Real Case Stories

Amazon's Jeff Bezos is of the view that too much Communication is really a bad thing.  This WSJ article quotes an Amazon executive who says that during an offsite when some employees suggested that there should be more communication in the organisation, Bezos declared that "No, Communication is terrible" Bezos preferred a decentralized company where independent thinking prevails over Grouthink. In order to achieve this, he implemented a company wide policy, the concept of the "2 Pizza team". Any team should be small enough that it could be fed with 2 pizzas. Small teams generally tend to function like families, fighting, bickering but eventually getting the work done. Larger teams tend to be more political. Source: Birth of a Salesman, WSJ article by Richard L. Brandt

The Overton window, also known as the window of discourse, is the range of ideas the public will accept.  An idea's political viability depends mainly on whether it falls within the window, rather than on politicians' individual preferences.  According to Overton's description, his window includes a range of policies considered politically acceptable in the current climate of public opinion, which a politician can recommend without being considered too extreme to gain or keep public office. src Wiki . Img src Chuck Scoggins In recent times, Donald Trump in his Election campaign has with his Vitriol has moved the Overton window on what's acceptable in Political discourse. However, with his popularity soaring, Donald Trump may have inadvertently identified the position of the Overton window in the minds of the Public.  Lawmakers who support policies outside the window are one of two kinds — true leaders who have the rare ability to shift the window by...

In his book "  Power  :Why some people have it and other's dont", Jeffrey Pfeffer talks about how important it is to understand Politics and Organisation Dynamics. He cites a few examples on how high performers were forced to leave their organisations because of politics In 2004, the Miami-Dade county, Florida, school board hired former New York schools chancellor Rudy Crew as superintendent to help a struggling school district. During his tenure, the disctrict was a finalist in the board prize for urban education 3 years in a row. He was also awarded the National Superintendent of the year by the American Association of School Administrators. However, within 6 months of receiving the award, he was forced to quit by the School board. The book talks about how people live in the fallacy that we live in a Just-World and do not recognise the intrigues of the real world. In another case, Jim Walker who was hired to build Nomura Securities' Asian operations was a cha...