The CEO Blog: Let’s Keep In Touch
The CEO Projects’ monthly newsletter brings with it our CEO blog, industry events, CEO-focused content and resources to your inbox.
Management: Balancing Autonomy with the Need for Oversight
Leadership has been highly glorified in both popular and academic discussions. At its core, leadership is about...
How Government Regulations Can Benefit Your Business
Many leaders are concerned about the impact of regulations on their businesses. They view government-imposed rules as...
The Key to Strategic Success: Building Organizational Commitment
When it comes to executing strategy, the research is conclusive: it's successful only about 50% of the time. This...
Is Your Executive Team Vulnerable? Assess Compensation Plans.
One of the things that CEOs and boards worry about the most is their executive team's vulnerability to poaching by...
Investing in your company can build transformational wealth
I recently spoke with a fellow CEO about an opportunity he was given to buy back equity in his company from a few...
Understanding Your Team: A Leader’s Superpower
I've written more than a few times on the roles of relationships in our business lives and the importance of...
The Million Dollar Rule of Time Allocation
Effective Time Allocation: How to Make More Time for the Things That Matter Ever feel like your time allocation is not...
Leadership Charisma Is A Balance of Warmth and Competency
We've all encountered someone we love working for or with. This person seems to possess an exceptional ability to...
Using Basic Math to Forecast Your Business’s Future
Data analytics has become essential for businesses of all sizes. Once primarily the domain of large corporations,...
The 3 Tiers of Reducing Costs in Your Business
Assessing the current macroeconomic landscape can be challenging, and the news often seems mixed. However, I can share...
How to Transition the Business to the Next Family Generation
Many businesses are founded by inspirational leaders with a long-term vision for their company's future. Sometimes,...
7 Reasons Why Your Business Might Not Sell
As an entrepreneur, having a long-term vision of selling your business is a viable goal. However, it's crucial to...
The Hidden Benefits of Employee Turnover
Over the past few years, as companies across various industries have grappled with the war for talent, turnover rates...
Pure Manager vs. Working Manager: Which Do You Need?
As your company transitions from its early stages to a period of growth, it's essential to hire or promote individuals...
One Agenda Change That Can Transform Your Company Board Meeting
Drawing from my extensive experience serving on multiple company boards, I can attest to the range of board meetings...
6 Essential Due Diligence Steps Before Joining a Board
Having served on multiple company boards throughout my career and continuing to do so, I've found it to be a rewarding...
Approaching Turnover with the Mindset of a College Football Coach
When we bring new employees on board, many of us still cling to an outdated mindset, assuming they'll remain with the...
Will Over Skill: How To Hire For The Best Culture Fit
The employment landscape, company culture fit, interview preparation, and job satisfaction have all undergone...
Amazon’s Key to Unleashing Innovation-Propelling Business Growth
Every organization aspires to foster creativity and innovation, recognizing that breakthrough ideas can propel...
One Method to Identify the Genuine A-Players in Your Organization
The term "A-players" has become commonplace in the modern workplace, universally understood to represent your...
How Would You Respond if Sales Forecasts Were Unreliable?
Numerous examples exist of management processes built on flawed assumptions. These often lead to misallocation of...
The Secret Sauce is in Getting Commitment and Reaching Consensus
In the business world, the phrase "reaching consensus" is commonly used, especially when a team is working towards...
How Success Hinders Learning—and Aiming For Success
It's stating the obvious to say that every company is aiming for success. After all, that's typically why we take the...
Mismanaging Overhead Costs Can Lead To Poor Business Decisions
Every business leader should possess a fundamental grasp of accounting. It's not about becoming an accountant; rather,...
Managing Talent at Your Organization – Need Tools?
In previous blog posts, I have delved deeply into individual-level talent management. This includes strategies for...
Understanding the Risk of Preferred vs Common Stock
When securing funding to fuel your business expansion, the conventional practice involves issuing common stock. This...
3 Alternative Questions for Uncovering Sales Potential
Having insights into the potential revenue and sales potential a prospective client could generate proves invaluable...
Few financial measures are more important than gross margin.
In my book "Great CEOs Are Lazy," I delved into the components of an exceptional business model. Among the pivotal...
Can Adaptive Strategy Implementation Yield Better Results?
Research indicates that approximately 90 percent of U.S. firms utilize a strategic management system in some capacity....
When Making Acquistions, Are Your Buying a Product or Channel?
I've previously emphasized that acquisition alone is not a strategy. However, when executed effectively, acquisitions...
Mastering the 3 Essential Reading Modes for Effective Leadership
In our childhood, reading is typically taught at a single speed. Individuals often categorize themselves as slow...
Insufficient Investment in Talent May Cause Stress
I've discussed the potential hindrance in organizational growth when there's a deficiency in middle management. It's a...
Striking a Balance: The Tension Between Rules and Creativity
Typically, during their initial phases, businesses tend to be exceptionally creative with minimal rules or low rule...
“Instinct vs. Analysis: Optimal Business Management?”
With the rise in popularity of people pursuing MBAs in recent years, there's been a spike in the reliance on analytics...
The relevance of grasping the VRIS model in shaping your strategy
I have previously discussed strategic positioning and how your organization can adopt various models or archetypes to...
How to sync your organization with your strategic objectives?
A considerable amount of content has been produced on the subject of strategy development, with numerous blogs and...
A Fresh Approach to Advisory Boards
In business leadership, CEOs often reach a critical juncture where they contemplate the need for external guidance and...
What prevents the market from embracing your great new concept?
Entrepreneurs are renowned for instigating change. Whenever you embark on establishing an innovative company with the...
What Changes When Profound Wealth Is Attained?
Many individuals fantasize about attaining wealth, as I've previously mentioned. While most people may not primarily...
What Is Your Company’s Competitive Strategy?
Many business professionals are acquainted with Michael Porter and his five forces model for assessing a company's...
The Significance of Systems Thinking in Crafting Strategy
It is imperative to strengthen this capability within your organization in order to effectively navigate the growing...
How to Provide Valid Rationale for Owning a Private Jet or Having a Personal Driver
Every time I engage in a discussion with an entrepreneur who's in the process of selling their business, the top two...
Warren Buffett Strongly Disapproves of EBITDA. You Should Consider the Same.
The true worth of a business lies in its ability to generate cash. If you've come across an investor pitch deck or an...
