Gary Hamel on Management 2.0

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A Step A Day, Management Gurus, Prof. Gary Hamel

To students of management and business leaders alike, Prof. Gary Hamel needs no introduction. He is currently the Visiting Professor of Strategic and International Management at the London Business School. The Wall Street Journal called him the world’s most influential business thinker recently.  He has started a new blog in the Wall Street Journal called Management 2.0 -which appears to be promising for those interested in learning and discussing about new age management.

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Life Balance Ebook

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A Step A Day, Life Balance Ebook, Stacey Hoffer Weckstein, Work Life Balance

For those of you who, like most others, are struggling with life balance issues, I would like to recommend “How To Practice The Art Of Life Balance”. This is an ebook complied by Stacey Hoffer Weckstein of Create A Balance which you can download for free:). It is a compilation from 32 bloggers who participated in a group writing project. The topics are diverse, the perspectives are manifold but they all have a common theme- attaining and maintaining life balance.

Staying In Touch

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A Step A Day, Amy Harmon, Communication, web camera

In this day and age as families drift apart due to better career opportunities in distant cities, keeping in touch has in itself become a challenge. Recently, a young lady living by herself in Bengaluru told me that her mother, who lives in Chandigarh, ( over 2200 kilometers away) was very annoyed with her. The reason: she hadn’t spoken to her in weeks. Her mother, she said somewhat contritely, had threatened to take her back by the next plane if she didn’t call within the next 12 hours. Obviously, the girl was occupied with her work and many other things in a big city. With so much to do, that call assumed lower priority for her. Yet at my age, I can empathize with her anxious mother.

Thanksgiving

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A Step A Day, Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is observed to express thanks for one’s material and spiritual possessions. It is said that the first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth Colony in present day Massachusetts way back in 1621 .God knows what the people of those times would say when they see our troubles and problems despite far more affluence. Perhaps they were more easily satisfied with less. Perhaps affluence itself makes us want more and in the process gets us stressed and unhappy.

XLRI-The Good Old Alma Mater

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A Step A Day, alma mater, professional networking, XLRI, XLRI alumni

Irrespective of whether you have left the portals of your business school last year or 30 years ago, the good old alma mater continues to be a big draw. It influences our thinking and approach to issues in many ways. It builds a strong network which can provide you with different perspectives in times of need. I am proud of my Alma Mater, XLRI in Jamshedpur, in the state of Jharkhand in India. XL , as it is widely known as, completes 60 glorious years in 2009.

Who Is Accountable?

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A Step A Day, accountability, economic downturn, Lee Thayer

There is news of economic downturn wherever you look. The press and media in general don’t seem to be getting enough of “bad news” all around. Big names which once were synonymous with performance looked ready to shut shop. General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Citibank are but a few examples. Feeling pressurized with likely job losses and a somewhat uncertain future, affecting not only the US but many other countries as well, it is understandable that everyone wants to know: ” Who is responsible for this mess? Who is accountable? “.

What Does Work/Life Balance Mean To You?

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A Step A Day, Stephanie Vora, Work Life Balance

I enjoyed reading a post by Stephanie Vora called ” Are You Happy With Your Work/Life Balance? ” . Ms. Vora, a certified coach in the UK lists a series of questions to prompt you to think about how “in-balance” your life is. So much is said and talked about work/life balance these days. I ask: What does it mean to you? Is it about the number of hours you spend at work? Is it about the lack of time and energy to do anything other than work?

Volunteering For Community Service

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A Step A Day, community service, Deloitte, volunteer work

” This is a cost to our company but it’s not the same as writing a cheque” says Emily Rothberg of Deloitte speaking of a new and what I believe is a welcome trend in community service. Organizations are not too well placed to make the generous donations they used to give in the past to non-profits and other avenues for community service. Instead they are permitting their employees to volunteer for community projects on company time.

7 Barriers to Coaching

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A Step A Day, Executive Coaching, people development

It is increasingly expected that managers- irrespective of the nature of the business they are in- coach their teams to attain better results. However, as you look around , you soon find that coaching does not come naturally or even easily to all managers. Some make efforts and give up when they find it more complex than they imagined it to be. Others give up when they don’t see dramatic results immediately.  Keeping in mind the traditional outlook of a large number of typical managers, here are my 7 Barriers to Coaching:-

Working Wife or Home Maker?

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A Step A Day, Marriage, social trends in India, work/life balance

The title is not meant to suggest that working wives are not or cannot be home makers. It’s just to trigger discussion on a question I saw recently. “Do Men Prefer Working Wives?” asks Ritu Varma in her article in the Times of India. The answer seems to be an overwhelming “yes”. But I guess such an answer is – in India at least-largely restricted to the urbanites.