Carl Rogers was a giant in the field of psychology, perhaps the most influential psychologist in American history, with groundbreaking contributions in education, counseling, psychotherapy, peace and conflict resolution. A founder of “humanistic psychology,” his research and experiential work focused on demonstrating the psychological conditions for allowing “self-actualization” through open communication and empowering individuals to […]
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Psychology of Outsourcing, Part 2: Eric Berne and the Games People—and Companies!—Play
Last time I kicked-off what I think will be an enlightening series on the “psychology of outsourcing” based on the work of modern psychological thinkers and how their theories and analyses—which mainly apply to personal and social interactions—also contain definite lessons for the business world. More than 50 years ago Eric Berne’s classic and powerful […]
Looking Back to Go Forward
I’ve been thinking lately about the psychology of outsourcing, even more so after reading Art Markman‘s recent article in his Harvard Review blog. In fact, it made me reflect on many other “Big Thinkers” in the field of psychology and how their pioneering work can improve how companies craft and manage outsourcing deals. With that in mind, it’s […]
Keep the Core Competency at Home
Job No. 1 when it comes to outsourcing is never to outsource a core competency. I was reminded of this essential fact recently when I read a TechRepublic news story about GE’s huge investment to build a state of the art “green” data center on the same site in where the world’s first commercial computer […]
Business Happens—Embrace It!
Business happening is making headlines with HP. The computer and IT giant’s share price has plummeted after announcing it would exit the PC and tablet computer business. The company’s rationale: Ability to improve focus on higher-margin cloud and business software solutions “with an emphasis on enterprise, commercial and government markets.” Exiting the PC market is […]
Beware the Scope Nazi!
Flexibility and insight when it comes to statements of work and workscope changes—and the dreaded “scope-creep!”—is necessary when crafting a properly governed and collaborative Vested Outsourcing agreement. This was brought home to me recently by Jack Everett, president – CEO at Triad Logistics Partners, LLC, who related the story of how he became known as […]
Learning How Not to Compete
From a very young age we’re taught about the virtues of competition, about how competing ferociously in every aspect of life leads to success and winning. From Ayn Rand we learn about the “virtue of selfishness,” a hallmark of the all-out egotistical, competitive spirit that was on display to the Nth degree in the recent […]
Tweaking the Kraljic Model
More than 25 years ago Peter Kraljic published his seminal “portfolio purchasing model,” which has been both a widely critiqued and widely accepted method for assessing procurement demand, risk and profit factors for supply chains. The model distinguishes among four product categories: leverage items, strategic items, noncritical items, and bottleneck items. My take on the […]
Dilbert Nails the Activity Trap
Monday’s Dilbert cartoon has a pitch-perfect take on one of the common problems that occur in outsourcing agreements, something that I call the Activity Trap. “I don’t want you to be more efficient. You’re working on a government contract and billing by the hour.” That in a nutshell is the Activity Trap. But it’s […]
Does Sheen Give “Winning” a Bad Name?
Yesterday I was working with a client to develop a workshop they have asked me to facilitate in order to help them turn their existing relationship into a high gear, highly collaborative Vested relationship. I came up with a title for the workshop that included the word “winning.” My client asked me to take out […]
