Businesses that survived our prolonged recession deserve respect—but

To prosper in recovery, CEOs may have to shake off “hunker down” behaviors that helped them survive.  Success will depend on a company’s capacity to quickly, assess, decide, initiate, and eliminate.  Futurist David Houle calls this era the “shift-age”. He suggests that the ground will continue to move under our feet. Only...

At times, even the best run companies face critical situations at times

.  Having coached over twenty CEOs through recession, I’ve been up close and personal with both winners and losers.   There are lessons to be learned.Winners reinvent themselves faster than their competition. Ahead of the curve, they perpetually cull marginally performing;...

By any measure, “The Hunger Games” is a smash hit, breaking records

The movie defies categorization:  Survivor + Gladiator + 1984 + Coal Miner’s Daughter with a PG-13 rating.  There is more going on here than just a mash up of unlikely genres.  Like one of Katniss Everdeen’s high tech arrows, this story strikes at the heart of the millennial’s cherished values.  Here are just a few of the ways “Hunger Games...

CEOs can secure corporate viability during growth by picking up the baton

Like jazz groups, successful small companies create a dedicated following because a limited number of players are in tune with the founder’s vision. They know their strengths and limitations, cover for each other, become experts at shooting from the hip, changing direction on the fly, and multi-tasking—in short, they are capable and prepared to...

The shift-age (labeled such by futurist David Houle) is transforming our

lives and radically changing the way business will be done.  Like a large number of our ancestors who experienced and end to the “age of extraction”—where people made a  living by farming, fishing, logging, hunting, and trapping, many individuals and companies have not...

I remember experiencing bad hair days because a colleague  smacked his

Overreaction to insignificant events is usually about control issues and judging.  Humans spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get others to do as they do, believe as they believe, feel as they feel and even chew as they chew.  We focus on the faults of others because doing so is less painful than dealing with our own shortcomings.  “...

don't waste time and resources trying to develop non adaptive employees

A significant success factor for supervisors, managers, executives, and CEOs is knowing when and how to fire in a rapidly changing and fiercely competitive world—referred to by futurist David Houle as the shift-age.  Many managers, labor leaders, and government regulators are haunted by industrial-age ghosts.  Unknowingly, they are being influenced...

My dream was to be outstanding in my field.  I finally made it.  That

Many of my childhood chums had chosen to live their entire lives in the environmental masterpiece that, although I left as a teenager, never stopped calling home.  When my school chums and I got together, we reflected on our differing career paths.  The talkee usually ended up with his/her eyes glazed over, listening wistfully and somewhat enviously...

Radically shifting markets, a plethora of market share challenging products

Typical SMB owners are at the center of operations and can’t imagine the business surviving without them.  All too often this becomes a sad reality.  The largest wealth transfer in history is about to occur.  Estimates suggest that there are ten million small to midsize businesses (less than 1000 employees) in the USA—not including mom and...

“To start a business, the CEO must be everything.  To grow a business

Radically shifting markets, a plethora of price challenging products, ever changing technology, and the unrelenting hand of time are making the aging owners of small to mid size businesses (SMBs) vulnerable. For many of them, this is a new and uncomfortable mindset. Fiercely independent, hard working, and resilient, the majority of SMB owners  have...