There’s a huge difference Todd Ordal Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Is it Superman? No, it’s just another heroic CEO. Resembling Jimmy Olsen in his early career, our hero is somehow transformed by his newly refurbished office on mahogany row into […]
One of the dumbest things I ever did was sell my two shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock many years ago. “Warren Buffett is getting old,” I said to myself, “and he certainly can’t continue this kind of record!” Well, he has! The overall return (based upon market value) of Berkshire Hathaway stock for the past […]
Don’t take cultural change lightly My wife and I recently read articles about Pope Francis publicly tongue-lashing his curia for the extreme office politics it practiced. One of us compared it with the mafia, but I won’t say which because one of us is a practicing Catholic. My wife didn’t ask me, “If the curia […]
I was shaving blind the other day in a hotel room after forgetting to replenish my travel-size shaving cream. I made do with some hair conditioner, which has the appropriate friction coefficient, but because it is virtually colorless, you can’t see which parts of your face you have shaved and which you have missed, you […]
No. 1: Don’t take it lying down Todd Ordal “Toddy-boy, you’re just going to have to deal with the ambiguity!” Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko’s, said that to me after significantly changing our growth targets. I’d just spent weeks working with my team on capital plans, new store locations, staffing plans, etc., for the coming […]
…or South Park kids? Todd Ordal If you’re like me, perhaps a certain musical piece can send your mind to a wonderful place. I returned home recently from a business trip where I saw a particularly engaging company with a bright, tight-knight leadership team that focused on doing business the “right” way. As I thought […]
Prepare for bends in the road But know you can’t predict everything Todd Ordal “Management is prediction.” —W. Edwards Deming I used to live in the Twin Cities and drive back to western Minnesota where I grew up to visit family. My wife and I joked that once you got onto I-94, you could fall […]
The faster you move, the brighter they have to be Todd Ordal Author E.L. Doctorow once said: “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” This also describes running a business. You can only see […]
Beyond the entrepreneur: Building business intelligence Todd Ordal I’ve been fortunate to work with some great business leaders over the course of my career, many of whom are much smarter than I am. IQ, however, isn’t the defining characteristic that I’ve observed in successful leaders and managers. Moderate or higher IQ is necessary but not […]
Moving forward for success Todd Ordal “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.” —Jack Welch Although Welch’s statement is simply put, it’s a brilliant message that we too often ignore. There are many examples of this on the public stage. If you’re […]