Read more about the article Leadership Lessons: Madness or a Masters in Business?

Leadership Lessons: Madness or a Masters in Business?

What Does It Take to be a Great Leader?

Nothing in life travels in a neat formation accompanied by bugles and cavalry. A lot of it shows up filthy and unkempt, prominent in the mess we’ve made around our foxhole. These lessons are typically the offspring of hubris, naivete and ignorance … or from overlooking the land mines hidden beneath our feet.
We’re also sharing valuable and practical leadership tips and tools to help you BE a better leader so you can BECOME a better leader. Remember … you won’t BECOME a better leader until you start BEING a better leader  … implementing NOW the changes necessary to adopt the proven strategies of successful leaders. You might start by building on the communication matrix and making sure you’re defending the castle to get done what only you can do. Make some time so you’re thinking past today.

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[pullquote]“I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people’s accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man’s failures.” ~ Justice Earl Warren[/pullquote]

Get in the game. Enjoy the Ride.

The week just ended is my favorite sports week of the year. Some of you will say, “Nah, you got your calendar mixed up. Baseball season opened the previous week.” Of course, I could say, “but the home opener for the Giants was that week” and then you’d say, “OK, so you’re a big Giants fan. I get it.”

A few of you may suspect that’s not the reason. Not that I don’t love the World Champion San Francisco Giants and all … but honestly? That didn’t even occur to me as I braced for the greatest sports week of the year.

What’s not to like?

There are a lot of reasons why I love this past week. (more…)

Continue ReadingLeadership Lessons: Madness or a Masters in Business?
Read more about the article Business Finance | Why you should read Warren Buffett’s Letter

Business Finance | Why you should read Warren Buffett’s Letter

A Weekly Business Finance series for Non-Finance Executives!

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Read Warren Buffett’s Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders

So, why not  jump into the deep end right now by reading Business Finance is about much more than finance

I’ve said before that leaders don’t have the luxury of confining their interests to just a few things

(more…)

Continue ReadingBusiness Finance | Why you should read Warren Buffett’s Letter
Read more about the article Does Leadership = Communication? | Use this Communication Matrix

Does Leadership = Communication? | Use this Communication Matrix

Funny goofy guy with a bull hornYou need Leadership Skills to ascend to the C-Suite

A young friend of mine called me recently and said he was being considered for the CEO position of his young but growing company

He was elated, so excited, so thrilled to be considered until the “be careful what you wish for” axiom popped into his head and he realized he was pretty inexperienced in leading an organization of any size

We went on to talk about his concerns and as he began to think about his candidacy, it dawned on him that he had a very limited finance background … he didn’t think much about communication … and could be a better team player. (more…)

Continue ReadingDoes Leadership = Communication? | Use this Communication Matrix
Read more about the article Nothing But LEADERSHIP | Practical Tips to be a Great Leader

Nothing But LEADERSHIP | Practical Tips to be a Great Leader

What Does It Take to be a Great Leader?

What do you think we’d get if we asked everyone who writes about Leadership to offer up a definition?

Probably need a new wing in the Library of Congress, don’t you think?

For some, it’s everything and anything that has to do with influencing others. It’s communication. It’s achieving accountability. For others, it’s a body of work built around values and character and timeless qualities of integrity, passion, respect, et. al. Do you have a definition that works for you?

Leadership Lessons don’t march in a neat formation

As we’ve all learned, most of life’s lessons don’t travel in a neat formation accompanied by bugles and cavalry. They arrive filthy and unkempt, prominent in the mess we’ve made around our foxhole. These lessons are typically the offspring of hubris … naivete … and ignorance … or simply from overlooking the land mines hidden beneath our feet.

This series is ONLY about practical strategies to help you become a better leader

This series is not about reiterating or re-examining the principles of leadership that so many seasoned professionals have so eloquently described. Leadership observers have extracted lessons from Julius Caesar to Patton, Jesus to Mohamed and (more…)

Continue ReadingNothing But LEADERSHIP | Practical Tips to be a Great Leader
Read more about the article Can you put a lifetime on a 3×5 card?

Can you put a lifetime on a 3×5 card?

Do you think you could distill a lifetime of experiences into a handful of sentences … so that when your grown children read them, they would hold them as dearly as they once held their teddy bears?

I’ve recently published several lists of “life lessons”, for lack of a better term, that keep coming my way from a variety of sources. These lists, scratched on the back of an envelope found in a plane crash, or tucked in a wallet for 50 years, are treasures because they’re personal … and each person believed he or she had captured the unique nature of their humanity.

[pullquote]Can you capture your life lessons on a 3×5 card?[/pullquote]

So, now come the Guideposts of business philosophy taken from the book, Marriott — The J. Willard Marriott Story by Robert O’Brien. It’s longer than most … not a note card but still a single sheet of paper … maybe Willard did more than most? Some may seem old-fashioned, others a little harsh for the more indulgent company cultures of the 21st century … but most of them are rooted in sound business practices. Work your way past some of the pedestrian entries to uncover a few nuggets and valid reminders that you can add to your own list.

  1. Keep physically fit, mentally and spiritually strong.
  2. Guard your habits – bad ones will destroy you.
  3. Pray about every problem.
  4. Study and follow professional management principles. Apply them logically and practically to your organization. (more…)

Continue ReadingCan you put a lifetime on a 3×5 card?
Read more about the article Warning: Speed may not be good for our health!

Warning: Speed may not be good for our health!

“Speed, for lack of a better term, is good”.

That’s not quite what Gordon Gekko said in the original Wall Street movie, but it’s close enough for our purposes.

So, who’s complaining about the super-fastest fiber-cable ever? Nobody that I know of, but here’s what caught my attention. It isn’t just the extraordinary speed extolled in Forbes’s recent article, Wall Street’s Speed War. Sure, it cost about $300 million to bury a one-inch underground cable over the 825 mile distance between New York and Chicago. Yes, it’s been done in stealth mode so no one would find out and build one even faster, and yes, it’s about to go live.

Big deal? Apparently so … but here’s the thing. The only reason this cable got built was … grab your abacus … to save 3 MILLISECONDS off the previous route for such cable traffic. That’s equal to THREE 1/1000 OF A SECOND!

What for? Here’s a few of the effusive remarks that Forbes quoted: ‘That’s close to an eternity in automated trading” … or “Anybody pinging both markets has to be on this line, or they’re dead.” (more…)

Continue ReadingWarning: Speed may not be good for our health!
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