I got hooked on bike racing many years ago when I watched American Greg LeMond beat Frenchman Laurent Fignon on the last stage of the Tour de France by a mere eight seconds after two weeks and 2,041 miles of racing. Later, I was a big Lance Armstrong fan. There has always been a king […]
“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.” —Confucius In life, we generally want to reduce friction. Car bodies, bike helmets, airplane skins and anything requiring oil are designed to minimize friction. But when you want to stop a car, light a match or shape a piece of wood, you need […]
When I was a kid, we’d sometimes go for a Sunday drive after church. I suspect my mother, a widow with two kids, just wanted some quiet time, but I remember mostly being bored. We lived in the Midwest and frankly, once you’ve seen one field of sugar beets, the others aren’t that interesting! We […]
If you’re an executive and aren’t a bit anxious (or excited, if you’re an optimist!) about the rate of change in the business world, my guess is you’re just not paying attention. Either that or you sell toilet paper and aren’t worried about a new disruptive technology. Even a toilet paper company, however, could find […]
A fascinating and critical question for leaders: Do you reward behavior or victories? Consider these situations: You have a well-established business model but are concerned that it’s too old and a startup may soon eat your lunch. You fund a new division to build out some adjacent product lines. It gets three to market; two […]
The following is an excerpt from my book, “Never Kick a Cow Chip On A Hot Day” (2016) Morgan James Publishing. Most executives squander too much of their most valuable resource, their time.Here is how to get a good return on that asset. Getting a Return On Your Time The $59 time-management seminar I went […]
“In all the time I spent with him, I never once heard him refer to his ability to see the future. He couldn’t see it — that’s why he had to grope for it.” —Michael Lewis, “The New New Thing” (talking about entrepreneur Jim Clark) Jim Clark famously founded Netscape, Silicon Graphics, myCFO and Healtheon […]
The following is an excerpt from my book, “Never Kick a Cow Chip On A Hot Day” (2016) Morgan James Publishing. The final chapter is titled, “Balancing For Big Shots.” Here is part of my answer to the question, “How do I balance my life as an executive?” Selfishness Has A Bad Rep… Did you […]
Leaders with people in their business who are looking to increase their bottom line have a choice regarding how to do it. Let’s assume you produce $100 worth of goods or services with $20 of labor input yielding $80 of profit. You can try to cut 25 percent of your labor cost to produce that […]
Some leadership books are timeless My sous chef Alexa and I were cooking dinner the other night, and I asked her, “Alexa, play top songs from 1981.” (I didn’t say please. I know she’s artificial intelligence, but I still feel guilty.) 1981 is the year our first child was born. After listening to about 10 […]