The Blog of Mark Herbert

While we all see, read, and scan countless blog posts on a daily basis, how many stand out? And why does a certain post stand out? Recently, I read an excellent post on Google Plus (link provided at the end of this post), and not only the title but the message have remained with me. The question posed by the post was, should we banish the word “boss” from our business vocabulary? There are so...  Read More

Every once in a while you read an article or see a post that makes you say “did someone really say that out loud or put that in print?” That was my reaction when I read an article quoting the CEO of the American Management Association regarding a survey of American corporate leaders that concluded that U.S. workers just don’t have what it takes. They specifically focused on areas like...  Read More

The Wrong Paradigm Over the last week or so I have seen three different discussions from colleagues that I really respect that cause me to believe that much of our society and especially the business sector are still chasing what I fervently believe to be the wrong paradigm. In the first instance a colleague posed the question of whether or not an organization should focus on its ...  Read More

As I have indicated before, I like using analogies both for my own edification and as an illustration point for others in explaining a concept. I often may be the only one that sees the connection, but I hope not. The Broken Road, performed here by Rascal Flats - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-vZlrBYLSU&feature=fvsr , - is a song I first heard back in the late 90’s. It really struck me then...  Read More

A number of years ago I had an opportunity to attend a demonstration by a man named Monty Roberts, who was the primary proponent of a new methodology of training horses. Although Monty is reasonably well known in horse circles, a more common vehicle for the average person to connect with him is that the character played by Robert Redford in the movie The Horse Whisperer was based on Roberts...  Read More

I admit it - I read a lot. I find myself very curious about many things, not the least of which are the viewpoints of other people. Since I wrote my last post things have been pretty crazy. I am working with a client to help build a bridge between philanthropy and businesses as one part of a new model to address some of our issues around the management of health and the delivery of health care. ...  Read More

Called to Serve Modeling and embodying the culture you want is perhaps the most important duty of a healthcare leader today. I read this comment from an editorial in the most recent edition of Healthcare Executive and immediately two reactions came to my mind- First, wow that is right on. Given the state of dysfunction in health care delivery in the United States that is a...  Read More

Meaningful Change I had an opportunity today to spend some time with a pretty powerful group of people from the KeyChange Institute, www.keychangenow.com I am very proud to be associated with this group and the important work that they are doing. If you look at the situation we face today it is or should be apparent that a lot of our tried and true solutions are failing us. As I have...  Read More

I can’t think of too many topics that have gathered more print and air time than the topic of leadership and what it represents. Some of the scenarios I have seen played out this week cause me to do once again what I find myself doing frequently -- pausing and contemplating. As I watch the drama play out relative to the debt ceiling, I wonder if either side is really demonstrating any...  Read More

We have all seen it happen. Wear a tie tomorrow you are the new manager. A recent survey by a Philadelphia based consulting group indicated that 40% of new managers fail in their first 18 months by getting fired, bowing out of the position, or receiving a bad review. The same survey cited a survey of 825 human resource managers as identifying the number one issue for new managers is failing to...  Read More

Perhaps a site that deals with green building seems an odd place to discuss the management of health and health care, but I have always found this site and its readers to take a broad view. The costs of delivering healthcare in this country is devouring an increasing quantity of our GDP or gross domestic product- Health care spending is estimated to have consumed 12% of GDP in 2010 and unless...  Read More

Connecting the “Dots” Part 1 I had the opportunity the other day to have a conversation with a colleague I deeply respect. He has been a “social engineer” or change agent for several decades now having worked with major organizations to implement meaningful and sustained change across organizations including Saturn, General Motors, The Covey Institute and others. The focus of our...  Read More

Aligning Contribution I had a chance to look at two different blog posts this morning that both helped me crystallize my own thinking a little bit. The first one was a post by my respected colleague David Shedd about the issues with most sales coaching. At its most basic it talked about how the coaching in most organizations is focused on two groups- the top 10% and the bottom 10%. The...  Read More

Thinking – and Remembering Today is an interesting day. It is the day when we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I am old enough to remember his assassination. I also remember, but in all honesty only vaguely at the time his great “I have a dream speech”. As someone who has grown up to be an ardent admirer of words and their ability to compel and inspire I still consider it one of the great...  Read More

Rewarding the Wrong Behavior By Mark F. Herbert I was reading an interesting article by Jeffrey Pfeffer, the renowned Stanford business professor and author, on why we don’t learn as it relates to the current financial crisis. He was talking about CEO strategies over the years and how they got us in this mess this time and previous times. Pfeffer focuses on three primary issues: ...  Read More