Performance indicators

Don't let showmanship get in the way of productive conversations.

Yves Morieux, director of the BCG Institute for Organization, argues that imposing formal processes, structures, and guidelines only makes things more...

Help your team members to be successful by giving stretch assignments and supporting them throughout the process.

Every year, the research firm CSO Insights publishes the results of its Sales Performance Optimization survey, an online questionnaire given to more than...

The predictive power of machine learning is a game changer.

When researchers tracked the performance of 444 celebrated U.S. CEOs, they discovered that companies run by MBAs underperformed the rest. The reason?...

Some criticize boards for leaving the evolution of their composition to chance, allowing director retirements to dictate the pace of change. Support for annual director elections and for increased transparency around director nominations suggests that some shareholders would like to see more turnover. Is there evidence that companies and shareholders actually benefit when boards add […]

Do you know what your most profitable product is?

There are objectives within objectives, within objectives. They all require painstaking definition and close analysis if they are to be useful separately and profitable as a whole.

Don’t overlook a useful pattern just because it isn’t driven by a causal relationship.

In my 34 years working in and around human resources, I’ve found that most HR departments are mired in power struggles, bureaucratic programs, and miscellaneous special projects when they should be focused on one objective: maximizing organizational performance. It’s tempting to blame this sorry state of affairs on HR alone. But the fundamental reason has […]

Proving social impact is complicated and expensive.

In this article, the author of The First 90 Days assesses Barack Obama's attempts to build momentum for change. Creating substantive early wins is critical...

The performance measurement system in many decentralized companies actually works against good management. It encourages profit center managers to cover...

Continuous improvement programs are proliferating as corporations seek to better themselves and gain an edge. Unfortunately, however, failed programs...

Changing how people see you is as important as changing how you act.

To advance your company's mission, focus employees on winning customers' loyalty, not on analyzing customer feedback metrics.

Over the past decade, more and more institutional investors have taken an interest in companies' records on environmental sustainability, social responsibility,...

A study of 2,859 firms shows that companies unwisely cutting costs to artificially improve performance are fooling no one for long. Their stock rises...

Hiram Phillips couldn't have been in better spirits. The CFO and chief administrative officer of Rainbarrel Products, a diversified consumer-durables...