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!” […]
“Expenditure of physical or mental effort especially when difficult or compulsory” — “Labor” definition, Merriam-Webster I’m not a fan of the term “labor” to describe some of the workers in the economy. It comes from the Latin word labor which means to toil or trouble. I never viewed the people that worked in the organizations […]
I recently created a vlog on “When to Change Strategy” and wanted to share some interesting observations (at least to me!) of changing business because of the pandemic. There’s little joy in Mudville from the pandemic, but there are always lessons! The grocery industry has had to pivot (heavens I’m tired of that word!) dramatically […]
I’m a big fan of Ken Burns documentaries. Years ago, I took time off at Christmas and watched the Civil War series with one of my kids. I’ve since seen Burns’ films on national parks and country music. Brilliant! I’d known of Burns’ 1994 baseball series but only recently watched it; it was as good […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 tracks” and “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” all pay homage to stability. In some regards, the CEO’s job is to create stability. Shareholders look for stable (and rising) growth […]
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 […]
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, […]