» January, 2010

As you know, Scott Brown, a Republican, defeated the Democratic candidate to fill Sen. Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat, a stunning reversal of Massachusetts trends of the last 50 years, for a seat that the Dems thought they couldn’t lose.

While there is certain to be a lot of political fallout and spin doctors massaging the message, it’s hard to argue that the health care reform razzle-dazzle isn’t part of it. As I’ve said before, I doubt that there’s a single American, let alone a U.S. Senator, who could even tell you, clearly and plainly, what the bill looks like today.

You can find other articles in Sword Tips discussing some of these provisions, and the lack of cost-saving provisions. I think what Americans resent is the enormous resources devoted to an omnibus bill of gargantuan proportions, unread by virtually all, that has jumped ahead of job creation and economic stability for so many Americans.

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If you remember, the General Motors board gave CEO Rick Wagoner a 64 percent pay raise — to $15.7 million — in 2007, when the company lost $38.7 billion. The company went bankrupt two years later at a cost of $52 billion to shareholders and another $13.4 billion to all taxpayers.

In Sword Tips, we’ve often remarked on the dismal job done by so many Boards of Directors, falling short of their fiduciary and ethical responsibilities and failing to hold the company’s leaders accountable for their performance as well as their conduct.

So, it’s no surprise that John Gillespie and David Zweig, have written “Money for Nothing“: How the Failure of Corporate Boards is Ruining American Business and Costing us Trillions”. You can find a review of the book here.

My advice? If you have no meaningful expectations from your Board, don’t have one. Keep grandma and your sister on your board. Have a nice dinner, some wine and keep telling each other how wonderful you are. When you wake up one morning and discover that your business is in the tank, you won’t need to call them on it. Just stay in front of the mirror a little longer.

“The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong questions.”– Peter Drucker

I have been working recently with a young CEO-in-waiting who is eager to move into the top spot. He recognizes, however, that his struggle to “think strategically” may be keeping him back. On a tactical level, he is very efficient, discharging the assignments given to him, working his way through his daily action list and dispatching players to their intended destinations. He’s proud of his accomplishments, as he should be, but he “can’t see the lawn for the blades of grass,” and is constantly wrestling with how to develop a strategic perspective.

Ironically, many executives bear a subconscious fear about actually getting to that strategic level. After all, it’s a little harder to figure out what to do than to simply — do. It’s more demanding to establish the flight plan than to follow it. Creating the plan also demands more personal accountability, the conundrum that befuddles so many executives in the first place.

What does it mean to “think strategically?”

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Seth Godin recently wrote about two lemonade stands and how simple things in the approach made such a big difference. My colleague, Jonathan Fields, also commented on this post, expanding upon some of the key differentiators that apply to all of our businesses.

Simple concept, Provocative Ideas. Free lemonade, anyone?

Saving that bottle of great wine for a special occasion … but each time, setting it aside waiting for the NEXT great occasion? Don’t take time to visit special places and landmarks in your own city because you’re busy now but soon, you’ll have more time?

The NY Times recently published a story, The Psychology Behind Putting Off what can be Enjoyed Now“, referring to recent studies exploring our strange impulse to put off what can be enjoyed today to another day. Not a good habit of ours ….

The story concludes with a reminder of the advice given in the movie, Sideways, to Miles who has been holding onto a ’61 Cheval Blanc so long it’s in danger of going bad. Of course, he ways he’s waiting for a special occasion but his friend Maya deftly responds: “The day you open a ’61 Cheval Blanc? That’s the special occasion.”

Carpe diem, my friends. Now!

Getting the impression that I may have caught up on a little HBR reading over the holidays? What makes you think so?

I did read The Power of Unwitting Workers recently, though, and thanks to so many of you for contributing … unwittingly … to energy conservation and other worthy, albeit clandestine, activities. Like the other side of the pillow, this article is pretty cool.

It describes several circumstances where employees, and others … unknown to them … contribute benefits of all kinds. Power Walking to take advantage of the piezoelectric effect (how about that 25¢ word?). Would you believe that all of the CAPTCHAs  we complete almost every day have helped to transcribe nearly 150,000 books a year (or that CAPTCHA stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”). Read the for more interesting stuff … and, students, if you’re planning to take the SAT anytime soon, thanks for working your butt off to figure out 10% of the questions that aren’t scored at all.

BTW, with the CAPTCHA acronym construct described above, it does gives all of us a chance to create any old acronym we want, doesn’t it? How about IBBSTWIFLI (“I’ll be back sometime tomorrow when I feel like it.”)

Have I given you anything yet for Christmas, or maybe to celebrate the New Year? Well, I have now. Consider this part of the Exkalibur Stimulus Package for 2010.

I don’t know about you but there are occasions … and they seem to be increasing in my case … when I feel a nap coming on … yes, during the business day, around 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. if you have to ask. Traditionally, there’s nothing we can do about it, hang in there, head for the coffee pot, slip out early, frog around on the web … something other than work.

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For those of you attempting to follow the meandering health care reform debate … gold stars if you have any idea where this sits today … you might be interested in the recent Business Week article, Radical Surgery, about a hospital that slashes costs AND delivers high quality with innovative flair.

One parenthetical observation in this article is the reminder that “there are no proposals in either the House or Senate reform bill to scrap the fee-for-service system.” As a result, there is little expectation from the Congressional Budget Office that the legislation will do much to halt the medical health inflation.

Don’t you think some attempt to get at the core of health care costs should be the ante for any health care reform bill?

“God grant me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference.” – Reinhold Nieburh

The Power of One concept is not new — it’s the bedrock of everything from motivational speeches to Army One. There’s an entire industry devoted to the power we have over our destiny. In the context of Building a Business, we can view the Power of One as a series of concentric circles that ripple outward from the center … from where we stand as business leaders.

With a stagnant economy that has brought many businesses to their knees, we’ve been inundated with economic data, shards of doubt and glimmers of hope. While we can’t ignore these external forces, we can’t allow them to deter our commitment to reclaiming control of our agenda.

As a result, there’s no better topic with which to start 2010 than personal accountability, the singular touchstone of professional success over which we have the greatest control.

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