Kazuo Inamori, a Buddhist Billionaire, recently wrote a book about his success which culminates in 5 simple rules for business success, (or success in anything for that matter). The first rule is Question your Motive. I love this one because it requires that you reflect … Read more
Last week 15 small business owners from Washington State graduated from the Small Business Administration’s Emerging Leaders Program here in Seattle. For the third year in a row, I have had the privilege of teaching the class with my partner, Melanie Norton, from the SBA. … Read more
I work with a lot of small to mid-sized entrepreneurs and start-up businesses that are trying to grow. For every business, the “secret sauce” is a little different, but at the end of the day, it’s not complicated, it’s just not easy to do. So … Read more
I was having a conversation with a CEO this week and we were debating the meaning of “leader” and “leadership.” His contention was that because he was the designated leader of the company, he was exhibiting leadership. When I asked him to define what that … Read more
Last week I spoke about Amazon’s unintentional culture and the role the CEO had in it. This week I’d like to call out an example of what I think is good leadership and true customer service. Unlike Amazon, whose drive to customer service through speed … Read more
I was listening to NPR this week and they had a great segment on how to deal with a crisis at a business when something major goes wrong. The reason I bring this up is that as leaders we are so often dealing with growth … Read more
Recently, the Puget Sound Business Journal featured the 2015 Eastside’s Fasting Growing companies and asked several to provide one tip to manage fast growth. The one that stood out to me was, “Great people who are motivated by a purpose beyond profit can accomplish more … Read more
You may have heard about Pope Francis’s recent travels, speeches and teachings, but one address in particular is relevant to all of us in business. In it, he outlined what he sees as 15 Diseases of Leadership, and boy are they relevant to our leadership … Read more
I have been watching Microsoft’s cultural shift to the stated purpose of a more collaborative model with interest. It seems that they are making progress – numbers are up, some sharing is happening and they might not miss as many trends as they have in … Read more
Years ago I was introduced to the work of Lee Thayer. He has written multiple books on leadership and about “being” a leader, in particular about the concepts of Being, Doing and Having, as they relate to leadership. The reason I bring this up is … Read more