In a recent study of over 1600 CEOs Vistage asked the question, "What is going to be your biggest priority to advance your business over the next three years?" The top three results ? Innovation in new products or services 35% Quality employees 27% Strong leadership 21% Given that the number one issue is innovation, [...]
Jerry was a 20 year old young man who was the son of a very successful small business person who had founded and run a well-regarded construction company for over 30 years. Jerry had a core belief that he was destined to take over the business when his dad retired. This is a common expectation [...]
I was very pleased to have a CEO client tell me he was considering tossing out their whole performance appraisal system. They hired a firm to help them build it several years ago, modified it for all departments, trained all managers and supervisors in using it and felt really good about it. But it doesn't [...]
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." – John Quincy Adams "View life as a continuous learning experience." – David Gergen If you asked a dozen business leaders to list their goals for the year, chances are you’d hear about increasing sales, improving [...]
"You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there." – Unknown "View life as a continuous learning experience." – Denis Waitley For the last several months, I’ve been talking about the tidal wave heading toward the shores of American business. The Baby Boom generation is reaching retirement age and more than [...]
"Our only security is our ability to change." – John Lilly As I said in last week's article, there’s a tidal wave heading toward the shores of American business. The Baby Boom generation is reaching retirement age and more than 20 million workers – including the executive management team in many businesses -- will retire [...]
"Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy." – Robert A. Heinlein "We can really respect a man only if he doesn’t always look out for himself." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe One of the most challenging issues for family owned businesses has to do with the succession of a son or daughter as [...]
"Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now." – Alan Lakein Have you noticed how frequently businesses come and go? You buy a product or service from a good local company for years. Then you hear that the company has gone out of business. Someone else [...]
"Culture is the set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events and personalities, that represents the unique character of an organization, and provides the context for action in it and by it." – Gareth Morgan "Leadership defined by "To lead is not to influence others to do something they are not [...]
"Family life! The United Nations is child’s play compared to the tugs and splits and need to understand and forgive in any family." – Mary Sarton In a recent article I talked about how the strengths and weaknesses of individual family members affect the overall success of the business. The converse is also true: the changing [...]