Social Capital

Every firm requires capital, and there are a number of different kinds. There is what we think of as financial capital, of course, consisting of the monetary and physical investment needed to get a firm going and keep it operating. Then there is human capital, which we generally think of as the skills and abilities […]

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Loose Environments

A stuffy, restrictive environment can really reduce the creative atmosphere in your workplace. Innovation does not always conform to broad, universal policies. Forcing your employees to fit into a box constructed of strict rules and hierarchies can limit their effectiveness, which pretty much negates the whole reason for hiring them in the first place. A […]

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Ain’t No Party Like an Office Party, ‘cuz an Office Party is…Mandatory

The Designing Leaders crew is a fun group. We may be spread all over Asia, but when we get together we have a good time. Having said that, though, we do not always need to be having fun together. There are things I like to do, things that keep me relaxed and help to recharge […]

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Being a Good Bad Guy

I spent a few years as a professor. And sometimes, my students were not happy. A few years ago, I spent a semester teaching as a Fulbright Scholar in Singapore. It was an amazing experience that I still tell stories about to this day, but there was one speed bump: I gave a midterm exam. […]

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Balancing Experience and Motivation

You try to hire great people for your organization, and if you want to grow, then you need people with new ideas that can take you beyond what you have done before. But a lot of these people — especially fresh graduates — will have little experience in your industry, or maybe even very little […]

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