It’s almost never referenced in leadership books but it’s foundational for long-term success. People talk about its scarcity, not its excess. As Jim Collins noted in his book How the Mighty Fall, companies have gone extinct because they lack just one aspect of it. Without it, workforces are demoralized, good people leave the company, business […]
I only had one day at IFT13. When you only spend one day, recapping a 4 day event can be dangerous. But, with a sample size of 25%, here goes. Overall conference rating (from attendee point of view): A- Some observations: The people at IFT are real pros. I’m not a fan of McCormick Place […]
Companies can spend millions of dollars on change management plans yet major initiatives in businesses are still much more likely to fail than to succeed. Don’t believe me? Check out the graphic below. But why is failure such a high probability? Often it’s because traditional change management planning is too narrowly defined and practiced. In […]
After 30+ years working with some of the best and brightest business leaders in the consumer products industry and now after 5 years consulting to businesses large and small in consumer products and other industries as well, I can truthfully say I’ve never met a CEO or senior leader that wasn’t smart. But I have […]
I made a quick stop this weekend at (usually) one of my favorite Do-It-Yourself hardware and lumber stores. Even though I like browsing around, with a busy day of projects on the schedule, I was in a hurry to get in and get out. So, I was a bit miffed when the slow, scowling sales […]
It was the 14th revision of a global operations strategy for a very large company that will remain nameless (but makes very tasty food). We had done all the situation analysis, set preliminary objectives, walked around preliminary strategies to all the functional heads and their strategy staff, collected valuable input and made modifications. We had […]
As part of the French Resistance during World War II, he was captured and became a prisoner of the Gestapo but orchestrated a daring escape and rejoined the fight against the Nazi occupation. If anyone had an excuse later in life for a mistrusting, uncooperative relationship with Germany, it was Robert Schuman. But instead, because of […]
The story goes something like this. The archduke and duchess were returning by carriage to one of their palaces in the countryside. As the carriage approached, the duchess remarked about the beauty of a single solitary flower that had grown up in the middle of the courtyard. The archduke quickly ordered a guard stand watch […]
Honestly, I just don’t like to do it. Pay taxes. Nobody does. Except, of course, those few ultra rich who think they aren’t quite paying enough. But they don’t count. As for the rest of us in business or in our personal lives, we don’t like paying taxes. I have no idea what you pay personally […]
Imagine what it took for Leonardo da Vinci to produce just one painting. Really. Imagine it. Leonardo lived from 1452 to 1519, long before there were convenient painter supply stores a short walk or car ride away. Getting a canvas or panel ready for painting would have been a huge job considering sourcing, stretching, mounting, grounding […]
