All organizations have politics if we mean the kind of politics that occur from the natural group dynamics when people try to cooperate to achieve their goals (hopefully common goals). In this sense, politics is about how we work together as a group, how decisions are made and how power is distributed in the group....Read More

Far too many people seem to think that the worst thing that can happen to them in working life is losing their job, especially, losing their job as a direct result of their own actions. The embarrassment of failure and/or the eventual threat of economic insecurity resulting from unemployment tend to limit our willingness, indeed...Read More

Many years ago I worked together with a man who I respected very much. I was around 30 years old and he was closer to 60. Back then nobody used words like mentor to describe those kinds of relationships but looking back now he was clearly my mentor at the time. One night when we...Read More

“I was only following orders!” This classic statement has been used by people throughout history to justify immoral and unethical behaviour. The question is whether or not this is a viable excuse in our daily work environment. Clearly a senior executive has the right to make decisions and to expect those decisions to be followed....Read More

Make sure you have the best people in your organization and then listen to them. You cannot win on your own! In the best of all worlds people get promoted to management positions because they were perceived as being good at their old job. If they perform well in that management position they could get...Read More

I have received a number of emails from people who appreciated “The Ten Commandments for Managers” that I published here some weeks ago. Some of them have asked me to elaborate on these commandments, so here comes commandment number one!1. Be humble: No one is as good as they think they are! (Or as bad...Read More

One night, many years ago while I was doing my MBA at the Stockholm School of Economics I was sitting beside the late Prof. Gunnar Hedlund in a pub. We were having a pub night and Gunnar had lectured for us during the day and tagged along to the pub that evening. Gunnar had spent...Read More

1. Be humble: No one is as good as they think they are! (Or as bad either for that matter) 2. Listen: No one knows everything! Your job is to lead, not to be an expert on every issue! 3. Never get yourself into an economic situation where you can’t afford to tell the company...Read More

Some time ago I was asked to speak to a group of people who work full-time as change agents in a large Swedish company. One of these change agents had attended a one day course on change management that I teach for a Swedish education company (Astrakan Strategic Education AB, http://www.astrakan.se/ ). This change agent’s...Read More

Although I was born and raised in the USA, I have been living and working in Sweden of most of the last twenty years. During that time I have seen many changes occur in the world of entertainment and media. I remember when I first got to Sweden there where only two TV channels that...Read More