Category: Leadership
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#102: What’s your “City Upon a Hill”?
In 1630, John Winthrop delivered a sermon aboard the flagship Arbella. He is now famous for its proclamation that “we shall be as a city upon a hill.” Politicians from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan built a powerful vision of American exceptionalism – the idea “that there was some divine plan that placed this…
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#101: Why don’t CEOs follow through?
Over the last few weeks I made it a point to collaborate with several trusted advisors and CEO friends about what they are seeing and what they expect in 2022. One of the CEOs that I collaborate with is Paul E. Berman of id8 Strategies LLC. We talked about business owners struggling to fill the…
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#96: Are we being just too damn polite to each other?
Manners are important – what do they say ‘manners maketh man’, right? Which is why politeness is generally seen as a good quality in a person. But if politeness is getting the way of getting things done then maybe we encourage … ‘Bespreekbaarheid’. It’s a word the Dutch use to describe their straightforward and direct…
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#91: If I gave you $100, how would you spend it to improve the business?
Am I really asking you what you’d do with a spare hundred bucks when you’re the CEO of a business doing 7 … 8 … or even 9 figures a year in revenue? Of course not! But you could – and probably should – ask everyone else in your business that question. Why? Because while…
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#88: Are we actually ready to scale yet?
I see many CEOs talking about ‘scaling’ when really, they are still in growth mode. No harm in talking like that at a dinner party, I guess. But if that social hubris continues into the boardroom, then you could be headed for trouble. Because trying to scale before you’re ready almost always ends badly. Many…