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The Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training.

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Here are five choice articles from the business press to start off your work week. I'm pointing you to articles about multinationals, risk taking in the US, Europe and elsewhere, innovation, Pepsi and Indra Nooyi, and making big money in sports.

Last week's newsletter was "The Bear Bryant Rule." As usual there were pointers to Web and Reading Resources, too.

From Business Week: Multinationals: Are They Good for America?
"The big multinationals are the go-to guys right now: They've got plenty of cash and soaring profits from overseas operations. They're highly productive and innovative, more so than domestic companies. And unlike consumers, banks, and smaller companies, the multinationals aren't constrained by the credit crunch. "

Wally's Comment: This article is by Michael Mandel, the Business Week economist. He always manages to find a way to turn over an interesting rock in the field of data and write articles with interesting insights. This article is no exception.

From the Economist: A hazardous comparison
"Americans like the idea (though not always the reality) of risk more than comfortable Europeans do. To Russians, both lots seem hyper-cautious wimps"

Wally's Comment: A fascinating look at the character of regions and nations when it comes to business risk.

From Industry Week: Finding The Next Big Thing
"Management's most crucial investments for factories of the future won't be the hardware or the software, but in the understanding of how new technologies provide new options for powering business success."

Wally's Comment: Creativity is coming up with good ideas. Innovation is dressing them up in work clothes. This is an excellent article about the latter. Many companies mistake creative churn for innovation. Others spend time looking for the blockbuster, game-changing disruptive, innovation and let processes decay. This is a must-read if you want true innovation and improvement whether you're a manufacturing company or not.

From Fortune: The Pepsi challenge
"Indra Nooyi is an entirely different kind of CEO, a product of her native India as well as of PepsiCo's family-values approach to grooming CEOs. She is not hung up on pay. She's not shy about asking for help when she needs it. She's 52 years old and does not plan for this job to be her last. "

Wally's Comment: PepsiCo was developing leaders that other companies wanted when I started in business forty years ago. Indra Nooyi is a good example of their values and international reach. She's also an excellent example of how to be yourself and lead effectively.

From the New York Times: Big-time Losers
"Why does the Bad Owner seem so impervious to it all? Actually, there is a reason, a very good one. To own a franchise in any of the three major sports — football, baseball or basketball — is to enter a club in which it is nearly impossible to come away a financial loser. If you doubt me, direct your gaze toward Los Angeles, where the granddaddy of Bad Owners has presided over one franchise for nearly three decades. I mean, of course, Donald T. Sterling."

Wally's Comment: Joe Nocera explains that there may be good business reasons for being the ineffective owner of an awful team. As usual, he makes his case with savvy insight.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.

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Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.

Click here to find out more about Wally's coaching services.

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check our Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Letter.

Click here to find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.