Don’t Call Your Mother. First Call Your Competitors
Instead of dreading competition, explore opportunities for collaboration and knowledge exchange with them. I've...
Are we headed for a banking crisis? It could be more significant than Silicon Valley Bank.
The consequences of Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB) collapse due to a liquidity crisis were evident to everyone. SVB had...
Blueprint for Wealth – Interview with Jim Schleckser
Being a successful CEO requires a unique set of skills and a strategic approach to...
The wisdom of nature offers valuable lessons on building adaptable businesses.
Recently, I encountered a captivating leadership theory that offers valuable insights into the internal dynamics and...
The distinction between the owner and employee mindset;some individuals simply prefer to work as employees.
During the initial phases of a company, it is essential to foster a collective commitment to success among every team...
Do You Have People on Your Team that Possess the Money-Making Gene?
I have a personal belief that not everyone is wired to make money. I'm not sure if people are born with it, but I call...
Hire Slow and Fire Fast
There's usually only a handful of people doing most of the actual work in most organizations. I've found this to be...
How Fast Should You Delegate? Reversible and Irreversible Decisions
It turns out there is another factor every leader needs to assess before delegating a decision: whether the issue is...
Building a Great Business Requires Sacrifices Which Cause an Imbalance
Living a balanced life is a myth. Greatness doesn't come from balance. I've written before about the goal of living a...
The Lazy CEO’s Guide to Getting More Done
I am excited to share with you that I recently had the opportunity to be interviewed on...
Do Your Customer’s Needs Fit What You Can Deliver? Every Time?
Let's discuss why you need inside-outside capabilities on your management team and rational-emotional talent on your...
In a Negotiation No One is Illogical. People View The World Differently.
Here is a negotiation secret: No One Is Illogical. If you are negotiating with someone irrational? Use it to your...
The Health of Your Relationships with Employees Impacts Retention Rates
The real reason You Have a turnover problem could be attributed to your relationship with your employees. There are...
Not Everyone Should Report to the CEO
Who Should Work for the CEO? You might think the answer is obvious, but it isn't. In the early days of starting your...
Owners and CEOs Wear Two Different Hats
CEO vs Owner There is a journey from being in the business to on the business to owning the business. As a business...
Looking to Hire Exceptional Employees? Look Beyond the Resume.
When you are hiring exceptional people is never easy. You're trying to fill an open position, you're hoping to find...
Every company has values, but why?
Why does every company have a set of values? Most companies display their values in the lobby, on the break room...
Which Different Types of Intelligence Dictate Success in the Job?
It is important to understand that different types of intelligence dictate success on the job. Are you hiring quick...
Business Debt Can Aid Growth, But Increases Fragility
In his excellent book Antifragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who helped popularize the concept of Black Swan...
Quiet Quitting May Affect Your Career Trajectory
I want to join in on the conversation on the topic of "quiet quitting." The whole idea is that some people feel taken...
Anchoring: One of the Most Powerful Negotiating Techniques
What do I mean by anchoring in a negotiation? How can buyers and sellers use anchoring as a potent negotiation...
Keep Your Eyes Open When Selling Your Business
Sometimes selling your business makes sense. This is one of the most common conversations I have with my fellow...
How to Cut Your Budget During Tough Economic Times
If your business isn't performing how you want it, maybe in terms of its profitability, it might be time to examine...
Negotiation Planning: Go Beyond Gut Instincts
Are you planning to win your next negotiation? Use these 3 negotiation planning strategies to go beyond your gut and...
Succession Planning Process: How to Find and Train Your Successor
Many Leaders Overlook Their Responsibility in Succession Planning One of the responsibilities that can be difficult,...
Make The Best Deal – Not The Fastest One
You can use the power of time pressure in negotiations. Use the take advantage of the "get-'em-while-they're-hot...
How Do You Value Your Business? Consider A Couple Factors.
For a host of reasons, a founder may ask themselves: what is my business worth? This is a common question among...
5 Tips to Successfully Sell Your Business Today
Imagine this scenario as a company founder, you find the perfect person to sell your business to someday. The buyer...
Organizational Culture: Empathy Won’t Pay the Bills
New Hires Care About Organizational Culture In order to attract and retain top talent, leaders have made culture...
Accountability: Does Anyone Know What It Means?
Coaching Accountability Coaching employees is critical if you are a leader. Coaching employees that are...
Balancing Creativity and Execution Leads to Success
An Idea Is Only As Successful As Its' Execution Most entrepreneurs have creativity wrapped in their DNA. They...
Customer Retention Comes Down to These 3 Points
You Aren't Necessarily Retaining Customers For Life Some companies have lofty customer retention goals like winning...
Customer Acquisition Cost: How Much Should You Spend?
Locking in Your Customer Acquisition Strategy The general rule is that you can spend more -- as a percentage of your...
The Power of Silence: Bite Your Tongue
A Lesson From Sales When a salesperson uses the power of silence in a negotiation, it adds pressure to whoever they...
Building Wealth: Risk Concentration is Faster than the Market
When building wealth you want to protect yourself from the downside of risk, and to do that you must avoid having all...
Customer Priority: Find Your Ideal Customer to Help You Grow
It is so vital to what drives customer churn. Some might say it's the one measure that tells you whether your company...
CEO Performance: How it Affects Your Company
Why has CEO compensation increased over the past several decades? This is one hot-button issue covered constantly in...
Organizational Growth: What Stage are You In?
The answer might tell you a lot about how to think about your role as its leader. Do you know what stage of...
Employee Compensation: Structuring Salaries
Will Your New Hire Remote Employee Get Paid the Same as an In-Person Employee? It used to be simple to figure out how...
Business Partnership Prenup: Got Yours?
Four Ways to End Your Business Partnership As we gain the courage to start a company, many times it helps to spread...
Trade Shows: Will They Make a Comeback?
A hybrid model may allow for a better experience. From March 2020 through the Fall of 2021, in-person trade shows were...
Negotiation Tactics: Countering “The Nibble”
One of The Negotiation Tactics You Must Know How to Handle If you have experience, one of the negotiation tactics you...
Negotiation Tactics: Using “Higher Authority”
It Can Be Effective, But It Can Also Lack Integrity Every time I write about negotiation tactics, I tend to get a lot...
