“Corporate culture doesn’t happen by accident – and if it does, you’re taking a risk.” – Monique Winston It’s always interesting to ask leaders about the businesses they lead. I always ask what the leaders think is the real strength of their business, the thing that really drives their success. People answer that question in … Read more
“The extra mile is a vast, unpopulated wasteland.” – Jeff Haden Most people you meet like to talk about how hard they work. They talk about putting in a lot of hours, about their terrific work ethic, and, depending on their age, how younger people just don’t want to work as hard as they do. … Read more
“I’ve suffered a great many catastrophes in my life. Most of them never happened.” – Mark Twain There are an infinite number of management and leadership articles that have been published over the years. They talk about important things like finance, emotional intelligence, communication skills, and dozens of other relevant topics. And while those certainly … Read more
“Don’t try to be fearless…Just try to prevent fear from making your decisions for you.” – Chris Guillebeau We mention beliefs a lot in this space (like here, here, and here, for example) because our beliefs as leaders are so important to our performance and that of our businesses. What we believe drives our behavior, … Read more
“Few days are sunny. Few days are perfect. Instead, most days have something wrong with them, us, or others. Stop waiting for perfect days and start marching forward.” – Jim Collins One of the critical things leaders do is make decisions. Whether it’s about people, products, customers, whatever – fixing priorities and goals and a … Read more
“The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.” – Kakuzo Okakura Change is constant. There is no part of our businesses that is exempt from it. Our customers change, our competitors change, or people change, our products change, the rules we’re required to follow change – there’s no end to it. … Read more
“We cannot become what we need to be without changing who we are.” – Max DePree The vast majority of the conversation in this space revolves around change. Changing environments, changing customers, changing markets, changing technology – there’s almost literally no end to the list of things that are changing around us and that we … Read more
“Predicting rain doesn’t count. Building arks does.” – Warren Buffett Over the years I’ve been fortunate to spend a lot of time with experienced leaders, people who’ve been running businesses for a long time. Most of those people have seen and learned a lot over their careers, and while most of them wouldn’t admit it, … Read more
“Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The thoughts in my head today aren’t new. If you like you could go back and read this, and this, and this and get roughly the same idea. And yet every day I’m reminded that the topic is … Read more
“Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you.” – John Wooden There are a dozen or more things that great leaders do effectively, but one of the most important involves making decisions. That’s obviously not some kind of mind-blowing revelation. And yet, so many business leaders go about making … Read more
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