Thought Leadership

Wellbeing Economics. Investment Management. CEO Leadership 

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CEO Best Practices
Strategy. Leadership. Governance

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As management consultants, we help clients evaluate the executive leadership performance and overcome cross-functional performance challenges. During our consulting experience, we discovered that many of the organizational failures can be traced to leadership blind spots and dysfunctional workplace politics. The institute compiled a checklist of observed symptoms and recommendations to help leaders diagnose the root causes of poor organizational performance. In 2005, we published an executive working paper providing a leadership tool for strategic alignment and overcoming negative workplace politics.  The Politics of Failure: Dysfunctional Organizations and Poor Performance. Unlike most academic research papers that are based on the thinking of other academics, with no executive management experience, the executive paper is based on first-hand real world observations and problem-solving experience. The paper is being used as a tool by leaders in business, professional and government organizations to help them identify symptoms of political leadership dysfunction  and overcome poor team performance.

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Industry Recognition

(Note: some excerpts are translated into English from their native language)

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Leadership Assessment in the Canadian Forces and Lessons Learned in Somalia
This section reveals that the leaders of the Canadian Airborne Regiment and senior headquarters did not meet any of the leadership effectiveness criteria selected for this study. We found that at the time, the CF did not have a mechanism to assess the leadership of its members. Our hypothesis is therefore validated. - [Med Yones, IIM]

Lieutenant-colonel Richard Garon
Royal Military College Saint-Jean
Government of Canada
(Canada)

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Kenya's Age of Bad Leadership
These would be the kind of tired and retired ideas that have continued to strangulate our political energies and entirely paralyzed any forward political movement. Are corruption, tribalism, aggression, patriarchy, impunity, and patronage only the preserve of the elderly?..There have been numerous studies over time about leadership and, thankfully, Ngunjiri Wambugu of Change Associates unearthed a really pertinent one on dysfunctional leadership by Med Yones. Yones is categorical: Leadership is the most important competitive advantage of a company, not technology, finance, operations or anything else The leadership team is the most important asset of the company and can be its worst liability... Poor performance is the result of incompetent or dysfunctional leadership the main reason for poor organizational performance is negative internal politics. Welcome to Kenya Incorporated. To diagnose bad or dysfunctional leadership, Yones provides 17 signs.

Ngunjiri Wambugu
Member of Parliament, Kenya National Assembly



Mugambi Kiai, 
Program Manager, Africa Governance and Monitoring at Open Society Initiative and Former Head of Human Rights Advocacy program at the Kenya Human Rights Commission

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Dysfunction of Veterans Health Administration and Story behind the Scandal
In April 2014, whistleblowers at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, exposed rampant wrong-doing and cover-ups heated debates regarding the reasons why veterans are alleged to have died for long time waiting, inappropriate scheduling practices, false record keeping, budget mismanagement, lack of accountability, information gap and secret waiting list....Lack of the necessary leadership skills, did not select appropriate candidates for other important position's the VA system inappropriately performed since decade. Leadership and management have defined four functions: planning, organizing, motivating and controlling (Med Jones, 2005)

Liton Chandra Voumik
Department of Economics
Public Policy and Administration Research Journal
Florida International University
(USA)

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Government Leadership Curriculum
Early Warning Signs of Organizational and Leadership Failures...Symptoms of Organizational and Leadership Dysfunction [Med Yones]

Department of Health and Human Services, Office of HealthIT.Gov
Johns Hopkins University  
(USA)

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"How to Evaluate a CEO?"
The top 10 questions every board must asks its CEO.
Korea CEO Magazine
(Korea)

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"How to Evaluate the Board of Directors?"
The Board of Directors Scorecard
CEO Q Magazine
(USA)

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Corporate Direction: CLEARINGTHEWAY
The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression may finally have bottomed. Real recovery still remains elusive,... CEOs will be competing in a whole new world. As consolidation shakes out the losers, a smaller group of winners... What happened in the financial industry is just a symptom of what is happening everywhere else, says International Institute of Management CEO Med Yones, who coaches Fortune 500CEOs. The core of the recent crisis is a lack of confidence. Transparency is critical in order to reestablish that trust. By creating a culture around transparency and communicating with strategic clarity, CEOs can, at the same time, provide a framework of core values and rules for engagement, while giving employees and partners the operational visibility and autonomy to innovate and respond to opportunities and risks.

Wrong decisions are made on lack of information or misinformation, notes Yones. But companies that achieve a culture of openness, in which the right information is shared all the way down the line, stand to benefit in a host of ways. Creating strategic and operational clarity can dramatically improve profitability, encourage stakeholder ownership of corporate goals and help the CEO combat fraud.

Risk management is about information, says Yones. If corporate leaders do not have the right information or lack the proper process for audit and are not tracking the proper metrics, it will be too late to take corrective action when trouble rears its head. CEOs need to have a 360-degree view of the entire organization, a total view of the potential area of trouble, he notes. The success of strategy is about execution, and execution is about information. That's what differentiates one organization from another in terms of performance.

CJ Prince
SAP Corporate Magazine, SAP AG
(Germany)

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Strategic Organizational Alignment Diagnosis
A comprehensive assessment designed to guide the organization's ability to deliver and deliver sustainable results.

