In his most recent book Les McKeown mentioned that work teams needed to include the three different roles of visionary, operator, and processor. I was struck by this set of definitions and how useful they are. In my own experience of working with teams, it seems that almost everyone values the role of visionary when [...]

The Checklist for Changing the World
Most people think that ideas change the world. That’s not true. Ideas in our head do not create change. Ideas, co-created with others, fueled by the conviction of our hearts to do better, and then manifested in the real world – that is what creates change. We all have innumerable ideas. Some, of course are [...]

3 Books Well Worth-Reading
The Synergist A business book meant for the real-working leader, Les McKeown gives an intuitive model to allow anyone to lead. The notion is that every team needs a blend of visionary, an operator, and a processor. And the often invisible but crucial role that blends all these 3 is a synergist, able to find [...]

Quiet: Understanding & Celebrating Introverts
The last few weeks I’ve been as limp as a lettuce leaf that had stayed a few weeks too long in the fridge. This is not unusual. It is what happens if / when I do back to back events / workshops/ etc. I end up putting so much energy into the world to be [...]

Meetings are SuperTax of Work
We create a huge tax on everything we do when we insist on meeting more, later. Send stuff out that is best read so we don’t have to spend time slowly processing, together. Expect people to do that work on their own. They’ll thank you when they get 50% of their calendar back after you [...]

TED Bookstore Curation
This year, I got asked to co-create the TEDbookstore with fellow TEDsters. I mentioned in an earlier post, it was a bit of a “sophie’s choice” moment because I felt like I could have done another theme and direction and chosen another 10 amazing body of work. There are two threads that unites these. Certainly [...]

Social Means Freedom, For Better or Worse
This is part II of a series on how the social era affects every business model, from how we organize, what we produce, and what we sell. (Part I, the foundational rules of the social era can be found here.) Do let me know what you think.. and especially what you want to see addressed [...]

Without a Clear Vision
Vision is crucial. It is utterly irreplaceable. No amount of execution or financial success can replace vision. Why? Because, vision can lead the creative work of an entire tribe. (Not just of a few people who think about it all the time, but for everyone.) Vision is the art of seeing things invisible, Jonathan Swift [...]

Yahoo’s ShakeUp Demands Fearlessness
Four longtime Yahoo board members, including the chairman, are leaving the company. In this one move, Yahoo is trying to make a clean break from the past — signaling that they are primed to reboot. It’s a much-needed and long-overdue step on the path to shifting trajectories. The Pattern of Failing Organizations Larger organizations follow [...]

What Barack Obama Could Learn from Vivek Wadhwa
Ever since the presidential election of 2008, I’ve been getting progressively mad about something. I got enthralled with an administration that wanted to connect with people in the social era to create change. Perhaps unrealistically, I had this hope it would carry beyond the election cycle. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I thought [...]
About Nilofer…

Nilofer Merchant is a corporate director (NASDAQ: EPAX), TEDx / Keynote speaker, and an inspiring Harvard Business Review columnist.
Read her work and you'll see she's also a bit of a rebel-rouser, wanting to ignite fearless cultures, everywhere.
Where to Meet Up
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And, Who Are You?
August 24, 2011
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What Replaces Marketing
April 4, 2012
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What’s Your ScoreBoard?
September 26, 2011
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Rogues, Misfits Or Heroines?
December 7, 2010
- Is TED Elite? March 6, 2011
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Just How Powerful Are You?
April 30, 2012
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Resilient Organizations & Open Networks
April 23, 2012
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Advice to Writers
April 17, 2012
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The Synergist; Valuing All the Roles
April 16, 2012
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What defines scale?
April 11, 2012
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Michele Tilander: This identifies many of us who know that while oth...
- The dilemma of ‘free’ | Journeys towards Justice: [...] a taste of the amazing: Nilofer Merchant rec...
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Nilofer Merchant: I really like slide 7 because of the full Wizard o...
- Can Women Leaders Truly Succeed In Your Organization? - Carge77.com: [...] chosen professions, regardless of gender, cr...
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Susan: Enjoy your posts. This one struck a chord. The so...
Follow @nilofer on Twitter
- 2 people I listen for re: FB. One is @davidkirkpatric (already tweeted his post) and other is @clarashih: http://t.co/IKuAnJEX 22 hours ago
- Education is dramatically ready for reform. TED_ED overview by @CBM is a nice example of 1 move: http://t.co/dvp81SmR 23 hours ago
- Imagine if you were a cloud or hosting company, you could analyze, provide "data information analysis"? c @jobsworth 1 day ago
- If I were on FB's Board, I'd encourage them to have portfolios be apart of the profile / timeline. 1 day ago
- If I were still a CEO responsible for figuring out what's next, I'd go to this workshop by @lesmckeown http://t.co/M2FTFXAk 1 day ago






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