I just completed reading Michael Lewis’s new book,  Boomerang: Travels

in the new third world.  He reflected on how the cultures of Iceland, Ireland, Greece, and Germany got caught up in the current economic crisis and how each culture is struggling to recover.  I laughed at their gullibility until it dawned on me that we are on the same path...

 I was impacted by yesterday’s post in Branding Strategy Insider

, titled “Building trust in your brand”. It took me back to the days when as CEO of Achieve, I coached high powered executives all over the world. The first character trait I wanted to clarify was, does this person live at the extreme (either end) of their trust continuum...

Uncertainty is the new normal in what futurist David Houle calls the “

shift-age.”  The world will continue to move under your feet.  Working harder will not assure survival. Unless you are in a recession proof industry such as healthcare or agriculture, odds are your company will continue to struggle with tight budgets, uncertain cash reserves...

The “shift-age” is ushering in fierce competition for market

While beta testing a management system designed to help SMB owners create transferable wealth and wisdom,  I worked with several smaller companies who were offering customers a boutique experience. Many of these owners were reluctant to fully embrace process-discipline. They preferred operating with the flexibility of a jazz band (playing by ear)...

The marketplace is shifting because of global competition and the impact

of digital technology. And, like a wheel within a wheel, so are internal business dynamics. The age-old challenge of managing growth continues—it’s a challenge that eventually confronts every CEO. If the management of corporate growth is not dealt with effectively, the entrepreneur...

WHAT”S YOUR ENDGAME?  Unfortunately, few business owners have an

 When transfer time arrives, what will their business be worth?   By ignoring end-game options they are acting like they own a job—not the company.  Potential investors or successors will have little interest in acquiring their job.  SMBs shouldn’t wait until it’s too late—they should start preparing for a transfer of the business...

The 20 point drop in the Vistage CEO Confidence Index this year is shocking

My generation grew up with a relative level of stability. We are simply not accustomed to the notion of “economic uncertainty” and we are not very happy about it. As a result, we have the tendency to overreact to stimuli in the form of collective euphoria or collective despair. This emotional response explains the nature of bubbles, as we all race...

Your personal coping patterns are a highly specialized combination of

There is mounting evidence that developing traits and interests that were evident during your early childhood play a key role in  adult success and satisfaction.  This process builds on natural strengths.  Greeks called a person’s unique pattern of success a daimon.  Romans referred to it as one’s genius.  Following this line of reasoning...

Winston Churchill had illustrious career as a journalist, author, statesman

and politician.  He held a variety of cabinet positions in the British government from 1906 to 1929.  When he was out of office for the ten years that followed, he had time to write and think deeply.  This sabbatical, in his own opinion, prepared him for his role as an allied...

corporate survivalNature understands the relationship between efficiency

and survival.  Bees have survived as a species for centuries.  Their life support system obviously works.  When a worker bee returns to the hive after a production trip, it struts out a triangular pattern.  The apex of this triangular waltz points directly to the source of...