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. […]
I’ve coached folks who probably have an IQ that’s double mine. Some are linear thinkers who are process-oriented, and some are more entrepreneurial and rely heavily on intuition. Both can be great leaders. But process orientation and intuition can, as with most strengths, be disabling. Highly process-oriented leaders can create a bureaucratic mess by […]
We needed to remodel a bathroom and bedroom, and my son had friends from the Marines with a construction business. With his endorsement and their background as Marines, we hired them as soon as they gave us a proposal. We’re glad we did! One of them, Tom, is an avid fly-fisher as am I. (I […]
What do Tesla, Peloton, WeWork and Uber have in common? At least four things: high customer demand, significant revenue, billions in market cap (OK, Tesla is a trillion …), and tremendous cumulative losses as I write this. I hope all above-mentioned companies turn the corner and generate lots of profit in the long run because […]
Most of my recent conversations with clients and other CEOs have been dominated by discussions about labor shortages. (Supply chain is a close second.) I’ll bet that everyone reading this has been affected in small or perhaps large measure. Whether it is your favorite restaurant cutting hours, your home-remodel project stuck in purgatory or your […]
I spent six hours fly fishing the Cache la Poudre River in northern Colorado on a Saturday in late October and only caught two fish; one on my second cast and the other hours later, shortly before I headed home for a beer. That day I did something that I rarely do, I spent all […]
Will interest rates keep rising? Will my supply chain ever get fixed!? Should I require vaccinations for my workers? Are customers’ behavioral changes permanent? Should I require my team to return to the office? I need employees; where will they come from? How will upcoming government action (or inaction) affect my business? Will my business […]
It’s August as I write this and over 90 degrees. I’m trading emails to set up a February ski trip with some fellas I’ve skied with for 30 years—minus a couple of years for injuries. I don’t know about you, but one of the worst things about the COVID pandemic was having zero anticipatory excitement […]
I hated math word problems as a kid, so I’ll make this a pain-free version with an easy question! I recently wrote about CEOs’ need for a high understanding of their financial situation and wanted to follow up with an illustrative story. I specifically mentioned that, as a CEO, you should understand your cash conversion […]
Years ago, I served on a public company board of directors with a prominent investor. Like most successful people I’ve known, a few maxims drove his success. The one I heard repeatedly from him was: “Rule number one in business is never run out of cash! Rule number two is never violate rule number one!” […]