Whether you work in an organization of 10 or 10,000, there is probably at least one person you’re particularly not fond of. You think they’re loud and opinionated, or lazy and irresponsible, melodramatic or insensitive, too silly or too serious. You avoid them in the hallways and elevators. You cringe when they comment in meetings. [Keep Reading...]
The one thing you can do today to make the world a more peaceful place
April 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
“I Don’t Have Time to Lead”
March 6, 2013 by 12 Comments
I considered it a personal failure when I learned that a client team I’ve been coaching for the last several months has recently been working on deliverables without my knowledge. They haven’t asked for feedback and it hasn’t appeared on any project schedules. Where did I go wrong? In a chat with the product manager, [Keep Reading...]
Hostess treats their customers as badly as they treat their employees
November 18, 2012 by 5 Comments
If you haven’t heard, Hostess is filing for bankruptcy. Hostess Brands, known for making iconic snacks such as Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Hos, is closing its plants, letting go of 18,000 workers, and totally liquidating its assets. A massive union strike and tremendous debt brought them here. But underneath it all, the real reason [Keep Reading...]
The Management Problem
August 29, 2012 by 4 Comments
During lunch on Monday at An Event Apart in Chicago, just after I had presented my talk What’s Your Problem? Putting Purpose Back into Your Projects, I sat with a group of gentlemen who all work on the same team at a large publishing house. They were kindly enthusiastic about my message and said it [Keep Reading...]
On Empathy and Apathy: Two Case Studies
August 21, 2012 by 39 Comments
The suffix -pathy means “feeling” or “suffering” The prefix em- means “within” or “inside” The prefix a- means “not” or “without” By definition, empathy is the opposite of apathy. Empathy is defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another” — within + feeling or inside + suffering. Apathy is defined as [Keep Reading...]
How “When I…” Reasoning Poisons a Team
August 16, 2012 by 9 Comments
Earlier this year I had a client who hired me to redesign the first step in their 3-step process. The page was getting loads of customer complaints and the last three iterations on the design hadn’t helped. As always, I started the project by interviewing key stakeholders: the product manager, the product owner, the head [Keep Reading...]
Designing the Company, Not the Product
August 15, 2012 by 4 Comments
In April, I posted a tweet that became one of my most retweeted of all time. Designing the product is all for naught if you don’t first take the time to design the organization. — Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) April 20, 2012 It was a single statement that was the culmination of 9 months of identity [Keep Reading...]
