Posts Tagged ‘Mary T. O'Sullivan’
The Games People Play
By Mary T. O’Sullivan, MSOL “The eternal problem of the human being is how to structure his waking hours” – Eric Berne, author of Games People Play. Nancy is a bright, young, harried mother of two young children, married, and an unpublished author. She has a PhD., and is currently a lecturer at a university.…
Read MoreDeath by Meetings – Monday Business Focus
By Mary T. O’Sullivan, MSOL “The hard truth is, bad meetings almost always lead to bad decisions, which is the best recipe for mediocrity.” Patrick Lencioni, from his book. Death by Meetings During my 30-year corporate career, I often led meetings, reviews, strategy sessions, team meetings, etc. In the rather undisciplined work culture I came…
Read MoreEthics Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
By Mary T. O’Sullivan, MSOL “Relativity applies to physics, not ethics” – Einstein Starting a new job in a large organization, it didn’t take long to realize that a wide disparity between personal and organizational ethics existed. With some new, dramatic organizational changes, the ethical behavior acceptable to management, deteriorated. In particular, the treatment of…
Read MoreCorporate Soap Opera – Drama in the Workplace
By Mary T. O’Sullivan, MSOL Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. – Plato Several years ago, while at a training session, a colleague alerted me that in a conversation with our boss, he was told that management had “other plans” for me. This news did…
Read MoreThe Impact of Ethics & Moral Development in Leadership
By Mary T. O’Sullivan In John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Satan rises up to claim Hell as his own domain and delivers a rousing speech to his followers (“Better to reign in Hell, than serve in heaven”). When Dr. Plicky first appears in Cheaters, he is posing a probing question regarding Satan’s speech: “What does Satan…
Read MoreCover Your Flanks – when you talk to your boss’s boss…
By Mary T. O’Sullivan “The control of information is something the elite always does, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people.” – Tom Clancy The people with whom you communicate in any organization often signifies the level of information you will be…
Read MorePonderings of a Corporate Refugee
Life Aboard Corporation X By Mary T. O’Sullivan, MSOL After 13 years of employment at Corporation X, I found that I was still asking questions about the status of company’s culture. Why is the atmosphere so different in this company than others in which I have worked? Why do people expect things to happen without…
Read MoreLeadership Trait # 6 – Ability to Make Tough Calls, Regardless of the Situation
By Mary T. O’Sullivan, MSOL “Leaders have edge – the ability to make tough calls, to say yes or no, not maybe.” Jack Welch Leaders lead with the organization’s mission, vision, values and goals in mind. Every person connected to the organization must be aligned with those standards, or the organization can’t move ahead. So,…
Read MoreSell Yourself to Make Success Happen
By Mary T. O’Sullivan, MSOL “Find the Prophet. This is the person whom you will influence to make your vision a reality.”- Lawrence of Arabia Way back in the early 2000s, a new manager was assigned a major ($1.8M) renovation of a specialized facility; the company wanted to build a new Business Development Center. She…
Read More