NEVER RUSH TO RECRUIT03-Jun-2013 - Les Hayman “I am convinced that little that we do as managers is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies.” Laurence Bossidy, author and former COO of GE Author: Thomas Alva Edison; {{PD-US... read more » |
MOVING AT THE SPEED OF SHELF LIFE15-Apr-2013 - Les Hayman The dictionary defines shelf life as “the length of time that foods, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, chemicals and many other perishable items are given before they are considered to be unsuitable for sale, use or consumption”. Author: Jü (own w... read more » |
PEOPLE JOIN COMPANIES BUT LEAVE MANAGERS08-Apr-2013 - Les Hayman “So many people out there have no idea what they want to do for a living, but they think that by going on job interviews they’ll magically figure it out.” Todd Bermont, Dean of The Careers College. Author: bpsusf; CC BY 2.0 license; via Wikimedia... read more » |
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PASSION18-Feb-2013 - Les Hayman Nietzsche (or Madam de Stael or someone called Angela Monet) said “Those who dance are always considered crazy by those who can’t hear the music”. I was recently contacted by an ex colleague who wanted to know if I still had the notes of a speech... read more » |
HR …. WHY IS NO-ONE LISTENING ?30-Jul-2012 - Les Hayman Everyone continually tells HR people that they need to become more strategic, that “HR needs to get a seat at the table”. Author: TUBS (own work); vie Wikimedia Commons I have been hearing this admonition for decades, and yet beyond the advice ... read more » |
HUMAN ENERGY IS THE GREATEST RENEWABLE RESOURCE09-Jul-2012 - Les Hayman The dictionary defines renewable energy as “any naturally occurring, theoretically inexhaustible source of energy, such as biomass, solar, wind, tidal, wave, and hydroelectric powerthat is not derived from fossil or nuclear fuel.” I was in India ... read more » |
HOW TO DRIVE PRODUCTIVITY IN YOUR TEAM18-Jun-2012 - Les Hayman Getting the most from your people is one of the most critical goals of every manager. This doesn´t just mean that you have to get your team to work long hours and work hard, but it also means that you must ensure that your people work on the right... read more » |
HOW TO SURVIVE AN INCOMPETENT BOSS11-Jun-2012 - Les Hayman We have all at one time or another been really disappointed with our boss, if for example it is because we believed that he had made some bad choices, struggled too long with a decision, or promoted someone who was more politician than profession... read more » |
WHAT THEY DON’T TEACH YOU ABOUT PEOPLE07-May-2012 - Les Hayman Business schools may be great at teaching people how to read a balance sheet, calculate net present value, internal rate of return and discounted cash flow, but they do not seem to do a great job at teaching future “masters of the universe” that ... read more » |
ENGAGEMENT HAS A NICE RING TO IT05-Mar-2012 - Les Hayman I have long found it worrying that all of the numerous studies of employee engagement point to the fact that at any one point in time, in most companies, only about one-third of employees are fully engaged, with about one-third partially engaged,... read more » |
WHEN YOU KNOW IT IS TIME TO CHANGE COMPANIES19-Feb-2012 - Les Hayman I have always believed that people join companies, but leave managers. Surveys tell us that over 70% of corporate departures are because an employee was not able to build a working relationship with his immediate supervisor, which seems logical a... read more » |
WHY ARE SO MANY MANAGERS SO BAD AT RECRUITING ?12-Dec-2011 - Les Hayman Putting the right people in the right place is a critical skill of any manager and yet for many this is a serious weakness, resulting in them regularly putting people into roles where they can’t succeed. Not only is this an expensive mistake to m... read more » |
THE SOONER YOU FALL BEHIND, THE MORE TIME YOU HAVE TO CATCH UP31-Oct-2011 - Les Hayman Douglas Adams (1952-2001) author of “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” said – “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” Author: Nicosmos (own work); via Wikimedia Commons Why are most people so prone to procras... read more » |
IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY …..24-Oct-2011 - Les Hayman I understand that the salary that you are paid for the work that you do is important, but there are many things that are more important if you want to have a successful career, and to ultimately do well. By Hersfold; via Wikimedia Commons Here ... read more » |
BUSINESS LEADERSHIP ISN’T CHANGING QUICKLY ENOUGH10-Oct-2011 - Les Hayman If global competition and business processes are changing so quickly, why aren’t our leadership practices changing at the same rate to keep up with business needs? A recent study carried out by Development Dimensions International (DDI), a US bas... read more » |
