Kenneth Blanchard, co-author of 17 best-selling books, presented a lecture titled Leadership in a Fast-Paced World at Ohio University last night.
The major problems in this world are communication problems between people, Blanchard said. The divorce rate is incredible and that's just getting along with one person
he said. Those problems are Blanchard's main motivation for improving business management because managers must get along with more than one person.
Blanchard discussed four main points for good management. First, managers need to find their target customers and employees. They then need to figure out how to treat customers right. Managers must also treat their employees well. Last, they must practice the proper type of leadership.
Blanchard said that while traveling to different companies and talking to employees, the number one way they knew that they were doing a good job was if no one yelled at them. Catch people doing good things and accent the positive he said.
There are too many seagull managers he said. Those are the mangers who
when there is a problem
they fly in
make a lot of noise
dump on everybody
then fly out.
Blanchard was an assistant to the dean of the OU College of Business in 1966. He did not originally intend to teach; however, the dean at the time wanted Blanchard to teach a class, and he ended up loving it.
Another topic Blanchard addressed was how employees should act. Show up
show up on time
show up on time ready to work
then be committed to doing a good job
