The best way to avoid being taken by surprise with the makeup of your executive team is to plan ahead by creating a one-year vision. Your one-year vision will allow you to clarify what positions need to be filled and under what terms, while also … Read more
What Talent Do You Need on Your Team? There is a big difference between being the conductor and being first violin in the orchestra. One is about accomplishing a group goal and one is about accomplishing a personal goal. The conductor of the orchestra is … Read more
Learning from Your Past Leadership Roles Think about the times you’ve held leadership roles in your life. (You may have been class president, a scout leader, a team leader in sports.) What were you doing? What team did you put together? Think through your past … Read more
Being a CEO is first, middle, and last about leadership. Leadership is not primarily about control or power (although you’ll have both, and you’ll have to make the best decisions you can about how to use each at different times). True leadership is the ability … Read more
Once you’ve identified your culture (hopefully with three words that are easy to communicate), you need to reinforce it on a regular basis. You can use your three words to go back and fine tune the final version of your mission, vision, and values statements. … Read more
Though more and more initial contact occurs online, often the first human interaction you have with your customers is through the people who answer your phones. It’s the rare business that never has phone contact with customers, so pay attention to this aspect of your … Read more
If you’re just starting a company, it’s much easier to communicate your intentional culture to each new prospective recruit or employee. You can make it part of your employee handbook and orientation, and have it posted around the office in visible places. But, more than … Read more
Patrick Lencioni, author of several books on culture and teams, describes a fictional company in his book The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A Leadership Fable. In this company, the owners have described their culture in three words: “Hungry, humble, and smart.” They decided … Read more
Why does culture matter? Whether it’s intentional or not, every company has a culture. You can walk through the door and feel it almost the instant you step in. What does the lobby look like? What’s on the walls? Is it warm or cool? Clean … Read more
During the last few weeks of blog posts, we have covered the most effective ways I have found over the years to develop Mission, Vision, and Values and why that’s so important. Next, we come to the “now what?” stage. This includes who needs to … Read more