The average life expectancy of a pilot who flies into clouds and who is not instrument rated is 178 seconds. I can also tell you from past experience that even instrument rated pilots (I am one—though no longer flying) get spatial disorientation. In fact they get confused at about the same rate as those approved […]
For many years, Avis’ advertising slogan was “We’re No. 2. We try harder.” Similarly, Pepsi had a mission statement that simply said “Beat Coke,” and Nike vowed to “Crush Reebok.” One of my favorites was the giant industrial company Komatsu, which focused on beating Caterpillar with the battle cry “Eat the Cat.” Alternatively, there are […]
A recent annual ski trip with guys I worked with years ago produced many interesting conversations. But the one right before we boarded airplanes to head off to homes in three states was particularly interesting. We were all still engaged in business in some capacity. We talked, however, about how a couple of talented people […]
What do your customers hate about you? If you answer that and find a solution, you’ll likely grow. Some time ago a story about Elon Musk caught my eye. He saw that there was a complaint on social media about people leaving their Tesla cars at the charging stations longer than required, causing new arrivals […]
Judge a Man by His Questions “It is easier to judge the mind of a man by his questions rather than his answers.” —Pierre-Marc-Gaston de Lévis Think about your day yesterday. What questions did you face? If you’re like many busy executives, they were probably along the lines of: -Did the Western division get its […]
Insidious as termites, as hard to destroy as a nuclear-hardened bomb shelter, disguised as health food but as nasty as deep-fried butter, bureaucracy is killing you. Tolerating organizational bureaucracy is like breathing secondhand smoke for decades. You can see it, it’s annoying and it’ll eventually kill you, but it won’t kill you today, so you […]
Are you prepared to lead with just your own skills? Three days after Christmas the temperature was slightly above freezing. After spending the bulk of the previous three days in the house, I went for a bike ride. On my previous ride, my bike computer showed a low-battery symbol. Sure enough, it was dead by […]
A friend asked me if I knew a guy the other day, and I said something like, “Yeah, but what a cold, indifferent cat he is!” My friend responded, “Are you kidding? He’s a great guy!” Shame on me. He is a great guy once you get to know him. The fact that he’s introverted […]
I’m on my third cup of coffee sitting in my warm home office looking out the window — where it’s 10 degrees — at a woodpecker banging away at one of our trees. My wife says it’s an ash. I wouldn’t know an ash from my own … forehead. She also thinks the tree has […]
If you’re fascinated by business strategy, by how you can address a market differently than everyone else, you might enjoy this story. If you’re just trying to be like everyone else, skip this one and crawl back into your hole. I recently had coffee with the founder of a successful company in the outdoor product […]