It seems like these days the phrase team building has become an umbrella term for any non-work time spent with coworkers outside of the office. As such, team building is used to describe anything from trivia night at the local pub, to eye-roll-inducing trust falls in a forest meadow, or even a few loops around the local go-kart track. Here at Adventure Associates we don’t deny the joys of coiffing tasty ale while showcasing your obscure knowledge of 80s daytime television, nor do we scoff at the rousing experience of reliving Days of Thunder in a lilliputian sized race-car. (We…

Brainstorming, commonly defined as the spontaneous generation of ideas out loud in a group, is inextricably linked to the creative process and is firmly established in the business realm as one of the best routes to lightbulb moments. It’s a process that has followed me all the way from elementary school science class sessions to upper level marketing classes at university. However, being mildly introverted and not wanting to compete with louder group members, I’d always wondered at the efficiency of this process that we’ve been doing for so many years. And by years, I really mean decades. Brainstorming was…

Stories of competitive workplaces are naturally quite provocative, conjuring up images of high octane law firms or blue chip consulting outfits. McKinsey is famously an ‘up or out’ firm, where if you do not advance, you are counseled to leave. Jack Welch, former CEO of GE also famously promoted a culture wherein the bottom ten percent of employees were let go. This Darwinian approach to human resource management—and corporate culture, really—may be compelling to some managers, especially in light of some of these companies’ successes. However, be cautious when considering introducing competition into your own workplace. First, let’s explore some…