Has Elon Musk become the poster child for overachievers who are rich and unhappy? I think I get it–setting stretch goals and being rich can be fun, but at what price? Heck, stretching the boundaries of your comfort zone from time to time can also be fun and productive, but if you stay out of […]
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When Is a Convenient Time for Strategic Innovation?
Put another way, when is a convenient time to have more fun and make more money? Well, of course the obvious answers are “never” and “always.” Since it’s never convenient to disrupt your organization to improve its performance, then it naturally follows that it’s always as convenient as it’s ever going to be. Recently when […]
Theory X and Theory Y Are Both Right
I don’t hear as much talk about Douglas McGregor’s Theory X & Theory Y these days. That’s a shame, because it’s a very helpful model for leaders. If you remember, Theory X sees people as basically lazy and motivated by external rewards and punishments (“the carrot and the stick”). Theory Y sees people as basically […]
Are Core Values Important? Ask Wells Fargo…
I trust you’re familiar with the fallout from the Wells Fargo “make a buck any way you can” fiasco. It’s just another in a long line of such business missteps created by a lack of clear and consistently followed core values as the foundation of a culture of sustained financial success. I’m pretty excited that […]
Is Strategic Differentiation Essential for Business Success?
I’ve been around the strategic planning game for quite a while now, and people keep telling me that strategic differentiation is essential for business success. The questions meant to uncover this differentiation are usually something like: Why should I buy from you instead of your competitors? What makes you different in a sea of sameness? […]
Is Your World Fair?
So I’m sitting in class during graduate school, and one of the worst professors we’ve ever had makes one more arbitrary, disorganized, and incredibly time-wasting assignment right before final exams. Before I could stop myself, I said, “But that’s not fair!” His response was, “The world isn’t fair.” Since I was now on a roll, […]
How Important Is Doing What You Say You’ll Do?
My colleague and I were talking recently about how often business leaders that we know don’t do what they say they’ll do. It could be something as important as following through on a commitment made in a planning meeting on a new strategic initiative, or something more pedestrian like promising to return a phone call […]
How Important Is Money to Business Success?
Well, of course it’s important, but how? I’ve learned a lot about fundraising over the past few months, and my current perspective is that every young person I know has an idea for an app and wants a million dollars to implement it. If we were to get these aforementioned young people the money, a […]
7 Keys to the Entrepreneurial Mindset
Are you thinking about becoming an entrepreneur? Are you already one but things aren’t going as well as you’d prefer? Do you have the mindset skills listed below? If not, how are you going to acquire them? Belief in yourself. Nobody is confident in every situation; instead this is the belief that you can figure out […]
The A Player Compensation Plan
Anytime I hear a CEO say, “My employees are lazy and they don’t care about the company,” or “Nobody wants to work anymore,” it’s a red flag for me. My first question is “Have you given them a reason to care about the company?” Somehow a lot of leaders have come to believe that everyone […]