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Decision making in organizations tends to be somewhat amorphous. Great organizations have a system and culture of decision making that most people are aware of, even though they probably will not be able to articulate it clearly. On the other hand, it is not unusual to find that decision making is most clearly defined in organizations that are truly autocratic in nature. Decision making may seem clear-cut and simple and fast in these organizations, but the decisions made may not be the best ones. And if they are not, this can eventually affect the credibility of the leader while leading to loss of morale among employees.

My last couple of posts discussed being prepared for whatever life might throw your way. One key area is relationship building. The second exercise that will always be an advantage is regularly dusting off your skills. Think about skills that you might have that you have not been utilizing and see how you can apply these. Think through your resume, think through jobs you have held in the past, and you may surprise yourself by realizing that you are far more capable than you had thought. Keep honing all the skills you possess—this will both help you progress in your current occupation and help you find something new should the necessity arise. Imagine going for a job interview, being as...

In my job, I need to travel a fair amount, visiting Kenexa’s offices across the globe and meeting clients. In 2007, I must have made at least 25 international trips and about 40-45 within the US. I have just now returned from a two-week trip outside the US, during which I had occasion to visit a few different countries. During all of the air travel this entailed, I made some observations that I would like to share. Either one interesting fact that I noticed was that none of my flights outside the US was ever more than about 15 minutes late while taking off or reaching the destination. In fact, there were times we actually arrived ahead of time. The US domicile flights, on the other han...

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is the number of people that make New Year resolutions, and how many of these resolutions never make it past the month of January. Over the last couple of days, I asked over 10 people I know where they stood with respect to resolutions I knew they had made on New Year’s Day. All of them admitted that their resolutions had already fallen by the wayside. This, barely a month after the resolution was made. I believe the primary explanation for this is that the reason for making the resolution is artificial. “I am going to lose weight.” "I promise to drink less.” These goals (for what are resolutions but goals you wish...

In my last post I spoke about relationships and how we try to assess their strength. Business relationships need a different type of yardstick than personal ones. In the world of business, relationships tend to be a temporary meeting of minds where both sides benefit from the arrangement that they have. These relationships occasionally develop into good friendship, but most often tend to last only as long as they offer mutual benefit. As people communicate more and more through electronic media or the telephone, the personal touch is being lost—and nothing can beat the power of meeting in person. It is only through face-to-face meetings that individuals can get close to one another and...

Corporations can tackle this at various levels, the foremost requirement being the raising of levels of expectations from employees. They can also deliver on quality by setting high quality standards in all their processes. The organization should recognize and select the right people, screening out individuals who display a likelihood of having a casual attitude toward work. Behavioral assessment tools are available to identify the people for whom nothing but the best is good enough, and corporations should use these during their hiring process. Within th organization, eradicating the casual attitude should be prioritized as part of a well-orchestrated imperative for greater productiv...

While I did the research, I realized that most of the members had followed a typical path of having tremendous credentials either as highly successful actuaries, or in the roles of chief actuaries in large insurance companies or corresponding employers of actuaries, or they had a strong publication or public face. I had none of these. How could I overcome this problem? I reflected a while and realized that the Society was taking a stance that its education and evaluation had been highly focused on the hard attributes associated with actuarial science, whether it’s statistical science or life contingencies or risk theory, or the like. I have a fundamental belief that as globalization ...

And so, the process began. I first learned that 37 people had been invited to participate in the initial round. This consisted of filling out a questionnaire, after which 24 people would be selected based on their responses to go on to the next round. This first round involves absolutely no conversation, but simply an exchange of details. The questions asked were rather interesting. My view of the SOA was that it’s a very, very hard scientific organization and that all they would ask of me would be my accomplishments, my “hard skills”, and the specific skills that I could bring to the Board of Governors. But in actuality, some of the questions were about strategy, about gov...

In my last post, I spoke about leadership skills unique to every person. While talking about abdication of one’s unique skills, it crossed my mind that there is another aspect to abdication and leadership. When you are a leader of any kind and in any position, you have an obligation to fulfill all the requirements that go with that position. For example, say you’re a famous sports star—you need to follow a certain way of life or uphold certain values simply because you are in a position where many people look up to or are influenced by you. You cannot abdicate this. Similarly, a successful and respected business leader is the one who has the skills but also “walks the...

I truly believe that every human is born a leader. At birth, a baby has the ability to lead by communicating its needs, such as needing to be fed or changed, and having these needs fulfilled by its parents. Essentially, at this stage, both the baby and parents are clueless about what to do, but the baby instinctively leads the way, and the parents follow. Thus, in this situation, the baby is clearly the leader. And when every human being has been born a leader, no-one should later think they are failures or have-nots. Everyone is born with unique leadership skills that can be harnessed and developed, and everyone must realize this fact. Whether these talents enable us to become renowne...