by Andrew Bass | Aligning Behaviour with Strategy, Articles, Change-&-Persistence, Culture, Leadership, Rationally Fearless
Imagine the scene. It’s the early hours of the morning. A young engineer lies awake, unable to sleep because of the excitement. After what seems like an hour of trying to find a comfy position to nod off, he checks the clock. Just fifteen minutes have elapsed since...
by Andrew Bass | "How To's", Culture, Limiting Mindsets, Rationally Fearless
I was working with a pharmaceutical distribution business that needed to innovate, and fast. Drugs were coming off-patent, and industry forces were going to change who made money and how. The MD was worried. He was also frustrated that his senior managers, who he...
by Andrew Bass | Blog, Culture, Innovation, Leadership
Fear is a bigger factor in organizational life than we like to admit, and it works against many of the best-practices that are espoused by leaders and their gurus. Reduce fear, and a lot of good things can happen. To start with, I’ve found that senior people often...
by Andrew Bass | Blog, Change-&-Persistence, Culture, Limiting Mindsets
Marshall Goldsmith titled his best selling coaching book: “What got you here won’t get you there.” The title offers an important reminder for senior executives: the very behaviours which got you successfully promoted can hold you back when you try to advance further....
by Andrew Bass | Blog, Client and Customer Experience, Culture
In mid-May 2016, I was in Amsterdam with colleagues from around the world. It was shortly before the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union. Although we — like the pundits — were expecting a ‘Remain’ vote at this point, they teased me that on my next...
by Andrew Bass | Blog, Culture, Leadership
In his classic book On the Psychology of Military Incompetence (recommended reading for anyone interested in high-stakes organizational cock-ups and leadership hubris) Norman Dixon discusses the difficulties of recruiting talented people to military careers in...
