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 […]
Many words can describe successful CEOs: smart, aggressive, resilient, etc. So why is “frustrated” one of a CEO’s normal states? First, it’s all those people around you! People come in many models with poorly written instruction manuals. Different things motivate them. They have different skills. And they must work together! This creates the wonderful puzzle […]
My wife and I recently had a wonderful trip to Costa Rica. The driver who took us back to the airport to fly home was an articulate, well-informed, 50-year-old man. We started to talk about the economy, Costa Rican society, and the government, and he painted a bleak picture of decline that I was unaware […]
Recent news from Ukraine is that four top Russian generals were killed on the battlefield. The story goes on to identify this sad but unique fact because of the top-down leadership style that Russia still hews to. Only “the big guys” are smart enough to make the tough decisions so they must be on the […]
After returning from a recent trip, I called my wife from the airport to see if she wanted to get dinner. She’d already eaten and said the fridge was bare, so I decided to use my monthly “grease and salt” ration and stop at a drive-thru. I pulled into the burger joint drive-thru with three […]
As I write this, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics just finished, and I just watched arguably the most talented skier ever — Mikaela Shiffrin — make tragic mistakes in three events she had a high likelihood of winning. Shiffrin is on the podium so often that when she doesn’t do well, it’s shocking — though […]
A line I’ve heard many times in my career as an executive and executive coach is, “I can’t afford to fire/lose him/her.” Most often, the story is one of a single point of failure. The person they’d like to part ways with (or make a significant behavior change in) has one or more of the […]
Many years ago, I went to dinner in New York City with five colleagues. We found a small Italian restaurant on a quiet street. After we sat down, they poured us water but offered no menus. A few minutes later, the owner came out and said, “What would you like for dinner?” (He served mostly […]
The phrase “I serve at the pleasure of …” annoys me. It’s used most often in the political realm, such as, “I serve at the pleasure of the president” (most often uttered when someone is about to get fired). Any leader who asserts that “you serve at my pleasure” may be factually correct but is […]
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 […]