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Would it surprise you if I told you that most businesses don’t know what they really want? Business leaders have no hesitation saying how big they want to be or how profitable. But when asked what their company will be doing in ten years, they don’t really know unless it is some extension of what they are [...]
Lately I have been studying masters. We have all heard of the Masters Golf Tournament, and when you google the word masters, stories about Charles Schwartsel, the latest golfer to put on the green jacket, pop up. Or how about the masters of art or music, Beethoven or Picasso? Webster’s says a master is a noun and an adjective. A master [...]
When we talk about companies we admire, most of them have good strategies. Their strategies have worked for years, as they are focused, clear, and consistent. What changes is how they deliver on them. Southwest Airlines: The Low Fare–yes, today their ticket prices may be higher in some markets but don’t forget to throw in [...]
It was s a melancholy moment to watch the last space shuttle, Atlantis, lift off into space. After thirty years of history-making missions, the shuttle program is coming to an end. It is expected to be at least three years before we will launch another U.S.-built space craft. Atlantis commander, Chris Ferguson, said, “The shuttle is [...]
Someone one asked, “if you wanted to plant an oak tree, when would be the best time?”. I guess it depends on whether you like oak trees but assuming you enjoy the shade and beauty of the magnificent oak, the best time was 20 years ago so that today you could be enjoying both. “So [...]
Jim Collins and co-author Porras wrote the bestseller Built to Last in 1994. (The phrase was also the title of the 13th and final album of the Grateful Dead, recorded in 1989). That book, over 15 years ago encapsulated the “successful habits of visionary companies’, assumably the ones that would win forever, or at least [...]
A few days ago I posted the first five most common reasons given for NOT doing a strategic plan. To read part 1 click here. Here are five more. Do any of these sound familiar? #6 We are just trying to survive. Survival is often not possible without a vision of what you trying to achieve. It is often [...]
For most of us, we don’ t want to re-create the last few years. We want to learn from them. In fact, we want to grow our businesses at accelerated rates, in part, to make up for some lost time. Yet, we have all heard, “only fools keep doing the same things and expecting a different [...]
Time and again, I hear from clients and business owners, “planning is not possible in this environment’, “well, we did a SWOT’, “We set our objectives–we use Rockerfeller Habits”, “we haven’t met plan so we stopped doing one’”, “we don’t know how to do a plan, really”, “we did our budget”. Need I go on? [...]
The answer may surprise you. When I worked at Hallmark, we loved to trump American Greetings. I imagine they felt that same way about Hallmark. So, you might be surprised to learn that, as leaders, our worst enemy is not our biggest competitor, but rather ourselves. Huh? In any aspect of our lives, we become [...]
