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
I just spent all day at a conference as part of my work with two medical device startups. Busy day meeting with stakeholders, potential investors, customers, distributors. And it’s a great reminder that there is no better way to relate to people than face to face. Often we have many reasons that lead us down
I have an old leather bomber jacket hanging in my closet. In 1990, I started working for Kith Mackie, one of the best leaders I have worked for. Keith , as head of the Western Region, took a gamble, and rather than having a managing Director for each of his three districts, he decided to
A lesson I learned I attended a management training course offered by my company many years ago. One of the techniques that stuck with me was how to manage that growing pile in your inbox ( paper or email) The system is called TRAF and it represents one of four things you should do with
Surround yourself with people whose skills, style and experience you admire. Make that an important part of your network. “We become like that which we constantly admire”
I am a big fan of behavioral interviewing (“Tell me about a time when you…”). This interviewing style allows the interviewer to take actual experiences and behaviors of the candidate and assess how those fit into the culture and requirements of their company. It takes away much of the salesmanship of candidates and focuses on
Choose your customers first It seems obvious, doesn’t it? Each cohort of customers has a particular worldview, a set of problems, a small possible set of solutions available. Each cohort has a price they’re willing to pay, a story they’re willing to hear, a period of time they’re willing to invest. And yet… And yet
I was at the Starbucks drive-through the other day and as I was about to pay, the cashier said “The person in front of you paid for you. They are paying it forward”. Of course we passed the good fortune on to the car behind us (we were the 14th car to do so) and