HR … WHAT’S HR GOT TO DO WITH INNOVATION? ISN’T THAT R&D?04-Oct-2010 - Les Hayman Why is it that when you talk about innovation most people can’t look beyond product innovation? It’s a wonderful thing to have superior products, particularly if you can create products that people just love to have and to use, like Apple. My wi... read more » |
HR … POLITE TO POLICE TO PARTNER TO PLAYER26-Aug-2010 - Les Hayman Whenever I speak to a group of HR Professionals, I tend to start with the need for HR organisations to go through a process of change, and I call this transition “Polite to Police to Partner to Player”. HR people have always tended to be the polit... read more » |
HR … THE PESTO EFFECT22-Jul-2010 - Les Hayman A number of people have asked me to write of my experiences running a company internal HR department after 40 years in business roles. When I was first asked whether I would do this, rather than retiring, I felt that it was a bit like asking Attil... read more » |
THE MANAGEMENT ART OF MUCKING OUT HORSE STABLES10-Jun-2013 - Les Hayman “Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.” Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), American author, trainer and lecturer. As we are the enthusiastic owners of two horses, I regularly... read more » |
EVERY COMPANY NEEDS PEOPLE WHO CAN REGULARLY FAIL27-May-2013 - Les Hayman “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying. I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over an... read more » |
CAN WOMEN LEAP HIGHER UP THE MANAGEMENT LADDER20-May-2013 - Les Hayman “For real change, we need feminine energy in the management of the world. We need a critical number of women in positions of power, and we need to nurture the feminine energy in men.” Written by Isabelle Allende, world famed Chilean author. Autho... read more » |
A DUMMY’S GUIDE TO OFFICE POLITICS06-May-2013 - Les Hayman “The person who says “I’m not political” is in great danger, as only the fittest will survive, and the fittest will be the ones who understand their office’s politics”. Jean Hollands (US Trainer and Coach). Politics in the workplace is a fact of ... read more » |
IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS DONE …..29-Apr-2013 - Les Hayman Most people do not want change; they just want things to get better. The majority of people would like to have their life improve in some way; to have better health, better family relationships, better friends, a better job, a nicer living enviro... read more » |
HR … DOES PERISH COME NEXT AFTER PARTNER AND PLAYER ?22-Apr-2013 - Les Hayman I have long believed, written and spoken about the fact that HR organisations need to go through a major transition to be allowed to survive as a business unit, rather than just ending up handling administrative functions in a shared service cent... read more » |
MYTHS ABOUT MANAGEMENT01-Apr-2013 - Les Hayman “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” American President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) Source: The White House Historical Association; vi... read more » |
MANAGEMENT TIME STEALERS AND WASTERS25-Mar-2013 - Les Hayman I have long believed that whilst we should not count every hour in the day, we should try and make every hour in the day count. We are all given the same 24 hours in every day regardless of who or what we are, and while we can’t actually manage t... read more » |
THE MANAGEMENT ART OF STACKING FIREWOOD18-Mar-2013 - Les Hayman William Faulkner (1897-1962), American writer and Nobel Prize winner said “The Swiss are not a people so much as a neat, clean, quite solvent business”. I am in Klosters in Switzerland for two weeks of skiing with my family, and it is almost impo... read more » |
MANAGERS SOLVE PROBLEMS11-Mar-2013 - Les Hayman I believe that one of the key critical skills of anyone in a management role is the ability to be able to solve problems, despite my loving the fact that Albert Einstein said “Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them”. Photograph by Or... read more » |
ARE MANAGERS LOSING THE ABILITY TO FOCUS ?04-Mar-2013 - Les Hayman Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer and poet said “Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short, in all the management of human affairs.” Like Emerson, I have long believed that a clear ... read more » |
TENTH RULE OF MANAGEMENT11-Feb-2013 - Les Hayman The first rule of management is that successful management is actually more about how you manage yourself rather than being about how you manage others (see “First rule of management” posted June 25, 2012). The second rule of management is that t... read more » |
NINTH RULE OF MANAGEMENT04-Feb-2013 - Les Hayman The first rule of management is that successful management is actually more about how you manage yourself rather than being about how you manage others (see “First rule of management” posted June 25, 2012). The second rule of management is that t... read more » |
