14
August
2006
Invented in China
By LU HAOTING(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-14 06:37
For many internationally renowned speakers, it is common to feel lonely when speaking at seminars in China. The Chinese audiences sit quietly and listen. Seldom do people interrupt or ask questions. Andrew Razeghi had this experience when talking about innovation and growth strategy to a group of company executives in Shanghai and Wuhan last month.
“But if you think they don’t have any ideas, you are wrong,” says Razeghi, adjunct associate professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Read the rest of this entry »
1
August
2006
I’ve just returned from a speaking tour throughout China (Beijing in the north; Shanghai on the coast; and Wuhan in the interior). I was invited to speak on a topic that is receiving much attention among political and business leaders in China: innovation.
I must admit that I have returned with far more questions than answers, but one thing is for certain — China is not satisfied with being the manufacturing outsourcing center of the universe. They want what everyone else on the planet wants: to control their own destiny. There is only one way in which to do that. Create it. Therefore, in its 11th Five Year Strategic Plan, the Chinese Central Government has recently declared Read the rest of this entry »
7
July
2006
Bestseller information from (800) CEO-READ:
HOPE: How Triumphant Leaders Create the Future (Jossey-Bass, June 2006)
Featured in daily top 5 on May 25, 2006 in spot #2
Featured in daily top 5 on Jun 1, 2006 in spot #5
Featured in daily top 5 on Jun 26, 2006 in spot #1
Featured in monthly top 25 on Jul 5, 2006 in spot #7
6
July
2006
We love to fire leaders. In business, it’s good for the stock. According to Burson-Marsteller, average stock price appreciation of S&P500 companies increases 1.5 percent on the announcement of new CEOs. And when the board fires the CEO, its stock price increases 3 percent! Is it any wonder that leadership tenure has fallen to less than five years? Not only does Wall Street welcome new leaders, it rejoices!
Our reverence for firing leaders does not only apply to business leaders. It extends to coaches, sitcom characters, and – on occasion – even teachers (with the exception of those with tenure). When things aren’t working, we fire the leader.
The question is: why do we rejoice? It’s simple, really.
Read the rest of this entry »
5
July
2006
It appears innovation is back in vogue. And, since I live and breathe innovation, this is very good news.
The “outside the box” business is my business. What is most-exciting about working in the innovation business is that — at its core — new ideas bring hope. iPod brought hope to Apple Computer. Grameen Bank (micro-lending) brought hope to those living on $2/day. And, in a small way, I’d even go so far as to suggest that Clorox’s new disposable toilet bowl cleaners (apty named, ToiletWand) have brought hope to the endlessly-disgusting (yet necessary) experience of cleaning the toilet. Read the rest of this entry »
4
July
2006
Some of you may have read a piece I wrote in celebration of Independence Day (July 4th) entitled Sweet Land of Oddity or Sweet Land of Irony. The piece ran in several newspapers around the country. There was a typographical error in the piece that went out uncorrected. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are roughly 1 million attorneys in the United States.
Here is the corrected piece: Read the rest of this entry »
22
June
2006
I have an idea. We’ll fill a leather sack with feathers and hair until it reaches 30-40 cm in width and subsequently kick it through a small net attached to long bamboo canes. We’ll call it Tsu’Chu (Chinese for football). It’ll be a hit.
Who knew this game - first played in China during the Han dynasty (2nd and 3rd centuries B.C.) - would become the greatest game on earth?
In 1998, the total television viewing audience of the 64 World Cup matches was an estimated 37 billion; 1.3 billion alone watched the final.During the years in which the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup is in contention, flags fly higher; national pride shines brighter; and time – for a moment – stands still. After all, more than a trophy is on the line. Dreams are. European football is more than a game. It is a birth right with a single objective. Gooooooaaaaal!
Read the rest of this entry »
22
June
2006
Group think and safety in numbers are anecdotal phenomena that have historically gone unproven - until last year. As Sandra Blakeslee reported in the New York Times, with advances in technology, scientists have confirmed that … depending on who believes it … we will see it. Literally.
Read the rest of this entry »
