Author: Todd Ordal

 coaches CEOs to higher levels of success. He is a former CEO and has led teams as large as 7,000 people. Todd is the author of, Never Kick a Cow Chip On A Hot Day: Real Lessons for Real CEOs and Those Who Want To Be  (Morgan James Publishing). Connect with Todd on LinkedIn, Twitter, call 303-527-0417 or email [email protected].

Bouncing Back From Failure

I’m usually not interested in preseason football. It’s like watching all-star wresting — lots of meaningless activity. However, I viewed the first quarter of a few games to prime the pump for the coming season. One disheartening thing I saw was a talented rookie wide receiver blow his knee out, most likely ending his season […]

Bumpy or Beautiful?

On a recent return flight to Denver, we encountered a typical summer afternoon of building cumulous clouds. The seat belt sign came on early. Our pilot must’ve asked for slight deviations from air traffic control, because he was skirting around the larger cauliflower-shaped clouds — the ones that create the most turbulence. I used to […]

Monetizing Community

One of the fascinating ways to generate loyalty, relationships and even income is by building communities. A great strategic question that you might ask about your business model is, “How could we develop a community (or multiple communities) that would allow people to connect and learn while allowing us to deepen the relationships, educate and […]

How To Take On The Big Guy

I am fortunate to live in an area that has lots of raptors—hawks and eagles.  As I drove home recently, I witnessed some skillful aerial combat—a small bird, sparrow-sized, giving a large hawk the fight of his life. The smaller bird was tenacious, attacking the hawk from above and behind, probably pushing it away from […]

Facts Don’t Cut It In Business

A recent column in The Wall Street Journal points out that most colleges fail to improve critical-thinking skills. That’s unfortunate. Being able to recite information isn’t really valuable — especially since we can ask Alexa or Siri anything at any time. It’s more than just being informed and caring. Connecting dots, making assumptions, analyzing data […]

Abusive Relationships

There’s a difference between respect and servitude. A CEO friend and I recently had a beer, and he updated me on his kids. His daughter worked in sales for a large, well-known company and had been promoted to a “major accounts” position, in charge of relationships with two other large organizations. One of her clients […]

The Organizational Effectiveness of Democracy

I’ve been thinking a lot about democracy and capitalism recently so thought that I’d share a few interesting quotes—some of them conflicting messages—from some very bright fellows to whom I looked for guidance. Before you read them, please ponder this quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in […]

Fish Where the Fish Are

Runoff season is about over in the Front Range of Colorado as I write this, so fly-fishing season is ramping up. My recent feeble attempts at fishing the big water (when the snowmelt comes screaming down the canyons) were mostly frustrating. Trying to maintain my balance in the raging water when casting to a relatively […]