Archive | sap
Do mobile phones cause you to trust less?
By Jonathan Becher on December 4, 2017 in Behavior, culture, psychology, quotes, sap
If you use your smart phone frequently, you're less likely to trust strangers. Kostadin Kushlev of the University of Virginia and Jason Proulx of the University of British Columbia came to this conclusion by analyzing data from the most recent World Values Survey. The World Values Survey is a U.S. nationally-representative poll in which participants…
Can Meditation Make You 10% Happier?
By Jonathan Becher on July 12, 2015 in Behavior, books, culture, psychology, sap
If you think you're having a bad day, you might want to consider the case of Dan Harris, a correspondent for ABC News, anchor for Nightline, and co-anchor for the weekend edition of Good Morning America. Ten years ago Harris had a panic attack during a routine live TV newscast – in front of millions…
What I Learned From The Platypus
By Jonathan Becher on November 23, 2014 in communication, Leadership, sap
Throughout my career, I've relied on story telling to reinforce abstract concepts or make announcements more memorable. Whether it's oxen, elephants, monkeys, or camels, stories about animals are easy to remember and therefore more likely to be repeated. I've always want to tell a story which involved a platypus but I never really had a good rationale….
Fun with tenure metrics: 2014 edition
By Jonathan Becher on November 17, 2014 in Leadership, Marketing, measurement, measurement missteps, sap
People seem to be obsessed with executive tenure. Executive search firm Spencer Stuart reports the average tenure for a Chief Marketing Officer is now 45 months, based on analysis from the top 100 advertised brands. This is a significant improvement from five years ago, when studies showed that the average CMO tenure was anywhere from…
I Smell A Rat: Empathy In Business
By Jonathan Becher on December 8, 2013 in Behavior, communication, culture, Leadership, Marketing, sap
In collaboration with author Gary Hamel and the Management Innovation Exchange (The MIX), SAP launched a crowd-source initiative which poses the question: What is the one thing you'd change to help organizations unleash and organize human potential across boundaries? As I was researching my own answer around the notion of "empathy in business", I found a Washington Post article titled: A New Model…
The Risk of Spreadsheets
By Jonathan Becher on February 21, 2008 in financials, metrics, performance management, risk, sap, vendors
Unless you were trapped on a desert island over the last few months, it's unlikely that you missed the Société Générale scandal and the resulting teeth-gnashing about the need for stricter controls and oversight in the financial services industry. While I'm all for better access and process controls leading to improved segregation of duties, I…
BI Predictions for 2008
By Jonathan Becher on January 3, 2008 in business intelligence, performance management, predictions, sap, strategy
Last month Scoble ignited a debate about why enterprise software isn't sexy. The blogging world piled on until Nicholas Carr declared it a firestorm. Despite the fact James' analysis of SAP's Business User story was one of the larger logs on the fire, I missed the chance to chime in due to my travel schedule…
Am I A Blogger?
By Jonathan Becher on December 9, 2007 in alignment, blogging, dashboard, key performance indicators, metrics, performance management, sap
I ran into James Governor at SAP's Influencer Summit this week. As he points out in the comments on my inaugural post, James was the chief hassler to get me started on this blog. In the interim, he's been both wildly supportive and correctly critical. Not surprisingly, we had an engaging and fascinating conversation about…
Blogging Performance, part 2
By Jonathan Becher on October 30, 2007 in balanced scorecard, blogging, key performance indicators, metrics, performance management, sap, satisfaction, strategy
After the reading the comments on my previous Blogging Performance post, I decided to revise my mission statement: Mission: To be a top of mind destination for performance management information and interactive discussions. According to my jumpstart methodology, the next step is to define specific objectives using the four Balanced Scorecard perspectives: financial, customer, process, and…