Author Archives: Curious and Interested

About Curious and Interested

Former Leader and Manager now writer and coach. Enquiring, Curious, Buys more books than can ever read but still reads a lot. A sucker for gadgets...Ipad, Kindle, Chromecast, apple watch. I aim to improve understanding and cause reflection. Not claiming to be the expert.

High Performing Teams – Why so hard?

Posted on December 13, 2017 by Curious and Interested

The desire for high performing teams in business is so common that you would think organisations would have a reliable approach to this by now – but in my experience that’s not the case. The effective interaction of individuals within … Continue reading →

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How do we learn and develop?

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Curious and Interested

For the last few years I have been working to support others to develop and grow. At the same time of course I also needed to develop and grow. My focus is more on the skills or competencies rather than information … Continue reading →

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When it comes to change..speed kills

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Curious and Interested

When it comes to change, speed can kill. The desire to get things in quickly, be decisive and prove you are an action leader can create a false sense of momentum. Those change efforts appear to leap out of the … Continue reading →

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Starting a new role..seek first to understand

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Curious and Interested

Many executives face the excitement of a new role and feel a strong sense of determination to succeed in it. It is easy to get carried away with the thought that your knowledge, skills and capabilities will launch you into … Continue reading →

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Innovation – Do Boards and CEO’s Understand?

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Curious and Interested

How many Boards, CEO’s and Senior Managers are urging their staff to innovate yet lack the understanding of the culture, skills and processes required and the risks inherent in innovation? Scott Anthony wrote recently in a HBR blog that companies … Continue reading →

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When you are looking for new strategic opportunities..think Blue Oceans

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Curious and Interested

Most organisations are looking for growth, innovation, a way to reduce their costs or expand their markets. Many are trapped by their history in relation to the markets and products/services they offer and need a process to think beyond their … Continue reading →

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What I like about the Balanced Scorecard for business

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Curious and Interested

When Kaplan and Norton developed the Balanced Scorecard they were seeking to develop a broader perspective of what needs to be measured and managed to achieve success in business and also how to communicate and integrate the measures and targets … Continue reading →

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Change and what we can achieve in 30 days

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Curious and Interested

Whilst the song may say that “Love is in the air..” my experience talking with CEO’s and business people is that “Change is in the air..” – not so catchy and certainly not as well embraced. The result of this … Continue reading →

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Part 2 – Growth Initiatives – traps and inhibitors

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Curious and Interested

In my last post I talked about the elements that would be beneficial to growth initiatives and now I want to touch on those things that can hold back growth initiatives. A belief that the market you want to enter … Continue reading →

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Growth initiatives – how do we grow?

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Curious and Interested

We need to grow the business faster than “system” growth (i.e. faster than the overall industry growth rate). The Board is challenging the lack of top-line or profit growth and senior executives are scrambling to find the next big thing. … Continue reading →

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Measures, Business Performance and Staff Engagement

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Curious and Interested

Early in my working life I heard the phrase “if you don’t measure it you don’t manage it” and I would have to say that it has held true over a long period of time. Measuring something achieves two things; … Continue reading →

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When decisions turn out wrong how do you react?

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Curious and Interested

When decisions turn out wrong how do you react? Is it a case of moving on quickly and hoping people forget, undertaking a review and despondently wishing that it was something someone missed and thereby not your fault, or is … Continue reading →

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How much should we practice?

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Curious and Interested

Ever wanted to learn a new language, play the piano or guitar or tennis? Writers such as Malcolm Gladwell have researched this topic and suggest that 10 years of practice or 10,000 hours are required to master a skill. Of … Continue reading →

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Why leading people is not that difficult – a list to check!

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Curious and Interested

When you think about it leading people should involve a fair amount of common sense. Treat people as you would like to be treated would be a good starting point (masochists aside). So what would be on your list of … Continue reading →

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Decisions, Outcomes and Luck

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Curious and Interested

Have you ever experienced a time when a decision you made did not results in an ideal outcome? Often in business a decision is measured in terms of outcomes. What was the result that arose from the particular decision. In … Continue reading →

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The role of luck, chance or randomness

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Curious and Interested

You may be familiar with an author – Nassim Taleb – he wrote a book called “The Black Swan” and also a book called “Fooled by Randomness“. In both books he looks at events from a viewpoint of predictability or … Continue reading →

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Why would treating staff badly be a good leadership strategy?

Posted on November 20, 2010 by Curious and Interested

In trying to solve problems it is sometimes useful to flip them around and look from the other direction. This might mean starting from the last step, which is useful in showing what needs to remain, or taking the opposite … Continue reading →

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Why are so many things broken?

Posted on November 13, 2010 by Curious and Interested

A very funny perpsective on what has gone wrong in the design of so many things from the TED.com website and Seth Godin. http://on.ted.com/8Z8G Seth Godin gives a tour of things poorly designed, the 7 reasons why they are that … Continue reading →

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Stress testing your Strategy

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Curious and Interested

A recent HBR article by Robert Simons discusses seven questions to stress test your strategy. There are two aspects of this that I like. The first is the use of questions as an approach to facilitate broader consideration of issues. … Continue reading →

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Education – reducing divergent thinking. Do we need a new model of learning?

Posted on October 24, 2010 by Curious and Interested

In this RSA animated presentation by Sir Ken Robinson he poses the question as to whether we need a new model for education instead of the post-industrial factory approach that has as one of its biggest trends ADHD. He shows … Continue reading →

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