The Cranky Middle Manager Show #312 The Future of the MBA Ken Starkey
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #88 Mergers and Reorgs Don’t Work – Corey Sherman
Posted on 25. Mar, 2007 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #088
Welcome to the show, a really cranky chat with HR strategist Corey Sherman of the www.hrstrategyblog.com about why mergers, acquisitions and re-orgs so often crash and burn. A little venting this week- have fun.
Don’t forget, please take our on-line survey! Some exciting things are coming soon, have your say!
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we’re going to vent about why mergers and acquisitions usually don’t work.
This week’s episode is dedicated to Charles “Chinese” Gordon, and to Muhammed Ahmad, better known as the Mahdi of Sudan. Two sides of the same coin. Talk about a merger that didn’t work and never had much of a plan. Any relationship between this situation and anything going on in the news is purely coincidental- just like every other time in the last 200 years we’ve tried it. But companies don’t seem to learn from history either.
3:32 The quote of the week is from Sun Tzu- the man knew a little about strategy and even he wouldn’t have tried the HP-Compaq merger.
4:52 Welcome Corey Sherman of Strategic Planning Associates. He’s not a big fan of mergers and acquisitions. neither am I, but I’ve been reorged, merged or acquired 7 times in the last 11 years so maybe I’m just bitter. So what’s the logic that makes smart companies believe they’ll succeed where others fail?
7:17 Come on, you know why you listen…we use the word Anschluss in a sentence, who else would do that? But it’s a great description of what happens when you push two companies together. Corey tells a great story about a merger where the integration task force is made up of the same managers who drove both companies into the ground in the first place. Good thinking huh?
9:59 “Corporate Culture” is thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean? Mergers usually make cultures turn inwards, as opposed to out towards the customer. And guess who’s usually caught in the middle? That’s why they call us middle managers, baby.
13:08 A sadly familiar story of what happens to good managers in bad mergers. Sound like anyone you know?
19:20 Reorgs are just Mergers and Acquisitions without money changing hands. Nothing says failed strategy like reorganization. Check out my blog about this from a few months ago…
Oh, and here’s another chance to bash HR.
25:52 When all the chaos is over, are you left with your best people? I tap dance on the line between stereotype and observation. So what else is new? But why are people the last things considered if they’re your greatest resource?
28:40 Oh and customers don’t enter into the conversation much either.
Resources:
Society of Human Resource Managers
International Association of Business Communicators
And on a completely unrelated topic, Corey’s brother hosts a podcast here on TPN-
Drop me an email, join our frappr map, generally join the fun. Also, don’t forget about the listener survey.
300 is Not a Training Film
Posted on 20. Mar, 2007 by Wayne in General
Okay, you know how sometimes you do something and think it’s a good thing but creates another issue? Well, you know I love to share historical tidbits that have relevance to our world today. Sometimes, though, people draw the wrong lessons.
I’ve spoken before about King Leonidas and the Spartans at Thermopylae. It’s the theme for the new movie 300. Unfortunately, business leaders are drawing the wrong lessons from it- to paraphrase Santayana…. those who don’t remember the past are free to make it up as they go…. or something like that.
I have written an article on Management Issues about the movie and its lessons. Read
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #87 Innovation with Joel Barker
Posted on 17. Mar, 2007 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #087 A bit of a longer show today, gang, but worth every minute of it. Our guest is futurist Joel Barker. Joel first hit the limelight back in the late 80s with “The Business of Paradigms” and basically changed my professional life. I’m thrilled to have him on the show. In response to some feedback I’ve gotten lately, i’m trying not to suck up too much, but I’m thrilled to introduce him to all of you.
Speaking of feedback, if you haven’t yet, please take our online listener survey. I’d appreciate it greatly. I’ll share the results with all of you in a few weeks.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to Episode 87. Never ceasing to be amazed about who will come on the show, we will talk to Joel Barker. Against his will he is an inspiration for this show and much of what passes for my career. That’s pretty much the unintended consequences Joel talks about in this interview.
The show is dedicated to Joseph, son of Jacob, pretty much the poster child for innovation and its unintended consequences- bad luck, quick promotion, sexual harassment suits, renaissance and slavery for his offspring. This is exactly why history matters brethren and sistren.
3:29 The wacky Samuel Taylor Coleridge has the quote of the week- short but powerful.
4:08 Welcome Joel Barker. I have to do a quick disclaimer. We couldn’t do the 85 magazines offer we talk about, but a healthy list comes under resources. Anyway, Joel Barker is here to talk about ideas. First, how does a guy get a gig like futurist? How high a percentage of the time do you have to be right to keep that job?
7:52 What is the difference between playing and planning? Why does strategic planning just go wrong? He gives us an example using faxes…..remember them? And Motorola- cause who would want a digital phone?
11:52 Where are the great new ideas coming from? How and why does technology change everything?
14:58 Who innovates- who even has the right to make innovations? It’s not tied to a person or job…it’s tied to lead events. How do you break that wall? Go to someone NOT in your field and ask how they’d solve the problem.
18:00 How does the iPod illustrate his point? Also, check out Blue Ocean Strategy for more…. Take a listen and find out why all the good stuff happens away from the industry in question. Joel takes us through some good examples, including a cool robot story- and who doesn’t like a good robot story? Check out the Robocoaster.
24:00 Innovation isn’t necessarily all great. Unintended consequences are something to be considered- what Joel calls “Cascade Thinking”. What are the long-term consequences before you invest. “the answer to the problem is only the beginning of the solution”. Check out www.implicationswheel.com.
How do you make sure that checking out the implications doesn’t turn into a reason not to innovate? The implications wheel is a tool you can use. You can identify and mitigate threats before you invest millions or kill off a species.
28:00 Believe it or not, jogging serves as an example of how to study implications- or so I’ve heard. There are nightmare examples too, including fish full of human female hormones. Sleep well.
31:00 Joel thinks someone named Tor Dahl will join the ranks of Drucker and Deming. His specialty is increasing productivity without having people lose their jobs. Yes, I’m working on getting him for the show….
As promised, Joel offers his list of his magazines. We didn’t get the full list, but here are the top 15 with their web links. He claims that between these 15 mags and the two websites, he gets over 50% of his most important stuff:
The Atlantic Monthly Mother Jones
and www.fiveregionsofthefuture.com and www.worldchanging.com
Are you interested in Podcasting? Are you in New York?
Posted on 14. Mar, 2007 by Wayne in General
Folks, there is a very cool event happening in New York City on Easter weekend. Podcamp is a free “unconference” centered on the subject of podcasting, and I’m one of the featured speakers!
Thanks to John Havens at the about.com guide to podcasting, I’ll be talking about helping people build their podcast’s brand…just the way you all have helped me build CMM’s. If you’re in the New York area on Saturday, April 7, register and let’s meet!
Here’s all the info you need to know.
If you’re interested at all in podcasting yourself or just want to hear about the hundreds of podcasts done in the Big Apple, this is going to be one heck of a party.