Simon Almström

[Book Review] The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

Published April 7, 2015 by Simon Almstrom

Once I picked up Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, I could not put it down. This is a wonderfully written book on how to foster high performing teams.

Patrick’s book is written as a novel with Kathryn as newly appointed CEO of DecisionTech, a promising start-up just outside Silicon Valley. She has an executive team of bright, competitive and high performing individuals. Kathryn is brought in because the company is not living up to the owners expectations and they are behind their competitors. It does not take long before she realise how crippled her executive team is. The book is the story of how she is coaching these executives from individuals to a team.

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A new chapter – associated Kvadrat consultant

Published March 9, 2015 by Simon Almstrom

I do not know if you have a bucket list. I do not know if I would say that I have one, at least not a written one, but there are things I would like to do and achieve. One of them have been to have my own company. Last week it was all done. My company is now registered, all tax papers has come through and the bank details are in place. I can finally say that I have my own company.

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Two arguments for avoiding platforms

Published February 13, 2015 by Simon Almstrom

In an earlier post, Who were we?, I wrote about our struggle to identify ourself as a platform company or a product company. Since I wrote that post I have been talking with two different persons who gave great arguments for when you want to stay away from the temptation of building platforms.

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Appreciative Inquiry

Published January 19, 2015 by Simon Almstrom

Sometimes we stumble on things that will change the way we see and do things. This is certainly true for me when I ran across Appreciative Inquiry. It was really the wording, Appreciative Inquiry, which caught my eye. It tickled my brain’s language centre and although only two words, it communicates affirmation, curiosity, exploration, thoughtfulness and positive energy.

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Who were we?

Published December 23, 2014 by Simon Almstrom

I had a feeling of emptiness when I left the office just before Christmas. I thought it would be a well-deserved rest after a very intense few weeks but it was not. The questions started to close in. What went wrong? What could we have done differently? There were several theories at the office as I left. If only Korea could make up their minds. It was too many interruptions from other projects. If our manufacturer had not caused such delay on our current product we would have been in a different situation. I am quick to accept the answers but when it all gets quite there is a much bigger question that emerges. Who were we? Who were we really?

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[Book Review] Type Talk at Work by Otto Kroeger

Published December 17, 2014 by Simon Almstrom

In the earlier post Early reflections from typewatching, I said that “I have spent many train journeys to and from work and numerous evenings trying to learn more about the ins and outs of the 16 different personality types.” There is no other source that has been as useful to me as Otto Kroeger’s book Type Talk at Work.

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End of a chapter

Published December 12, 2014 by Simon Almstrom

Ever so often we finish a chapter in the book we call life and start a new. This is certainly true for me right now.

Last week, we got the sad news that our owner intends to liquidate our company. They are bleeding money and need to do something to turn the situation around. Hence they need to review their costs and we cost money. I am not going to argue if the decision is right or wrong and who’s fault it is that we got to this point. I can just conclude that this chapter in my life is coming to an end.

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Early reflections from typewatching

Published November 7, 2014 by Simon Almstrom

Several weeks have passed between my first introduction to myers briggs and now. During this time, I have spent many train journeys to and from work and numerous evenings trying to learn more about the ins and outs of the 16 different personality types. I have had plenty of opportunity to discuss and reflect with my colleagues around these differences. Rarely does a conversation happen without me secretly trying to figure out what type this person is, given what they are saying and how they are behaving.

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Do you think people are idiots?

Published November 2, 2014 by Simon Almstrom

I have recently been introduced to myers briggs personality types. A neighbour of mine is an organisational consultant than among other things help companies to do successful recruitments. In this role he has studied myers briggs and typewatching in depth.

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What did you expect?

What did you expect?

Published December 10, 2013 by Simon Almstrom

Expectations are everywhere. A company can make a big profit but if it does not meet the expectations of the stock market, the share price will still fall. Or a person can do a fantastic job but if it does not match the expectations, it will not be seen as a good job.

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