Build a great company on a powerful foundation!
Your employees and partners are looking to you for direction. Perhaps you’re also looking for direction “upstairs”, whether that’s bosses, industry leaders, regulators, or whoever.
But there are many ways that top-down direction can fail:
Read the rest of this entry »My article last week got me reflecting more about ambiguity in general. Because it’s not just about risk analysis, but dealing in an environment which is unpredictable. Where every action – or inaction – can lead to unexpected results.
It feels more important right now, because the whole world seems more unpredictable than before. But I would argue that it’s not substantially different than before, and in fact things are stabilizing after surviving the once-in-a-lifetime pandemic experience.
Read the rest of this entry »It’s easy to freak out about all the things that can go wrong.
But, as a leader, your role is to push progress forward despite the dangers. It feels like you’re caught in a bind.
But business leaders are accustomed to making decisions in an environment of risk. It’s what we need to do.
Read the rest of this entry »It’s real easy for me to get immersed in the details of the day. It makes me feel good to be busy and “productive.”
But I need to spend time getting back to the basics, the big picture. Why? Because it gives perspective to focus on the most important things.
A recent example was an offer I had to do some work for a group who approached me. I love what they do, but it’s also more work for me and I’m cautious about taking on obligations right now.
Read the rest of this entry »I always find it useful to work with my clients to examine the nature and needs of all the stakeholders in their business. That discussion starts off with customers, partners, supplier, and investors. But there are more!
Sometimes leaders forget that their employees are stakeholders. They care if the company succeeds, because it’s often their primary livelihood and source of income.
But I often find that people forget about one of the most crucial stakeholders in any business: Yourself.
Read the rest of this entry »I ran across a powerful idea some years ago which has really helped me to get control of certain parts of my life.
The concept is called a “habit trigger”, and is used when you want to develop a new habit but have trouble remembering to do it. It might be exercise, or unloading the dishwasher, or a skin care routine.
Quite simply, the trick is to attach your new habit to something else which is already habitual for you.
Read the rest of this entry »I’ve been a strong proponent of the idea that most businesses have an optimal size. This flies in the face of the traditional wisdom that businesses must “grow or die.”
That’s true for some industries and business models, but the vast majority don’t need to follow that.
In fact, for many organizations, “grow or die” can lead to frustration and lousy quality of life. For you, your employees, and customers.
Read the rest of this entry »When Damar Hamlin was injured in the Monday football game last week, it reset our thinking about who these players are and how much we demand of them.
It was hard for us to see everything suddenly stop – for minutes, then for an hour, and then the game was indefinitely postponed.
This brought to mind other challenging situations I’ve seen over the course of my career. Many years ago I observed that all it took was to tell my boss that “I have a family emergency” and all of a sudden all other priorities dropped.
Read the rest of this entry »Hurrah, it’s a new year! We all had our holiday celebrations, right?
Time to get back to work. But that doesn’t sound like as much fun. Or, depending on your industry’s seasonality, you might be trying to energize for a real grind ahead. I feel for you, tax people.
But let’s keep that sense of lightness just a little longer, shall we?
Read the rest of this entry »At the end of the year, it’s common to work on employee evaluations. Which can be a real downer for everyone involved.
If you think about it, they’re not really doing much about what can be affected: the future. So we’re doing it to justify how we have to make management decisions about pay, promotions, job roles and such.
The employee doesn’t get much value out of the whole experience, to be honest.
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The Values-Based Business 