Management & Leadership

According to Ken Chenault, the legendary former CEO of American Express and current chairman of venture firm General Catalyst, the job of a leader is to deliver on two sometimes conflicting mandates: creating hope, and defining reality.

The difference between Amazon, Netflix, Google, Facebook, and the legions of large but slowly dying companies is usually exactly that: product leadership.

Steve Jobs negotiates Apple's deal with Microsoft July 24, 1997

Steve Jobs: Asking for help is a superpower “I’ve never found anybody that didn’t want to help me if I asked them for help. I called up Bill Hewlett (founder of HP) when I was 12 years old. He answered the phone himself. I told him... See more

Every clear directive you issue is a gift because it relievesyour staff of the stress of having to divine your goals. A cleardirective is an indication of trust: your way of saying "I havetaken the time and effort to figure out our goal. I nowacknowledge that you have the knowledge and resources to figureout the process."