“Drive thy business or it will drive thee.” – Benjamin Franklin Last week in this space the focus was on making sure what you’re doing is driving your business toward the vision and making sure you’re busy doing things that matter, not just busy being busy. Someone emailed me with the comment that while that … Read more
“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” – George Washington Carver We live in a world of activity. We feel like we’re busy all the time, and we actually take pride in it. If I ask a business owner how things are going they almost always say “We’re really busy” or “It’s been … Read more
“Astrophysicists assure us the universe has no center; therefore, you cannot be it.” – David McCulllough, Jr. Part of being a great leader is taking some time for self-analysis. Being aware of what we do and say and how we make others feel and the culture we create is critical. It’s also difficult. Very few … Read more
“Looking back, my life seems to be one long obstacle course, with me as the chief obstacle.” – Jack Paar There are too many leaders today spending time doing things they shouldn’t do. In our seemingly nonstop quest to be as busy as possible, we take on tasks and responsibilities that don’t have any business … Read more
“Our company has a short range and a long range plan. Our short range plan is to stay afloat long enough to make it to our long range plan.” – Anonymous One of the challenges I hear leaders mention on a regular basis relates to planning. Our businesses are faced with so much change that … Read more
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” – Winston Churchill I’ve spent some time lately speaking with various groups about change, things that drive successful change, things you can do to be better at making change, etc. I’ve run across a common theme with a number of those groups. It isn’t … Read more
“Indiscriminate action is a form of laziness.” – Tim Ferriss Last week in this space we talked about the importance of doing what matters, how you need to know WHERE you’re going so you know what to focus on, how you need to get those non-critical things off your plate. I heard from a few … Read more
“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” – Winston Churchill It goes without saying that leaders today are faced with sometimes overwhelming amounts of change. The things our customers value have changed and continue to evolve. The way those customers want to buy is markedly … Read more
“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” – Henri-Louis Bergson One of the realities of life for most people is the search for a plateau. When you hear people talk about the future, a big portion of what they say usually involves comments … Read more
“Change is disturbing when it is done to us. Change is exhilarating when it is done by us.” – Rosabeth Kanter I’m fortunate to spend a lot of my career with leadership teams who are working on the future of their organizations. We’ll talk about products and people and competitors, about growth and profit, etc. … Read more
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