Defining Leadership Styles
The Distinction is in One of These Leadership Styles: Head, Heart, or Hands. Leadership is one of the most studied...
Business Funding: Watch Out for No Man’s Land
Why You Can't Raise $5 Million For Your Startup When I'm working with the CEOs of startups, our conversations focus on...
Working Remotely: Rethinking Where You Get Work Done
Think of Location as a Tool We have all been participants in a grand experiment over the past few years. Forced to...
Gen Z in the Workplace: 3 Tips
Young Managers Need to Learn About Generational Differences Too. I've written before about how people come for the...
How to Negotiate Effectively- Java with Jim
Discussing Common Negotiating Techniques That Work https://youtu.be/sO1rtpQl45g Let's start with common ground. This...
Raising Capital – Java with Jim
Tips For Bringing Capital into Your Business https://youtu.be/32C8zU0kshU Why Do We Need Capital? There are two...
How to Leave a Legacy
How Do You Want to be Remembered? When someone reaches the end of their life, it's typical for someone close to them...
Sales Organization: Why Netflix Doesn’t Need One But You Do
There is a Relationship Between Recurring Revenue and Sales. I've written before about recurring revenue and how...
Landing a Board Seat
It's Not What You Know; it's Who You Know. As many individuals enter the prime of their careers or even shift into...
Negotiation Tips: The 3 Moves to Make
Negotiation Tips: Flinch, Reflect, and Go Silent https://youtu.be/tooUcfhXlzg A Simple Technique to Get a Concession...
Scaling Growth: Prioritize Systems Over Superstar Talent
Appropriately Scaling Growth Comes From Hiring Ordinary People into a System. In the early days of any company, you...
Raising Responsible Children: 1 Simple Technique
The Big Thing to Learn: All Decisions Have Consequences. Thought leader Simon Sinek says that one of the things that...
Former CEOs: Should They Be a Board Member?
Should Former CEOs Join the Board? The answer is more complicated than you might think. It's become common practice...
Successful People Possess These 6 Types of Power
Successful People Know That There Are Six Kinds of Power That You Can Earn in An Organization and Only A Few of Them...
Price vs Value
You Might Not Want the Sale If You Can't Protect Your Profit Margin. Anytime you're selling, you're trying to balance...
Succession Planning – Java with Jim
Why is Succession Planning So Important? Why should you think about succession planning?...
Employee Turnover from External Shock
There Are Things You Can Do to Reduce Employee Turnover High turnover is something many companies are dealing with...
Managing Gen Z – Java with Jim
Tips for Effectively Managing Gen Z https://youtu.be/eyHofiRQIPc The Generation Definitions Let's start with a bit of...
Negotiation Strategy: Never Respond First
The Secrets of Successful Dealmaking So You Get Every Dollar You Deserve. One of the most challenging aspects of any...
Retaining Millennials in the Workplace – Java with Jim
A Conversation with a Millennial https://youtu.be/vBU8VJOgpX4 Today, we're going to talk about millennial retention,...
Talent Management: A Sure Sign You Have a Problem
Look at Where You Spend Your Time as a Leader to See Who You Might Be Covering For. I deal with many CEOS who are...
Building Organizational Muscle: Encourage Team Solutions
As a Leader, Resist the Temptation to Solve Problems Yourself. It's expected that, as a leader, people come to you...
Selling a Business Checklist: Evaluating Offers
Look Beyond the Price Tag and the Term Sheet to Identify the Best Buyer. There comes a point in every entrepreneur's...
Work-Life Balance – Java with Jim
The Benefits of Work-Life Balance https://youtu.be/2UsMIpm2FGA Let's start with why would you want some work-life...
CEO Succession: To Search Inside or Out
Internal Candidates are Your Best Bet--Unless it's Time for a Strategic Shakeup. If you serve on a company's...
You Run a Lifestyle Business, and That’s OK
What Does Your View of a Work-Life Balance Look Like? When I have conversations about entrepreneurial companies with...
Management Styles: Do You Manage by Results or Activities?
As a Leader, are You Overmanaging? A leadership concept that goes back about 60 years is called Theory X versus Theory...
Top 5 Blog Posts from 2021
We wanted to share with you the top 5 most widely read blog posts of 2021. This year continued to be challenging for...
Focus Strategy: Keep Your Team Locked In
The Power of "Kill 2--Add 1" I've written before that what defines an organization is that it says "no" more than...
Organizational Role Players – Java with Jim
How to Handle C Players in Your Organization https://youtu.be/mApqpUr4BBk The next lazy CEO management secret is about...
First-Time Business Owner: 6 Essential Questions
You've been approached about buying a business. What do you do first? The demographics tell an exciting story: we're...
Lawyer Management: Why You Need It
Firm revenue and risk avoidance are your lawyer's top priorities - not yours There are times in every CEO's life when...
Information Movement – Java with Jim
The 3 Ways Information Moves Through Your Organization Full Pass Filter The next lazy CEO...
GEEKING OUT ABOUT OLD-SCHOOL MINDSET SALES TRAINING AND GROWTH WITH INC. CEO PROJECT CEO JIM SCHLECKSER Listen to The...
Decision Making: All You Need is 75%
Decision-Making with 75% of the Information That is all you need. The next management...
Risk Management Process: The Waterline – Java With Jim
The third management secret of the lazy CEO is Risk. Specifically the risk management...
How to Avoid Meetings
How to Avoid Meetings and Add Valuable Hours Back to your Week. If you're like me, you probably have more than one...
Pulling Rank as Boss – Java with Jim
It Is Okay To Play The Boss Card The second management secret of the lazy CEO is it's...
Optimistic Leaders Get People to Follow – Java with Jim
Optimistic Leadership: The Double-Edged Sword Today we are going to start an ongoing...
Motivation in Management: How Much Praise Is Too Much?
Every leader's goal should be to find that Goldilocks just right amount. One of the things I struggled with the most...
Importance of Human Resources Leader in Your Business
It's time to elevate your HR function. One can make the argument that the performance of every business is derived...
Founder Exit Strategy: When it’s Time to Go
The most difficult decision for every entrepreneurial company. The most important person in any startup company is its...
Hiring for Capacity: One Vital Skill You’re Not Interviewing For
As seen on Inc.com Hiring for capacity makes all the difference. We're all in a war for talent these days, which makes...
