Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog

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.

Follow me on Twitter

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

Find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.

Find out more about Wally's coaching services.

Here are three 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 complexity and failure, Amazon, and the line between exaggeration and lying.

From McCombs Today: Too Complex Not to Fail: UT Professors Analyze the Gulf Oil Spill
"Patzek concludes that given the current work on the BP well blowout, there is nothing in the science and engineering of the tragedy that baffles experts. Rather, the bafflement comes from the complex interaction between the drilling procedures and the vast natural forces involved in the deepwater drilling environment."

Wally's Comment: This is a good review of the hazards of complex operations. You can understand all the parts and still not understand the way they interact.

From Fortune: Jeff Bezos's mission: Compelling small publishers to think big
"Jeff Bezos has been dismissed before. For most of the dot-com boom, he was assumed to be a one-shot wonder, inches away from having his bookstore, Amazon.com, (AMZN) extinguished by Wal-Mart (WMT). Now, with Apple's (AAPL) mad rush into books and readers, people are starting to wonder again. But Bezos, judging by a sit down interview with Fortune last week, isn't sweating."

Wally's Comment: Even though many people think of Amazon as a bookstore, it's really a technology company. When Jeff Bezos was seeking a name for Amazon, he had two criteria. First, it had to be something big. Second, it couldn't restrict the company in any way.

From Wharton: When Do Exaggerations and Misstatements Cross the Line?
"When public figures are caught embellishing their accomplishments or qualifications, whether by exaggeration or misstatement, people everywhere express outrage. Indeed, as more and more politicians, CEOs and other big names these days try to make amends for fudging their resumes, incorrectly relating the details of a story or otherwise playing fast and loose with the facts, the general reaction from an increasingly jaded public is: "What were they thinking?" As it turns out, what they were thinking isn't much different from everyone else. Embellishment is part of human nature, experts say, and almost everyone is guilty of it at one time or another."

Wally's Comment: Yes, "embellishment" and "white lies" are something everyone does. That doesn't make them right. And listing a degree you didn't get on your resume isn't embellishment, it's a lie. So is leaving out a criminal conviction because you think you won't get caught. So, when does embellishment become lying? One thing this article doesn't address is the affect of lying on the liar.

If you enjoy this post, you may want to check back on Wednesday when I select five excellent posts from the week's independent business blogs. Last week I highlighted posts on roller derby lessons, patience, enjoying those around you, influence, and helping new managers transition.  

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.