Are people born great leaders or are they formed by their experiences and training? Of course, the answer is both. Some people have an intuitive sense of how to encourage and guide teams that engenders respect and loyalty. These people benefit from learning techniques and tools that further increase … [Read more...]

I have a love-hate perspective of strategic planning. Let me start with what I hate. Hate #1: The binder on the shelf I hate strategic planning that delivers a binder filled with data that buries the essence of the process. Once on the shelf, no one ever pulls the damn thing off for any … [Read more...]

I’ve had my fair share of discrimination when someone questioned my capabilities to run the company because I am a woman, and research shows that women express emotions more frequently than men. However, I recognize that when emotions are high, intellect runs low so I always have to be assertive to … [Read more...]

On Friday, I spoke with a woman who was working 80 hours or more per week to meet the expectations of her boss. To be fair, her boss might not realize how much time she is putting in. We discussed how often we assume others know what we are doing and how often they don’t realize what we are doing to … [Read more...]

When McKenzie published the reading lists of global CEOs, I discovered only one book appeared on multiple lists: four CEOs listed The Seventh Sense by Joshua Cooper Ramo. These guys (yes, all men) are charged with guiding their companies to success in the coming months and years, and four chose this … [Read more...]

While it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like “location, location, location”, claiming that communication is to company culture what location is to retail isn’t such a stretch in my mind — see if it makes sense to you.  Now when I say communication I don’t just mean an organization communicating … [Read more...]