Archive for January, 2013

How Communicating Across Company Lines Can Help Your Career

Posted on January 28th, 2013 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Check out my guest post on the Leader Communicator blog: Why and How to Communicate Across Company Lines Have you tried to communicate with your peers in other organizations lately? In this post I consider the importance of doing so, as I’ve been doing throughout my career, and I discuss the barriers posed to this important practice by corporate culture and inertia; I then share some experience on how to overcome the barriers without coming into harm’s way. But go ahead and read it over at Leader Communicator blog!  

How Information Overload and Hyperactivity Destroy Leadership

Posted on January 21st, 2013 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Guest Post by Ian Price The recent temporary departure of Antonio Horta-Osorio from his role at Lloyds Banking Group was unusual in the candid use of the ‘S’-word – “stress” – in the bank’s announcement. For any number of reasons, leaders, their boards and investors are keen to avoid the word as part of the narrative in a leader’s exit. However, there have, in the last year or so, been a number of sudden, unplanned chief executive resignations that the press has attributed – at least in part – to stress. These include Masataka Shimizu of Tokyo Electric Power, Jeff.. Read more

The Case for “Internet Glue”: Why We Need a Stable User Experience!

Posted on January 17th, 2013 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

A sorely needed product Here is a winning product I sometimes dream of producing: I call it Internet Glue. What is it, you ask? Well, it’s for use when you have a web site or a software application that works great, that you find truly useful. You pour the Internet Glue on it, and when it hardens it keeps the site or application just as it is, so it can’t change, so the user experience you love abides. Get it? What it’s good for Why do I want this admittedly fanciful product? Why, to fight that bane of computer tools:.. Read more

The CIO Role and Driving Innovation: Gap or Opportunity?

Posted on January 14th, 2013 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Ask yourself: is the CIO a driver of Innovation in your enterprise? The gap: are CIOs missing the Social Media boat? The MIT Sloan Management Review recently published results from a survey of business executives, managers and analysts from organizations around the world, aiming to understand how companies apply Social Media. I was intrigued by the following excerpt: 48% – Percentage of CEOs who believe social media is important or somewhat important to their business today. 24% – Percentage of CIOs who believe the same thing. Now, in general it’s a good thing that CEOs have more vision; standing on.. Read more

Reduce Information Overload Using Brilliant Email Etiquette

Posted on January 10th, 2013 · Posted in Individual Solutions

Guest Post by Dr Monica Seeley Information overload and its sibling email overload continue to plague most business users.  Indeed although the latest figures for sick leave have been falling, the incidences of stress related illness have risen. Information overload and email overload are major contributors to stress related illness.   Our brains just cannot cope with the volume of information being  pushed at us, through email and now social technologies.  It has been suggested that we are now bombarded through these channels with the equivalent of 174 newspapers per day! In the case of email, a major problem is actually.. Read more

New Insight Article: Quality of Life Effects of Information Overload

Posted on January 7th, 2013 · Posted in Uncategorized

Here is the fourth and last insight article in the series that analyzes the negative effects of Information Overload in an enterprise setting (though many of the points noted apply to individual knowledge workers, such as small business owners, as well). This article analyzes the cruelest impact of IO, one that doesn’t merely make people ineffective (which it certainly does), but also makes them miserable, and reaches out to hurt their families as well. The article reviews the different ways that IO destroys quality of life – at home, but also at work, where it has significantly reduced the level.. Read more

Why Disk Cleanup Matters, and How You Can Get It Done

Posted on January 4th, 2013 · Posted in Individual Solutions

I suppose it’s because I’m a geek at heart, but I’m fascinated by the concept of disk cleanup… Why Disk Cleanup capability is important for you By Disk Cleanup I mean deleting unnecessary files  from the Hard Disk on your own PC. Unnecessary can mean many things – obsolete system files, temporary files, corrupted files… but more importantly, user files, files you’ve saved to your disk in the past and no longer need. This may be because you have newer versions of them, or because you have duplicates of the same version in different folders, or because they’re safely stored.. Read more