A bit more than a year ago, I was recommended by our partner, Ben Clayton-Jolly, to carefully follow a site with a weird name: Personality Junkie. He said it was dedicated to MBTI profiles and I must say that, I always learn a lot by reading Andrw Drenth's blog posts....

Our friends of Oliver Wyman will correct me if I am wrong: It is one of their partners, Adrian Slywotzky, who wrote “Value Migration: How to Think Several Moves Ahead of the Competition”, in which his strong argument is that, keeping competitors reactive is the best...

A few days ago, I saw a Brazilian head hunter writing on her LinkedIn page: “I don’t really mind to receive so many CV’s every day… I don’t mind the time it will take to reply them all, because, in the end, behind this mountain of paper and mails in my In-Box, there...

There was this serious and successful C.E.O. in Brazil who used to take the elevator two or three times in a row, in the early morning so that he could feel the atmosphere and culture of his company. And it wasn’t unusual that the conversation started with some, in...

There are a few and very simple experiments which I would encourage you to do for your personal (leadership) development and the one of your team: I always enjoyed the jovial, mischievous and profoundly humane depth of Finnish “Business Philosopher”, Essa Saarinen. On...

From the first day I heard this pundit of management “What gets measured gets done”, I intuitively knew there was something wrong with it but found difficult to explain why. The clip of Yves Morieux, a BCG partner, made it much clearer and tangible. I love Yves...

Your top performers probably show great results and contrast strongly with the rest of your team. But what if I promised you to increase by 260% the performance of your average subordinates and showed that your highest source of shareholder value destruction are your...

Those of you who follow this blog know how much I support the ideas of Innovation & Entrepreneurship "guru", Prof. Jay Rao from Babson. He has produced two short and excellent clips (displayed and commented on this blog, "If you wish to kill innovation, hand it...

In our book, “Engaging Leadership”, I relate to a story that was highly popular in the 80-90’s TQM circles: “It was said that during the Middle-Age, a nobleman was walking down the place where a cathedral was being built. He was puzzled however by the differences in...

A few months ago, I had dinner with a top HR officer who had followed one of our programs and wanted to provide me with a rich “exploratory feedback” (something highly value-creating as it is half way between feedback and questioning. It feels less threatening and...

For years, I have looked down at the notion of “Inclusion”. I rejected it, considering it was: A wrong priority: Business is about performance, not keeping everybody happy. In any corporate culture, Benevolence/Support are needed and have to be counterbalanced by...

I remember that, 20 years ago, the think tank advising the Government of an advanced thinking European country, had asked a famous consultancy to help them reflect on ways to reverse the flow of labour intensive work towards cheaper Asian countries. The consultants...

Jan Carlzon was C.E.O. of S.A.S., the Swedish national airline, which he has been widely credited for saving. One of his most famous legacy was the concept of identifying and performing on the “Moments of Truth” that S.A.S. employees would have with their customers....

Chances are that your “winning formula” (i.e. what you are praised for, what people value, expect and reinforce in you by their feedback) makes you a Content Leader, particularly if you are in the early stages of your career, if you are a specialist recognized for...

This Monday morning, I knew something bad had happened when, switching on my mobile, it did not stop ringing, announcing all sorts of messages frenetically arriving. And the news was immensely sad: A client I admired and loved very dearly, had apparently decided to...

In this beginning of 2016, I have the opportunity to observe business leaders, in different places of the world, at the moment that they share their “State of the Nation” speech and their encouragements for the near future. Two categories emerge: Those who succeeded...

I was recently invited to sit and watch a CEO talk. His mission was to prepare the engagement of some senior leaders in the company’s vision for the future. I was expecting some kind of well-polished speech, maybe a good video clip, but instead he asked: “What will be...

I could not dream of a better way to start my professional year, on January 4th, than by having an informal conversation in a Paris bar, with the CEO of one of our favourite clients. Talking about some of the details he would like to see change in his organization’s...