Choosing a Lawyer: It Matters
Choosing a Lawyer: Not all are the same Many entrepreneurs think that lawyer is a generic term. They might say, "I...
Importance of Vulnerability in Leadership
Importance of Vulnerability in Leadership: It's a Leaders' Superpower I have written before about how one of the...
Correlation vs Causation in Business
Three questions can prevent this major error There's an old saying that goes, "Figures don't lie, but liars can...
Licensing Intellectual Property: 7 Factors to Consider
Here's what to consider before signing that license agreement. Driving innovation is a critical factor in growing many...
Servant Leadership Principles
Servant Leadership Principles: Do You Have What it Takes? People claim to be servant leaders, but are they? Here are...
Entrepreneur Risk
Unlike popular belief, the best entrepreneurs understand how to make risk work for them. When you ask most people to...
Sales vs Service: Don’t Make a Salesperson be Both
Good salespeople are hard to find. Don't waste their time on less valuable work. I was talking recently to the CEO of...
Why Using Force Does Not Work in Business or in Life
It is tempting to pull rank to drive short-term results, but you'll pay for it in the long run. Anyone who has ever...
Importance of Ethics in Business
Long-term success in business is not about cutting corners and short-term gains Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and...
Avoid Ruining Your Organizational Culture: 7 Things to Avoid
If you don't avoid these mistakes, culture can become toxic. Culture is a delicate thing. Without proper care and...
Best Interview Question You Can Ask
'How' tells you a lot about the potential fit of a candidate As leaders, one of the key roles many of us play inside...
Front Stage vs Backstage Jobs: How to Hire for Each
To make the perfect hire, you need to understand the role. In almost any kind of company you can name, you can divide...
Ways to Break Even: Accounting, Cash, & Investor
Knowing how 'breakeven' is defined can keep you in business. When I ask business leaders how their business is doing,...
Secrets of Successful People: 7 Tips to Living a Balanced Life
Highly successful people measure themselves on seven key elements to living a healthy and fulfilling life. Most of us...
Compensation Management Mistakes
Your comp plan can't do it all. There's a common trap that a lot of CEOs fall into when it comes to designing their...
Scaling a Business: Recruiting the Right People
There are warning signs for you to watch One of the innate skills that most entrepreneurs share in common is the...
Transformational Leader Traits
Test yourself against the 4 I's to find out whether you're doing what it takes. There's a lot of research around...
Diversify Your Referral Program
There are unintended consequences of this widely used program to recruit talent. The topic of diversity, equity, and...
Controlling the Controllables: Great Leaders Never Cast Blame
Placing blame on a non-controllable factor is not productive. Instead, strong leaders focus on things they can change....
How to Influence Others: The Power of Asking Questions
Asking is more powerful than telling. We face situations every day at work when we'd like to influence people to our...
Business Referrals: How to Get More for Your Business
If you want more clients and peers to recommend your company to others, follow this simple Likely, you know someone...
Persuasion Techniques: The Head and the Heart
The smartest marketers use both approaches to get results. Here's what you need to know. We all face different times...
Revenue Strategy: 10 Strategic Ideas to Increase Revenue Stream
Everyone Wants to Develop Revenue Streams Developing new revenue streams is always a business challenge. Developing a...
Employee Compensation: Consider What They’re Really After
People aren't after maximum pay--they're after felt fair compensation. Despite what you might hear, compensation is...
Product Adoption Strategy: 4 Techniques to Accelerate Adoption
Rapid adoption can be engineered with the right techniques. Anytime an organization introduces a new product into the...
Implementing Price Increase: 6 Ways to Nudge Prices Higher
Price has a profound impact on profits. Don't miss potential increases. I've written before about the exponential...
Bonus Program Clarity: Why You Should Embrace Transparency
Don't miss the opportunity to motivate your team by sharing how to win that bonus. Historically, many leaders choose...
Primary Motivators of You and Your Team
What drives you: achievement, affiliation, or power? One of the top concerns for every leader is finding a reward...
Ending Business Relationships: Sometimes It’s Best to Walk Away
You get to decide what you will tolerate from others. Many times, in both our business and personal lives, we can feel...
CEO Transition: How to Know It’s Time to Leave Your Role
Even as a CEO, in certain situations you should consider if there's a better job out there for you. There comes a time...
Importance of Company Values
You can't predict every situation your employee will run into, but you can give them the answer on how to handle it....
Navigating Business Uncertainty: 3 Smart Strategies
Learn from some of the most flexible and agile companies to better protect your own business from failure. Ever since...
Controlling Company Debt: 6 Things to Do
There are ways to relieve the pressure and survive. Any business leader can find themselves confronting circumstances...
Joining a Board of Directors: What to Consider
There are a few questions you need to ask yourself before taking on the big commitment of joining a board of...
Company Talent is Owned By The Company
Company talent hoarding can reduce results and send top performers running. When you look at the talent inside your...
The CEO Project Blog Posts of 2020 – Top 5
We wanted to share with you the top 5 blog posts of 2020. This year has been challenging for everyone, and at The CEO...
Product Development Strategy: Why You Need Road Map
Without a map, it's easy to get lost. I was recently speaking with an executive who was complaining that he didn't...
Point Solution vs Product Suite: Which is Better?
It's a choice of your basis of competition One of the fundamental questions you need to answer about your product...
Building Trust Virtually: How to Get it Done
We can't rely on traditional approaches Research into the science behind human communication tells us that up to 90...
Prevention Costs: Fail Early and Cheap
The high price of fixing an error late. One of the fundamental concepts I learned as an engineer was the cost of...
Productive Argument: Get Something Out of It
You need to show your work All of us have found ourselves in a disagreement with someone else. Maybe it was in the...
Customer Loyalty: Try Screwing Up
Don't waste opportunities to create customers for life. As leaders, we tend to think in terms of perfection. Our goal...
Effective Apology: How to Say You’re Sorry
It's the first step towards repairing the damage of a mistake We're all going to screw up in one way or another at...
Business Acquisition Challenges: When Equal Companies Merge
The truth is that two companies are never equal. How to navigate business acquisition challenges. I've written before...
Difficulty Hiring? It Might be the Job
If the last five people have failed in a job, it isn't the people, it's the job In my conversations with CEOs, they...
