I had coffee recently with an executive in a family business. He isn’t part of the family. He’s talented, growth-oriented and extremely frustrated. The owner is the CEO and a wonderful guy. He has a language problem, however, that causes his business (and its people) to suffer greatly. He confused two words — value and […]
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.” —Heraclitus The balance between experience and open-mindedness toward new ideas is interesting. “Been there done that.” “I’ve seen this show before.” “This ain’t my first rodeo.” “If I had a nickel for every time … .” Those are voices […]
“God is great. Beer is good. People are crazy.” —Billy Currington, country singer Not my favorite country song, but I like the line. I don’t feel qualified to address the “God” assertion, but I’ve had my share of beer (and brew my own) and have worked with some crazy people. Been one myself a few […]
Working on one element of your strategy without the others is usually a waste of time “We tried, but it didn’t work,” said the CEO about his new strategy. What he didn’t say was that the general idea for how he’d win in his marketplace wasn’t wrong. He just didn’t understand that all the pieces […]
One of my favorite distinctions between management and leadership is that management tames complexity and leadership drives change. They don’t have to be separate people and in fact the most successful CEOs are competent in both. Unfortunately, some in leadership roles believe that change management is a project with a start and end date rather […]
I’m waiting for an appointment and watching a group of children learning to play American football. The coaches are good and constantly talking. The kids look to be around 5th grade and don’t know the rules well. There’s a lot of chaos; both skill and structure (rules) are lacking at this young age. It takes […]
This is a picture of my wife’s kiln just after cracking the top. When the temperature drops from about 1,800 degrees to 150 degrees, she nervously opens the top to see what occurred. Each piece is fired at least twice, once to harden the clay (called bisque firing) and again after glazing. Ordinarily, she finds […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]