Making sense of the workplace and improving others’ careers.
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Definition of Work Changes
Photo by kris on Unsplash. Open-mindedness to definitional change is the essence of the act of defining. Definitions evolve. It is not always because things change. It’s how we think that changes – through development, new ideas, innovation and socio-cultural norms (troubling in some cases, whether they’re fact-based or not). With that, sorry flat-earthers, but…
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How Hogwarts Legacy Scaled the Harry Potter Universe
Photo by Cederic Vandenberghe on Unsplash. (For those who plan to play the video game, but have not yet, there will be no spoilers in this blog post. Feel free to read on.) I’m a big fan of author, J.K. Rowling’s, Harry Potter stories. The related video game, Hogwarts Legacy, has been worth following. What…
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Respect: An operational framework
Note from Danny: For those reading my blog for the first time, I cite others’ work in the footnotes – always. If you’re in business, manage a team or want to make sense of your workplace, then I recommend that you read the article that motivated this post. It’s a must–read. An MBA (Strategy), I…
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As Your Customer Would or Does
Photo by Jaizer Capangpangan on Unsplash. During my lunch breaks, I’ve been reading a copy of Harvard Business Review from 2018. There’s a long article by Michael E. Porter and Nitin Nohria titled, “How CEOs Manage Time.” [1] Then, the percentage of time CEOs spent with their organizations’ customers was striking. Most of our CEOs…
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Chat GPT. Some Thoughts…
Photo by Brad Neathery on Unsplash. I’m excited about this post. Creativity is a big part of business, and business chatter. This entry explores both in a still creative way. ChatGPT is a remarkable technology. It has the promise to change business as we know it. …Oh, and I should add. I wrote this entire…
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How Strategy Happens: A Framework
Photo by Alex wong on Unsplash. A business framework is almost as important as business strategy itself. Their integration is key to success. When in the workplace, the business’s strategy should drive all activity and decisions. It may not be top of mind to the individual; to that end allegiance to the business strategy may…
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Support Coworkers & Colleagues
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash. Quietly, I have supported my coworkers and colleagues. It’s not something I advertise – and I am not advertising it here. No, it’s not worth advertising. The focus isn’t on me. It’s on them, and that’s where my focus belongs insofar as supporting their ambitions to meet promise and…
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To Be Managed
Photo by Boba Jaglicic on Unsplash. A handful of professors and researchers at the London Business School got together to author Business trends to watch in 2023 (link). Comments made by Dr. Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice in Organisational Behaviour, got me thinking. From her forecast, those who are managed may find gainful insights;…
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AI Will Be Able To Do This
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash. When I was a kid, my dad made a prediction. There’d be a computer on every student’s desk by the time my children were my age. He wasn’t far off. While I never had children, students these days have miniaturized computers in their pockets, purses, backpacks, and even individually…
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Burnout
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash. It had been since October when I last posted. All of a sudden, silence. So what happened?! I think I owe my readers an answer. This post’s title explains in one word. I got burned out. ‘Not on writing or my related blogging activities. Between my day job, job…
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How do you make it easier for others to be better around you?
Photo by Matt Ridley on Unsplash. Explaining leadership requires articulation. And that’s hard. What is leadership? What is the difference between leadership and management? How might I become a better leader? These questions require answers that, when matched by desire for simplicity and quick action, are futile. Leadership isn’t easy. Then, there are quotes that…
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Be A Good Customer
What is a good customer beyond a perpetual, loyal transactor? What’s beyond the transaction? A choice to become a good customer brings otherwise undiscoverable benefits to everyone involved, including other customers and that business.
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Should
“Never should on someone” was told to me about 10 years ago. It’s a reminder to never impose oneself unto another who is uncertain, because imposition or transcendence of one’s personal ambition unto another is a violation.
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Mapping Strategy
Mapping strategy is depicting complex intentionality. In this post I explain what is strategy, the differences between planning, intent and strategy; and I discuss the prominence of uniqueness and interconnectedness in strategies. Of course, as the title suggests, I showcase how to map strategy and provide a few examples. One is the strategy I use…
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Fitness for Ambition
Fitness for ambition is a dynamic pursuit. I define it as what dynamically works for us and against us in the pursuit of ways to make us feel rich and flourish in doing so. Important, what makes each of us feel rich means something different to everyone, and through our fitness for ambition, requires activation.…
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Failure
Failure means you’re trying. Maybe it didn’t work out; maybe it won’t work out. Good faith and effort was or will be there. You’ll inevitably learn something along the way.
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The Employee
Employees aren’t resources. They’re precious resources, and that’s why employees are the company.
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Systems vs. Teams
Systems are strategic entities. People can operate within them for the purpose of facilitating processes and procedures. More fundamentally, people cooperate in teams. It’s when we errantly swap the two that we sacrifice the viability of strategy, and the humanity of those who make organizations go.
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Just Be Nice: A Lesson In Path Dependency
In the way I’ve thought about them here, path dependencies make for interesting diagnostic and prescriptive tools. They may also describe scenarios in which culture is either/both a strength or a weakness that must be acknowledged. Operationally, perceiving strategy through the lens of path dependency may result is some creative, cost-effective, and efficient solutions to…
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Why I Journal About Work
Of course, not everyone likes in-depth analysis; however, what affects one at work has personal meaning to that individual. My work journal became more than a daily review. It was something altogether different, something more.
Danny Rehr's Blog 