Business Acquisition Strategy: How to Make It Really Pay Off
The leverage in cost reduction and growth opportunities. I have talked before about using due diligence as an...
Business Digitization: Don’t Let it Destroy Your Business
A cautionary tale from book publishing. I have written before about how digitization and virtualization new can help...
Selling a Company: What to Expect in Due Diligence
It's like a house inspection for your business We have all heard of the process called due diligence. But unless...
How to Get Promoted
Take on the responsibilities of the next role to show you can do the work first When I was growing up, my dad gave me...
Private Equity Acquisitions: Why Do They Put Debt on The Deal?
It's all about maximizing the return. Most entrepreneurs are allergic to debt. And for good reason. I've written...
Email Productivity: 4 Strategies to Improve
A few easy techniques can help everyone do more. As our work has become increasingly virtual in the wake of the...
Workforce Cost Reduction: 4 Cost-Cutting Techniques
Tough times require difficult decisions about the size of your payroll. As the government begins to scale back its...
Business Model Assessment: 9 Questions to Answer
The better the business model, the more valuable the business. The key to building a successful business for the long...
Company Values and Procedures: Why You Need Both
Neither one is sufficient to cover all situations, but together they can get you the right result every time....
Leadership Style: Are You Task-Oriented or People-Centric
More importantly, what should it be? There is a fundamental choice that leaders make--consciously or...
Business Recovery: 3 Types and the Covid Crisis
We can learn something from prior downturns. Now that we're in the middle of an economic downturn, there's a lot of...
Leadership Presence in Times of Crisis
Putting in face time with your team creates transparency, trust, and peace of mind. Woody Allen once famously said...
Sales Tactics: If You Can’t Get a Sale, Get a Promise of a Sale
Even if you can't get a promise of a sale, here's what you can do to keep the ball rolling. Many organizations have...
Revenue Leakage: Find and Fix the Breach
It is expensive to lose customers. Keeping them is worth some attention from the CEO. Did you ever stop and consider...
Objective Thinking: A Common Trait of Great CEOs
Taking your feelings out of the equation changes how you look at a problem--for the better. I'll never forget my own...
Organizational Diversity: How to Improve Today
There is an existing playbook we can use, and it works There has been a huge amount of conversation and energy in...
Customer Acquisition Cost: How Much Should You Be Spending?
An easy way to calculate the limit to what you should spend. I've written before about managerial ratios like the...
CEO Search: Why They Should Come from the Center of the Business
Your Next CEO Search Should Come From the Center of the Business At some point in the life cycle of every business,...
Upscale or Downscale Business to Survive
The middle of the market is collapsing. Now is the time to find your company's place. When it comes to positioning...
Optimistic Leadership: Don’t Let Positivity Be a Fatal Flaw
Any strength can become a weakness if you aren't careful Generations of leaders in both the political and business...
Business Decision Making: The 2-Part System
Some people base their decisions on gut instinct alone; others only use data. There's a better way. There's a battle...
Selling Your Business: Understanding Conflicting Emotions
There is a darker side to a great financial exit, but there's a way to handle the mixed feelings. Most entrepreneurs...
How to Become a CEO: Study Engineering
If your kid is interested in going into business someday, here's why an engineering degree may be their best option....
Business Survival: 3 Things You Can Do During a Recession
How do you survive and thrive? For some of you, this might be the first economic downturn you've experienced in your...
Business Scalability: How to Build Digitally and Virtually
Now is the time to upgrade your processes and technology to grow fast Business scalability is something we talk about...
Living Peacefully: Simple Strategy
Do Not Attribute Malice In my work with leaders, both inside and outside of the workplace, I've encountered a common...
Business Advice: Golden Rule- Don’t Run Out of Money
Plenty of businesses show record profits and are also facing bankruptcy. How could that happen? They ignored the...
Are You Destroying Wealth in Your Business?
There's an Easy Way to Calculate How Much You Should Be Making. You might be destroying wealth in your business...
Emotional Leadership: Protect Your Emotional Reserves
You Need to Have Buffers to Handle the Ups and Downs of Business There are probably dozens of traits that come to mind...
Are You the Best CEO to Run Your Company?
You have to take an objective look at your business before making that decision. Here's how. At my company, we work...
Business Crisis: Looking for the Opportunity in Difficulty
Business crisis: adversity creates opportunity The best leaders understand that a crisis can lead them to the chance...
Get the Best Price for Your Business and Don’t Get Burned
When you start to think about selling your company, there are financial buyers and strategic buyers. These two...
Organizational Change: Seeing Talk Through to Action
Gossip and Social Influencers hold the key Jim Haudan of Root Learning, a phenomenal speaker and strategic change...
Talent Development Budget: How Much Should You Be Spending?
The 1 percent solution. In his bestselling book, The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni stresses that the only real...
The Peter Principle: Why It’s Only Half-Right
The Leadership Buffer Principle Covers it All Back in 1969, Dr. Peter and Raymond Hull wrote and published a book...
Confident Leadership: Be Wary of Arrogance
They are the Yin and Yang of Leaders People Want to Follow. Or Not. If you ask just about anyone about the kinds of...
Business Maverick: The Magic of Going Against the Crowd
How to succeed by doing things others aren't It's always so tempting to tag along with what everyone else is...
The Power of Compound Interest
Is the power of compound interest really the 8th Wonder of the World? There is an often-told story that when Albert...
Types of Leadership: Are You a Boss, Manager, or Leader?
There isn't one best answer. Many of us reach a point in our careers or in the growth of our companies when we find...
Why the Exciting New Business Definition Is a Yawner
No new ground was broken; they only put a new wrapper on the existing practice. The Business Roundtable recently came...
Top 10 Blog Posts of 2019
As 2019 comes to a close, we wanted to share with you the top 10 blog posts of the year. They cover a wide range of...
Why Heroic Efforts Damage Company Growth
Dependence on Talent over Systems can Stall Your Growth One of the things we celebrate, particularly in...
Highly Successful People Don’t Decide Between Yes and No
When most of us are faced with making a decision in business or in our personal lives, we tend to frame it within a...
Why a Dazzling Resume Doesn’t Always Mean a Dazzling Hire
It's easy to be impressed by a big resume -- but you'll make a fatal hiring decision if you aren't careful. I can't...
