Author Archives: Scot

Support needed from above, below and horizontally

I’ve recently started a management support / study group here at Gemini. We’ve only met once, so we’ll see how it goes, but while thinking about it, I realized that the best institutions probably provide three levels of support for … Continue reading

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What are you really concerned about here?

I learned this particularly powerful combination of words from one of my (few) regular commenters here, Andy Flach. I might generalize them slightly, though to “What are you concerned about?” If managers used these words more often, they’d make their … Continue reading

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There’s more to getting input than just getting input

It’s funny, I’m starting to feel a bit like Scott Adams, I mean beyond sharing part of a first name. About the time I start wondering what I should next write about and figuring I might finally have to go … Continue reading

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Only you can prevent needless fires!

A colleague sent me a link to a John Hersey blog post about the role of a leader. He argues an effective leader is not one who can come in and solve problems single-handedly, leaving people wondering how this miraculous … Continue reading

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Learn from your mistakes

I was recently sitting in on an oversight meeting of Gemini management.  Most of the meeting was spent in executive (ie. private) sessions, but during one of the two public sessions, one main topic was to explore how and what … Continue reading

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The CEO of the Container Store on the vital nature of open communications.

A colleague sent me a link to an interview with Kip Tindell, Chief Executive of the Container Store. In the interview, Kip describes how important it is to his company to have a policy of full disclosure, open communications, and … Continue reading

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The never-ending battle between big and small science in astronomy

When you hear the thundering herd behind you, it’s time to move on to a new field. That’s advice I often heard from my graduate advisers. While you might call this a “small science” mindset, they went on to found … Continue reading

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Don’t demotivate. Communicate!

Let your people know what’s going on as soon as possible and ask your people what you should know that you may not. Continue reading

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