Being an Extraordinary Leader
Leaders come in many varieties. Anyone over the age of 25 has already learned that through experience. The awful bosses stay with us in the form of cautionary tales. But the extrao
The Upside of Anxiety
We often think of anxiety in negative terms. And of course, it can be debilitating and miserable. But it can also be a tool that you leverage, either for your own, or your team’s
Pigeonholing People
No time to read? Watch the video here. When I finished the last article I sent you about apophenia—seeing non-existent patterns in data—I knew that I had only touched on part o
Private Strategy
Often, when I first ask startup founders about their strategies, they usually tell me what their goals are for the year. Or they provide a laundry list of projects that they have u
The Gathering Snowball of Goals
There is one thing about which we can be very certain at the beginning of every new year. Roughly 75% of New Year’s resolutions will be forgotten by March. Of those
Janus Strategy
An auto-antonym is a word that has at least 2 meanings that mean the opposite of each other. For example, one definition of “sanction” is to disallow. But another is to bless.
Mind the Gap –Executive Edition
As we discussed last week, in most organizations, the strategy doesn’t make it very far beneath the C-suite. This isn’t obvious when you are part of the senior team that crea
Neutrality Can Sniff Out Bad Strategy
I was listening to a radio interview with David Cohen, an experienced Special Master. You are probably familiar with the title as it has been in the news lately. But, in case not,
Deciding Strategy Despite Uncertainty
Many of today’s leading founders and CEOs have never weathered an economic downturn. It’s been almost 10 years since the recovery from the great recession, and business has bee
If Culture Eats Strategy, What Eats Culture?
Everyone knows the line: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It’s usually attributed to Peter Drucker, although for the life of me I can’t find any evidence he said it