Sunday, May 02, 2004
Been going through the latest Harvard Business Review (April 2004).
The cover article is entitled "Coaching the Alpha Male", and is a fascinating read. Reading the first few paragraphs I could have sworn I was exactly the person they were describing... Alpha males grow up thinking they're the smartest people they know, and tending to rely on their instincts instead of listening to others.
Folks at Dell will find the article particularly interesting, as it turns out the authors are the ones that coached Michael and Kevin, and "fixed" them to the point where the company became less agressive internally, mostly because of 360 reviews that started at the top and percolated down through senior management. Its also what gave us the "Soul of Dell" initiative, which I'd looked at quite cynically, but now see through new eyes.
For my part, as I got more in to the article, I found that several of the traits described were ones that folks close to me had pointed out and helped me overcome. When I have an idea, I tend to put it out there and challenge others to find flaws in it. I'm ok with them finding flaws -- thats how things get better, right? But I'm told some people find my approach intimidating, which I would shrug off as "I'm British - thats how we are". Still, I think I've gotten a lot better at listening the past few years, so maybe there's hope for me yet.
You can read the full article here.
The cover article is entitled "Coaching the Alpha Male", and is a fascinating read. Reading the first few paragraphs I could have sworn I was exactly the person they were describing... Alpha males grow up thinking they're the smartest people they know, and tending to rely on their instincts instead of listening to others.
Folks at Dell will find the article particularly interesting, as it turns out the authors are the ones that coached Michael and Kevin, and "fixed" them to the point where the company became less agressive internally, mostly because of 360 reviews that started at the top and percolated down through senior management. Its also what gave us the "Soul of Dell" initiative, which I'd looked at quite cynically, but now see through new eyes.
For my part, as I got more in to the article, I found that several of the traits described were ones that folks close to me had pointed out and helped me overcome. When I have an idea, I tend to put it out there and challenge others to find flaws in it. I'm ok with them finding flaws -- thats how things get better, right? But I'm told some people find my approach intimidating, which I would shrug off as "I'm British - thats how we are". Still, I think I've gotten a lot better at listening the past few years, so maybe there's hope for me yet.
You can read the full article here.
# posted 5/02/2004 07:40:31 PM |
