Business Archives

A Visionary Company: What It Is and What It Isn’t

The 3 Common Characteristics of a Good Business

What qualifies as a visionary company? What are the truths and myths about companies that endure? In Built to Last, bestselling author Jim Collins and Stanford professor Jerry I. Porras embarked on a six-year research project to 1) identify the characteristics that distinguished the very best companies, and 2) use these insights to create a framework for those who want to build a visionary company of their own. To this end, the authors identified and analyzed 18 visionary companies that performed exceptionally well over a long period of time. Read more to learn about the qualities of a visionary company.

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Book Overview

What is The Practice of Adaptive Leadership about? What are the key takeaways? In their book The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, leadership experts Ronald A. Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky teach you how to lead your organization through the difficult, uncomfortable, and sometimes dangerous process of adaptation. You’ll learn how to diagnose adaptive challenges, create effective interventions, and push your organization—and yourself—further than you ever thought possible. Below is a brief overview of the key points.

Our Iceberg Is Melting by John Kotter: Book Overview

What is John Kotter’s Our Iceberg Is Melting about? How does his story about penguins teach readers about, change, teamwork, and leadership? In John Kotter’s book Our Iceberg Is Melting, he tells a fable about penguins who are faced with the reality that the iceberg they live on is melting and they must find a new home or perish. The story outlines the steps it takes and the difficulties companies face when they must adapt or die. Below is a brief overview of Kotter’s fable Our Iceberg Is Melting.

What Is Adaptive Leadership: Definition & Qualities

What is adaptive leadership? What does “leading adaptively” entail in practice? “Adaptive leadership” is marshaling people to tackle problems with unknown solutions and thrive while doing so. These problems with unknown solutions are called “adaptive challenges.” The only way to solve them is for the people in organizations to learn and change. In this article, we’ll take a look at the qualities of adaptive leadership, the key activities inherent in addressing them, and some tips on how to lead adaptively.

Ronald A. Heifetz: Preparing for an Adaptive Change

What exactly is an adaptive change? Have you ever introduced a fundamental change to your organization’s processes? How did you communicate it to your team? According to change theorist Ronald A. Heifetz, an adaptive change is a change instituted in response to an “adaptive challenge”—an organizational problem that has no known solutions. Part of your job as an adaptive leader is to prepare people for the change, and the first step to this is to make sure that everyone has an accurate understanding of what the challenge entails and what change is about to come. In this article, we’ll look

How to Initiate Change and Get People Onboard

What can the fable Our Iceberg Is Melting teach you about initiating change? Why do so many people resist change? How can you kickstart change in your organization? In their fable about change, Kotter and Rathgeber discuss the difficulties of initiating change in a company. They discuss the difficulties of convincing others that major change is necessary and what to do when you encounter resistance. Keep reading for advice on how to initiate change in your company or personal life.

8 Keys to Concrete Communication

Why is concrete communication important? How can presenting information in concrete terms make it resonate better? Many ideas fail to stick because they are presented in abstract rather than concrete terms. They are unconnected to specific things that people easily grasp. You need to use concrete communication if you want your message to resonate. Keep reading to learn eight keys to concrete communication.

How to Stay True to Your Organizational Purpose

How to Find Your Major Definite Purpose in Life

What is organizational purpose? Do you feel like you often lose sight of your purpose as change gets in the way? Organizational purpose is the grand vision of an organization that pulls its different functions together. Although most businesses will have a purpose, many struggle to stay true to it as circumstances get in the way. There are five techniques to stay true to your and your organization’s orienting purpose as you navigate change.

Why Outside Ideas Are Critical for Dramatic Change

Is your organization in dire need of a change but you don’t know where to start? How can looking to outside sources help expand your options? In the fable Our Iceberg Is Melting, the penguins realize that their iceberg will not survive the winter but they can’t come up with solutions on how to fix it. Only when a seagull pays them a visit do they realize that their best course of action is to leave the iceberg altogether, something they never considered. Here is why outside ideas are crucial when it comes to making big changes.

Tax-Advantaged Accounts: What You Need to Know

What are tax-advantaged accounts? What kind of financial assets should you use a tax-advantaged account for? Tax-advantaged accounts are tax-deferred or tax-exempt. You should use these accounts, such as IRAs and 401(k)s, for holding tax-inefficient assets (e.g. bond funds that generate taxable interest, actively managed stock funds, CDs, and REITs). They pay interest and non-qualified dividends and produce capital gains distributions. Below, we’ll take a look at the basic types of tax-advantaged accounts and their key characteristics.