I’ve been playing in rock and roll bands, full-time and part-time, for almost 40 years. The best bandleader I’ve ever worked with once said, “This is the best job on the planet! Where else do people applaud and cheer you on while you’re working, and then when you knock off work they tell you how […]
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Tourist Season at the YMCA
Our family has belonged to the YMCA down the road since it opened many years ago. I served on the board for a few years, two of our children worked there (one was on a poster advertising indoor lacrosse for a long time), and my wife currently lives there (or so it seems). We’ve all […]
Wise To Be Your Spouse’s Boss?
Mixing love and money is mighty tricky (please feel free to quote me on this, as long as you leave “mighty” in). There are a thousand ways to make a buck, but you only have one marriage (I assume). It’s challenging to create a happy marriage, and it’s challenging to create a successful business. Combining […]
Elon Musk: Poster Child for Overachievers?
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 […]
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 […]