PINTO’S PROSE

Redefining Leadership, by Jim Pinto

To become a high-performance business today requires leadership within an entirely new framework of understanding.

With the complexity of today’s global organizations, the concept of strong leadership primarily at a central headquarters location is becoming outdated. Depth and breadth of leadership is critical to growth and success. There’s clearly a direct connection between individual employee involvement and overall corporate profitability. To achieve this, leadership must be re-defined.

Consider GE. When he took over as chief executive officer (CEO) in 1980, Jack Welch wrote in a letter to shareholders: “In the old culture, managers got their power from secret knowledge: profit margins, market share, and all that... In the new culture, the role of the leader is to express a vision, get buy-in, and implement it.” Under Jack Welch’s leadership, the company grew into one of the largest and most admired companies in the world. Market capitalization grew about 40 times ($12 billion to about $500 billion) during his 20 years tenure as CEO.

Yet when he took over as CEO in 2000, Jeff Immelt led a dramatic shift in thinking and started turning GE’s culture upside down. He worried that the obsession with bottom-line results would make managers shy about taking risks. So he developed a mission to transform the process-oriented company into a creative machine, driving growth through global innovation. New and different kinds of leadership were expected from all of GE’s far-flung worldwide facilities... Read more...

» Feed Forward: People and Innovation, by Gary Mintchell
I find podcasts to be a great learning resource. In fact, I like them so much that I not only listen to a lot of them, I even produce one called Automation Minutes.

At any rate, one of my favorites is Technometria, from IT Conversations. In a recent episode, the guest was Scott Berkun, author of “Myths of Innovation” and “The Art of Project Management.” Berkun had 15 years of programming and project management experience at Microsoft before hitting the writing/consulting/speaking circuit... Read more...

ANNOUNCEMENT

ISA’s Second Annual Marketing & Sales Summit

Sponsored by the ISA Management Division, ISA's Marketing and Sales Summit will help marketing and sales executives in the automation markets meet the strategic and tactical challenges of the 21st century. September 5-7, Chicago, IL.
Click here for registration details >>

ANNOUNCEMENT

ISA EXPO 2007

Unlimited opportunity for exploration of key technologies, professional growth, and interaction with like-minded professionals. October 2-4, Houston, TX.
Click here for registration details >>
*enter promo code W24657A for free registration!