La Fontaine wrong? You’ve got to be kidding! We all know the tragic ending of the frog that wanted to be bigger than an ox. It swelled and swelled thanks to to thoughtless ambitions until it simply exploded. But what happens when an ox wants to be as agile as a frog? Can you really […]

I’d like to start a conversation about gender issues in business. And in particular, why there seems to be a belief out there that women need so much special, “only-for-women” support in order to be successful leaders. When I read articles and look at the content of all sorts of courses aimed at women in […]

At the heart of the future… I invited Melissa, a senior expert from an international high technology company, to dinner four months ago. I’d always thought it was exciting to be at the heart of something that could make the difference in our developed countries: not economies of scale, not doing more with less, but […]

The acquisition has been signed! The big multinational (let’s call it Huge Inc) has finally acquired the smaller niche-market company (we’ll call it Small Inc) in order to pursue its strategic diversification. Small Inc teams are interested but not overjoyed even though it means much needed development resources. After all, many of the Small Inc […]

I’m struck by the fact that some companies still send people to key positions abroad without ensuring they have the skills to survive in a totally different world and be successful. Of course it often doesn’t work. And the mistake is hugely expensive. Making it internationally takes a whole lot more than making the numbers […]

I know a few organizations where the way to get ahead is to be taken under the wing of a senior leader—someone based at headquarters, hundreds of kilometers away. I’m not saying this is a role model for talent development, but for those who’ve taken the time to cultivate their networks and relationships, it works. […]

Overheard in the company restaurant the other day where two regional HR managers were having lunch: “Here we go again. Another questionnaire we have to ask people to fill in. It seems like we just had one to fill in a while ago. We’ve got so much to do, who has time for this? And […]

Like mergers, acquisitions and other forms of strategic alliances, international joint ventures (IJV’s) are growing fast. Like these other alliances, failure rates are high. And like in these other forms of market entry or growth, while the business must become global, management and people remain culture-bound, if not local. It’s a new corporate culture In […]

Cooperation – everybody’s talking about it, but who actually does it? “We’ve been talking about adopting a horizontal and cooperative approach for a long time,” a branch manager of a French group based in South America told us. “Cross-selling, cooperation, working horizontally, exchanging best practice, managing change, joint development sometimes even with a competitor—no one […]