Listen to this Blog Post “Give me a lever long enough, and a place to stand, and I will move the earth.”– Archimedes “Leverage” is one of those concepts that tends to be interpreted as being more complex than it actually is. The simplest way to define leverage might be “the ability to do moreContinue reading “Leverage: Doing More With Less”
Category Archives: Managing Your Business
Five Ideas That Every CEO Should Know
Listen to this Blog Post What follows are five unrelated thoughts on how to lead and grow a healthy and vibrant company. None of them are long enough to justify a stand-alone blog post, but all of them are important enough to highlight for current and aspiring CEOs. (1) Crafting an Effective Company-Wide Bonus PlanContinue reading “Five Ideas That Every CEO Should Know”
Evaluating Stock Options as Attraction, Retention, and Incentive Alignment Tools
Listen to this Blog Post In my second year as a CEO, it became clear to me that our business could benefit from formalizing and codifying our company’s core values. Though I was originally fearful that they might quickly devolve into tired, clichéd, and mostly hollow platitudes, I eventually came to appreciate that if theyContinue reading “Evaluating Stock Options as Attraction, Retention, and Incentive Alignment Tools”
Constructing, Managing, and Working with a Board of Directors
Listen to This Blog Post Though most people have experience reporting directly into a boss or manager of some sort, very few people can say that the “boss” into whom they report is represented by the company’s Board of Directors. Indeed, in most companies, only a single person (namely, the CEO) can make such aContinue reading “Constructing, Managing, and Working with a Board of Directors”
The CEO as Chief Capital Allocator
Listen to This Blog Post In his book, The Outsiders, William Thorndike makes a comprehensive and compelling case that effective capital allocation is one of the most important skills that any CEO can possess in their pursuit of value creation. Some very influential people seem to agree, with both Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger includingContinue reading “The CEO as Chief Capital Allocator”
Knowing Who, When, and How to Fire
I will never forget the first time that I had to fire somebody. In the days, hours and minutes leading up to the meeting that morning, sleep was elusive, my heart was racing, my mind was completely incapable of focusing on anything else, and the sense of existential dread growing in the pit of myContinue reading “Knowing Who, When, and How to Fire”
A Leader’s Most Important Skill
Listen to This Blog Post Though effective leaders tend to possess a multitude of different skills and abilities, my experience as a CEO taught me that the most important skill for any leader to possess is that of clear and effective communication. Indeed, a CEO’s strategy is only as good as her ability to communicateContinue reading “A Leader’s Most Important Skill”
Implementing a Formal Operating System Like EOS or the Rockefeller Habits
Listen to this Blog Post Throughout recent history, there has been substantial growth in the number of companies who have decided to implement formal “operating systems” to govern certain strategic and operational decisions within their businesses. Though there are many operating systems in existence today, two of the most widely used systems are EOS (theContinue reading “Implementing a Formal Operating System Like EOS or the Rockefeller Habits”
Why Your Company Needs a Set of Core Values (or Why Yours May Not be Having an Impact)
Listen To This Blog Post Particularly in my early years as a CEO, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes whenever somebody suggested that I needed to codify and publish a set of core values for my company. Weren’t core values the tired, hollow, and meaningless platitudes that companies created simply because they felt theyContinue reading “Why Your Company Needs a Set of Core Values (or Why Yours May Not be Having an Impact)”
Why So Many Companies Rarely Achieve Their Annual Goals
Listen to This Blog Post: Few things are as energizing as the annual goal-setting process, where the management team decides on the company’s major priorities for the coming year, usually generating a sense of enthusiasm, optimism, and confidence. Conversely, few things are as deflating as the annual review, where the same management team often retrospectivelyContinue reading “Why So Many Companies Rarely Achieve Their Annual Goals”