The business owners and senior managers I know who are really good leaders are frequently tired. It’s a good tired, but tired nonetheless. It’s a lot like the tired you get from a spirited game of tennis, a fairly serious jog or, in my case, a long bike ride. It’s not a “lay down on [...]
Today, Walter Issacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs will be released to the general public. Many interesting "leaks" from pre-lease copies have been published over the past few days. Steve Jobs excelled in thinking differently. Apple iPods changed how we listen to music, iTunes disrupted the music business, iPhones put the mobile telecommunications business into a new [...]
Or not. At least one organization (the Economic Cycle Research Institute, ECRI) with an exceptionally good track record says another recession may already be here. Over the last 15 years, it has gotten all of its recession calls right, while issuing no false alarms. Whatever the case - weak economy, recession, improving economy - your [...]
A little over three years ago we decided to add a dog to our family. My wife is a city girl and I'm a country boy. I'd like a barnyard full of pets and she'd prefer... not. We compromise. We decided on a "small, sweet, loving, rescue dog." So we set out to find one who met [...]
During a recent conversation a good friend of mine, a business leader, said, "Strategy is the biggest waste of time I can imagine. Nothing ever happens because of a strategic plan!" Once you get past the emotion in the statement, the bad experiences with strategic planning in my friend's past, and take his comment purely [...]
When the conversation heads towards professional boxing, it frequently involves the heavyweight division. These are the people who have the potential for a sudden, surprising or even spectacular ending to any fight. Foreman. Frazier. Louis. Liston. Marciano. Ali. Tyson. These guys give new meaning to "heavy hitters." ESPN Boxing recounts a 1988 match between Michael [...]
“I did not get on the bus to get arrested. I got on the bus to go home.” - Rosa Parks On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was seated on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. When the driver ordered her to give up her seat so a white passenger could take it, she refused. This simple [...]
"There was a time not so long ago when giants roamed the countryside. Enormous smoke-belching, fire-breathing giants that roared like rolling thunder as they tore through the night, stitching the nation together with shining ribands of steel. We called these monsters trains. Few who have heard the whistle of a speeding train in the night [...]
Things change. Whether we like it or not, the world is changing. Our approach to change matters a great deal as to how we view change, either good or bad. If we adopt a victim-like mentality (passive, entrenched and unaware), any change will likely be "bad." Whereas, a more valiant approach (active, opportunity-seeking and aware) [...]
In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain wrote, “The best swordsman in the world doesn’t need to fear the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn’t do the [...]