Why You Must Have A Breakup Clause In Any Agreement
Interests shift over time - you need to be prepared. I was recently working with the two founders of an...
Make Your Customers An Offer They Can’t Refuse
Just being 10%-15% better or cheaper is not going to cut it. Again: make them an offer they can't refuse to grow your...
The Biggest Competitor to Your Business Isn’t the One You Think
Right now, they are not good enough and are too expensive. A lot of us operate in relatively stable and existing...
How Do You Develop Executive Gravitas?
It's not performance or work ethic - but they help Every great leader has something in common. They have gravitas,...
How To Respond When Asked: What Salary Were You Expecting?
It's a high-risk answer -- you want to get it right. One of the most unfair questions you can be asked during a job...
Manage Your Lawyers with 1 Question
They are valuable if they are used properly Most of us who run companies aren't lawyers, perhaps, fortunately. At the...
Product Innovation: Why It’s Not That Important
The most disruptive innovation comes from elsewhere Whenever I speak about innovation, one of the companies I point...
Everything You Learned About Writing in College Is Wrong
If you want to be a clear communicator, you have to forget college writing When we're growing up in the educational...
The Simple Way to Align Your Team Towards a Goal
Transparency and vulnerability are key and hard to have. One of the most important things we do as leaders are to help...
The Secret Formula to Hard Conversations
The inability to handle conflict can limit your career. A popular book among business leaders these days is called...
6 Signs You Are A Micromanager
It's hard to diagnose if you are a micromanager - here are 6 sure signs As a manager or CEO, it can be extremely...
The Big Problem Dollar Shave Club Has–And How You Can Avoid It
What Made Them Successful is Now in the Way of Growth One of the coolest names to make a big splash in the market in...
How To Fire Someone And Not Get Sued
And be ready if it does happen Let's start with a confession. I have to admit that I fibbed a bit: chances are you...
The Danger Of Handing Out Titles
W.L Gore lets you pick your title and everyone is happier One of the things that we're tempted to do in the early days...
Do You Have An Employee Who Is Wearing You Out?
Whoa and Giddy up Can Tell You Everything In my various roles leading organizations over the years, I came up with a...
Window-Dressing Business For Sale
Or, a pig with lipstick is still a pig I have worked with a number of CEOs who have gone through the sale of their...
Want an Advisory Board That Makes a Difference? Here’s How
I have written before about advisory boards and the steps you can take toward evolving that board into a more formal,...
Who Is The Joker Running Your Company?
You may have unwittingly handed over control. Anytime we create a new board or committee, we inevitably skew toward...
How to Get the Board You Need as Your Company Grows
I’ve written before about whether you need an advisory board or not. As your company grows, there is actually a...
Management Mistakes 101: Two in a Row That Don’t Know
One of the fundamental management tenants I have used in my career, something I originally first learned from one my...
Personal Finance: The Low Down
Why Your Investment Banker Isn't Really On Your Side They Have the Wrong Incentives and Motivation When you're going...
The 14 Principles That Drive Amazon’s Success
Many people talk about leadership principles or values these days. But what often happens is that they get printed on...
Which Kind of Leader Are You: Zero to One or A to B?
It's a Critical Question for Your Success and Happiness One of the things most people don't think about when it comes...
Why Job Candidates Fit Into 1 of 3 Categories
It's important to understand which one you want and need. Anytime you're looking to fill a position inside your...
Does Your Acquisition Process Measure Up?
Acquisition: Is it a hobby or a process? A lot of CEOs I talk with consider acquiring another company as part of their...
Is Your Organization Too Flat?
As entrepreneurs who run growing companies, it’s tempting to operate your organization as lean and mean as you can....
Why Cash Is the Most Expensive Way to Motivate Your Team
It turns out there is a better way. One of the big issues every leader deals with on a daily basis is finding ways to...
Why PhDs Don’t Become Billionaires
We might be pushing our kids in the wrong direction. We're all fans of education. I can admit that I'm a kind of an...
Transparency: The New Leadership Superpower
Over the past few years, we have become accustomed to an extreme level of transparency in our lives. If you want to go...
How Many Direct Reports Should You Have?
Most Leaders Miss This Critical Culture Element If you go to business school to get your MBA, you'll likely learn...
Why B Students Make the Best Leaders
It's a balance of brains and people skills. We live in a world where nearly every parent encourages their children to...
How To Create A Strategic Buyer For Your Company
Using the Acquisition Continuum In a prior article, I talked about how it's unlikely there will be a bidding war if...
Why the Best Deal Isn’t the Best Approach
If there is money on the table, take it off. We've all been trained for most of our lives to get the best deal we...
Why Sometimes The Most Powerful Thing To Say Is Nothing
Silence is the Source of Great Strength A book came out within the past few years that has become quite popular. It's...
When You Get The Sale, Stop Talking
I have spent a lot of time during the course of my career in the sales and marketing field. What I have come to learn...
Why People Come to Your Company For The Mission–And Leave For The Manager
And there is an easy way to figure out which manager. Turnover of any kind inside a company can be problematic -...
Why the Need for Too Much Data Is a Fatal Leadership Flaw
I recently received a fancy fitness monitor as a gift. It tracks my heart rate as well as a bevy of other stats about...
Is Your Boss A Pie Ducker? Are You?
Rule #1 - Don't Stand Behind a Pie Ducker in a Food Fight We've all had the experience of working together with our...
Repeating vs. Recurring Revenues? One Is Better than the Other
Repeat revenue is good, but recurring revenue is great. One of the key messages I hammer home in my book, Great CEOs...
Why You Need A Budget For Your Business
It's Easy to Get Lost without a Roadmap When I reached a certain point in my career where my success had given me some...
How To Structure Bonuses And Profit Sharing Plans – It isn’t That Hard
It's a Great Way to Align and Reward Your Team One of the most common questions I get asked by business leaders is:...
The 5 Whys: Secret Technique to Get to the Bottom of Any Issue
It can be annoying, but it gets results It's all too common to be having a conversation with someone only to have that...
Structure Follows Strategy When Designing Your Organization
It Isn't Just Names in Boxes - Structure Makes the Strategy Happen A common question that gets brought up in our work...
5 Simple Rules For Transitioning a Family Business to the Next Generation
It's Not Easy to Put the Next Generation in Place Many entrepreneurs who start and grow a business hope that someday...
