One of the greatest issues in self-improvement is (here comes a blinding flash of the obvious!) that people want to be different but don’t want to change. It’s one of the biggest barriers in my coaching work. Let me rephrase that: It’s one of the biggest issues for those people I won’t coach. I’m sure […]
You’re a wide receiver for the 2016 Denver Broncos. It’s third and long. Peyton Manning joins the huddle and says, “I love you guys; you’re the best! Let’s go get ‘em! Break!” How successful would that play be? No one knows what the hell to do. I worked for a CEO once who said the […]
I was up at 5 a.m. Eastern time for a flight recently and, after sleeping poorly, was a bit crabby about it. I also had a full day back in Denver, which meant I was starting at 3 a.m. Mountain time and would miss exercising and be late for dinner with my wife and friends. […]
This might be one of the most soul-crushing questions for capitalists and business leaders to answer! I don’t mean this as a trick question (e.g., Which came first, the chicken or the egg?). Obviously, if you don’t have customers, you can’t have profits. However, you can have many customers and no profits, and that doesn’t […]
I was supposed to be at a convention this week but stayed home to handle a challenge that arose. So, I found myself with a pretty blank calendar. My initial anxiety turned to joy when I spent a good deal of time reading. I finished Jim Comey’s book and am anxious to see how that […]
High-margin businesses naturally attract competition If your strategy doesn’t identify what specific markets you compete in and why people will buy from you versus your competition, then your strategy is bad. You’re going to need to rely on luck. In fact, if you’re in a high-margin business, you may not know it but you’re being […]
In early 2018 as Facebook struggled with privacy issues, I was shocked to hear on NPR that COO Sheryl Sandberg has a sign on her private conference room saying “Only Good News.” (Perhaps there’ll be a follow-up story about her having a corresponding conference room with an “Only Bad News” sign.) As someone who was […]
Determined to shrink the book pile on my credenza, I grabbed “The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today.” Someone recommended it to me several years ago, and I’ve moved it around my office several times since then (always in good company of other “must read” books). I no longer read entire […]
At lunch recently, my friend shared a story about how he was “selected” as a construction manager for a large project years ago. He prepared well for what he thought would be a tough interview. When he arrived, the hiring executive had him wait in the bar. When the executive arrived for the interview, he […]
Several times in my coaching sessions, I’ve asked CEOs and other senior business leaders to rate themselves on a 10-point scale on numerous factors, including fun, and they froze. “OK, call it happiness if you’d like,” I prompted. Still no response. That ain’t right! Executives should be many things: competent, strategic, kind, decisive, communicative… and […]