THINKING OUSIDE THE BOX, WE HAVE THE BANDWIDTH FOR A CLOUD BASED PARADIGM SHIFT28-Jan-2013 - Les Hayman Now that the end of year holiday season is over, it is time for the start of the New Year business meetings. We are being blessed with a multitude of annual business results reporting and Field kick-off meetings as companies try to fire up their ... read more » |
EIGHTH RULE OF MANAGEMENT21-Jan-2013 - Les Hayman The first rule of management is that successful management is actually more about how you manage yourself rather than being about how you manage others (see “First rule of management” posted June 25, 2012). The second rule of management is that t... read more » |
SEVENTH RULE OF MANAGEMENT26-Nov-2012 - Les Hayman The first rule of management is that successful management is actually more about how you manage yourself rather than being about how you manage others (see “First rule of management” posted June 25, 2012). The second rule of management is that t... read more » |
SIXTH RULE OF MANAGEMENT19-Nov-2012 - Les Hayman The first rule of management is that successful management is actually more about how you manage yourself rather than being about how you manage others (see “First rule of management” posted June 25, 2012). The second rule of management is that t... read more » |
FIFTH RULE OF MANAGEMENT05-Nov-2012 - Les Hayman The first rule of management is that successful management is actually more about how you manage yourself rather than being about how you manage others (see “First rule of management” posted June 25, 2012). The second rule of management is that t... read more » |
HERO TO ZERO IN THE CORNER OFFICE29-Oct-2012 - Les Hayman I find it interesting that many people seem to have an assumption that a senior executive who has shown a measure of success for some time will continue to do so ad infinitum. This belief in an executive’s ability to sustain a never ending “onwar... read more » |
FOURTH RULE OF MANAGEMENT22-Oct-2012 - Les Hayman The first rule of management is that successful management is actually more about how you manage yourself rather than being about how you manage others (see “First rule of management” posted June 25, 2012). The second rule of management is that t... read more » |
WHY NEAR ENOUGH IS MOSTLY GOOD ENOUGH15-Oct-2012 - Les Hayman “As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” Albert Einstein via Wikimedia Commons I have realized over my 40 year career that in most business situati... read more » |
THIRD RULE OF MANAGEMENT01-Oct-2012 - Les Hayman The first rule of management is that successful management is actually more about how you manage yourself rather than being about how you manage others (see “First rule of management” posted June 25, 2012). The second rule of management is that t... read more » |
SECOND RULE OF MANAGEMENT24-Sep-2012 - Les Hayman The first rule of management is that successful management is actually more about how you manage yourself rather than being about how you manage others (see “First rule of management” posted June 25, 2012). The second rule of management is that t... read more » |
TO BE OR NOT TO BE … A MANAGER20-Aug-2012 - Les Hayman The best job I ever had was being a computer salesman for Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1970’s. I was the only one in my territory of the South Island of New Zealand and my boss was miles away in Auckland so I saw him only rarely. I shared... read more » |
ANGER IN MANAGEMENT13-Aug-2012 - Les Hayman “In a controversy, the instant we feel anger, we have already ceased striving for truth and have begun striving for ourselves.” Theologian Abraham J. Heschel (1907-1972) Anger is a human process that has been felt by most normal people at some ti... read more » |
WHEN HEAD OFFICE BECOMES A LIABILITY23-Jul-2012 - Les Hayman The most feared words in any field organisation, irrespective of industry, number of employees or revenues are “Hello, I’m from Head Office and I am here to help.” I spent the first twelve years of my working life as a “Techie”, initially as a pr... read more » |
FIRST RULE OF MANAGEMENT25-Jun-2012 - Les Hayman The first rule of management is that successful management is actually more about how you manage yourself rather than being about how you manage others. Management life tends to be extremely busy and demanding, particularly when you manage a larg... read more » |
ARE YOU AN AUTOCRATIC OR PERMISSIVE MANAGER ?04-Jun-2012 - Les Hayman Management styles are mainly based on the two key elements of how one goes about making decisions and how one relates to people, which tend to point towards someone being either an autocratic or a permissive manager. Whilst many managers may hav... read more » |
HOW TO DRIVE YOUR BOSS CRAZY30-Apr-2012 - Les Hayman During my career I have worked with many colleagues who have inspired and motivated me, some who made me laugh and many who made me proud of them, but I have also had a few of them who drove me crazy. Some were managers (see “There is nothing wor... read more » |
