In business and outsourcing the best plan will always fail without the right people that have the ability to implement the plan and see it through. I think about this when I think about Pat Summitt, the legendary coach of the University of Tennessee’s Lady Vols basketball team. You probably know of my connection to […]
outsourcing
Steve Jobs, Wisdom and Outsourcing
It’s safe to say that the late Steve Jobs revolutionized computing along with the business of making, selling and shipping computers. Jobs was the mastermind behind revolutionary technology products just as the technology age we are currently living in got its start. It is almost like the old chicken and egg question because it’s difficult […]
Balancing the Outsource Contract Scales
The old adage that the more things change the more they stay the same probably should be revised when it comes to contract terms: the more things stay the same the worse they get. Tim Cummins, CEO of the International Association for Contract & Commercial Management (IACCM), expressed that thought in a recent Commitment Matters […]
Honesty, Arrogance, Trust and Coldplay
Listening to Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” (song and lyrics here) brings together a number of thoughts about how we deal with ourselves and each other, both in our personal and business relationships. Specifically, I’m thinking about the need for cooperation, self-knowledge and the absolute necessity for honesty. It’s a great song with a great beat […]
A Nobel Laureate Who Says Globalization Needs Fixing
For the most part the economics of outsourcing series has examined the big thinkers in economics who have influenced the development of modern outsourcing. Today I’ll put the focus on Joseph E. Stiglitz, whose work has the power to influence how companies think about globalization. Joseph E. Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, received the […]
The Psychology of Outsourcing, Part 10: Daniel Kahneman – Bridging Economics and Psychology
I’ll close this 10-part series with a bang: a Nobel Laureate in economics who also happens to be a psychologist, Daniel Kahneman. Kahneman, a professor emeritus of Psychology at Princeton University, questioned the assumption of rationality behind the decision-making process and the “cognitive traps” that make it virtually impossible to think clearly about happiness and […]
The Psychology of Outsourcing, Part 9: Daniel Gilbert, Perception and Bias
Business relationships obviously are based on economic assumptions and expectations, but they are also based on the human perceptions and biases we bring to the table. And that’s where we can go wrong. Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard professor of psychology, is a social psychologist who focuses on the nature of perception, belief, forecasting and cognitive biases […]
Psychology of Outsourcing, Part 8: Thomas D. Gilovich, Decisions and Behavioral Economics
Many of the mistakes we make when outsourcing stem from a failure to recognize and account for the psychology that surrounds decision-making. Then businesses compound the problem by using poor judgment when reacting to the results of those decisions. Psychologist Thomas D. Gilovich (born 1954) is a professor of psychology at Cornell University who has researched […]
Psychology of Outsourcing, Part 7: Abraham Maslow and the Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), a founding father of humanistic psychology, has more to do with outsourcing than you might think. He is famous for his breakthrough work on the “hierarchy of needs,” featured in his book: Toward a Psychology of Being. His premise was simple, yet profound: human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and certain lower needs must be satisfied […]
The Psychology of Outsourcing, Part 5: B.F. Skinner and Behavior, Incentives, Consequences
While B.F Skinner’s groundbreaking work on “radical behaviorism” is not quite the same as behavioral economics, they run in same crowd: mainly the conditioning, incentivizing and tracking of certain actions. Skinner, often a controversial and polarizing figure, developed a philosophy of science he called radical behaviorism, and founded his own school of experimental research psychology—the […]
