Great leaders make sure there are numerous formal and informal opportunities for other leaders within their organization… and not just senior leaders… to grapple with the personal, professional and organizational ramifications of potential innovations within their industry.  The benefits and high value of not only encouraging, but expecting such reflection and dialog are huge and enduring. 

Read More

Last week, Leadership Excellence: The Ultimate Strategy for Success, featured an interesting and informative article titled Creating a Culture of Excellence.  The article was written by Jason Daley and was published in the March 2010 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. As I stated last week, “If you are a leader who truly wants to improve and hone

Read More

The March 2010 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine includes an interesting and informative article written by Jason Daley titled, Creating a Culture of Excellence.  The tag line to the title is, It Means Something Different For Every Company, But For All Of Them The Key To Success Is The Same: The Person At The Top.  If you are

Read More

“Time to start managing for the next recession.  Downturns are a small part of the economic cycle, but they’re when major competitive reordering happens.”  So goes the headline of an article written by Geoff Colvin that was published in a recent issue of Fortune Magazine. The author’s point is that now is NOT the time

Read More

The February 8, 2010 issue of Fortune Magazine featured leadership and success strategies of Klaus Schwab, the man who created and leads the highly successful World Economic Forum. If you are not familiar with the name and very significant accomplishments of Klaus Schwab, please read the following: In 1971, Professor Klaus Schwab, then a professor

Read More

Inevitably, there comes a time, in fact many times over the personal and professional life of a great leader, when he or she must honestly, openly, yet humbly “take a firm and clear stand” on critical issues of the day.  Great leaders very carefully and thoughtfully select these times and issues, for they know that

Read More

Articles, books, speeches, training and more training, conferences, seminars, blogs, tweets, and probably billions of spoken words… all about the ramifications and “how to’s” of integrity.  There has probably never been a time when integrity was more discussed yet more bent, broken, abused and ignored. A recent Harvard Business Review article, entitled The Practice of Performance

Read More

The Harvard Business Review recently published a brief, but highly relevant article titled, Learning from Heroes.  The premise of the article is that we, like all of our heroes, whether Hercules, Luke Skywalker or Jack Welsh, struggle with five recurring challenges as we journey through work and life: We wander without knowing where we’re going Data

Read More

“Reset priorities to face the new reality.” “Keep investing in the core.”  The most successful leaders and companies never stop funding their most critical competencies. “Communicate like crazy, balancing realism and optimism.” “Your customers face new problems, so give them new solutions.” “Reevaluate people – and attract other good ones.” “Reexamine compensation – what is

Read More

Genentech, number 7 on the Fortune Magazine 2009 100 Best Companies To Work For, has worked hard and long to create and maintain a culture that puts a premium on curiosity and creativity.   In the October 12, 2009 issue of Fortune Magazine, Richard Scheller, head of research for Genentech, explains how the company keeps innovation

Read More

Unquestionably, the United States Military is one of the top leadership training organizations in the world.  Maybe the best in the world! A recent issue of Fortune Magazine included an excellent advertisement regarding the advantages of hiring veterans.  The advertisement included a listing titled, 10 Reasons to Hire Vets.  After reading through the list, I realized

Read More

The consistent delivery of high-quality fresh food within a comfortable gathering place in which to linger… this has been a recipe for success for centuries.  It has always been… it will probably always be. So easily said, yet so very hard to consistently deliver, particularly on a national or world-wide basis over a period of

Read More

Be Silent – Listen – Learn – Prepare – Serve – Lead One of the best and most succinct quotations I have ever read regarding leadership excellence is as follows: We must be silent before we can listen. We must listen before we can learn. We must learn before we can prepare. We must prepare

Read More