Hot Topic Friday: July 5

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Happy Friday! Here are my July 5 Hot Topics and how they relate to advancing leadership or culture.

Hot Topic 1: Microsoft, Culture and the Red Queen.

Source: The Economist

What It’s About: How has Microsoft made such a turnaround? Most pundits agree that the Redmond, WA based tech giant has made a startling comeback, and has fully reemerged in the running as the most valuable company within global stock markets, with a market capitalization above $1T. A new case study by Herminia Ibarra and Adam Jones of London Business School (LBS), claims this success has resulted from a shift away from a focus on the Windows operating system towards Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-based services. However, the turnaround also required a change to the company’s culture and that is the main subject of the LBS study. Around 40,000 people had to change how they did their jobs. Changing a corporate culture is an enormous task, including shifting from a “fixed mindset” to a “growth mindset,” and much much more. 

Why It’s Important: Business burial grounds are littered with once famous tombstones; Nokia, Blackberry, Yahoo!, the list goes on and on. Board of directors will use Microsoft as an example of a company rapidly heading south, able to turn around, AND to be at the lead of the pack again. “How did they do it?” directors will ask management. And if the answer is limited to “we’ll ask McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, etc.,” the CEO better review his or her employment contract. Leadership teams get paid to build great, sustainable cultures. Kudos to Microsoft and CEO Satya Nadella’s team. We all can be inspired and learn from this case. 

Hot Topic 2: Richard Branson Questions ‘9 to 5.’

Source: Big Think. 

What It’s About: This article refers to Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson and other prominent business leaders publicly questioning the utility of the 9 to 5 workday, 40-hour work week. Flexible work arrangements, primarily supported by work anywhere, anytime, productivity and communications technology, are well imbedded in the better modern companies. AI, machine learning, robots etc. will replace many jobs with continuous work. No need for work breaks or labor standards. 

Why It’s Important: Leaders must begin to build a foundation for completely new ways of working NOW. At minimum, people should be able to schedule their own work times and places based on the needs of those that are receiving their value, NOT because of supervisor overwatch from misguided managers who remain clinging to control by seeing people strapped to their cubicles. As work gets replaced by technology, organizations need to massively require and support upskilling and/or reskilling NOW. If Lexus can run a major TV ad based on a script completely written by AI, how long until we use AI to scale teaching? Avatars as personalized tutors? Or Private Bankers? Before long, 9 to 5 will be considered a relic of an industrial era well passed. 

My Weekly Wine Recommendation (Thanks to Vivino):

Kent Price Venant du Coeur Napa Valley 2012. 

[Picture and ratings provided by Vivino.]

And finally! Here’s Cecil’s Bleat of the Week!

“Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.”David McCullough

Bye for now!

– Lorne Rubis

Incase you Missed It:

Monday’s Lead In podcast.

Tuesday’s blog.

Wednesday’s Culture Cast podcast.

Also don’t forget to subscribe to our site, and follow Lorne Rubis on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for the latest from our podcasts, blogs, and all things offered on LorneRubis.com.

Culture Cast – Season 3 Bloopers and Highlight Reel

Personal leadership Podcast

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Thank you everyone for watching and enjoying Season 3 of Culture Cast. Lorne and Lynette will be taking a hiatus before starting Season 4 in the near future. In the meantime, please enjoy these bloopers and highlights from this season

We look forward to seeing all of you return for Culture Cast Season 4. Till then, here are some key takeaways and laughs. 

Please feel free to subscribe to this YouTube channel, follow this podcast on Soundcloud, as well as iTunes, and Lorne and Lynette’s social media platforms for all the latest Culture Cast uploads and announcements.

Lorne Rubis is available @LorneRubis on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Lynette Turner is available on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn as well as through her site, LynetteTurner.com.

We look forward to sharing Season 4 of Culture Cast: Conversations on Culture and Leadership with you every Wednesday.

Lead In With Lorne – What Plan Do You Have to Coach Yourself First?

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Welcome to another Lead In With Lorne. This week, Lorne’s asking what you have done to coach yourself? What’s your personal coaching system? 

Enjoy it on the YouTube video embedded below, or audio listeners can hear it on SoundCloud now too. We hope it enriches your Monday!

Kindly subscribe to the YouTube channel and SoundCloud to make sure you start your week with a leadership story.

