Jan Rippingale’s ambitions were never small. At an early age, Jan was looking first to be an astronaut. On the way to president. Ironically, working with John Glenn turned her ambitions away from this, and more towards using technology to create impact. Her chosen area of impact is to reduce our carbon footprint. And her […]
Strategy
Heading back to the business of business is business
Is the business of business just business? And if so, how far does “business” go? Are benefits business? Internal committees? I’ve always been a fan of the ethos of Basecamp. I love how they simplify. I really like their readiness to do the things that make sense, rather than the things that LinkedIn or every […]
In plateaus, do you learn or do you defend?
Plateaus are insidious. Because although they’re not a good place to be, there’s not so much pain that you rip off the plaster to do something different. There are some common patterns in most companies that hit The Plateau… … There’s always a good reason why doing things differently won’t work… … Or relentless explanations […]
Choose Greatness over Size
In Bo Burlingham’s magnificent book, Small Giants, he talks about a special type of company. A company that evokes a human connection. A company which, as per the subtitle of the book, chooses greatness over size. At the heart of these companies leaders have “deep emotional attachments to the business, to the people who worked […]
If you’re frustrated with your leadership team, the feeling’s probably mutual!
“It annoys me how often I need to tell my leadership team what to do. But if I don’t, they just won’t do the right thing.” (How to upset everyone in one fell swoop. But it needs saying, so here goes…) If you’re a CEO frustrated with your leadership team (LT), I’ll bet they’re also […]