Advice I Wish I’d Gotten Sooner I developed my entrepreneurial spirit leading a division of Tracy-Locke and later an office of Edelman Worldwide. These two firms prized outcomes over bureaucracy …

Who Are Your A, B & C Players? As a new football season approaches, coaches are assigning grades to players and finalizing depth charts. Top leaders should do likewise as strategic …

Unleash the Power of Accountability on Five Factors Signs indicate the year ahead will be challenging. Growth has slowed in some industries. Other industries are encountering headwinds. After navigating through …

In the spirit of Halloween, here are 10 scary questions to ask yourself and then answer to get the most out of life. A version of today’s post first appeared 10 …

I’ve led more than 250 strategic planning sessions. While each planning session is different, I’ve seen firsthand that companies wrestle with performance issues in similar ways. Exceptional companies succeed by following …

How will we stay ahead of the pack? On a chilly, overcast February day in Mainz, Germany, a middle-aged inventor wondered to himself if his career had finally taken a …

How Great Leaders Decide What was your best decision of 2022? How did you make it? What was your worst decision of 2022? How did you make it? When asked …

This article was first published in June 2012. It’s been updated due to its popularity and is being re-posted following our return from Portugal where I’m happy to report we …

We’re entering the Season of Possibilities. It’s the time period between Labor Day and mid-December when effective executives assemble their senior leaders to begin focused discussions about their organization’s future. …

What does everyone see yet doesn’t say? Even in well-run organizations it’s not uncommon for people to see things that need to be addressed yet remain reluctant to initiate a …

Amid the year-end frenzy there’s an opportunity to slow down, pause and reflect on the past year and look to the future of the year that’s about to begin.

A Leader’s Job: Confront Reality America’s early days as a nation were shaped by big decisions.  Bold, gutsy decisions. Even decisions to intentionally avoid making a decision. The signers of …

Animal House Turns 40 September means “Back to school,” and this year one of America’s most famous college campuses—the fictional Faber College in National Lampoon’s Animal House—turns 40. The 1978 film …

Three Secrets for an Effective Planning Session Ten years ago, David Collis and Michael Rukstad’s article “Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?” was published in the Harvard Business Review. …

The Leaning Tower of Pisa Offers Clues for Your Upcoming Planning Session The period between Labor Day and Thanksgiving is often when leaders gather to affirm their organization’s strategies and …

A Guide to Unlocking Your Organization’s Potential I’ve led more than 200 strategic planning sessions in a range of industries. It’s not unusual to find myself correcting faulty assumptions that …

As we move into the final quarter of 2017, how will you and your team begin to lay the groundwork for next year? Take 60 seconds to answer these 3 …

With summer nearly a memory, companies are entering the home stretch of the year. Many leaders will consider holding a session with strategic planning consultants, as this will allow you …

The first battles of the American Revolutionary War were fought at Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775. The Battle of Yorktown that culminated on 19 October 1781 with Lieutenant …

What Business Leaders Can Learn from the Beatles Chances to secure a recording contract were evaporating. The Beatles had talent, judging from audiences they drew regularly in clubs around England, …