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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 Glock, Google, self-control (or not), Big Brother, and really using your brain in management.

From Business Week: Glock's Secret Path to Profits
"It's the largest supplier of handguns to law enforcement in the U.S. But behind its success lies a troubling tale of business intrigue."

Wally's Comments: Glock handguns are the weapons of choice for many police officers, police departments, and private citizens. When I started working with police agencies, no one carried anything but revolvers. Today most officers carry automatics and many carry Glocks. The Glock is a superior product, but the success of the company comes from more than that.

From Knowledge @ Wharton: Google Everywhere: As the Search Giant Grows, How Much Is Too Much?
"Imagine text messaging on your iPhone and instead of using Apple's familiar, intuitive interface, up pops an alternate interface designed by Google. That scenario is what Apple seemingly wanted to prevent when it refused to approve Google Voice -- an application that provides integrated telephony and voice mail management -- for distribution through its online App Store."

Wally's Comments: There's always one company that seems invincible, set to grow forever, immune to the laws of nature and economics. From A & P, through General Motors, from Bethlehem Steel, ITT and IBM through Wal-Mart and Yahoo, we've always been worried about one company or another that was just "too big." So, what do you think, should we worry about Google?

From Kellogg Insight: Beware the Siren’s Song
"Homer wrote of Odysseus that he was so worried about the allure of the siren’s song, he put wax in his shipmates’ ears and had himself tied to his ship’s mast. Unlike that hero of mythology, though, most people overestimate their capacity to control their impulses, according to Loran Nordgren (Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management). Furthermore, he says, erroneous beliefs about one’s capacity for exercising restraint can lead to maladaptive self-control strategies."

Wally's Comments: I remember my parents telling me about the importance of willpower, self-control and resisting temptation. It sounded so good in theory and turned out to be very, very hard to actually do. After reading this article, I know it isn't just me. Most of us have an inflated idea of how good we are at resisting temptation. That has implications for our work. It suggests that the most effective strategy might be what my Roman Catholic friends call avoiding "occasions of sin."

From the Economist: Big Brother bosses
"Companies have long kept a close eye on employees to maintain productivity and guard against theft. But the economic downturn has prompted some to redouble their efforts—and advances in technology have given them the means."

Wally's Comments: George Orwell coined the phrase "Big Brother" in his novel 1984, along with a few other favorites like "Thought Police." For Orwell, the Big Brother was the state that watched your every move and knew everything about you. Today, it seems, some employers want to be Big Brother,and they've got just the technology to do it. It's every bit as bad an idea now as it was in 1984 or in 1949, when Orwell wrote his classic.

From Strategy + Business: Managing with the Brain in Mind
"Although a job is often regarded as a purely economic transaction, in which people exchange their labor for financial compensation, the brain experiences the workplace first and foremost as a social system."

Wally's Comments: If you want to learn about neuroscience and how we can apply some of the fascinating new findings in the workplace it's like that mythological choice between Scylla and Charybdis. On one side are the charlatans and the writers who prove to you that Alexander Pope was right, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. On the other there are writers with deep knowledge and a writing style designed to mask it. David Rock seems to sail neatly between the two monsters. He offers us solid and helpful stuff and writes so we understand it.

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.