No thoughts on compelling business issues today, other than the reminder to everyone about the importance of keeping the activities of your life in proper perspective.  Family, food and football have become the staples of the American Thanksgiving, but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded that we are all on a similar journey of unknown [...]

Developing an Effective Decision-Making Style is One of the Many Challenges of New LeadersMany managers and most early-career leaders struggle with their responsibility for decision-making.  Some leaders are fearful of exposing themselves by making a bad decision and therefore, avoid this responsibility.  Others feel empowered by their station and make frequent, unfounded and ill-advised decisions, [...]

My partner and I recently launched a research initiative into the challenges that technical professionals face when jumping on the leadership path. We are actively interviewing and surveying professionals in development, engineering, IT and consulting, and drawing upon the considerable experience of many of our long-term associates including-Joe Zurawski, Jerry Deville at Construx, Jack Kalander [...]

I’ll say it again.  In my opinion, the best leadership books are not found in the business section of your library or local bookseller.  This is a bold (or at least controversial) claim from someone who just spent 14 months co-writing and publishing a book on leadership that is carried in the business section.  In [...]

One of the chapters in my book (with Rich Petro), Practical Lessons in Leadership, emphasizes the role of the leader as Chief Talent Scout and Developer.  A lesson that I learn frequently in my travels on business and in my consumer experiences is that some of the most talented potential employees can be found in [...]

"I’m frustrated with marketing.  I don’t know how we decide to allocate our investments and I don’t understand what we are getting in return."  This was the lament of a $100 million B2B company CEO that I spoke with recently.  This CEO observed a lot of activity but was inherently uncomfortable with his inability to [...]

Part 1 of Many: One of the most challenging and important phases in the life-cycle of a founder-led business occurs when the organization has matured sufficiently to require the addition of new talent and the evolution of its operating approaches.  There is a sizable body of literature on the challenges that  founders and their entrepreneurial [...]

A highlight of the 2007 Kellogg Leadership Conference was the Keynote by Professor Harry M. Jansen Kraemer Jr., a Professor of Management and Strategy at Kellogg and the former Chairman and CEO of Baxter International.   (An internet search of his name offers some great bio material.)  His fast-paced, dynamic and humorous delivery was backed by [...]

There are at least two habits in my life that I just cannot kick.  One is buying good books and putting them in my growing stack of things that I intend to read when I find the time.  The other is attending every possible Kellogg Graduate School of Management event that I can find time [...]

Welcome to the first entry! I’ve waited a few weeks since setting up this blog on TypePad for just the right inspiration to kick things off.  In the meantime, I’ve been reading as many other blogs as possible, searching for the key to producing something that resonates with readers, provides thought-provoking ideas and pithy commentary [...]