Weekend Reading: November 9

I wanted to share some of my favorite leadership development links I came across this week, including some advice on change management, productivity and entrepreneurship. What stories caught your eye? Please share your picks in the comments.

• How CEO Mark Parker Runs Nike To Keep Pace With Rapid Change. Fast Company. “The last thing we want,” says Nike CEO Mark Parker, “is to be a big dumb company that feels we can put a swoosh on something and people will buy that.”

• Stop Doing Dumb Stuff: 5 Time Management Tips. Owning the Fence. “So, here are a few tips to take back your day and … reallocate your time to learning something new and focusing on your end customer or desired end result of your efforts.

• Be a Starfish, Not a Spider. The Sales Challenger. “At this year’s summit we argued that one of the clear implications of SEC’s last four years of research is that the world of sales has drastically changed. One catalyst for such a shift in the sales environment was the way in which customers’ buying habits changed. In a world of increasing buyer sophistication and price-driven sales, it will be those organizations capable of quickly adapting their selling approach (to teach customers commercial insights) that will ultimately survive this change.”

• Can You Sustain the Company You Started? Gallup Business Journal. “In many ways, it’s never been easier to be an entrepreneur. From small-business loans to university courses to mentorship programs to incubators, resources abound for people who want to start new businesses. Yet only about half of all new businesses survive the first five years, despite the support their owners receive. To discover what makes some businesses thrive while others wither, Gallup studied the behaviors that successful entrepreneurs exhibit.”

• The Wise Leader. Knowledge at Insead. “‘Smartness’ allows people to become savvy for their own self-interests,” says Prasad Kaipa, Senior Research Fellow and Executive Director Emeritus at The Center for Leadership, Innovation and Change, Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India. “One should recognise when our strengths have gotten to a point where they become our weaknesses – I call it ‘core incompetence’. The signature strength of yesterday, when it is inappropriately used, becomes the weakness of today.”