The Harper Report Archives

Just in time for holiday gift-giving, here are a few of our favorite business books:

Power Questions, Andrew Sobel & Jerold Panas. 2012, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: Powerful questions provoke thought, reframe a situation to find new answers, develop a relationship, and more. Through engaging stories that illustrate their points, Sobel and Panas have put together a practical guide for applying the right questions to various situations. While no one can possibly memorize all 337 questions, it’s not necessary in order to get benefit from the book. Especially as you’re planning important meetings, be sure to keep this book nearby as a handy reference.Read More

By Pamela S. Harper and D. Scott Harper

Sometimes we don’t truly realize the leadership impact that someone close to us has until we hear it through others’ stories.

Dr. W. James “Jim” Harper, Scott’s father, passed away on July 12, 2014 at the age of 91. To learn more about his life, here is a link to his obituary.

Scott likes to say “Dad lived a long time but never got around to getting old,” since he was still actively involved in research, teaching, writing, and advising graduate students as a professor emeritus of food science and technology at The Ohio State University until a few weeks before his death.

For more than seven decades, Jim Harper advised over 150 graduate students and taught thousands of undergraduate students. Their ranks include CEOs of successful entrepreneurial companies and Vice Presidents of R&D for major corporations around the world. We simply knew him as “Dad.”Read More

By Pamela S. Harper and D. Scott Harper

When you think about leadership succession planning and development, what comes to mind?

If you’re like many of the top executives and business owners we work with, it’s likely to raise a series of ambivalent thoughts and feelings. These include:

“Yes, I know it’s a best practice of the most successful public and private companies to have leaders identified and developed so they can maximize the value of their company and accelerate growth and profitability going forward.”

“No, we don’t need to think about this right now. I enjoy what I’m doing and I don’t plan on leaving or selling the company anytime soon.”

“Yes, I know we should have something formal written down and communicated. In an emergency it’s critical for others to know who we have in mind.”

“No, I don’t want to think about life after this company. Besides, we don’t have time for this right now. We’ll get to it later.”

Read More

By Pamela S. Harper and D. Scott Harper

When you think about leadership succession planning and development, what comes to mind?

If you’re like many of the top executives and business owners we work with, it’s likely to raise a series of ambivalent thoughts and feelings. These include:

“Yes, I know it’s a best practice of the most successful public and private companies to have the next generation of leaders identified and developed so they can maximize the value of their company and accelerate growth and profitability going forward.”

“No, we don’t need to think about this right now. I enjoy what I’m doing and I don’t plan on leaving or selling the company anytime soon.”

“Yes, I know we should have something formal written down and communicated. In an emergency it’s critical for others to know who we have in mind.”

“No, I don’t want to think about life after this company. Besides, we don’t have time for this right now. We’ll get to it later.”

Read More

A few weeks ago Scott and I hit the wall – literally.  After an unrelenting series of winter storms here in northern New Jersey, we assessed the damage to the retaining walls on our driveway, which is built into a hill. Clearly, one of the walls needed to be torn down and rebuilt. And we needed to get this done fast.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of contracting companies in this area. But selecting the right contractor was a job in itself. One didn’t have the right expertise and several more didn’t return our call for almost a week. It was looking bleak for getting the work done before the wall came tumbling down. We were overjoyed when we finally found a contractor with the right expertise, who seemed as interested in working with us as we were in working with him.

But the story gets even better. We not only found the right contractor, we found a contractor we now regard as a partner in this project. Read More

Although we don’t visit the psychic reader down the street, we are passionate about looking into the future as best as we can to help ourselves and our clients take full advantage of emerging opportunities. We draw insights from our conversations with leaders and our research, then apply our experience and intuition to map a path forward.

Here are three business trends that we predict will be critical for leaders in every company to address to accelerate their company’s innovation, growth and profitability in 2014, along with our tips for how you can take advantage of them to drive your company forward.Read More

It’s that time of year again. Along with the new season of Fall television shows, football, and autumn leaves, it’s time for our annual visit to the optometrist.

“Which is clearer?” the doctor asks as he flips the lens back and forth on the refraction instrument, “Choice one or choice two?” Sometimes the answer is obvious. But after a few rounds, it becomes difficult to tell the difference between the two choices. It’s only after looking through a series of contrasting lenses and seeing the fine distinctions that the most appropriate choice becomes clear.

Likewise, as the business environment is changing so rapidly in so many subtle ways, it can be hard to distinguish – let alone agree upon –what is changing and how this is likely to impact your vision, mission and strategy.Read More