I used to fly aerobatics and was pretty confident (though not terribly skilled!) that I’d make it back to the runway with the airplane in one piece. I did, however, always wear a parachute! Regulation required it, but I also figured it cut my risk significantly. A key trait for successful CEOs is their ability […]
“No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant!” —Warren Buffett I’m a fan of fast. I talk fast, eat fast and drive fast (says my wife). I like to complete undesirable projects quickly. Heck, we all have […]
I recently warned that your team may be fragmenting in the work-from-home environment. Since then, I’ve spoken with multiple CEOs who are concerned about this. Many of them have employees who’d rather work from home with sporadic office visits, and most of these CEOs will try to accommodate them. Given this, there are three concepts […]
A recent Wall Street Journal article (“How Higher Wages Can Increase Profits”) indicates that higher wages can not only reduce turnover and increase recruiting of talented people (no real surprise there) but also increase productivity in existing staff. So higher wages in this example (expense for the business) can achieve higher profit—pretty cool! Mysterious altruism […]
A new CEO asked me which important leadership skills he needed to succeed—the building blocks of success. I suspect he thought my answer would include things like industry knowledge, technical brilliance, negotiating prowess and capital structure analysis. Those are all interesting, but they aren’t success factors I’ve observed in my many years of coaching successful […]
“Gentlemen, this is a football.” —Vince Lombardi Although I can’t imagine his accomplished players — back in 1961 — were excited to hear this, I appreciate that when you’re seeking improvement, you start with the basics. It’s difficult to get onto a professional football team while lacking basic skills. But I’ve seen numerous senior managers, […]
Have you ever caught yourself thinking, “Damn, I wish I had his natural ability!” Not so fast, buckaroo! Peyton Manning couldn’t throw a perfect spiral when he came out of the womb, and Albert Einstein couldn’t do math. Pat Conroy couldn’t write, and Charles Lindbergh couldn’t land an airplane! (OK, Nat King Cole might’ve been […]
Let’s talk about leadership rather than politics. There are very serious lessons for senior leaders to learn from our 45th president, particularly CEOs. From the perspective of many people, and yours may be different, Donald Trump seems more than willing to sacrifice democracy to assuage his ego. Of course, you say, I’d never do that. […]
As business leaders plan for the Biden administration, most (by my reckoning and other real news sources) are concerned about possible policy changes but welcome a level of stability (perhaps sanity). Stability in business is good, but only if you’re meeting your objectives. Phrases like “operating like a well-oiled machine,” “keep the train on the […]
Andrew got me pumped up today! He found me on the web and wanted advice about planning for business growth. He’s just getting started, growing rapidly, and I’m not the right resource, but I pointed him toward a couple of solutions to help. Our 30-minute phone call was probably more helpful for me, however, than […]