leadership skills

HUMAN RELATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT | 7 comments

9 Innings with Jeff Angus

BY Michael A. ProsperoWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:09 AM

Baseball metaphors run through business speak as easily as Willie Mays ran down fly balls. But too often, writes consultant and baseball columnist Jeff Angus in Management by Baseball (HarperCollins, May), business fails to live up to the American pastime. Fast Company shared a bleacher with him at a spring-training game of his hometown Seattle Mariners.READ»

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION | 5 comments

A Brief History of Our Time

BY Keith H. HammondsWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:08 AM

Offices in closets and homemade lasagna are just some of the highlights from Fast Company's formative years, as told by founding editors Alan Webber and Bill Taylor, and others who were there at the beginning.READ»

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION | Comment

Fast Talk: What's the Biggest Change Facing Business In the Next 10 Years?

BY Fast Company StaffWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:07 AM

In Fast Company's first decade, we introduced readers to a lot of amazingly smart people. To launch our second, we asked 10 of our favorite brains what's next--and how to get ready for it.READ»

DESIGN IN BUSINESS | Comment

Thinking Like a Designer

BY Bill BreenWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:05 AM

Roger Martin argues that to compete in a design-based economy, companies must become more like design shops.READ»

LEADERSHIP | 2 comments

How Exciting!

BY Paul B. BrownWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:05 AM

Former Excite founder Joe Kraus, who capped off his mid-twenties with one of the biggest tech IPOs of the dotcom era, is hoping to repeat history with his new company, Jotspot. So what's it like to do it all over again at the ripe old age of 33?READ»

INNOVATION | Comment

How IBM Builds New Businesses

BY Alan DeutschmanWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:04 AM

Four ways Big Blue... gets even bigger.READ»

INNOVATION | Comment

Andy Spade on Branding

BY Linda TischlerWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:04 AM

The visionary designer offers lessons from the world of fashion on how to brand your products -- and how to sell your brands.READ»

HUMAN RELATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT | Comment

The Morale of the Story

BY Margaret HeffernanWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:04 AM

Another day, another mountain to climb. Here's how to keep your team's spirits up (even when everything looks so hard).READ»

INNOVATION | Comment

Building a Customer-Centric Brand

BY Ryan UnderwoodWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:04 AM

Jones Soda founder and CEO Peter van Stolk never made it to business school. But shepherding one of today's hottest beverage brands has been an excellent marketing education. Here's what he has learned.READ»

HUMAN RELATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT | Comment

Competing on Culture

BY Jena McGregorWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:04 AM

The CEO of Best Buy expands on Buckingham's vignette -- and how an employee-centric strategy can lead to customer-centric performance.READ»

LEADERSHIP SKILLS | Comment

The Manager as Mystic

BY Paul SaffoWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:04 AM

For the most important management book for the 1990s, try fiction from the 1940s: Hermann Hesse's Nobel Prize-winning novel, The Glass Bead Game.READ»

INNOVATION | 11 comments

The Man Who Said No to Wal-Mart

BY Charles FishmanWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:02 AM

Every year, thousands of executives venture to Bentonville, Arkansas, hoping to get their products onto the shelves of the world's biggest retailer. But Jim Wier wanted Wal-Mart to stop selling his Snapper mowers.READ»

DESIGN IN BUSINESS | Comment

Feedback

BY Fast Company staffWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:02 AM

This month's letters to the editor.READ»

LEADERSHIP | Comment

Fast Talk: Creative to the Core

BY Michael A. ProsperoWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:01 AM

What's it like when your job depends on generating new ideas, inspiring others to do the same, and figuring out how to use the result? Creativity is the essence of business--and the elixir of these five leaders.READ»

LEADERSHIP | 4 comments

Mail Call

BY Paul B. BrownWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:00 AM

Michael Eskew, the up-through-the-ranks CEO of UPS, on what he does for Brown, and what Brown has done for him.READ»

LEADERSHIP | 5 comments

TV Guider

BY Ryan UnderwoodWed Dec 19, 2007 at 8:00 AM

Susan Whiting President and CEO, Nielsen Media Research Nielsen is arguably as famous a name in the history of television as Mary Tyler Moore or Jerry Seinfeld. Now, as traditional programming is being shattered by the rise ...READ»

CUSTOMER SERVICE | 1 comment

High-tech Achiever: Netflix

BY Jena McGregorWed Dec 19, 2007 at 7:59 AM

At Netflix, the secret sauce is software.READ»

LEADERSHIP | Comment

The Frankenleader Fad

BY Marcus BuckinghamWed Dec 19, 2007 at 7:59 AM

At many companies, the effort to build good leaders ends up creating patchwork creatures.READ»

LEADERSHIP | Comment

On Leading and Failing

BY John A. ByrneWed Dec 19, 2007 at 7:59 AM

This month's letter from the editor.READ»

LEADERSHIP | Comment

Fast Talk: Leading Through Limbo

BY Ryan UnderwoodWed Dec 19, 2007 at 7:59 AM

It's a leader's toughest test: urging people forward when their future is in doubt. Here, five leaders talk about trusting your instincts, keeping people informed, and finding strength in your darkest hours.READ»

INNOVATION | Comment