Showing results by publisher "Stanford Audio" in Management & Leadership

Most organizations and managers are filled with good ideas - the problem is implementation. Power and influence, rather than being the organizations' last dirty secrets, are in fact secrets for success. Professor Pfeffer discusses the importance of understanding power and influence, diagnosing points of view on decisions, knowing the strategies and tactics for the effective use of influence, and appraising the role of influence in organizational innovation and change.

Aikido leaders work to achieve inner calm when under attack and can blend energy with a competitor to move forward. In this program, John O'Neil, President of The Center for Leadership Renewal, explains the aikido style of leadership and the critical elements - adaptability, flexibility, and partnership - necessary in such a leader. In addition, O'Neil talks about creating organizational commitment and communicating your organization's vision.

Terry Pearce, whose career includes 17 years with IBM, offers a road map for finding and using your authentic voice, the key to public speaking mastery.

If you assess your organization's needs and choose technology effectively, you will gain an edge over your competitors. Peter Cunningham outlines a plan for understanding and utilizing the changes in information technology. Cunningham, a specialist in analyzing and forecasting major trends in the information industry, explains the competitive power of electronic commerce. He also contends that you must consider downsizing, outsourcing, or networking in order to compete effectively in today's business world.

In the global, technologically advanced business world of today, standard procedure won't allow you to jump the curve. With global barriers to entry so low that companies with fewer than 10 employees can compete effectively, the times require small and large companies to change their strategy. Dr. Oren Harari, Professor of Management at the University of San Francisco, shows how successful companies cope with the accelerated pace of business development through knowledge, innovation, and swiftness.

What is the most important responsibility of managers today? The answer is mobilization, says Jennifer Kenny, President of Emergent Management Consulting. Mobilizing your organization to meet a common goal requires gaining your employees' commitment to a shared future. Skills previously considered essential to success, such as problem solving, goal setting, and operations management, are by themselves no longer sufficient, says Kenny, if the organization lacks commitment, trust, and coordination.

O'Reilly uses lessons derived from his studies, which show how to retain current employees and foster their creativity, drive, and development. He presents powerful examples of companies that live their values, value their people - and are extraordinarily successful.

Today's market is an increasingly sophisticated one - and Dell Computer's reported revenues of $3.2 billion prove that customers are ready for new ways of doing business. In this interview, CEO Michael Dell shares his vision of the potential of online transactions, describes the success of customized Web pages, and examines the possibilities for direct and indirect sales of technology products. Dell talks about cutting costs with effective online support, building effective customer relationships, tearing down the myths of the Internet, and more.

Three things make the difference in becoming a leader and being led - product quality, customer service, and productivity. While managers have made great strides in the first two factors, improving productivity remains a major challenge for many organizations. John H. Zenger, a leading authority on organizational change and high performance systems, discusses practical methods to help an organization shed its past, raise its standard for higher performance, and give employees specific tools required to excel in the workplace.

What do you do when interdepartmental conflict threatens organizational harmony? Peg Neuhauser suggests that the key is in recognizing that different departmental tribes, or subcultures, exist within the organization. By teaching these tribes how to communicate more effectively, the executive can minimize conflict and boost productivity. She covers the dos and don'ts of negotiating with other groups and points out the special role that tribal chiefs play in the organization.

If you're not thinking about how to change things or mix things up, you're going to be left behind! Carol Bartz, a self-described "change agent", discusses ways to drive change, rather than simply reacting to it. She talks about the value of change for growth, the importance of technology in driving change, ways to involve employees in change, and the role of confidence in creating change. Learn how to take control of the future of your organization.

Improvement initiative or organizational mindset - which leads to greater success? The need to operate successfully in a global economy has spawned numerous organizational improvement programs, such as TQM and re-engineering. However, business owner Jill Janov explains that it is your mindset, and not these initiatives, that creates lasting success. Drawing on nearly 30 years of corporate experience, she focuses on the systematic approaches your business needs to design its work processes, roles, relationships, strategies, and structures.

The traditional approach to strategic planning is dead. It used to be that plans were produced on paper, placed in the bottom of a drawer, and never seen again. Now, there is a new method that focuses on strategic thinking and strategic implementation. John Berthold, president of a management consulting firm that specializes in strategy development and implementation, stresses the importance of a strategy that results in improved teamwork.

How do you build a company of enduring greatness? Jerry Porras contends that a strong core ideology and the persistent drive for progress are fundamental to the process. Having studied the life history of 18 visionary companies, he offers six key mechanisms that these companies use to preserve their core and stimulate innovation and change. He debunks the myth of the charismatic leader and concludes that all firms can use his findings to improve their organizational performance.

Globalization and the next generation of organizational challenges require new kinds of leadership. Diane Woods of Levi Strauss and Co. explains how to employ specific strategies to leverage the richness of a diverse workforce. She explores the link between global competition and diversity and explains how such diversity is vital to an organization's transformation and regeneration.

Which is more important, innovation or corporate stability? Sought-after consultant James Adams shows how to increase the former without sacrificing the latter. Through his experience in industry, education, and government - including work on the design of the first Venus and Mars spacecraft - he has developed 10 techniques for boosting creativity. He also outlines ways for any business to balance creativity and management directives.

An organization's productivity depends on effective management of its workforce. In this best-selling program, Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer reviews the ways in which well-intentioned companies can undermine their workforce and offers some new perspectives on more enlightened leadership. He highlights the workforce as a competitive advantage, the rhetoric and reality of "empowerment", and the costs of obsession with control.

Technology leaving you breathless? Lew Platt describes what drives change in the high-tech environment. He elaborates on the impact technology is having on all organizations, not just high-tech ones, and discusses the resulting turmoil. His recommendations include how to implement strategies for promoting change, how to balance continuity and change, and how to integrate core values in the change process. This program is part of the Stanford CEO Forum series, in which top business leaders discuss a variety of industry topics from managing change to moving your company into the next generation of technology.

Ray Lane, President and COO of Oracle Corporation, discusses the importance of balancing talent and corporate values to keep a company in growth mode. Using Oracle as a case study, he describes how opportunity, a differentiated product, smart people willing to take risks, leadership, and funding are the five criteria essential to maintain corporate growth. Too often a company will not grow because it stands in the path of progress. Lane stresses the importance of flexible leadership and sticking to key objectives that value both your product and your employees equally.

Strategic alliances and other forms of collaborative inter-firm agreements have become commonplace in today's American economy. As companies get focused and specialized, they are beginning to move away from large, control-based structures to more flexible and relationship-oriented partnering. With a focus on the three phases of the Alliance Life Cycle, Dr. Shavers explores the ingredients to successful partnerships. In particular, she focuses on the impact that an alliance will have on each partner's bottom line.