“Success is not a firework” is the title of my last article, soon to appear at the next newsletter of Secret Key, our training partners in Athens and Bucharest. During my 20 years as a retail expert and consultant with STIRIXIS Group, I have seen a number of companies rise and fall, all too fast. So I know […]
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A lot has been said and written on the Greek Financial / Debt crisis. Most of it focuses on parts of the problem, thus preventing us to see the big picture and provide a functional and effective solution. During an video interview with the Financial Times, part of which you can see here, I noted a […]
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Two great events and a workshop were organized last week by CEO Clubs Greece and CEO Clubs Romania. The topic was Leadership Agility, a more than “hot” topic in times of chaotic change. Keynote Speaker was Bill Joiner of ChangeWise. Bill is a seasoned leadership expert and organizational change consultant, with 30 years of experience completing successful […]
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Recent elections, the latest in France, Germany and Greece, prove once again the defeat of analytical thinking. Amid one of probably the worst financial crisis in Europe, and probably way before its end, the solutions that are laid on the table are purely financial – if not on an superficial accounting level. Austerity, taxes without […]
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Recently I visited the new offices of Microsoft in Greece. The building was totally renovated as a major change had taken place; working space was reduced and meeting rooms were increased. This was based on tele-working that allows personnel to work remotely and get together at the offices only for meetings and client presentations. Although […]
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Most of the time, when people in Greece discuss the current situation, how we “lost the game” and got here, we tend to hear a variety of views. They range from international conspiracies to bureaucratic dysfunctional mechanisms, from corrupt politicians and public servants to inefficiencies in the general workforce and, lately, a variety of views […]
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There is a fascinating example from nature that I use in my public presentations to show the importance of creating the right kind of bonds between members of an organization; it is that of the difference between graphite and diamonds. These two minerals are chemically identical, made of exactly the same carbon atoms. It is […]
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I must admit I really enjoy the use of the verb “communicate” in Modern Greek slang as a “certification of sanity.” “Epikinonis? (do you…communicate?),” my daughters ask me every time I say something that sounds crazy to them … and they couldn’t be more accurate. This “certification of sanity” necessitates three important prerequisites. First, it […]
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There is a little treasure of knowledge hidden in a very small phrase that comes more and more often to my mind these days… I would like to share it with you. In 1956, W. Ross Ashby, an English psychiatrist and a pioneer in cybernetics, stated that “only variety can destroy variety”, meaning that if […]
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