Walt’s Once and Future Plan….The Only Finite Resource….Ten Mojo Crushing HR Policies….Happiness: The Data are In!….Econ Recon: Let’s Try That One Again, and A Wintry Mix

“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”

 Voltaire
1694-1778
French Philosopher, Playwright and Essayist

Walt’s Once and Future Plan

Case in point: Disney. 2016 will mark the 50^th anniversary of Walt Disney’s passing (that makes a boomer feel old!). After his death, several CEOs tried various departures from Disney’s original vision. In recent years, the company has returned to its roots of focusing on great content in general, and superb storytelling in particular. Walt not only intended content and storytelling to be the core competency of the company, he envisioned a business model that in turn created and drove related enterprises such as music, publications and merchandise licensing.

The Economist Magazine offers a great briefing on the history and future of Disney in the wake of its recent release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” True to his artistic bent, Walt created a picture of what the business could be. (Consultants often refer to such renderings as “strategy canvasses.”) Walt’s version of this, created in 1957, is presented below. Could you create something like this for your company?  (A great staff exercise. Ask each team member to do it and compare the results).

 The Only Finite Resource

The late great Peter Drucker once remarked that “Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time” and that time is the only resource you cannot buy more of. As the year ahead beckons, check out this article from the institute that bears his name: “Ten Execs with Time Management Secrets You Should Steal.”

Another great time management tool from another great management guru is that advocated by the late Stephen Covey in his timeless “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” Check out this one page organizer  that’s been used by many executives for over a quarter of a century.

Ten Mojo Crushing HR Policies

Sometimes we succeed in spite of what we do, not because of it. This phenomenon can show up in every corner of our companies, especially in HR. Forbes HR contributor Liz Ryan looks at how many companies govern their workforces and identifies one or more Ten Mojo Crushing HR policies to abolish in 2016. It’s unlikely that your company currently has all these policies, but even one might be too many.

HAPPINESS: The Data Are In!

How will 2016 be different from the years before it for you? Would you settle for being happy? If so, this 12 minute TED Talk summarizes 70 years of research on what made people happy whether rich or poor. A group of young men were selected in the early 1940s for a study intended to follow them through their lives. The fourth director of this project, Robert Waldinger, briefly summaries what the study reveals and what those participants who are still living have to say about their lives and what has made them happy…and what hasn’t.

Invest twelve minutes of your life to explore What Makes a Good Life as you begin the New Year!

Econ Recon:

Let’s Try That One Again: It takes a strong person to admit error. Economist Brian Wesbury does just that in a recent blog offering, explains why, and steps up to the gaming table again with a forecast for the markets and the economy 2016. He says “Let’s Try Again,  S&P 500 at 2375.”

A Wintry Mix: Alan and Brian Beaulieu of ITR Economics offer a weather forecast for the economy that might be best described as a  “Wintry Mix”. Here it is:

“The consumer is the key to keeping the US economy on a positive footing through the coming quarters as business-to-business activity slows, and in some cases, declines. There are two striking pieces of consumer-related news, both from November (the latest available data). The good news is that single-family housing starts in November experienced a significantly milder-than-normal seasonal decline, which was welcomed news given sharpness in the October fall off. Housing serves as a harbinger for the overall economy, and November is good news indeed! Automobile Retail Sales provided the somber note as November sales fell at slightly steeper-than-median 9.32% below October’s sales. Steeper than median isn’t bad, but it is not encouraging given activity in recent years. A stronger November showing in dealer showrooms would have been more encouraging. All in all, the consumer is doing a good job and GDP will keep expanding in the coming quarters.”