Lorne Rubis is available @LorneRubis on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Culture Cast – Ways That Culture Rots From the Inside Out

Personal leadership Podcast

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In season 3, episode 21, Lorne and Lynette discuss how organization cultures rot from the inside out. What type of details do you notice about the culture that exists at your work that can indicate whether it’s rotting from the inside out? Lorne and Lynette make a list. 

All that and more on this episode of Culture Cast. 

Please feel free to subscribe to this YouTube channel, follow this podcast on Soundcloud, as well as iTunes, and Lorne and Lynette’s social media platforms for all the latest Culture Cast uploads and announcements.

Lorne Rubis is available @LorneRubis on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Lynette Turner is available on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn as well as through her site, LynetteTurner.com.

We look forward to sharing Season 3 of Culture Cast: Conversations on Culture and Leadership with you every Wednesday.

Lead in With Lorne – Find the Magic Moments

Personal leadership Podcast

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Welcome to another Lead In With Lorne. This week, Lorne discusses finding and cherishing the magic moments that take place in everyday life. We discuss two parallel stories.

One story is the tragedy that recently happened with country singer, Granger Smith, and his family losing their three year old son, River Kelly Smith, in an unthinkable drowning accident.

The other is the story of Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins, the 103-year-old woman that is breaking records at the National Senior Games.

One is a short life, one is a long life, but the message and lesson to “cherish the magic moments” no matter what amount of time you live remains the same in both.

Enjoy it on the YouTube video embedded below, or audio listeners can hear it on SoundCloud now too. We hope it enriches your Monday!

Kindly subscribe to the YouTube channel and SoundCloud to make sure you start your week with a leadership story.

Lorne Rubis is available @LorneRubis on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Hot Topic Friday: June 21

Personal leadership Podcast

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Happy Friday! Here are my June 21 Hot Topics and how they relate to advancing leadership or culture.

Hot Topic 1: The Rise of Zombie Firms.

Source: The New York Times.

What It’s About?: The Bank for International Settlements, the global financial foundation that serves central banks, says low rates are driving the rise of “zombie firms,” which don’t earn enough profit to cover their interest payments and survive by repeatedly refinancing their loans. Holy Cow! Zombies now account for 12 percent of the companies listed on stock exchanges in advanced economies, and 16 percent in the United States, up from 2 percent in the 1980s.

Why It’s Important: We know what zombies do. They eat healthy organizations surviving in the “zombie state” for longer, depleting the productivity of these companies by competing with them for capital, materials and labor. From flat and fast there are also the fat and slow, and as noted in the source article: “Resulting in larger market dominant corporations, declining competition and fewer start-ups, which together undermine and slow economies already hindered by falling growth in the working-age population.”  You, me, all leaders, and certainly boards of directors have a responsibility to ensure organization cultures and strategies support agile and rapid adaptive institutions. If your company goes zombie, everyone has a part in getting that ugly. Fight for staying healthy.

Hot Topic 2: The Big Chuckle.

Source: Big Think.

What It’s About: Research has shown that a sense of humor can improve our mental and physical health, boost our attractiveness, and improve leadership skills. This article explores different types of humor, underscores the importance of it, and debates whether it can be taught . Note that Stanford offers classes on humor in the B school to help leaders become more successful (at least some credible folks think you can teach, value and learn it).  

Why It’s Important: Read the zombie article above if you don’t think we need more laughter. Geez. The last organization I was at declared it a value to laugh and have fun everyday. It was promoted and existed throughout the organization. Our executive floor was sometimes disruptive with the loud laughter bouncing off the walls. It is so important. How can crabby, humorless workplaces be a place we want to be at, let alone produce value? Have you ever seen grumpy workers make customers happy? Have fun. Be authentic and intentional. What’s your workplace like when it comes to having fun everyday?

My Weekly Wine Recommendation (Thanks to Vivino):

Juggernaut Hillside Cabernet Sauvignon 2016.

[Picture and ratings provided by Vivino.]

And finally! Here’s Cecil’s Bleat of the Week!

“Two muffins are in an oven. One muffin says ‘man, it’s hot in here.’ The other muffin says ‘holy crap! A talking muffin!’” – Anonymous

Bye for now!

– Lorne Rubis

Incase you Missed It:

Monday’s Lead In podcast.

Tuesday’s blog.

Wednesday’s Culture Cast podcast.

Also don’t forget to subscribe to our site, and follow Lorne Rubis on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for the latest from our podcasts, blogs, and all things offered on LorneRubis.com.