Hot Groups and Hierarchies

About this course:

Back in 1975, for a traditional industrial company the ratio of stock market value (in dollars) to hard assets might run about one-to-one. Near the end of 2015, the equivalent ratio for Facebook, Bidu, and many newer companies was in the area of 60, 80, or even 100-to-one. The new economy companies are outperforming traditional companies and even newer companies entering the marketplace at literally the speed of light.  Substantial change is more than stock market valuations and new growth companies challenging traditional market leaders; it is about leadership styles, behaviors, and disciplines which push today’s growth companies to higher performance levels. Large, hierarchical, well-ordered organizations are having to make room for small, egalitarian, disordered hot groups. Hot groups may have their origins as teams, task forces, panels, boards, and committees but hot groups are “task-obsessed” necessities now for sustaining itself and growing in this highly competitive, global, diverse, and fast-paced “connected” world. This course will provide a roadmap for developing, nurturing, and achieving significant organizational successes building and leading hot groups. We will also study common pitfall in hierarchies with “toxic” leadership that destroyed major U.S. companies such as Enron, Arthur Anderson, WorldCom, Adelphia Communications, Lehman Brothers, Refco, Fannie Mae, just to name a few. The well-known international examples include Medici Bank (Italy), Qintex (Australia), Barings Bank (U.K), Bre-X (Canada), HIH Insurance (Australia), Parmalat (Italy), Nortel (Canada), among many others. Toxic leadership examples can also extend to country leaders, Congressmen, local city officials, and leaders in small organizations with conflicts of interest, personality disorders, and behavioral issues. This course includes toxic leadership identification tools and mitigation strategies.