All posts tagged Harvard Business Review

Inner Chuckle: The “How Might We” Question

by jaywalk1 on September 18, 2012 in Thoughts, Work with No comments
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Working with designers and developers can be very challenging in our line of work. When you are tasked with not only being creative, but providing creative solutions as well, you end up in an interesting place.
You’ve left the realm of existing because you are shooting for something new.
But, if you’re not in that space, you have to find your way into the realm of possibility.
I can come up with 3 million ideas for online engagement, but the million dollar question (sometimes literally…) is whether or not we can build a platform or find one that can be customized to facilitate those ideas. I fully trust my team of designers and developers, so if they say something’s not possible, I’ll believe it.
That said, we were only talking about the execution. The idea can still be brought to life; we just need to pinpoint the right way to do it. This is when the “how might we” question comes into play!
I read this Harvard Business Review post on what they call the “Secret Phrase Top Innovators Use” and chuckled because I constantly find myself asking this question. You’d be surprised at what you can come up with when “No” is no longer an option.

@HarvardBiz – About to be my new obsession

by jaywalk1 on May 20, 2009 in Professional Development, Resource, Resources, Social Media, Thoughts with 1 Comment

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Ok so maybe this isn’t exactly a new osbession for me. I did write about  Ahead of the Curve and their brief fall from grace in December, but I have forgiven them and just in time too!

Poking around the source of all (Twitter), I came across a link which led me to something which will definitely be a major time drain in a good way, the Harvard Business Publishing Twitter account (@Harvardbiz).

If you share my love for reading about brands, business, corporate social responsibilty and anything else under that amazing umbrella, you’ve got to follow them.

Here are a few of their more recent pieces that I found interesting:

Stop Worrying about Your Weaknesses

How Much Do You Trust Colleagues During a Downturn?

For a Charity or the Money? You Can’t Work for Both (*Must read!)

SMH Harvard! SMH…

by jaywalk1 on December 17, 2008 in Diversity, Gen Y, Thoughts with 1 Comment

hblogo_main  This week Harvard Business Review writer Rosabeth  Moss Kanter posted a piece titled “Top 10 Ways Obama Can Change American Culture” which left me shaking my head. Kanter was off to a great start:

“In the transition to the Obama administration, I have been interviewed by old and new media about President-Elect Obama’s stimulus package, which I applaud for its focus on job creation through short-term infrastructure upgrades combined with longer term investments in technologies of the future.

But I think that what Barack Obama could really change is American culture – and with it, the work ethic and business norms that can support recovery and competitiveness.”

And then the fun began…Start stretching because you’ll probably be shaking your head too once we’re done here.

10. It will be cool to make jump shots AND do well in school.

9. Middle-of-the-night studying will replace middle-of-the-night prowling.

10 and 9, ok. Number 8 gets a little iffy, but the pgh to follow cleans things up a bit. 

“8. Kansas will go cosmopolitan and develop children like Obama’s mother, with curiosity about other countries.

Obama’s Midwestern mother, Stanley Dunham, studied other cultures and took her son abroad. Will more Americans now understand how much there is to learn from other cultures, and how important that knowledge is for success in global marketplaces?”

I don’t really have any issues until we get to number 4: 

 

“Foreigners will be the hot new date, because if marriage follows, the offspring could be over-achievers.

We’ll never know whether Obama’s genius genes came from his white mother or his black African father. Three cheers for diversity! Maybe more managers will look beyond race, gender, and ethnicity to find major talent.”

 

read-it-in-hbrWait…what? Forget race, ethnicity, skin shade or whatever may have been the categorization method of choice, hopefully dating a foreigner will become the next hot trend!! Why? Because American + Hot new foreigner = Over-achiever! 

That’s probably not what Kanter meant, but that is how it came across, and the lines that follow do little to help: “Three cheers for diversity!” Are you joking or being serious? Neither option seems appropriate. 

Harvard, the funny part is that this ad appeared as I was reading the post. I can definitely say that I read this in HBR, but when I think of the top minds in business, this doesn’t come to mind. 

The words in this post may make me sound mad, but I’m not. I’m surprised. Ms. Kanter is an incredibly intelligent woman. Her bio speaks to that, but her words leave me shaking my head.