Reading Time: 2 minutes COVID-19 has knocked us off our game plan – everything we know about moving forward shattered. Although I have been through some tough times in the past, I don’t fully remember how I responded. This time I am working with a group of CEOs and senior executives, and we are
Different Boats, Same Storm
Reading Time: < 1 minutes Many say we’ll soon return to the way things were previously; others say that we’ll be living in a world changed not only in degree but in kind. If past crises (the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918, World War II, the Great Depression) are any guide, the truth will probably settle
Zoom Safety “Cheat Sheet”
Reading Time: < 1 minutes It’s difficult to imagine how many of us would get through this COVID-19 work environment without access to tools like WebEx, GoTo Meeting, and most notably Zoom. Zoom’s growth has created some security concerns. Still, Vistage Speaker and IT Security expert Mike Foster has put together a
Managing Me Under COVID-19
Reading Time: 2 minutes The most important person we ever manage is ourselves. This is true in normal times but even more important now when fear and uncertainty impair the ability of many to do so. You can’t lead those around you until you’re managing yourself. Fortunately, our Vistage community is not short of
Nothing is Ever as Good or as Bad as it Seems.
Reading Time: < 1 minutes “Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.” Dr. Scott Galloway From his “No Mercy, No Malice” Blog Author of “The Algebra of Happiness” If you ask older Americans about the best times of their lives, many will point to a crisis of some kind that had
10,000 Hours and Now an Expert
Reading Time: 2 minutes Becoming an expert is difficult to do. Conventional wisdom, initially discovered by Anders Ericsson, says it takes 10,000 hours of study to be an authority in a particular topic. For 18 years, I taught leadership at a superb graduate school in Boston – Brandeis University, located in Waltham, Massachusetts. If
The Other Side of Clarity – Warren Bennis
Reading Time: < 1 minutes One of the greatest management writers, Warren Bennis, once remarked that “leaders bring clarity.” Perhaps one of the most important ways this happens is identifying what a company stands for (values) and how it’s going to make money (strategy). The problem is that everyone in the organization may bring their own interpretation
Amazon’s Real End Game
Reading Time: < 1 minutes If you are at all familiar with the history of business you know Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, Carnegie Steel, Ford, and JP Morgan’s banking empire changed forever the business landscape and created in large measure the world we know today. No doubt Amazon will be included in this commercial pantheon when
A Long Drive With Jim Collins: Keeping the Flywheel in Motion
Reading Time: < 1 minutes The pre-eminent business writer still wielding the pen is Jim Collins. But if you’re a better listener than a reader, and if you have a long drive or a plane flight coming up, check out this 2.5-hour audio interview with Jim Collins on the Farnam Street Website. This is an enjoyable and
RIP Clayton Christensen
Reading Time: < 1 minutes “In your life, there are going to be constant demands for your time and attention. How are you going to decide which of those demands gets resources? The trap many people fall into is to allocate their time to whoever screams loudest, and their talent to whatever offers them the
