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 […]
Bite Size Business Tips
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 […]
If you don’t like choosing between horrible and cataclysmic, don’t become CEO.
Hard choices often end up in one of two ugly places: Analysis paralysis – no decision, but just an ongoing slow pain, or flip-flopping decisions – often depending on who you’re speaking to. I’ve seen this a lot in many leaders, including CEOs. Sometimes, it’s because the choices are genuinely difficult to compare. Other times […]
Hire the right people, and then trust them
People problems in companies tend to boil down to one of two things. Wrong people hired, or right people hired, but then not empowered. We need to both (1) hire the right people to bet on, and; (2) place our bet. Doing either of those well isn’t easy. But I see so many businesses ruin […]
Teams are good, but networks make them stronger
Suppose for a minute that there’s this country with a government comprised largely of an old boys’ network from the same schools, universities and degrees. Crazy, but just suppose. That’s the kind of scenario that (rightly) gives networks get a bad rep. But inside a company, networks can create real strength. Where we create multiple […]