The Cranky Middle Manager Show #18- Managing with a Mission

Posted on 13. Oct, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast

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The Cranky Middle Manager Show #18

Greetings- welcome to another Cranky Middle Manager Show. One of the threads that has appeared in show after show (other than that I’m a techno-idiot) is the need for a manager and his/her team to have a mission. For that reason I think this is one of the most important shows we’ve done. Our guest is Peter Brinckerhoff who has been written up in Harvard Business Review and teaches at Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University (as does a previous guest Mark Horstman of Manager Tools)

Show Notes

0:00 Among other things we look at the hot topic of Succession Planning. Planning for your own departure is second only to being aware that others are planning for your departure. Why be paranoid?

2:20 The Quote of the week from John Locke, along with a shameless plug for my book. Hey it’s MY show, right? But Locke does have a point…

4:30 Why does working with non-profit organizations matter to those of us more mercenary folks?

6:30 How do you manage people who aren’t motivated by money? What can we learn from them?

11:30 Something to think about- managers near the end of their career moving to non-profits as a way of bringing business expertise to them.

17:00 Non-profits do more with much less- and you think YOUR department is running lean….

19:25 A lesson on bringing mission to the workplace. For you folks at EDS (and I know you’re out there) this makes you guys look good. GM workers may not want to hear it.

23:03 A book recommendation: Authentic Leadership

24:00 What are the big lessons business managers can learn?
- If you can do as much with as little as they do you’d be at the top of the heap
- You’ve got to live the mission every day
- Accelerate the “team-ness”

Check Peter out at www.missionbased.com

Coming soon (I promise).. The Worst Manager on the Planet Contest with very cool prizes from The Podcast Network.

Don’t let the weasels get ya down.

The Cranky Middle Manager Show #017 Manage Without Them

Posted on 07. Oct, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast

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The Cranky Middle Manager Show

Greetings and welcome to the Budget Season Fallout Shelter…your refuge from all the craziness of illogical planning and rabid sales weasels with delusions of empire and President’s Club trips based on next year’s insane quota.

Our show this week has an international flair, with our quote of the week from a Scotsman, our guest an Aussie living in Hong Kong and your humble host, a Canadian living in the US. All together now… Koom bay ya my Lord…. Koom bay ya……

This show is dedicated to Saigo Takamori… one more time people, Tom Cruise was not the Last Samurai… Saigo was. Ahhh, the fate of the principled middle manager, even during the Shogunate…

The quote of the week is from Samuel Smiles who is noted for writing the first book ever called “Self Help”. I’m not going to stoop to a cheap joke like only a Scotsman would invent self help instead of paying for therapy. Nope, not gonna do it…..

Matthew De George is our guest. First thing I”m going to do is apologize for a small glitch in the recording. The synching is a bit off (note to self- don’t get fancy with Hot Recorder…just do it like always) so it sounds like I’m jumping in a bit early. Aside from a couple of obvious glitches that are my responsibility, he has a lot to say on the notion of Managing with technology and also working as an outsider on IT projects for the Chinese Government. Let’s count the levels of dysfunction possible there, but he does it with grace and style.

You can check him out at www.managewithoutthem.com.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome everyone. It’s budget season… can you feel the love?

1:17 The show’s dedicated to Saigo Takamori…the last samurai

2:15 The quote of the week. We learn wisdom from failure. We also learn how to fill out unemployment insurance forms. See how smart we are?

4:00 Welcome Matthew De George. Check out his blog and website…

8:30 “Manage Without Them” comes out of economics. CAUTION big words ahead, listen closely.

12:00 What does a “Manage Without Them” organization look like?

19:00 It can get awfully messy.

25:00 What’s it like to work in IT, in Management, in Social Work, for the Chinese Government?

Matthew sent us the links he talked about for those fascinated in the intersection of economics and IT

www.mises.org… Heaps of lectures on free-market economics in the
‘media’ section. What you need to do is while you’re listening is
replace all references to ‘government’ with ‘managers’. Also, it shows
you how silly you can sound if you take the free-market view to the
extreme. Though I love the accents.

www.tayfundemiroz.com… Focuses on the community-building and
creativity in the work place. Some good thought leadership here as well
as case studies where Tayfun has solved some of the management/employee
alignment issues which are inivitable in a traditionally managed
organisation.

Coming soon- watch for details on the Crankiest Manager on the Planet contest- who’s the worst boss you ever worked for???? Cool prizes and maybe even some laughs.

Don’t let the weasels get ya down.

We’re back baby…

Posted on 07. Oct, 2005 by Administrator in General

You don’t have to wait any longer…our new system is all setup…all of our technology problems have been fixed (fingers crossed) and The Podcast Network is ready to re-enter the world of podcasting…bigger…better…and stronger than ever.

Stay tuned for some really exciting news next week as we kick this thing back into gear, and I know that all of our excellent hosts along with Cam and myself hope that you have enjoyed the great podcasts that we have been providing for your listening pleasure since February 2005…the ride has just started folks.

:)
Mick Stanic
Co-Founder, The Podcast Network