I recall my grandmother saying “onward and upward” to motivate us when I was growing up. The funny thing about memory is that it’s not always precise: my mother claims my grandmother never said it. Like Mark Twain, though, I can remember everything from when I was a kid whether it happened or not, and […]
Last week on Tuesday at 6:06 pm, Yahoo fired its CEO, Carol Bartz. A FORTUNE magazine article by Patricia Sellers ran the next day on the CNN Money website. Bartz describes how she was fired by over the phone by Yahoo board chairman Roy Bostock. According to the piece, Bartz called Bostock at a pre-arranged […]
In March 2007 I was in Las Vegas for a series of business strategy meetings with my friend and colleague David Frees. At a poolside meeting at the Orleans Hotel and Casino, I mentioned one area of my business that I thought had huge potential … I just couldn’t figure out how to grow […]
I got a hilarious letter from a bank in the mail yesterday. It was an update on how proud they were about recently emerging from bad financial trouble and how thrilled they were to no longer need government assistance. The very LAST sentence in the letter was, “Finally, we want to thank our clients. We […]
There are people in the business world who believe you shouldn’t apologize when you make a mistake. They are generally operating on two silly beliefs: Silly Belief #1: Leaders shouldn’t make mistakes.Silly Belief #2: Apologizing is a sign of weakness.The reality is that EVERYONE makes mistakes. Great leaders admit them, Apologies cement relationships. A critical […]
I’m all about listening. And I’ve found that the more I focus on it, the better I do it. I’ve also noticed, as I’m sure you have, too, that the more gadgets we have and are paying attention to, the less attentively and effectively we listen. It’s not uncommon for me to talk with people […]
It’s no wonder comedians love politicians. Over the past few weeks, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger blew up two families and whatever was left of his acting career; New Jersey Governor Chris Christie repaid the treasury for two state police helicopter trips to see his son play baseball; and congressman Anthony Weiner of New York […]
I am not a frequent flyer. I don’t get to hang out in the USAirways club, board first, or drink champagne in the front of the plane. I do, however, travel enough by plane to have invested recently in a pair of Bose noise-canceling headphones (QuietComfort 15), and I’m shocked to be writing that they […]
If you’re in a leadership position, you’ve probably had the following happen to you: You’re teaching someone how to do something, and they keep nodding and saying they understand what you want them to do. Then you let them do it on their own, and what they produce isn’t remotely close to what you were […]
Joe worked for years at the same company, but ownership changed and he saw the handwriting on the wall: They wanted to bring in some new faces. Joe updates his resume and applies to your company when you list an opening for a sales director. You hired Joe because of his longtime experience and you […]
