Vol. 60: Don’t be a Victim

Creating a culture where people take responsibility

“The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.”– Lou Holtz

Last time, we discussed how to create a culture of accountability. In our discussion of this subject, we’ve ranged from the baseline of personal accountability to a broader [...]

Vol. 59: Creating a Culture of Accountability

Creating a Culture of Accountability

“Nine-tenths of life’s serious controversies come from  misunderstanding.”– Louis Brandeis

“When is it no longer my responsibility to get people to complete their assignments … and where does their responsibility to perform begin?” a North Bay CEO asked me recently.
“Your responsibility never ends … and neither does theirs,” I said. “Your [...]

The Value of Checklists

Checklists? Those lists I prepare each day and don’t help me get everything done – don’t really need to know more about them … or do you mean those checklists that airline pilots use to keep me from getting killed? Now, those I like.
Some of you will remember an earlier post in the GTD context [...]

Vol. 58: Powerful After Action Reports

Building a Business: The power of the After Action Report

“Thankfully, perseverance is a good substitute for talent..”– Steve Martin

Many years ago when we lived in the Midwest, we became very good friends with a young couple down the street. He was a fellow fraternity brother, from another college, but I remember him as a [...]

Corporate Governance Sucks!

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 [...]

Vol. 56: Get a Grip on the New Year

Building a Business: Make 2010 the year you get control of you

With all the economic noise, its critical to get control of your agenda
“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 [...]

Looking for a few brilliant ideas?

Seth Godin, blogger extraordinaire, has compiled an interesting and FREE PDF download from 70 diverse thinkers in which each person provides ONE WORD to identify an important concept for 2010 … and then writes a single page to describe why they chose that word. From GENEROSITY to DIGNITY to POKER to RIPPLE, there are provocative [...]

How are you going to fill YOUR Leadership Gap?

The Center for Creative Leadership recently completed a large survey to assess the leadership competencies need for success, both now and in the future.
One of the skills that I highly regard is resourcefulness, the ability to deal skillfully and promptly with unexpected challenges, etc. Interestingly, resourcefulness was the only skill that is in the Top [...]

Vol. 54: The road to cost control

The North Bay Business Journal, a publication of the New York Times, is a weekly business newspaper which covers the North Bay area of San Francisco – from the Golden Gate bridge north, including the Wine Country of Sonoma and Napa counties.
This page provides the Print-Friendly Version of the article, as published.
Any related materials or [...]

Strategy is what you choose NOT to do!

By now, you know that the Sunday NY Times Corner Office series is oft-quoted here to highlight varying aspects of leadership that flow from Adam Bryant’s conversations with notable CEOs and business leaders.
This week he interviewed Drew Gilpin Faust, the first female President of Harvard University. Communication is a critical factor in her leadership style, [...]