ARE FANATICS OR FOOLS THE PROBLEM ?23-Apr-2012 - Les Hayman “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.” Bertrand Russell Whilst it may not have been his primary intent, I always find it interesting how accurate Ber... read more » |
WHY CEOs FAIL09-Apr-2012 - Les Hayman A lot of CEOs don’t succeed, and some who do, do so only for a short time. I have come to the conclusion that there are a number of different reasons that CEOs fail. Here are 10 of the most common ones. 1. Outlive the Founder/CEO role There comes... read more » |
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU SHOULD STEP ASIDE ?02-Apr-2012 - Les Hayman I have always believed that someone in a senior executive role, particularly a CEO, should not stay in the job for more than about 5-6 years, as I believe that everything that you will do after that is likely to be just a rerun, and you will also... read more » |
WHEN YOU KNOW THAT MANAGERS ARE AMATEURS19-Mar-2012 - Les Hayman I have had a number of instances in recent years where I have become involved with a company and fairly quickly come to the conclusion that the management team that has been tasked with effectively running the company is actually incapable of del... read more » |
GIVING POSITIVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK05-Dec-2011 - Les Hayman Noted French writer Francois de la Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) said “Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.” via Wikimedia Commons (United States public domain) Many managers ... read more » |
WHO WANTS TO BE A CEO ?14-Nov-2011 - Les Hayman I am often asked about what characteristics I believe are needed to be able to become a successful CEO. It’s not an easy question to answer as there are so many different aspects that one can address, and libraries of management books have been w... read more » |
SUN TZU WOULD GO BROKE TODAY03-Oct-2011 - Les Hayman I am amazed at how many business people falsely believe that “Business is War”, and how many young managers and MBA students see Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” as being the holy bible for waging business in the same way that one would wage war. I know th... read more » |
WITH THE GREATEST RESPECT12-Sep-2011 - Les Hayman To be successful in any career it is critical that you become au-fait with “management speak”, as there are many instances when what is said is not really what is meant. Saying one thing and meaning another can be called irony, but it can also be... read more » |
DO WOMEN MAKE BETTER MANAGERS ?22-Nov-2010 - Les Hayman I was recently asked during a press interview to describe the best boss that I had ever worked for. It wasn’t hard to do, as during my time at Sun Microsystems, when asked to drive a global project for 6 months in the US, I had the opportunity to... read more » |
BEING SERIOUS IS OVERRATED18-Nov-2010 - Les Hayman I have found that many people, particularly as they become more senior in their corporate life (or just get older), start to take life and themselves much too seriously, supposedly in line with their elevated status. They therefore tend to create... read more » |
FIFTH SECRET OF TIME MANAGEMENT11-Nov-2010 - Les Hayman You have to kill interruptions as much as possible. The first step is to take control of emails. It’s interesting that we have established rules and procedures for physical interruptions, for example if someone’s office door is closed, if they ... read more » |
SELL, SELL, SELL01-Nov-2010 - Les Hayman Nothing happens in this world until somebody sells something! Which makes “selling” the noblest profession of them all !! It may not officially be the oldest profession, but I doubt that even that could have existed without some sales effort. I a... read more » |
FOURTH SECRET OF TIME MANAGEMENT28-Oct-2010 - Les Hayman H.H “Breaker “Morant (1864-1902) is credited with having said “Live every day as if it was your last, because one day you will be right.” He was spot-on as on February 27, 1902, at the age of 38, he was executed after conviction for murder during... read more » |
THIRD SECRET OF SUCCESS21-Oct-2010 - Les Hayman Being able to update your resume (curriculum vitae) every year is an important part of success. I am not suggesting that you update it and put it out on the street, just that you need to be able to update the contents every year, and that you sh... read more » |
SECOND SECRET OF SUCCESS07-Oct-2010 - Les Hayman “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” Alvin Toffler I am often amazed that so many people seem to not understand that learning is a journey and not a des... read more » |
SECOND SECRET OF TIME MANAGEMENT30-Sep-2010 - Les Hayman Diaries are meant to be an aid to help us all manage our time allocations but in most cases are rarely used in a way that actually helps people to really achieve this. The problem is that most people use diaries mainly as a means of giving other... read more » |
