On May 15, McKinsey & Company published an article, “Reimagining the post-pandemic organization.” Widely regarded as a global thought leader, and somewhat guiding light for consulting firms in general, many organizations eagerly waited for a strategic announcement from them regarding what to do next. About a month earlier, on April 17, Psynet Group discussed its … Read More
The Order of Change
Psynet Group is often brought into a company to help change it so that it can improve performance or address new opportunities and challenges. What becomes crucial in our work together is to understand if the need is to improve the mechanism to express the company’s current identity (first order change) or to align the … Read More
Can Smaller Recruiting Firms Compete?
Larger recruiting firms have pivoted away from a primary focus on staffing Heidrick and Struggles announced in their April 28th press release that they had matched their record 2019 revenue targets. They did this not by maintaining their search revenue, but through a 20% increase in consulting revenue. This follows the trend towards offering solutions … Read More
Death of a Salesman? I Sure Hope Not
In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, the main character Willy Loman struggles to understand who he is in a new society and reality. He is a 63-year-old salesman who just lost his job and quite frankly, doesn’t know who he is anymore. Sales were his life, all he ever knew, actually. So when … Read More
How People Are Reacting to Fear of Job Loss – What Leaders Should Do
New research from Glassdoor published by HR Grapevine found that over half (53%) of employees are afraid of losing their jobs in the near future due to Covid-19. According to the research, 56% would rather take a lower salary, 68% would rather forgo a pay rise, and 71% would rather skip a bonus compared to … Read More
Forget the New Normal, Understand Your Organization’s Systemic Connections Instead
When Andrew Winston spoke about COVID-19, Climate, and the Clean Economy during his MIT Sloan webinar last week, his intention was to provide “observations on this moment and what business and people should potentially be thinking about.” Observably, the world is changing. At the same time, collective businesses and individual leaders across the country are … Read More
2020 (And the Death of Organizational Goal Setting)
Believe it or not, there was a time when the economy was predictable. Now it’s more of a distant relic than a familiar memory. Market crashes and corrections were the exception at the time, while repetition of tried-and-true business theories were the norm (think Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule). As a result, strategic planning became … Read More
Reframing the 2020 Black Swan Event to Create New Opportunities
RELAX, REFLECT, RETHINK As I write this, my team is sheltered in place, but how we choose to spend this time could be a game changer for me personally and for our firm. Using this time to Relax, Reflect, Rethink may be the gift of this Black Swan occurrence, in spite of its gravity. Very … Read More
The Role of Emotions and System Thinking in Crisis-Based Decisions
As I looked at the empty streets of New York on my way to an almost deserted airport, the gravity of the current pandemic was not lost on me. The anxiety and sadness is palpable. Every decision made by our government, our clients, and our friends seem to happen within the context of tremendous emotion. … Read More