Category Archives: Leadership

Within high-growth companies, one of the greatest challenges is having difficult conversations with clarity, ease, and effectiveness. Too many people struggle with how to say no, give constructive criticism, address performance issues, speak up in meetings, or confront interpersonal problems. Picture yourself stuck in another pointless meeting where no one in the room says the things that need to be said. Slide after mind-numbing slide fails to break any new ground. Despite the facts that are staring everyone right in the face...

If you are going to lead a growing business, you are going to make mistakes – lots of mistakes. Here are five of the most damaging: 1. Not anticipating and planning for what lies ahead Can you imagine taking a trip to an unfamiliar place without a roadmap or GPS? Probably not, yet leading a fast-growing company can seem a lot like traveling through uncharted territory. You need to be prepared for what lies ahead, beyond the horizon. Unfortunately, most leaders of...

The greatest source of competitive advantage in companies that grow from small to big is the unique combination of what it does and how it does it. No Obvious Competitive Advantage Much of what we believe about what makes growth companies successful is just plain wrong. It’s not about having a visionary, charismatic leader. It’s not about having the best talent. It’s not about being the most innovative in the industry. It’s not about being in a hot, sexy market. It's not .

The Perils of Success The entrepreneurial dream is often inspired by visionaries like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Henry Ford, and Sam Walton – legends who built their companies on vision and passion, established new markets, altered the business landscape, and experienced extraordinary success. They were able to build on initial start-up success to lead their companies through growth and find not only long-term success, but industry dominance. It’s the dream that so often eludes entrepreneurs. The far more common experience...

One of the least appreciated aspects of leadership is the need to let go of things that aren’t working. Business leaders must let go of product lines or sometimes even entire businesses whose time has passed. Leaders must kill ideas, strategies, or initiatives that may have worked well in the past, but are now draining valuable resources needed for the future. Leaders must...

by The Arbinger Institute Organizational problems are almost always people problems. Despite continuous efforts to find solutions, organizations seem to still exhibit symptoms fed by blame, lack of accountability, complacency and motivation. “Leadership and Self-Deception” is based on the key insight that most problems facing organizations and individuals are nearly always symptoms of a deeper problem, known as self-deception. Self-Deception is not well understood, yet reduces the effectiveness of every individual, leader and employee. Whether your organization is very successful or in

by James Collins “How the Mighty Fall” is a look into top companies that had it all—a strong brand, global recognition and a seemingly immoveable presence in the market. They had it, and then they lost it. Decline, Jim Collins argues, is largely self-inflicted, and the path to recovery lies largely within our own hands. Collins’ research uncovered five step-wise stages of decline: Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success, Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More, Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril,

by Bill George In “Authentic Leadership,” Bill George makes the case for a new type of leadership, authentic leadership, where people of the highest integrity are committed to building enduring organizations. George describes authentic leadership as a leadership style that is consistent with a leader’s personality and core values, and that is honest, ethical and practical. George suggests that to begin developing your authentic leadership style, you should begin by assessing yourself against the five dimensions of an authentic leader: understanding your

by Jeffrey Pfeffer Jeffrey Pfeffer suggests that talent, intelligence, performance, and likeability alone are not the key to moving up in an organization; instead, he argues political skill, self promotion, building relationships, cultivating a reputation for control and authority, and perfecting a powerful demeanor are vital drivers of advancement and success. Case studies feature the careers of leaders like G.E. CEO Jack Welch, General George Patton, Time CEO and Chairman Ann Moore, Lt. Colonel Oliver North, and President Bill Clinton. Filled with

by Gordon Sullivan and Michael Harper Since the end of the Cold War, the United States Army has been reengineered and downsized more thoroughly than any other business. In the early 1990s, General Sullivan, army chief of staff, and Colonel Harper, his key strategic planner, took the post-Cold War army into the Information Age. Faced with a 40 percent reduction in staff and funding, they focused on new peacetime missions, dismantled a cumbersome bureaucracy, reinvented procedures, and set the guidelines for achieving