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 […]
Running a business is hard. Running a business with a triple headed monster on your heels (Covid, an emotionally supercharged political environment and racial tension) is beyond hard; its nutty! If you are CEO, you know what I mean. If you are not, try to put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Here we […]
I’ve had a few recent inquiries from bright, talented people who want coaching. They’re all in significant roles that can bring tremendous value to the company. Unfortunately, they work for Luddites who won’t pay for coaching. In fact, their efforts to ask for mentoring from their boss resulted in a cold shoulder and comments such […]
A fellow executive coach and I had a good call recently when he suggested that most everyone is on their heels right now, both in business and personally, and the future is foggy. As I’ve been a longtime proponent of slowing the game down and asking the right questions, I thought I’d share a few […]
Has your culture changed because of coronavirus? Has the insidious disease crept into your organization like a stealthy criminal? Not overtly, but like a termite eating at your foundation. It’s not the disease, of course, that might be gnawing on your culture, but rather the changes it caused. Asynchronous communication, delayed feedback, stilted social bonding, […]
We have many pine trees in our yard and love them. Except, of course, for what they do to our gutters. The picture is actually from the front of my house. After a quick trip to the Homeadvisor website and a bit of research on Google, I decided that I needed gutter guards. 10 minutes […]
I recently read Robert Gates’ book, “Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World,” and was struck by his section on Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been a quagmire for decades — never really a country, just warring tribes. The Soviets sent more than 1 million soldiers there, lost […]
A recent piece in HBR asks, “Is CEO a Two-Person Job?” I didn’t think so when I wrote this, and I still don’t. I am impressed and appreciative of the relationship that these two leaders have developed but wouldn’t try to duplicate this arrangement unless you have an existing mind-meld, glued-at-the-hip, soulmate relationship going that […]
Of all the questions a CEO must answer, “What’s our strategy?” is one of the most daunting. If you can’t explain it in a few sentences, how can your people execute it? Significant changes to company strategy (e.g., “Where do we play, and how do we win?”) are frequent in startups but less so in […]