Top Leadership Movies

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Top leadership movies…you may be thinking “can anything about leadership actually be learned by watching movies?” You bet. I was recently asked for my opinion about which movies I felt were the top leadership movies of all time. After thinking about my answer for a few minutes, I realized that while not all leaders are fans of cinema, all leaders can certainly learn valuable leadership lessons by watching movies with a critical and discerning eye…In the text that follows I’ve put a list together of more than 40 outstanding leadership movies. While most of them have not won an Academy Award, they all contain valuable lessons for leaders.

Managing Vendor Relationships

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Effectively managing vendor relationships is critical to the success of any business. I found the above video posted on UberCEOand thought it was brilliant. Anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of the client-vendor cramdown will surely relate to this video. The moral of the story is treat your vendors how you wish to be treated…while you may currently have the power to play hard-ball, times change and shifts in the power curve can and do happen. Remember that most people have long memories, so it’s best to keep in mind that “what goes around comes around.”

Knowledge Management

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

One of great challenges for any business is to learn to efficiently and cost effectively leverage knowledge on an enterprise wide basis. We have all heard the saying that “knowledge is power” we’ve all also heard the refinement of that saying which states that “the application of knowledge is power”. I prefer to take it one step further and say that “the successful application of knowledge at the right time, for the right reasons, and with the proper emphasis results in a certainty of execution that creates power.” In today’s post I’ll provide you with some insights that will help you to not only leverage knowledge to increase returns, but also how to protect knowledge to mitigate risk.

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-16

• Diversity – 2 different perspectives: http://tinyurl.com/ok2fq5 and then my politically incorrect version: http://tinyurl.com/l4sxsy #
• @allanwhite and @fiveads thanks for the RTs #
• @chrislara thanks for the kind words Chris… #
• Do we really need decision engines (Hunch)? http://tinyurl.com/n4uc2b – how about plain old decision logic? http://tinyurl.com/aqdx8j #
• Liked: CEOs underpaid…the politically incorrect but true story: http://tinyurl.com/n8r5sn #
• Liked: Great article on Leadership from Harvard Business Review via Bloomberg: http://tinyurl.com/n94z4o #
• RT @TwURLedNews Social Media Is Changing the Content Marketplace – ClickZ http://bit.ly/eH28v #
• RT @amerkawar 10 Social Media Campaigns that Failed! Avoid their mistakes! « Thoughtpick Blog http://cli.gs/Y522sg (via @tweetmeme) #

Ghostwriting

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Ghostwriting…should you or shouldn’t you? Keep in mind that there have always been very passionate opinions on both sides of the ghostwriting debate. However I believe that the meteoric growth of social media not only seems to be fueling a very rapid proliferation of this dialogue, but it also seems to be causing both sides to become more entrenched in their positions. As a backdrop for the text that follows, it is important to understand that we are living in a time where the masses now have a very public voice…everyone is now an author, pundit, commentator, etc., and it is because of this that the masses now have a very vested interest in the ghostwriting discussion. In today’s post I’ll examine the both sides of the ghostwriting debate…

Why I Don’t Read Newsweek

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

This video is a perfect example of why I don’t read Newsweek. Newsweek editor Evan Thomas’ characterization of Barack Obama as “sort of god” is not only absurd, but it is exactly the reason why many media outlets have zero credibility with the public. It should come as no great surprise that this interview occurred on MSNBC. Newsweek + MSNBC = garbage in; garbage out.

Common Website Mistakes

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Readers familiar with this blog know that I’m not normally prone to authoring “top 10 lists.” That being said, I have for years now consistently received inquiries from CEOs who wonder why their web initiatives are falling short of reaching their objectives. Because most of these inquiries come from executives suffering from web maladies of a similar nature, I have allowed myself to succumb to the pressure, and put together a list of what I consider to be the top 15 website mistakes (I couldn’t bear the thought of another top 10 list). The sad part about the following list is that none of these typical mistakes are difficult to remedy, yet most offenders simply fail to correct the issues and wonder why their Internet presence isn’t producing the desired results… 

Trust and CEOs

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

If you’re a CEO, are you trusted? If you’re not the CEO, do you trust your chief executive? Steve Rubel, the Director of Insights for Edelman Digital, and one of my favorite bloggers (Micro Persuasion blog) was recently quoted as saying “People have not trusted CEOs for years, and especially not for the last 12 months.” I normally tend to agree with Steve, and regrettably, I must admit that he accurately reflects the public perception with the aforementioned quote as well. As a backdrop for today’s post, I’d suggest reading a prior post entitled “The No Spin Zone” in which I breakdown the need for trust in the workplace.

Xerox and Viral Video

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Xerox understands the value of viral video and social media as clearly evidenced by this brilliantly funny video. The search engines love video, few mediums drive home a messaging point as well as video, and not many things go viral faster than a well produced video. Not only did I appreciate the humor and production quality of the video, but it also gives us pause for thought…Xerox gets it…

Kudos To Wal-Mart

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

The media certainly loves to bash Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart’s decision to not sell the newly released and profanity-laced album from the band Green Day is no exception. Green Day’s new CD is currently the number one celling CD in the country and the band is incensed that the nation’s largest retailer won’t sell the album. Wal-Mart actually offered to sell the CD, they just wanted Green Day to remove the profanity prior to doing so. Rather than Wal-Mart being applauded for its common sense approach to decency, it has been excoriated for accusations of censorship. In today’s post I’ll share my thoughts about why Wal-Mart’s decision has nothing to do with censorship and everything to do with sound business logic, brand stewardship, and doing the right thing…