“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky One of the things that leaders are most proud of is their work ethic. If you talk to most leaders long enough, at some point they’ll mention how hard they’re working. And for the most part, they are working hard. The question that … Read more
“Drive thy business or it will drive thee.” – Benjamin Franklin A few weeks ago, someone forwarded to me a survey that had been taken of business leaders around the globe. These leaders were asked a lot of different questions about their concerns, priorities, initiatives, etc. One of the interesting things that came out of … Read more
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought into a focus.” – Alexander Graham Bell Today’s topic isn’t new, but it never gets old either. Leaders everywhere feel like they don’t have enough time. They show up for work, work hard all day long, and at … Read more
“What must be done eventually should be done immediately.” – Jeremy Foley I’ve had a few meetings lately with leaders where someone in the room said something like “Well, at some point we should probably ________”. Then the conversation moves on and the really important thing “we” should do gets pushed aside and forgotten. I’m … Read more
“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” – Flannery O’Connor Wishful thinking. Everyone criticizes it, everyone bad mouths it, and everyone does it. We want things to be a certain way so badly that we convince ourselves that it’s so. Then we act accordingly. Leaders aren’t immune. There is no … Read more
“Our greatest fear should not be of failure…but of succeeding at things…that don’t really matter.” – Francis Chan Last week in this space the topic was productivity from the standpoint of being productive doing the right stuff. I try not to write about the same topic week after week, but this keeps coming up. Leader … Read more
“Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.” – Peter Drucker One of the things I hear leaders talk about repeatedly is productivity. Usually, the conversation is about how they – as well as the rest of the organization – need to be more productive. Most organizations … Read more
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain There are any number of traits that people ascribe to great leaders, but one that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is courage. I’m not talking about the kind of courage that usually makes the news. I mean … Read more
“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it’s not open.” – Frank Zappa It goes without saying that the world we’re currently living in does not resemble anything most of us have seen before. Whether it’s customers, employees, the supply chain, financial markets, or any number of other things, everything around us … Read more
“Failure is the tuition you pay for success.” – Walter Brunell Sometimes, as leaders, we get frustrated with outcomes. We usually have pretty lofty goals, and when we don’t meet them it’s disappointing. We had these pictures in our heads of how things were going to work out perfectly, and when those pictures disappear it … Read more
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