The Duh-Factor
Another lesson not found in a book
Blog
The Pool Hall
This is the first of a series of lessons not found in books A Lesson in Life and Business at the Pool Hall; Or, You Can Learn Good Stuff from Unexpected Places By: Oliver W. Cummings Sometimes, when life seems particularly unpredictable and hard to cope with, it pays to think back to what we…
Planning in a Wicked World
No, this is not a commentary on morality. It’s the beginning of a weekly series on structure and decision making in a world without precedent. If you want to receive the series via email please go to www.mindprep.com and signup for our newsletter. First, some simple explanations. Wicked! Now what? So, what do we know…
A Facilitative Manager – Part 5: Demonstrate what you can’t have too much of: Integrity
By Oliver W. Cummings May 22, 2020 To recap, in addition to a set of fundamental characteristics, (decision-making ability, assertiveness and motivation to achieve, social sensitivity, emotional stability, and appropriate self-reliance and courage levels, for example) the facilitative manager will: Believe, but not too much (covered in Part 1) Care, but not too much (covered…
A Dozen Realities – Updated
When Oliver Cummings and I created the Making Strategy Real workshop for MindPrep Resource Center (www.mindprep.com) we used a dozen “known truth” to guide our design. Now the question is whether these pre-pandemic truths will hold up in a post-pandemic world. Here are some initial thoughts: 2019 2021 The business environment is always evolving. Wow!…
A Middle Managers Guide to Finance
What is Financial Management? Today’s post for A Middle Managers Guide to Finance provides middle managers a quick outline of financial management. And, hopefully, in a manner that is relatively painless. Feel free to comment at the end of the post! I’m going to guess that as a middle manager, you probably await finance reports that signal to you…
12 Things for Middle Managers to Think About in Relation to the Pandemic
By Oliver W. Cummings 1 May 2020 Fundamentally, the act of being a leader involves followers and knowing what to do is not sufficient to inspire followers’ trust; knowing how to go about what you do is what makes for real leadership. And, the “how” is very much tied up in facilitative relationship building. This…
A Facilitative Manager and Covid19
By Oliver W. Cummings 29/04/2020 Bill asked a question in the previous post on the facilitative manager and trust. In essence the question was, “In relation to the pandemic, is trust ‘flipped’ in that we need the workers to trust us more than we need to trust them?” It is an important question. In the…
What It Takes to Be A Facilitative Manager – Part 4: Foster Trust, But Not Too Much
By Oliver W. Cummings 4-17-2020 This post focuses on the fourth of the things beyond using good foundational management skills that the facilitative manager will do. Believe, but not too much Care, but not too much Feel, but not too much Foster trust, but not too much Have something you can’t have too much of:…
