MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Do You Diagnose What Goes Right?

Is it the shoes?

That’s the question director Spike Lee ponders in a classic series of Nike Air Jordan commercials in the late 1980s and early 1990s in which Lee, playing the fictional Mars Blackmon, considers the mysteries behind the gravity-defying greatness of basketball player Michael Jordan.

And thus Lee points to one of the most persistent, frustrating, and important questions a manager faces: Is it the person, the tools, or the process?

About the Author

Paul Michelman is editor in chief of MIT Sloan Management Review. He tweets @pmichelman.

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