Sublime

Ask yourself: When will I deal with the things that are important, but not urgent? When will I take the time to deal with important tasks before they become urgent? This is the field for strategic, long-term decisions.

form a small team within each discipline (or service area). Their task is to develop a proprietary client-service methodology: that is, to come up with value-enhancing action ideas

A box of books from well-regarded experts (CADRE) cements the brand positioning and core values of an organization dedicated to growth and learning.

The top goal framework will help you fix this. Greg McKeown, who wrote a phenomenal book on productivity called Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, boils this down to one key concept: Schedule two hours each day (i.e., put an event in your calendar) to work on your top goal only. And do this every single workday. Period.

The way of the Essentialist is the relentless pursuit of less but better. It doesn’t mean occasionally giving a nod to the principle. It means pursuing it in a disciplined way.

Perhaps most important, set a high and clear standard for performance. If you want to have a world-class company, you must make sure that the people on your staff—be they young or old—are world-class.

4. Effective executives concentrate on the few major areas where superior performance will produce outstanding results.