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Leadership Lessons from Cash for Clunkers
 
Without diving too deeply into a mini controversy from last week, let me just enlighten you with some quick facts:

Edmunds.com estimated that the recent Cash for Clunkers program cost US taxpayers about $24,000 per incremental vehicle sold;

The chief economist of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) responded that the cost [...]

Tags: Leadership Advice, leadership news and views, leadership observations

Delta Renames In-Flight Wireless Internet

Dubbed GoGo when released (see our original excited post about GoGo Wi-Fi published on January 12, 2009), it is rumored that Delta has decided to rename their in-flight wireless Internet service NoGo to signify that the service is still not available on all flights nearly nine months since its [...]

Tags: Digression, leadership observations, Management

Keep Everyone Busy So You Can Kill Creativity

In the current economic climate (one that we’ve dubbed The Great Necession), it seems that companies are so concerned about productivity that they’re forgetting about innovation and creativity.

Whether we’re all trying to cover our asses as managers or whether we truly believe that micromanagement [...]

Tags: Leadership Advice, leadership development, leadership observations, Management Training, typical manager

Leadership Decision Making and The Law of Unintended Consequences

Certainly you’ve heard the axioms “nothing happens in a vacuum” and “for every action there is a reaction” before. We’re pretty sure that every thinking adult not only understands these sayings, but also believes them to be true.

Cause and effect, means and ends, [...]

Tags: Digression, leadership development, leadership observations, management mistakes

Cash 4 Clunkers Causes Conservatives 2 Clamber 4 Gov’ment Cheese

An interesting sociological experiment and a great leadership lesson has emerged from the US Government’s Cash For Clunkers program: We observed the previously fiscally-conservative put their hands way out, looking for their version of Government Cheese.

It is difficult to get a man [...]

Tags: Digression, leadership observations

Cash for Clunkers: What we can learn about Leadership from Bureaucrats?

Whether you agree or disagree that the US Government should be in the business of incentivizing the populace to buy new cars, the fact is that the so-called “cash for clunkers” program simply demonstrates that our government, like all governments, does not employ [...]

Tags: leadership news and views, leadership observations, typical manager

Leadership Lessons from the NBA – The Surprisingly Aware Richard Jefferson

Weeks after being acquired by the San Antonio Spurs, star NBA forward Richard Jefferson was scheduled to marry his redundantly named fiancé, Kesha Ni’Cole Nichols, last Saturday. As you’ve likely heard, Jefferson, late of the New Jersey Nets, got cold feet and called [...]

Tags: leadership observations, Leadership Situations, Lessons from Pro Sports, management 101

The Short Term or the Long Term

I’m often asked by young managers whether a given decision should be made for the short-term or the long-term well-being of a company; and I always give the same answer: both. No matter what the issue is, the ultimate decision should weigh the pros, cons and consequences [...]

Tags: Leadership Advice, leadership observations, management 101