The Goal Of Winning Is Not Losing

In The Most Innovative Companies There Is A Significantly Higher Volume Of Thank Yous Than In Companies Of Low Innovation.

What Being Among The 'right People' Entails Is The Possession Of Human Capital, Rather Than Organizational Capital: An Individual Reputation, Portable Skills, And Network Connections. Career Responsibility Is Squarely In The Hands Of Individuals, A Function Of Their Knowledge And Networks. Transferable Knowledge Is More Important To A Career Than Firm-specific Knowledge.

John Akers Once Said That Changing Ibm's Culture Was More Difficult Than Getting Elephants To Dance. Of Course It's Really Difficult, As Lou Gerstner Also Found Out Years Later. The Title Of His Own Book Is Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? He And His Top Executives Were Change Masters At Ibm. All Organizations, Especially The Larger Ones, Will Always Need Change Masters. Dissatisfaction With The Status Quo And Efforts To Improve It Should Be Encouraged Rather Than Discouraged. Regrettably, That Is Often Not The Case.

Power Stems From 'rainmaking,' As Law Firms Put It: The Ability To Bring Resources Into The Company.

Not Everyone In An Organization Is In A Position To Accumulate Power Through Competent Performance Because Most People Are Just Carrying Out The Ordinary And The Expected - Even If They Do It Very Well. The Extent To Which A Job Is Routinized Fails To Give An Advantage To Anyone Doing It Because 'success' Is Seen As Inherent In The Very Establishment Of The Position And The Organization Surrounding It. Neither Persons Nor Organizations Get 'credit' For Doing The Mandatory Or The Expected.