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Here are five choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms to start off your work week. I'm pointing you to articles about the best companies for leadership, big opportunities and big risks, working from the outside in, good supervision, and Xerox' new CEO.

From the Hay Group: Bloomberg BusinessWeek.com/Hay Group Study Identifies Best Companies for Leadership
"Hay Group, a global management consulting firm, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek.com released today the Best Companies for Leadership Study and Top 20 list. For the first time, Bloomberg BusinessWeek.com partnered with Hay Group on its annual study, which ranks the best companies for leadership and examines how those companies develop leaders. General Electric ranked as the top company for leadership, followed by Southwest Airlines, 3M Company, Procter & Gamble and Accenture. "

Wally's Comment: This study comes out every year. Up until this year, the Hay Group partnered with Chief Executive Magazine. This year, it's Bloomberg. There doesn't seem to be much difference.

The rankings change a lot from year to year. That's OK because the real value here is what you can learn about key issues and ideas. Mine this for ideas for your company's leadership development and for putting together your own leadership development plan.

From the Toronto Globe and Mail: A slipup on the oval shatters Olympic debut
"For a family-owned ice equipment manufacturer from small-town Ontario, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games were supposed to be an opportunity to get its name out on the global stage, and escape the long shadow of its better-known competitor. Instead, the Games have turned into a very public embarrassment for Elmira, Ont.'s Resurfice Corp. - and an unexpected break for its U.S.-based nemesis, Frank J. Zamboni & Co. Inc."

Wally's Comment: This article provides a reminder that great opportunities can also present great risks if you don't perform.

From HBS Working Knowledge: The Outside-In Approach to Customer Service
"Times are tough for many businesses, yet some are holding their own, even thriving. Best Buy, Cisco, Target, Starbucks, and Jones Lang LaSalle come to mind. How do they do it? According to a new book by Harvard Business School's Ranjay Gulati, it is customer-centric firms—those with a so-called outside-in perspective—that are most resilient during turbulent markets."

Wally's Comment: Outside-in isn't just for marketing. It's a good way to think about leadership or even web site design.

From Wharton: Putting a Face to a Name: The Art of Motivating Employees
"Could a simple five-minute interaction with another person dramatically increase your weekly productivity?"

Wally's Comment: This article is about a formal academic study that reinforces what every great boss knows: if you pay attention to your people, have conversations with them, and treat them like human beings instead of units of production, you have a shot at creating a high performing workplace. That's the kind of workplace where the magic of intrinsic rewards can happen.

From the NY Times: Xerox’s New Chief Tries to Redefine Its Culture
"HUNDREDS of Xerox sales reps have flown here from around the country for an annual pump-up-the-troops meeting. The main attraction during a marathon day is a face both familiar and new: Ursula Burns. She’s an old friend to many of them, and there are plenty of hugs to go around for the people she’s grown up with during her 30 years at the company. But there is also a new distance, a new curiosity about what she will do, given that she is no longer just Ursula. She is Ursula M. Burns, the C.E.O. And even though she became chief executive in July, taking the baton from Anne M. Mulcahy, she has been keeping a low profile, spending months working on the details of a huge Xerox bet, the $6.4 billion acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services, an outsourcing company."

Wally's Comment: The CEO succession from Anne Mulcahy to Ursula Burns has gotten a lot of coverage based on gender. Yes, it's true that Ms Burns is now one of the few women CEOs of very large, public companies. And yes, it's also true that this is the first time at a large corporation when the CEO post passed from one woman to another.

But there's another important story here. This story is as good example as you will find of how a company needs different kinds of CEOs at different stages of life.

When Mulcahy took over at Xerox, pretty much everything was awful. The business model was broken and the company was drowning in debt. Xerox needed a turnaround.

But it seemed like no one had any confidence in Mulcahy. The day her appointment was announced, the stock value fell 15 percent. When she told her top executives that they should leave if they didn't have complete confidence in her, four of them headed for the door. And five months later, when she announced her turnaround plan, the stock fell another 60 percent.

Mulcahy brought Xerox back from its near-death experience. But now it's time for something else. That's Ursula Burns' challenge.

As you read this piece and others about Xerox, keep that in mind. Xerox doesn't need and didn't choose an Ann Mulcahy clone. Vive la difference.

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.