AMA Edgewise
In the coming weeks we will be bringing you the insights and voices of recognized thought leaders across a wide range of topics.Our aim is to provide those essential "nuggets" of perspective that will help you and your organization improve performance, adapt to changing business realities, and prosper in a complex and competitive world.
13-12 Nicole Lipkin on Engagement and Emotional Contagion
How disengagement is problematic and what to do about it.
June 14, 2013 / Podcast #
Nicole Lipkin, author of What Keeps Leaders Up at Night, wants us to know that our brains are more sensitive than we think, susceptible to what is called “emotional contagion.” That’s when someone’s “negative emotions spread virally” where our brains pick up on someone else’s mood and mimic that emotion. That means if one employee is feeling disengaged, that feeling will spread. Added to the other symptoms like declines in productivity, performance, safety, retention and profits, this makes disengagement one of the most pervasive and unremarked upon problems in the workplace. Luckily, Nicole has ways to combat disengagement and get teams back on track.
Thomas Davenport on Keeping Up with the Quants
How one company focused on analytics for massive shareholder profit.
May 31, 2013 / Podcast # 13-11
Thomas Davenport, business analytics expert, believes that analytics are an important decision-making tool for all levels of an organization. Everyone has received credit card offers in the mail from Capital One but not everyone realizes that our response to those offers is carefully monitored. If a 12.9 percent balance transfer offer doesn’t generate a response, soon a 12.8 offer will arrive in the mail. If a red envelope doesn’t get someone’s attention, soon a blue envelope will arrive. Capital One doesn’t stop there, continuing to keep track of their customers so they know that it is a valued customer on the phone to close their account and that they should be transferred to a customer service specialist right away who can make deals and keep the customer. This focus on analytics even on the front-side of the company has returned more value to Capital One shareholders than any other company in the United States. That is just one example of a company using analytics to help make faster, more informed decisions.
Pamela Ryckman on Women Networking Outside the Company
May 17, 2013 / Podcast #
Traditionally men have dominated the C-suite with one token spot open for a woman, if that. This made it nearly impossible for women to network within their organization as, at the end of the day, only one of them would get the corner office. This forced women to network outside their companies but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise: women made different connections that led to unexpected lateral career moves, paving their own way to success.Pamela Ryckman, author of the book Stiletto Network, investigated this trend and talks about how modern women network and achieve success, starting from the entry level and moving up.
Robert Atkinson on Innovation Economics
May 3, 2013 / Podcast #
Lately, American business has stagnated, resorting to short sighted strategies and opting to take inexpensive or safer quick fixes rather than analyzing and fixing the root of a problem. Robert Atkinson thinks US could to learn from their global neighbors such as France, Germany, Finland, and Korea and study how their focus on innovation has made them leaders in the business world. American business can turn this trend around by following Atkinson’s 3 main factors that facilitate a healthy successful environment for innovation to get America back on to the list of top innovators.
Jim Leighton on Getting FIT
April 19, 2013 / Podcast # 13-08
Are you a TGIF kind of worker or for you is it TGIM, Thank God it’s Monday? It might have to do with how much passion you have for your work. If your values and principles don’t align with your company’s, you might not be as successful in the workplace as you might think, your lack of enthusiasm eventually becoming apparent to everyone you work with. Jim Leighton, author of Getting FIT, advocates a Fully Integrated Team (FIT) as a more dynamic style where each member of the group tries their best to contribute to the mutual goal by bringing their own personal experience and skill set to get the job done.