BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company

Should everyone have the same leadership style? No, of course not. Your leadership style will be a function of your own unique personality characteristics. Indeed, there are many effective styles. Some effective leaders are quiet, shy, and reserved; whereas others are outgoing and gregarious. Some are hyperactive and impulsive; others are more meth

The real scorecard in life is how well you build meaningful relationships and how well you live to your core values. This means that values come before goals, before strategy, before tactics, before products, before market choices, before financing, before business plans, before every decision. I gleaned from Bill the idea that a company should sta

If you define success by money, you always lose. The real scorecard in life is how well you build meaningful relationships and how well you live to your core values. This means that values come before goals, before strategy, before tactics, before products, before market choices, before financing, before business plans, before every decision. I gle

And yet, ironically, for most companies, it’s rarely the metric first discussed—if it’s discussed at all. However, to build a truly great and lasting company, it must rise to the top. And what’s that metric? The percentage of key seats on the bus filled with the right people for those seats. Stop and think: What percentage of your key seats do you

Reflecting on more than a quarter century of rigorous research into what makes great companies tick, I’ve come to see “first who” as the one principle above all others that you must not get wrong. First in importance, above every other activity, is the imperative to get the right people on the bus.

Which brings us to a crucial question: How do you know when you’ve crossed the demarcation line, when it’s time to make the shift from “develop” to “replace” for a key seat? I’ve come to believe the best approach is to ask considered questions and let those questions guide you to an answer. I’ve distilled years of reflection down to seven questions

The truly visionary managers are those who make the vision property of the entire enterprise and instill it in such a way that it remains strong and intact well after the leader departs from daily operations.

Some love to give speeches; others are nervous in front of a crowd. Some are charismatic; others are not. (Do not confuse leadership with charisma. Charisma does not equal leadership, and some of the most effective leaders have very little charisma.)

Reflecting on more than a quarter century of rigorous research into what makes great companies tick, I’ve come to see “first who” as the one principle above all others that you must not get wrong. First in importance, above every other activity, is the imperative to get the right people on the bus.