“Would you like fries with that?” has been around as a revenue enhancer since I was very young. Seems like a good question and no doubt enhances revenue (and waistlines) significantly. At some point, however, upcharges are damn annoying! I wrote some years ago about my wife buying a monkey backpack for a 1 year […]
The CEOs I work with and talk to have had several difficult issues to deal with in the past few years, none more so than expectations around ESG and its component DEI—two acronyms that have been around for a while but came to the forefront lately. A recent Wall Street Journal column (ESG Feeds Inflation, […]
“Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance!” —Unknown It’s a good idea to understand what happened when you fail. Not to dwell on it, but to learn. As an individual and as a business. It’s also valuable to understand what happened when you succeed. Not to claim the title […]
I recently heard a piece on National Public Radio celebrating the 40th anniversary of “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.” In his recap, the reporter highlighted the children’s transition from fear to curiosity in response to meeting the alien. This concept struck me. What a wonderful perspective! Perhaps not if you encounter a ravenous grizzly bear by yourself […]
A client recently said, “The one on ones our managers are doing are turning into counseling sessions! How much is too much?” Great question. As a guy who grew up with a single parent, a mother who was very much a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps!” type of gal, my natural inclinations are skewed […]
I had a good chat on Memorial Day with my son, a retired Marine. I had war on my mind as I read the news that morning with updates on the conflict in Ukraine. He’d been in a particular battle in Fallujah, Iraq, that I knew little about, and I finally asked him more details […]
“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” —Warren Buffett Sixty percent of CEOs surveyed by The Conference Board believe that economic conditions will worsen in the short term, and I suspect they’re correct. Warren Buffett, however, is on a buying spree. Over the short and medium term, emotions play a […]
168 is an important and immutable number. It’s one that we all share, the number of hours in a week. No one gets more, no one gets less. (Unless it’s your last week on earth or you were born on a Tuesday.) Most of you can, in great measure, control part if not most of […]
While preparing to review a CEO, the chairman of a board I worked with said, “He doesn’t lead; he just presides!” It was a brilliant description of a CEO who was loved by his people but ineffective in his role. It’s about balance. Lest I get off on the wrong foot, I passionately believe that […]
To understand why your desired customer will buy from you versus your competition and what you must do to satisfy their needs is perhaps the most important thing you can know. But many CEOs cannot clearly articulate this. And many know it but don’t choose to address it. Why? Building a winning strategy is hard. […]