Can’t Measure Culture? Here Are 9 Ways to Quantify It
Putting numbers to the elements of culture helps you understand it. But do you really understand your culture? I'm not...
How to Pick Your Investment Banker
They are hard to tell apart - so how do you pick the best one for you? If you are considering selling your company, I...
6 Things Private Equity Firms Do After They Buy Your Business
In today's market, if you're contemplating selling your business you're probably thinking of finding a strategic buyer...
The Post-It Note System to Achieve Your Dreams
Harness the Law of Attraction to Achieve Your Goals Is there really something to the notion that, if we hold a...
The Myth Of Motivating People
Either They've Got it or They Don't - But There is Something We Can Do Many leaders I encounter think that the most...
Business Debt 101–What You Need To Know About Business Debt
How Much Debt Can Your Business Handle? In my book, Great CEOs Are Lazy, I talk about how most great business models...
How to Assess Culture Fit In An Employee
How they were graded on this can predict their ability to be good team members. There is a popular book series that's...
Why Southwest Has Been Profitable 45 Years in a Row
Many business leaders make the mistake of believing that cost is the main factor when it comes to setting the price...
5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Go International With Your Business
It's Not Just Harder - It's 3 Times Harder Over my career as a business leader, I have done business in 27 different...
Why You Don’t Want to Be a Hero When You Set Your Budget
We're about to head into budget season, the point in the year where everyone starts projecting what they're going to...
Are You Always Late? Here’s What Being Late Communicates
You are silently communicating how you value people's time. For some of us, the world can be divided into two kinds of...
The Problems With Earn-Outs When Buying or Selling a Company
Whenever a business is bought or sold, there's always a negotiation involved in setting the final price. Typically,...
The 1 Question You Must Ask Before You Fire Someone
Does Your Employee Know They Are About to be Fired? I've had many managers report to me across my career as a leader...
B.L.U.F.F. Your Way Into Great Communication
Put the bottom line up front to be a great communicator. When most people communicate or have an update to share at...
The Error of Uniform Time Allocation
Don't Dilute Your Diligence This article is excerpted from the book Great CEOs Are Lazy (Inc. Original Imprint, 2016)...
The Simple Tool You Can Use to Keep People Accountable
You can get an immediate jump in productivity. Accountability is a topic that lots of CEOs and leaders talk about....
How to Monetize the Data in Your Business
A three-tiered approach to the monetization of data that follows the framework of Aggregation, Analytics, and...
The Secrets To Lose-Lose Negotiation
How to Win a No-Win Scenario The best negotiators don't look for win-win behaviors, they try to find a lose-lose...
The 4 Key Differentiators Between CEO Peer Groups
There are key differences and these factors can help you decide. One of the most powerful ways to develop your skills...
Netflix’s Brilliant Jerk Zero Tolerance Policy
What do you do when someone who is unquestionably brilliant is also a jerk? We all work with someone who is...
Why Warren Buffet Believes Feedback Is A Gift and You Should Too
"Honesty is a very expensive gift; just don't expect it from cheap people" - Warren Buffet During your career, there...
Apple’s Boring Mission Statement and What We Can Learn From It
Don't Waste Your Breath, Make it Matter Thousands of hours have been wasted talking about mission statements that are,...
3 Things Private Equity Firms Will Do to Your Business And they are all major moves.
If you run a successful, fast-growing business, chances are that you might encounter private equity firms interested...
5 Things You Need in Every Employment Contract
If you are a senior executive--or if you're hiring one for your growing business--you're likely going to need to craft...
When to Delegate? Try the 70 Percent Rule
Don't Forget to Delegate If you don't learn to embrace the art of delegation, you won't be able to build your...
Top 10 Reasons to Join a CEO Peer Group
A great way to become a better leader - fast Serving as the leader or CEO of an organization of any size can be a...
Why Your Controller Isn’t A CFO
It's a mistake to think your controller will make a good CFO. Odds are, they won't. In the early days of growing your...
Double Your Income With One of the Most Valuable Things For Time
If you consistently create high-value time - you can double your income If you ask any business person what the most...
1 Simple Question can be Applied to Streamline Your Business
As a leader inside an organization, there is a fundamental question you should be constantly using when it comes to...
3 Simple Steps To Hold People Accountable
Great leaders and managers know these 3 Simple Steps To Hold People Accountable There is a common theme that many...
5 Trends That Will Impact Your Business in 2018
Get Ahead to Stay Ahead With the New Year right around upon us, here are 5 trends that will impact your business in...
Is Your Leadership Brand Love or Respect? Which Should it Be?
There is common link between your leadership style, call it your personal leadership brand, and the kind of brand...
The Single Most Important Job of Any CEO
Be the Boss Being the leader of a business isn't always glamorous. More often than not, your time is going to be spent...
The 5 Levels of Delegation You Need to Know and Lead Well
Rather than thinking of delegation as a binary issue--either you delegate or you don't--consider what it might look...
Secret to Success of Southwest Airlines, Google, and Ritz Carlton
Hint: It's Not Conformity It all begins with answering a crucial question: What makes your business unique? Southwest...
Time or Money? How Super Successful People Trade One for the Other
There are many parallels in running a business and running your life - especially when it comes to deciding whether to...
Why You Need to Raise Your Prices — Today
Every business tries to figure out how it can become more profitable - or at least every business should! By default,...
Do you Need a Board of Advisors?
First ask: What Would I Turn to Them For? It's a question many CEOs start asking when their company reaches a certain...
Why You Should Fire Half Your Customers Today
There is one thing every business has in common: customers. Without someone to buy your products and services, you...
Scale Your Company: Shift From Talent to Systems
Talent Can Only Perform to the Quality of the System It Is In Eventually, you can't count on superhero employees and...
Your Actions Define Your Strategy More Than Your Words
If your behavior doesn't match your strategy, you send mixed messages to the rest of the organization. Helping choose...
How to Answer “Are We for Sale?”
It can be somewhat tricky to answer the question, "Is the Business for Sale" honestly and maintain integrity. As...
How to Try Before You Buy a Company
Slow and Steady Wins the Race While lots of mergers fail, and if you had to pick one reason -it is companies rushing...
Super Salespeople Use TACT to Build Relationships
When you're trying to do business with someone in a way where ultimately you'd like him or her to purchase something...
