Lost and Founder

Sent: June 22, 2:00 p.m. From: Jane, Director of Marketing To: Bob, Director of Business Development Subject: Craig’s Role Bob, Have you seen Craig this week at all? I thought he was coming to the quarterly marketing meeting, but he was a no-show. Does he … Read more

Exit Ramp Detours

Strategies that don’t start with the end goal in mind will usually miss the exit ramp every time. Founders of small to midsize companies rarely think about the day they will sell or be forced out of the business. Unless, of course, they run a … Read more

S.M.A.R.T Goals Are Dumb

A TALE OF TWO CEOS John was a numbers guy—always enamored with how he could measure literally everything and everyone. He had statistics tracking how often people were late for work and could predict when the next person would be late, based on his calculations. … Read more

The Plan Is the Plan Is the Plan

This is the story of George. George is an executive at a large manufacturing plant employing approximately 250 people. Throughout his career, he’s been called the golden boy or the one with the golden touch. Everything he’s ever set out to do professionally has turned … Read more

Boxers or Briefs?

Sent: August 29, 12:44 p.m. From: CEO To: Companywide Subject: Strat. Plan Decisions Hello everyone, I’m very excited to announce that our leadership team has created an amazing plan for 2020! Now everyone gets to help implement it. We will be posting the plan shortly, … Read more

Seat Assignments

Sent: July 18, 10:08 a.m. From: CEO To: Sr. Leadership Team Subject: Assignments for Strategic Initiatives Team, Great job coming up with the assignments for the six strategic initiatives from the planning session. It looks like we have all 24 mid-level managers assigned and they … Read more

The Monkey’s Wrench

It’s been four months since marketing started working with that super-expensive design firm in San Francisco on that “rebranding initiative” they talked me into. I never really understood what was wrong with the logo that we have, and I certainly don’t understand why we are … Read more

The Saboteur

Sent: April 14, 2:00 p.m. From: Gayle, CEO To: Robert, Director of Product Strategy Subject: Rethinking Annual Plan Robert, As we turn the corner on the third quarter here, I wanted to touch base on our annual product-rollout plan. I know the big launch is … Read more

By Imitation Only

Sent: August 18, 11:00 a.m. From: Ann, CEO To: Dan, Director of Marketing Subject: NWFFPSC Booth Dan, Last year at the National Worldwide Forum for the Future of Professional Services & Consulting, I saw at least twenty of our direct competitors with booths that were … Read more

Innovation Is for Losers

Sent: Sunday, March 3, 7:42 p.m. From: David, Founder & CEO To: Chris, Director of IT Subject: Web Sight Budget Chris, I’ve been putting a lot of thought into our technology budget for this year, and I’m having second thoughts about your request to redo … Read more