FIRST SECRET OF TIME MANAGEMENT23-Sep-2010 - Les Hayman Can anyone really manage time? We all get allocated exactly the same amount, just 24 hours per day, and yet some people never seem to have enough time and always have a growing mountain of undone tasks, and others seem to be able to do an incredi... read more » |
THE PROBLEM WITH COMPROMISE06-Sep-2010 - Les Hayman I have always hated compromise! I believe that the problem with compromise is that no-one really gets what they want and therefore no-one is really committed to the success of the compromise decision, and I find this to be as true in pe... read more » |
QUALITY OF MANAGEMENT FOR THE FUTURE02-Sep-2010 - Les Hayman I believe that “People join companies, but leave managers”. People will join a company in the belief that the image and reputation that it projects is what they are looking for in an employer, and as such somewhere that they can learn, develop and... read more » |
MOVE THEM UP OR MOVE THEM OUT23-Aug-2010 - Les Hayman I have long believed that managers need to always have a “ladder” of their people graded from best to worst performer. This is not just to ensure visibility of the top performers, but also to ensure identification of those that need help. The pro... read more » |
IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME16-Aug-2010 - Les Hayman When I was appointed to the SAP Global Extended Board in 1999, my bosses at the time (the Global CEO and the Board Chairman) approved my title as “CEO Asia Pacific, Board Member SAP-AG”. This was based on the fact that no-one outside of Germany r... read more » |
THE 3 GREAT BUSINESS LIES02-Aug-2010 - Les Hayman It is incredible that marketing organisations within companies spend such an incredible amount of time developing a company’s mission, vision and values statements and yet they all tend to come up with basically the same things over and over aga... read more » |
CONGRATULATIONS … YOU’RE A HIGH POTENTIAL … HERE IS YOUR TATTOO26-Jul-2010 - Les Hayman Ever since Jack Welch told the world something along the lines of “ … look after the top 10% because they create the magic ..”, every company has put some effort into implementing a “High Potential” or “Top Talent” programme (Pesto effect ?), tha... read more » |
GYMNASTICS AND BUSINESS19-Jul-2010 - Les Hayman Some time ago I was surprised to learn that in gymnastics competitions at global levels such as the Olympics, achieving a “perfect score” for a perfectly executed routine in any of the disciplines, needs more than just the perfection of the routi... read more » |
MANAGING YOUR CAREER14-Jul-2010 - Les Hayman I have found that most people do very little to manage their own careers. The majority of people seem to work their way through their jobs with varying degrees of skill and commitment, and wait for opportunities to present themselves, then pick ... read more » |
I LIVE TO WORK OR I WORK TO LIVE05-Jul-2010 - Les Hayman The great thing about being a Manager is that you only have one primary objective. All you have to do is to create an environment where people can be unbelievably successful. I understand that this is easier to say than to do, but it’s not a bad ... read more » |
FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE02-Jul-2010 - Les Hayman I have lived and worked in Europe for the last 9 years after more than 30 years working in the IT Sector in NZ, Australia, Singapore and the USA, and have worked with, for, and also been responsible for, hundreds of different Managers at varying ... read more » |
VIVE LA FRANCE25-Jun-2010 - Les Hayman The French Unions have called for National Strikes in response to the Government’s announcement that it will raise the official pensionable retirement age in France from 60 to 62. This could be the first real test of the Sarkozy Government... read more » |
GROWING A NEW LEG20-Jun-2010 - Les Hayman I was in Belgrade, Serbia, recently to speak at a conference of Business people. On the way in from the Airport to my hotel, I asked the young driver as to whether he felt that things had improved or worsened since my last trip to Belgrade a year... read more » |
TEACHING OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS20-Jun-2010 - Les Hayman I have been regularly surprised about how many Managers I come across who believe that a valid Management approach is to look for people to do something wrong and then to help them correct it. I surmise that this satisfies two basic urges that th... read more » |
The Equality Bill – Time to Sit Up and Take Notice08-Sep-2008 - Damian Williams The Government’s Equality Bill, announced by Deputy Labour leader and Equalities Minister Harriet Harman in July, has been long anticipated by public sector organizations and long dreaded by many of them. While the anticipation of the Bill a... read more » |
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