Salespeople Are Coin-Operated — and That’s OK
Different things motivate all of us. For example, people can be motivated by intrinsic things like the chance to learn...
Two Ways To Share Equity With Your Team
Sharing equity with your team can be a powerful motivator, and there are two basic ways most firms do it. In a prior...
Does Your Sales Team Hunt Or Farm?
When you think about your sales force, what kind of people do you have working for you: Hunters or Farmers? And what...
As a Leader, Everything Matters
No Stuff is the "Small Stuff" Kids and employees have an amazing ability to pick up when our behaviors don't match up...
8 Travel Secrets From a 2 Million Mile Traveler You Need To Know
Here are eight secrets that, if every traveler heeded them, would make traveling far more enjoyable for everyone...
Rules or Culture: What’s the Best Way to Lead?
There are multiple ways you can manage an organization to make sure that the right decisions get made under most...
Are Your Employees Firefighters or Snow Cones?
You Need to Learn Who Can Bend And Not Break Every business has the occasional fire. When it hits, you should have...
5 Tricks You Are Missing for Networking at Business Events
As business people, we know we need to "network" as a way to build relationships that will help us in business and...
Moats and Machines: How Warren Buffett Analyzes a Business
You Need a Process and You Need to Protect That Process Warren Buffett knows great financials are critical to the...
Are You an Owner or an Operator: Why You Might Fire Yourself
When to Know You've Earned Your Pink Slip A word of caution for any entrepreneur who has founded a business and...
Three Ways to Grow: Build, Partner, Or Buy
How to Get Growing Every year, I speak with nearly a thousand CEOs in detail about their companies. One of the key...
Mercenary or Patriot -Which Should You Hire?
Think of What You Value in an Employee When you're hiring, think beyond the skills and experience a candidate might...
Why You Need to Honestly Assess Your Talent
Save the Sugarcoating to Cereals Many companies rate their talent well above average. Besides being untrue, this is a...
Run Your Business Like You Are Never Selling
Make Your Moves With The Future In Mind To get the best value when selling your business, keep your focus on building...
Treat Your Business Partnership Like a Marriage
Til Death (of the Business) Do You Part Business partnerships fail frequently. But we can learn from how people in...
The 1 Best Question to Use in an Interview
No Need to Beat Around the Buse There is a single question that you can use to assess whether candidates understand...
Is Selling to Private Equity a Victory or a Defeat?
Entrepreneurs regularly ask whether or not they should sell their company to a private-equity firm and is it a victory...
Want to Win? Keep Your Strategy Short and Sweet
K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple, Stupid) When it comes to communicating about your strategy with your organization, and...
The Secret Ratio Great Leaders Use to Evaluate Talent
Talking the Talk vs. Walking the Walk Great leaders focus on what we can call the "Talk/Do" ratio. Put simply, they...
Why Great Leaders Need to Say, ‘I Don’t Want To’
Anyone who has kids or spends any time with them knows what I'm referring to. Inevitably, you will get to a point...
Turn Your Business into a Growth Machine with the Golden Rule
No doubt you have all heard of the Golden Rule, which is often summarized as, "treat others, as you would want to be...
How to Avoid Mission Drift and Stay True To Your Purpose
Staying the Course Mission drift is an irresistible force. You need to build in measures to help you avoid suffering...
One Trial Learner: Failure Isn’t an Option
Failure Isn't an Option. It's a Lesson Great CEOs accept that in order to innovate, then failure isn't an option -...
Manage Your Culture … or Someone Else Will
If you don't constantly reinforce your organization's mission and values, you'll get the blame when something...
Warren Buffet’s Secrets to Stop Worrying
First, Take a Breath Warren Buffett, who has billions of reasons to be worried, uses these six steps to free himself...
Execution Eats Strategy for Lunch
Great strategy isn't what separates the great companies from all the rest. It's executing a simple strategy in a...
Simple Is Hard: Design Secrets of Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs
It's Simply an Advantage According to many iconic leaders, being simple is hard, but it's also an incredible...
75 Percent of the Information Is All You Need to Make a Decision
I have written before about people who have high information needs. You might call them "infomaniacs." These are...
Surprising Questions Great Companies Use to Hire Well
Cultivating Your Company's Culture Great companies look at the skill and the will of the potential hire, but they...
Six Questions to See If You Have Schedule Control
Take Your Time Back One thing that all great CEOs have in common is that they have control over their calendar. Here...
3 Rules for Business Communication
Just about every role in a business these days, including that of the CEO, involves receiving and passing along...
One Simple Question to Manage Risk
One of the most important jobs any leader does is decide what issues to tackle inside the organization at any given...
Great CEOs are Lazy!
Work Smarter, Not Harder Great CEOs rarely enter into Player Mode. Rather, his or her first move is to find someone...
The 5 Best Kinds of Recurring Revenue
Cash In on Cash Flow Not all recurring revenue business models are equally valuable. You can think of it as a scale...
An Easy Rule for Employee Feedback
Many entrepreneurs have high standards when it comes to performance. You might even call them perfectionists. That...
Using Stories and Symbols to Build a Powerful Culture
Two tools that many CEOs tend to overlook when it comes to reinforcing their company's culture are symbols and...
Building A Better Business With Recurring Revenue
The Best Revenue is Recurring Revenue One truth in business that most CEOs and entrepreneurs alike tend to overlook:...
9 Tips to Zoom Through Airport Security
Just about every entrepreneur flies at some point in his or her career. As a two-million-air-miles flyer, I follow...
How to Help an Underperforming Worker in 6 Steps
Coaching Up Your C-Players One of the most challenging tasks for any leader is figuring out what to do with an...
Have a Good Business Model? Take This Test
4 Factor Assessment of Your Business Model Do you have a great business? One thing I've learned from coaching hundreds...
2 Questions You Need to Assess Your Talent
Get Better At Being Honest With Yourself Everyone might think they have the best people working for them, but sitting...
4 Powerful Ways to Develop Your A-Players
When it comes to your top performers, the ones you want to promote into leadership slots to drive your organization...
C Players Get Zero – Zero. Zilch. Nada.
Zero. Zilch. Nada. If someone in your organization is under-performing, they should get nothing: no raises, no...
Embracing a “Not Do” List
To Do and Not To Do A key question every CEO faces is how they can get out of Player mode and spend more time in...