Happy New Year to All!

Thanks for all of the support and feedback on the $2 Verizon convenience fee post.  In what turns out to be one of the quickest turnarounds in history, Verizon pulled the plug on the initiative the same day that consumers went into an uproar about it.  So the good news is that we will not have to pay the fee.  The other good news is that Verizon listened to their customers.  The bad news…when will corporate America begin to understand the impact of social media and the power of the community.  An awesome example of unprecedented feedback and impact 🙂

Lots of great stuff written over the last week or so.  One article in particular that caught my attention was “The 7 Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives”.  Sydney Finkelstein, the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, published “Why Smart Executives Fail” 8 years ago.  He has now gone one better.  It turns out that the senior executives at the companies all had 7 Habits in common.  Finkelstein calls them the Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives.

Here are the 7 Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives:

• They see themselves and their companies as dominating their environment
• They identify so completely with the company that there is no clear boundary between their personal interests and their corporation’s interests
• They think they have all the answers
• They ruthlessly eliminate anyone who isn’t completely behind them
• They are consummate spokespersons, obsessed with the company image
• They underestimate obstacles
• They stubbornly rely on what worked for them in the past

If you are leading an organization today, do you exhibit any of these traits?  If so, you run the risk of failure.  Take a look in the mirror and ask yourself the questions.  You worked hard to get to the top.  Take a look around and ask how you will keep yourself and your company on top.

For employees, assess the abilities of your company’s leadership.  Do they exhibit any of these traits?  If so, you might want to ask yourself if you can possibly be as successful as you want under these circumstances?  Is this the right place for you to thrive and accomplish your goals?

Food for thought.

Full article can be found at – http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=1020780733&ids=0UdzoPd34Ocz0Nb3wPdzoVcP4Oc34Ie3oNc3gOcj8MciMRc3AVdzkMcz0Nb3gNe34Mcz0Oc34Id30QdjkVd34MciMPcPsMe3sMcz0N&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod2-b-ttl-0&ut=3x7ISpBXPO8R41

Let me know your current situation and what you think about this blog.

Webman