of the mainstays of my reading list. I love how its editors seive out business and leadership articles which are meaty enough to provide a good intellectual workout without unnecessary academese.
Its latest compilation “HBR’s 10 Must Reads” is a selection of carefully selected journal articles centred on the most pressing issues of management.
As I was commuting to work one morning, I noticed these advertisements sitting on the handle bars in the bus. Perched strategically where your hand would be, they offered a special promotion for a new F&B outlet for those who bothered to bring them there.
While the idea was pretty novel (kudos to SBS-Transit or Comfort-Delgro), I thought that the adverts could be further improved with some enhancements:
In this day and age, change is the only constant. Global economic uncertainties, socio-cultural shifts and technological breakthroughs make it necessary for organisations to adapt and transform themselves to remain relevant.
The question, however, is how one can drive change successfully in a stage littered with numerous failures.
How do companies like GE, Wal-Mart and Honeywell succeed? What is the secret of Jack Welch, one of the most legendary CEO in the business world today?
The answer, according to Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, is Execution. Subtitled The Discipline of Getting Things Done, the New York Times bestseller emphasises the importance of execution in business, how companies with an execution culture conduct their business affairs, and its three core processes: people, strategy and operations.
In the world of business, we’re often focused on our customer value proposition. What makes our products or services stand out in the marketplace? How do we draw the right customers at the right price?
The unfortunate thing, however, is that we often neglect to pay attention to the most important stakeholders in our organisation.
Namely, our employees.
Great food, environment and service made Banff’s Wild Flour our favourite dining place
Finally, its Friday night! After a stressful work week, you can now let down your hair and party the weekend away.
The first item on the agenda? A slow dinner at the latest fine dining restaurant.
Courtesy of Jim Collins
Are charismatic superstar CEOs the answer to enduring success? What about dramatic mergers and acquisitions – aren’t those the panacea to ailing companies?
What about those awe-inspiring cutting edge technologies like virtual reality, artificial intelligence and blockchain? Surely those ought to at least have an impact on greatness, right?
Courtesy of Innovation Group
We’ve all been stuck in the desert of “been-there-done-that” before. Year after year, our company churns out predictable products and ho-hum services that hardly raises a yawn.
The result? Stagnating or declining sales even as our competitors waltz past us with exciting new products that captures the imagination and wows the media.
NTUC FairPrice holds its ground through innovative concepts like FairPrice Express (courtesy of FairPrice)
Wonder why NTUC Fairprice and Cold Storage rules the grocery retail scene in Singapore?
Or why huge players like Wal-Mart and Target have largely stayed away from our shores?
Courtesy of Technotraps
Beleaguered employees can now leverage on a “cheat code” to streamline work and increase their productivity – without getting into trouble.
With the subtitle “Breaking Stupid Rules For Smart Results”, Hacking Work by Bill Jensen and Josh Klein encourages workers of all stripes to utilise “benevolent” hacking to get their jobs done more effectively and efficiently.
