The red-hot topic at a recent Facebook conference turned out not to be the scuttle about whom was “in” or “out” of the social media spotlight. The blistering topic of the day was that ages-old, granddaddy concept we call Trust. At the company’s Disneyesque headquarters in Menlo Park outside of San Francisco, sitting peacefully on […]
Is “Being Present” Overrated?
Many thought-provoking thinkers and best-selling books have encouraged us to be “in the present.” This is great advice under some, but not all, circumstances. On the positive side of the issue, when being present is used in the sense of listening with focus, being present is a great idea. A wandering mind or thinking too […]
Why Leadership Mojo?
“Lonely at the top” is a myth of leadership. Far from lonely, most top dogs are inundated with too many who suck their mojo dry. A bigger challenge is knowing whom to trust. Smart leaders have super support systems both in and outside an organization. When I advised medical company president Dr. Hamil, baffling distribution […]
Can You “Teach” How to Grow A Company?
The three obvious answers are yes, no, and maybe. I’ll start with an easy yes. You see, as adjunct faculty, that’s what I do. Yesterday, I finished “teaching” a three-hour course in the entrepreneurship program of the Cox School of Business at SMU. The course’s title was Leading a Growing Company; so literally, I just […]
Life Passages: The Ages and Stages Don’t Ever Stop
At 21, I remember thinking, “Now, I’m free from the worry of getting into trouble for having a glass of champagne at a wedding.” I felt victorious for skirting any potential recriminations for drinking when it wasn’t legal to do so, although back in those days, the consequences for underage drinking didn’t feel nearly as […]
One Hot Reason to Love Four Seasons
Remember those long-ago days when hotels didn’t have hair dryers? I do. Lugging them around was a pain. Internationally, it was worse stuffing converters in your tennis shoes to save packing space. Time marches on, and what I find works best for me now is a flat iron. Because hair is the last thing you […]
Why I Like Four Seasons and Shy Away From Marriott
Marriott’s a big name, a brand many people are comfortable with. I am not. Here’s why: Their employees are not empowered to use common sense when to do so trumps rules and regulations. For example, during a recent stay over New Year’s eve in Ft. Lauderdale, I was about to turn in early when the […]
Harvard’s Elegant Leadership Solution: The Third Stage
Kudos to Harvard for asking a provacative question and delivering an even more compelling answer. The question I reference was posed six years ago by three B-school professors among them Rosabeth Moss Kanter, ” How might the mission of a university change in the 21st century?” The answer is even better than the question, “Throw […]
What Can You Do to Build a Fully Sighted Organization?
A fully sighted company anticipates and “sees” the obvious and the not-so-obvious events, dynamics, and influences that are critical to success versus ignoring it. According to author Margaret Heffernan who wrote Willfull Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril says such blindness happens when there are things we should know, could know, but […]
This Lemon’s a $4.9 Billion Lulu
Lululemon founder Chip Wilson says that the famous Lululemon name had nothing to do with either lemons or any gal named Lulu. The truth is, he sold an earlier company to a group of Asians at a premium in large part because the name of that company had a lot of l’s in it….For […]