ICIS Blogs : managing people

Micro-management gone too far?

Asian Chemical Connections — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:26:49 GMT

"Nobody can see until the end of the month - never mind into the third quarter," commented an olefins trader recently. "The reason is that very senior managers are too busy micro-managing everything, from getting involved in trying to track...(read more)

It really is a Mad World

Asian Chemical Connections — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:47:35 GMT

As the potential swine flu pandemi threatens more lives - and even more damage to the global economy - it's time to watch American Idol re-runs. It would be great if we could all collectively retire to some paradise island where Manchester Utd and...(read more)

It's tough at the top.......

Asian Chemical Connections — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:40:16 GMT

It's easy to take pot shots at the boss, and everyone of course feels they have been underpromoted and could do the job better themselves. Andrew Liveris is just the latest in a long line of CEOs to experience both envy - and at the moment perhaps...(read more)

How hopeless is your company?

Asian Chemical Connections — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:36:27 GMT

I was working with a chemicals consultant last month in India who gave me this priceless description of the true nature of a company: "A company is a collection self-interested individuals who just occasionally -- and purely randomly - carry out...(read more)

In search of corporate paradise

Asian Chemical Connections — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:51:25 GMT

As business slows down everywhere and we have more time to brood, frustrations will build at imagined or real inefficiencies - and at the sometimes remote people at the top who hold our lives in their hands. The grass will increasingly seem greener in...(read more)

Inspired leaders needed - apply here

Asian Chemical Connections — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:56:02 GMT

We need great leaders in the current crisis. Below is the kind of speech I'd like to hear from my CEO - delivered in person - if I worked for a chemicals company. Everything that now follows is fiction and any resemblance to an industry leader, either...(read more)

Is your company truly globalised?

Asian Chemical Connections — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:41:20 GMT

Globalisation is an attitude of mind as what might now be a slightly descredited economic doctrine. Many companies are international but few - from talking to friends and contacts - are truly global in the sense that they recruit senior managers from...(read more)

The big challenges

Asian Chemical Connections — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 07:55:35 GMT

As delegates gather for this year's European Petrochemical Association meeting in the unreal world of Monaco (unrealf or 99.9 per cent recurring of us), I thought it was worth summarising some of the issues discussed on this blog over the last few...(read more)

Can I have those coconuts, please?

Asian Chemical Connections — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:12:29 GMT

This article, by David Strahan, author of The Last Oil Shock, says that it would take three million coconuts to power one flight from London to Amsterdam on 100% biofuels. Some of the comments posted at the end of this excellent article, first published...(read more)

Want a place on the Board?

Asian Chemical Connections — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:35:56 GMT

For us lesser mortals further down the slippery career pole, it is easy to stare up with envy and contempt at the CEOs of our own companies and other companies. Many us at times feel (myself included) that we could do a great deal better than our bosses...(read more)

Slaves to market frenzy

Asian Chemical Connections — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:01:10 GMT

A consultant once told me a wonderful story - so wonderful I don't even care whether it's true or not - about how the monthly European benzene price in the 1950s was calculated based on the US price once the latest issue of Chemical Market Reporter...(read more)

Japan' corporate hero

Asian Chemical Connections — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:12:47 GMT

Back in the 1980s, before Japan's "Lost Decade" of stagnant growth, management gurus lined up to praise the country's collective spirit as the basis of a sustainable economic miracle. Since then, of course, the West has been consistently...(read more)

Missing the point

Asian Chemical Connections — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:34:25 GMT

Great that my entry yesterday Work can be the death of you produced a response. But I think the commentator missed the point. Working long hours is not an issue for staff who are properly managed and motivated. The "presenteeism" of some work...(read more)

Work can be the death of you

Asian Chemical Connections — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:15:37 GMT

My dear old mother used to often say "what's the world coming to?" as if life was constantly getting worse. But for South Korean workers - and for workers everywhere in Asia - expectations of employers have long been unreasonable. Tied into...(read more)

Does your boss listen to you?

Asian Chemical Connections — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:48:13 GMT

Perfect subject if you've got the post-weekend blues.... A very irate and tired and emotional chemicals trader was moaning last week about the imposition of a new knowledge-management system by his company. "Our bosses never listen to us and...(read more)