by Esther Derby | Sep 16, 2010 | Leadership & Management, Systems and Complexity
A couple of weeks ago, I listened to a very funny story about economic incentives on NPR. (Something funny on economic incentives?!) The story was about an economics professor who decided to use incentives to shape the behavior of his children. He devised an incentive... by Esther Derby | Sep 10, 2010 | Leadership & Management, Systems and Complexity
When managers want to improve financial results, they turn first to trimming costs. This is the logical first place to look if balance sheets are your primary view into how the organization functions. Many cost cutting measures do have an immediate effect on the... by Esther Derby | Sep 7, 2010 | Coaching, Collaboration & Teams, Leadership & Management
I talk with many managers–and some coaches–who complain that their teams can’t function without a leader. “Leader,” in these conversations, usually means someone who set standards, assigns work, tracks progress, tells people what to do. That is not... by Esther Derby | Aug 13, 2010 | Leadership & Management, Systems and Complexity
Questions matter. The questions we ask open one avenue of inquiry, but close others. If we want to change the way we manage, we need to change our questions. And so, here are my slides from my talk at Agile 2010: 14 Essential Questions aimed at refocusing... by Esther Derby | Jun 17, 2010 | Leadership & Management, Systems and Complexity
Last summer I participated in a seminar. The format included group discussion, and discuss we did. But one member of the group, Bernard, didn’t discuss so much as pontificate…at length, and often on topics that were tenuously connected to the subject matter of the...