To my mind, the only truly sustainable competitive advantage left is the creation of a corporate culture that is solidly built on a foundation of continuous innovation and extreme customer focus—both of which can be delivered only by highly talented people.

Clear direction + free flow of information + fast decision making = An agile organization.

All sustainable business success is built on delivering real value to the customer.

That is a pathetic effort. The only way to win the war for talent is to employ the Powell doctrine of “shock and awe” by making talent acquisition a major strategic thrust in your company. To get a better handle on what I mean, consider these questions:

No matter what happens to you in your life, there is a gap between when it happens and how you choose to react to it. The gap may be just a few milliseconds or a few hours, but there is always a span of time gap where you have the opportunity to take 100 percent accountability for the decisions you make about how you will behave as a result of the

Money is not a primary driver of employee satisfaction and engagement. You must pay people fairly (whatever they would get to do a similar job at a similar organization), but beyond about 10 percent above that level, money is not a huge motivating factor for highly talented people.

but it amazes me how many companies fail to realize that some of their lowest-paid and often least-respected employees are actually in the best position to make or break the future of the company. The more interaction an employee has directly with customers, the more essential it is to make sure this person has the tools, resources, training, and p

To provide exceptional patient care in a compassionate and nurturing environment supported by dedicated health care professionals who strive to advance the care and treatment of the sick through advanced medical research and discoveries

call any word that is ambiguous or indicates strong emotions a hot word. The reason is they should burn your ears when you hear them and make you pay attention. For example, when someone says to you, “That project will cost a ton of money,” you should reply with