As an executive coach and strategist, I’ve come to understand that if a business truly wants to develop a strategy—something that makes a real difference to its growth, its profitability and its future—it first needs to gain clarity regarding one of two things. Either it needs to fully understand the main challenge it’s presently facing, or… Read [...]
The Airline Industry is its Own Worst Enemy
March 15, 2013 by 8 Comments
Here’s another article of mine published by the Portland Business Journal: “American Airlines recently announced plans to merge with US Airways. I’m sure there are perfectly sound reasons for the merger — economies of scale, reduction of gates and gate fees, consolidation of routes and hubs, etc. But truthfully, it appears to be yet another stop-gap [...]
Microsoft’s Missteps Can Teach Us All a Lesson
November 20, 2012 by 2 Comments
The Portland Business Journal recently published this article of mine: “Microsoft Corp. recently announced the release of Windows 8. It’s a major departure from the classic Windows structure and a major gamble. Essentially, it’s a do or die initiative for Microsoft. But unfortunately, the gamble is necessary because the company’s star is fading. Or more [...]
Executive Success: Dealing with Difficult People
October 21, 2012 by 18 Comments
There’s no avoiding it. You’re bound to come across someone who’s difficult to deal with. It’s inevitable as soon as you add different personalities, experiences, and backgrounds to the mix. They may be someone we report to or someone who reports to us. Or they may be a peer, a vendor, or a client. The [...]
Executive Effectiveness: Becoming Inspiring
August 23, 2012 by 4 Comments
One of the most important competencies a leader must master is the ability to inspire people. There is a difference between inspiration and motivation. By definition, “to inspire” means “to exert a stimulating or beneficial effect upon, or to arouse with a particular emotion” and “to motivate” means “to provide with an incentive, or move [...]
A Culture Destined to Fail
May 30, 2012 by 18 Comments
I had the unfortunate experience of flying cross-country a couple of weekends ago and was struck by the utter demise of the airline industry. It has wholeheartedly embraced a culture of mediocrity and has been reduced to peddling a commodity. Like so many industries who’ve failed to rise above the commoditization of their product or [...]
Executive Effectiveness: Becoming an Effective Leader
April 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Recently on LinkedIn I posed three questions that resulted in some very interesting conversations. Here they are: An executive is only a leader if people choose to follow. How can you tell whether people are following or just doing their job? Everyone says leadership is important, but why does it make a difference? If an [...]
Executive Effectiveness: Becoming Highly Productive
February 29, 2012 by 3 Comments
For an executive to be highly effective, they need to become highly productive. In addition, how they attain high productivity is as important as the productivity itself. High productivity is essential for executives because it serves three important purposes. The first, most obvious, is that it enables us to get our work done. No small [...]
Thoughts on Executive Presence
February 8, 2012 by 2 Comments
I recently had a number of discussions on LinkedIn regarding Executive Presence. Here are some of the posts I started: An executive with presence commands respect instead of having to demand it. Executive presence is established, in part, by one’s dress and one’s carriage. What does your dress and carriage say about you? Successful executives [...]
Executive Blind Spots
November 16, 2011 by 4 Comments
We all have patterns, habits, and beliefs that limit us. The challenge is that we generally can’t see how those thought-patterns and beliefs hold us back and what we can’t see tends to sabotage our efforts. Blind spots can severely impact an executive’s strategic vision, their course of action, and their rate of success. They [...]
