The Harper Report Archives

Overcoming 3 Enemies of Business Agility to Accelerate Growth

By Pamela S. Harper and D. Scott Harper

harper-report-overcome_enemies_agility — Click to Download Report PDF

Call it agility, nimbleness, or dexterity; it’s on leaders’ minds. Everywhere we turn, CEOs and senior executives are talking about how important it is for their company to maintain and increase speed and adaptability just to keep up with changes in the business environment, let alone increase their competitive stance. Nevertheless, we see some of the same companies struggling to stay agile in the changing business landscape. What fuels this paradox?

Here are three of the most common enemies of company agility, along with guidelines on how to overcome them:Read More

Are Your Habits Serving You Well?

By Pamela S. Harper and D. Scott Harper

Some of the most-referenced books in our personal business library address how habits form in people and organizations, and the importance of adapting habits to support success in work and in life. It’s easy to see the obvious habits that serve us well or the ones that are detrimental. However, determining whether the less obvious habits we develop over time are serving us well is not always as clear-cut.

Often, these overlooked habits start from considered thought, but fade into the background of our lives (e.g., Scott has much more interest and expertise in cooking than I have so he became the primary chef in our household over time). Sometimes, however, we’re jolted into awareness of our habits and regain the ability to make new choices.Read More

Pam Harper & Scott Harper’s “Must Read” Business Books

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

Leadership Lessons from a World Renowned Innovator

By Pamela S. Harper and D. Scott Harper

Dr. James 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

Keeping the “Success” in Leadership Succession

“passing-baton” — Click Image to download formatted report

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.”

The Harper Report Archives

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

Notable and New