Leadership

“Looking back on my career, my favorite managers allowed me to own decisions, even if they disagreed with me. They couldn't do this for every decision — some were just too expensive or difficult to reverse. But if they spotted an opportunity for me to own a decision, they let me run with it. This would often be preceded by spirited debate, where th... See more

It’s a truism that you always want to hire folks with very high standards, but I’ve seen a staggering number of folks fail in an organization primarily because they want to hold others to a higher standard than their organization’s management is willing to enforce.

That said, if you’re asking me, I’d generally recommend against the flying wedge pattern. Most folks who operate this pattern have adopted a closed mindset about the industry’s talent–they already know the best talent–but my experience is that hiring from outside your existing network is not only a great way to find strong candidates, it’s also a p... See more

“The three stages of career development are:

1. I want to be in the meeting

2. I want to run the meeting

3. I want to avoid meetings.”

“I can’t tell you how much time is spent worrying about decisions that don’t matter. To just be able to make a decision and see what happens is tremendously empowering, but that means you have to set up the situation such that when something does go wrong, you can fix it. When something does go wrong, it doesn’t cost you or your customer an exorbit... See more

Don’t assume a lack of discussion equals agreement.

Left unchecked organizations default to bureaucracy. People default to distraction.

It doesn’t take long for 3 priorities to become 10. It doesn’t take long for 2 people in a meeting to become 8. It doesn’t take long to move from people making decisions to committees.

The most productive organizations and people spend a lot of energy fighting what fe... See more

“A candle loses NOTHING

by lighting another candle.”

— James Keller

Sunflowers always face the sun, right? Similarly, individuals are always trying to guess the CEO’s or the most senior person’s point of view. Accordingly, you have to take active steps to overcome people’s reluctance to stick their necks out if the CEO has a particular perspective on a decision. You need to reward executives for bringing up objecti... See more