MANAGEMENT LABORATORY
BankRisk Group
(Brazil)

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An Audit of Youth Representation In Public, Private Civil Society And Faith Based Organisations
The definition of leadership is as diverse as the people who attempt to package the concept of leadership. For purposes of this statement, Med Yones assertion that leadership is the most important competitive advantage of any entity may suffice. The statement asserts that the leadership team of a company and/or any of its components is the most important asset of that company but on the flip side, and of particular importance, is that the same leadership can become its worst liability. One of the highlights of the New Constitution of Kenya is its recognition of the value of a leadership that is accountable to the people and fully aware that the power they exercise belongs to the people of Kenya.

A Study Supported by Ford Foundation
Susan K Mwongera, CEO
The Youth Agenda
(Keyna)

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Watch Out for the Warning Signs of Bad Leadership

Med Yones, president of the International Institute of Management, suggests to managers and leaders a set recommendations that could help them identify and reverse the poor organizational performance and negative workplace politics.


Dysfunctional leadership = dysfunctional organization
Aude Marie Marcoux
Les Affaires (Business)
(Canada)

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Applied Network Analytics
Complexity is a sign of intelligence. Simplicity is a sign of wisdom - Med Jones

Prof. Dr. Ren Algesheimer
Chair of Marketing and Market Research
Zurich University
(Switzerland)

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CULTIVATING CRITICAL THINKING WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS

The International Institute of Management, KASAC, created a model for executive education (Jones, 2005). Jones (2005) indicated that success is achieved by mastering these five areas: Knowledge, Analysis, Synthesis, Application and Communication. This model is used as the basis for executive education, coaching, and the evaluation process. Among these areas emphasis is on decision-making, understanding, identifying opportunities, diagnosing, determining critical success factors, finding potential pitfalls, and evaluating criteria. Also emphasized are uncovering situation variables, designing strategy solutions, prioritizing, and communicating to stakeholders while leading. The underlying foundation is the critical thinking ability and understanding of details, analysis and recommendations, articulation of ideas, and maintaining knowledge of key industry changes. Because critical thinkers realize the limits of being able to know all the factual information required for an opinion or decision, they are ready for developing the foundation for decision making among teams within an organization... Successful executives, managers, and employers are reflective thinkers, who are able to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and conclude toward reaching a rational judgment.

Proceedings of SOCIOINT14- International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities
Professor Frederick A. Ricci
Nova Southeastern University
(USA)

Calculating the Value of Human Capital Investments

Sustaining high business performance is a product of continuous strategic alignment." - Med Jones

Sonia Di Maulo, MA, CRP

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Corporate Governance Lessons Learned
The leadership team is the most important asset of the company and can be its worst liability - Med Jones

Helen Hatton
Managing Director
Sator Regulatory Consulting
(USA)

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Corporate Governance
A Project Management Approach to Implementing Internal Controls. Sarbanes Oxley Visual Scope Statement - Med Yones

The Government Finance Officers Association of Arizona (GFOAz)
Jeff Rogers, MBA, CIA, PMP

(USA)

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International Mobility of Students and Faculty

Knowledge networks will revolutionize the global economy. They will change the way we think, learn and work. The prosperity of a nation and its people will be determined to a large degree by how well they can leverage the global knowledge networks to develop their resources, collaborate, innovate and market their products and services Med Jones

Prof. S.R. Shankapal, Education Management
Director at M.S.Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies,
(India)

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The Road to Strategic Alignment
"Sustaining High Business Performance is a Product of Continuous Strategy Alignment" - Med Yones
The CEO Magazine

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Executive Education Best Practices
"European CEO learns about CEO best practices... A highly respected executive leadership coach
European CEO Magazine
(UK)

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Organizational Wellness
Too often, organizational leaders equate wellness with physical health-oriented programs, such as giving staff subsidized memberships to the local gym, or adding health support programs to the benefits plan. But true organizational wellness is much broader in scope, and the best organizational leaders seek to identify and address root causes rather than symptoms. If stress-related absences are on the increase, internal conflicts between people and teams is mounting, and there is declining productivity and morale, this can be a strong sign that there are deeper issues of dysfunction inside the organization. These issues directly impact the organization's relative wellness and its capacity for peak performance, both of which warrant the attention of senior leadership and the board. The International Institute of Management (IIM) has published an online white paper titled Organizational Politics: Symptoms of Dysfunctional Organizations by Med Yones that outlines a range of warning signs to be looking for if you are an organizational leader or board member.

The Leading for Wellness Foundation
(USA)

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Unhealthy Culture in the Workplace
No organization is free from politics because the desire for power is inherent in human nature, according to Med Jones, president of the International Institute of Management. Successful leaders reward collaborative efforts and penalize negative behavior. These standards turn upside down in an unhealthy corporate culture, whose hiring, promotion and recruiting practices are crafted to fulfill an internal political agenda, says Jones. Managers using this model treat friends more favorably, frustrating better-qualified candidates whose talents might advance the company's performance.

Ralph Heibutzki
(USA)

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40 Under 40
"Business leaders who have distinguished themselves not only in their profession...who have made the Las Vegas a better place to work and live.
Rob Langrell,  Editor
InBusiness Las Vegas Magazine
(USA)

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Selected Opinions and Media Quotes

Management Opinions and  Quotes

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