I have found that when I am producing something, working on something, the best thing to do is to do it in several steps. To iterate. Whether you are problem-solving, preparing a board presentation, thinking through a strategy, or writing a customer proposal … walk away from it, think about it, refresh, and then come
Planning is a critical part of a leaders’ role. Having a great plan sets the stage to create the tactics to execute that plan. But, without a tactical action plan and having a management system to drive execution, a plan is just that…a plan, no results. A great plan assures that your company, your team
Recently in the college NCAA basketball tournament, one of the Louisville players had a horrible leg injury. The team went on to win the game , and flew to Atlanta for the finals. The coach of the team, Rick Pitino, stayed behind to be with his player. The other day, a friend of mine called
After working for a few months for Flemming Jacobs, one of the most inspirational leaders I know, he invited the team out to dinner with our wives. We had been on a project for several months, and much of that involved being away from our families. We quickly found out that this wasn’t the
Business “Above all, you want to create something you’re proud of. This has always been my philosophy of business.” “I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive, then I believe you are better off not doing it.” “Because I don’t see
When my kids were young, they would hide in a tree by our driveway, armed with supersoaker water guns. They would hide up there, anxiously awaiting for my car to pull up, giggling to themselves in anticipation of how they would “surprise” me as i got out of my car. And of course I would
You’ve been there. It is 1 am and you are hungry. You go to “the place”. You know that place. For me in college, it was the Silver Truck. In Hong Kong its Ebenezers. In Rio its BB Lanches, and in Fort Lauderdale, just the other night it was Primantis Pizza (Open 7 days a
I was talking to a client the other day, and they told me about a hugely unreasonable customer. “Nothing I do satisfies them. We bend over backwards for this customer and frankly spend way more resources on them than we should. They don’t appreciate that we do so many things for them that no-one else
Normally I would not post a sports interview as a business teamwork analogy but this interview with Phil Jackson caught my ear. First of all, having lived in Sacramento these past 25 years, I can safely say that loathing Phil Jackson has been a past time and sport in and of itself here. But…ahem, the
Leaders Develop Themselves First! Don’t You Agree? Not sure about first but I am a firm believer that learning should never stop. I haven’t met a great leader who doesn’t read voraciously, who isn’t constantly searching for new perspectives. I believe great leaders have an inherent self-improvement plan – they may not articulate it but