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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 workweek. I'm pointing you to articles about the dangers of modeling the economy, generational contact in the workplace, the problem with Starbucks, crisis avoidance at JP Morgan Chase, and innovation.

From the New York Times: Long-Term Capital: It’s a Short-Term Memory
"The Long-Term Capital fiasco momentarily shocked Wall Street out of its complacent trust in financial models and was replete with lessons, but the lessons were ignored."

Wally's Comment: Modeling can be a powerful tool for improving results. But there are dangers. Modeling is dangerous when you depend on the model alone, without applying judgment to your assumptions and data quality and without applying a common sense review to the model's recommendations. Long Term Capital isn't the first or last company to misuse this powerful tool.

From Workforce Management: Survey Reveals Alarming Lack of Generational Workplace Interaction
"It doesn’t necessarily call for mentoring of younger workers by older workers, but rather collaboration on projects in which older and younger workers feel as if they’re both contributing to business goals."

Wally's Comment: It's hard to know people if you don't connect with them. And it's hard to team up with them or manage them if you don't know them.

From Inc: How Hard Could It Be?: Good System, Bad System
"Starbucks' meticulous policy manual shows employees how to optimize profits. Too bad it undercuts basic customer service."

Wally's Comment: Howard Schultz likes to brag about the "experience" at Starbucks. He says it's inspired by a European café. If that's so, it' must be based on a café designed by a profit-crazed mad scientist. Sort of a coffee shop version of Barbarella. This article tells you why it's the way it is.

Starbucks was founded by people who were inspired by the late Alfred Peet. Peet had a very different idea of what a coffee company should be.

From Fortune: How J.P. Morgan steered clear of the credit crunch
"CEO Jamie Dimon and his team took a radical stance when they fled the booming subprime business in 2006."

Wally's Comment: JP Morgan Chase did a great job of staying out of the trouble that other financial institutions dived into. This article tells the story. You can also check out my blog post, Thoughts from Chairman Jamie.

From Forbes: The Game Changer
"Innosight President Scott D. Anthony interviewed Procter & Gamble Chairman and CEO A.G. Lafley as part of a keynote session at the May 2008 PDMA and IIR Front End of Innovation conference in Boston. Lafley, co-author with consultant Ram Charan of The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation (Crown Business Books: April 2008), talked about the 171-year-old company's approaches to innovation success. "

Wally's Comment: Lafley and Charan wrote a great book. This is a great interview. But neither address the fact that there are three different kinds of innovation and we use the same word for all of them, often without specifying what we're talking about.

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.