Ron Ashkenas

For most of us, starting at a new company brings up those same anxieties we felt when starting in a new school as a child. All of a sudden you don't have any friends, you're not sure what you're supposed to do, and it's hard to find the...

Six Sigma, Kaizen, Lean, and other variations on continuous improvement can be hazardous to your organization's health. While it may be heresy to say this, recent evidence from Japan and elsewhere suggests that it's time to question these methods.

Admittedly, continuous improvement...

Have you ever been in a situation where everyone seemingly agrees on a particular strategy, but somehow it never happens?

See if you identify with this example: A technology firm -- with a number of different product areas, geographic units, and service functions -- was figuring out how...

Innovation may be an organization's life blood, but still its success rate in most companies hovers at just 17 percent. Even innovation leader P&G succeeds less than 50 percent of the time.

What prevents companies from innovating better? One possibility is that managers don't...

To retain high-potential employees, the conventional wisdom is deceptively simple: identify, develop, and nurture them. By paying special attention to the very best people, they will stay with the firm and eventually emerge as key leaders.

But translating this into action is much more difficult. As...

We may talk about eliminating hierarchy, but most organizations still have one. Frankly, it's very hard to mobilize limited resources and diverse skills without someone taking charge. That's why hierarchies have existed for thousands of years -- from the days of the Pharaohs to the modern...

Buying a lottery ticket has an extremely low chance of paying off. Yet many people, at least in countries where it's legal, do it anyway. In the United States alone, it's estimated that almost half the population plays the lottery; and recently Americans spent...

There are few experiences more painful than being rejected. We vividly remember the hurt of not being picked for a sports team, not being invited to a social event, or not being accepted to university. Our basic human need to belong causes these incidents to...

Like it or not, most of us think about career success in terms of moving up the hierarchy. Let me illustrate with a story:

I once worked with the new CEO of a well-known global firm which was barely breaking even. The CEO's mandate from the board was...

Perhaps the most difficult part of any manager's job is telling a subordinate that he can no longer stay with the company -- that he's been "fired," "let go," "dismissed" or otherwise taken off the payroll. It's a gut-wrenching conversation, knowing how this simple act affects a person's...

Often when an organizational problem occurs, the typical response is to create regulations to prevent that problem from happening again. For example, in a machine shop where safety gloves often went missing, the company centralized access to new gloves; required request forms for new gloves, with supervisor approval; and had...

I recently heard newscaster Tom Brokaw respond to what seemed like an obvious question: "Did today's ubiquitous availability of information make it easier for people to be informed?" After all, when Brokaw began his career in the 1960s, most people learned about current events via newspapers, radio reports,...

To what extent do you compartmentalize? Or rather, do you ever put things into categories to understand them? Psychologists define compartmentalization as a defense mechanism that we use to avoid the anxiety that arises from the clash of contradictory values or emotions. For example, a manager can think...

When I was growing up, one of the principles in our house was that we had to tell the truth, no matter how painful it might be. Lying, we were taught, wasn't something you could get away with. Like Pinocchio's nose, it would be apparent to others.

Children...

This post was co-authored with Holly Newman.

Here in the U.S., the Super Bowl showed us the power of 30-second advertisements, and how influential they can be in promoting a company's awareness. But how often do we craft our own 30-second spots with audiences that we want to...

Have you ever received unsolicited, off-target advice? Some people just instinctually offer solutions when they see someone in need. But what if their understanding of what's wrong is, quite frankly, wrong? Should you politely listen, or can you help them help you?

Consider John, an account executive who is contemplating...

This post was co-authored with my colleague Holly Newman.

Have you ever questioned the guidance of a GPS navigation system? The calm and definitive voice tells you to turn right -- but your knowledge of the area makes you want to veer left. Now...

Have you ever seen a young child try to dress himself? For my three-year-old grandson, the buttons are most difficult. He concentrates on each as though it's the world's most important problem and only he can solve it. And while his determination to do it himself is admirable, the result...

Especially today, recruitment, retention, and development of human capital is a critical success factor for almost any organization. Yet the area charged with helping line managers leverage their human capital -- Human Resources -- is often regarded with outright disdain. Just look at a few of...

Imagine that you had 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes at the next executive staff meeting to get your message across. Would you be able to focus your energy on the most compelling way to convey your most important thought?

Honestly, many of us would be flustered by...