Managing The Board | 10 Things Every CEO Should Know
I've yet to meet a CEO who at some point in time hasn't been frustrated by their board - it goes with the territory. That said, it should be the exception and not the rule. Ultimately, chief executives deserve the board relationships they develop. As a CEO, your board can be one of your greatest allies. Conversely, and just as easily, they can be a significant contributor to your undoing…
How to Hire & Manage Consultants
While you might be lucky enough to survive in business with little or no advice from others, you will certainly not maximize your potential for success by doing so. All CEOs and entrepreneurs need advice in a wide variety of constantly changing areas…That said, I’m always somewhat perplexed as to why people hire certain professionals. The nature of my business is that I often succeed other…
Managing Up? Use Caution.
“Managing Up” is a great catchphrase and an interesting concept – it’s also a practice that can get you in deep trouble rather quickly if misunderstood or misapplied. Many people would say the purpose of managing up is to have the by-product of your efforts enhance the work of those you report to. While I have nothing against this concept (I call it doing your job), I do have a problem with the…
Capital vs. Influence
I have watched entrepreneurs and executives initially trivialize the value of influence in a capital transaction, only to regret it down the road. Savvy CEOs simply aren't in a rush to close the deal and secure the funding if it means sacrificing knowledge, experience or influence. Impulsivity has a huge cost when it comes to capital formation. I have long held that the influence a capital…
Leadership and Knowledge Management
It's one thing to possess the knowledge, but it's quite another thing to leverage it. Leaders who don't understand the value of distributable and actionable knowledge not only limit opportunities but they're also building huge contingent operating liabilities. One of the great challenges for any leader is to break down cultural tendencies that foster silo-centric thought patterns. Savvy leaders…
Smart Leaders Do More Than Talk About Talent
Those of you familiar with my work know how much I detest politically correct sound-bites. Even worse - when those sound-bites are used in an attempt to make statements that embolden a corporate position that doesn't really exist, to begin with. Just because something is written in a vision or mission statement, placed on a website, included in company collateral material, or frequently espoused…
Vision vs. Mission
Today's Myatt on Monday's question was posed by a CEO who asked: "Can you define the difference between vision and mission?" What a great question...it's always refreshing to me when an executive checks their ego and asks a clarifying question (a characteristic of great leaders by the way) rather than pretend they know the answer. The reason this is such a great question is that I've witnessed…
Why Consensus Kills Team Building
I read an interesting post by Dan Rockwell (@LeadershipFreak) entitled "Six ways to make teams work" and found myself in complete agreement with Dan on 5 out of the 6 points. Where Dan lost me was on point #4 - Teams Decide by Consensus. In recent months I have observed a decent amount of politically correct discourse on the topic of team building, consensus and equality. The gist of the argument…
Customer Experience Management
You can either create great customer experiences and leverage the benefits thereof, or you can watch poor customer experiences erode your revenue, profits and ultimately your brand equity. I was recently asked the following question: "What is the difference between CRM and CEM, or is there any difference between the two?" In a previous post I addressed the practice of Customer Relationship…
Leadership vs. Management
As a person who makes their living in the field of leadership, I can tell you without any doubt that "Leadership" is different than "Management." While there seems to be a never-ending stream of politically correct pontificating in corporate circles about the differences between managers and leaders, most of it misses the mark. Leaders and managers play different roles and have different…
Attorney-Client Privilege
Attorney-client privilege is an often discussed and mostly misunderstood legal enigma. It has been my experience that many business people don't have a clear understanding of when this privilege exists and when it doesn't. This possibility for confusion can sometimes lead to a consumer of legal services thinking that their legal matters are protected when they are not...In fact, I had an…
Transitioning the CEO
Today's Myatt on Monday's question comes from a board member who asks: "Our current CEO is underperforming against expectations...How does the board know when it is time to transition the CEO?" While it is refreshing to hear a board member paying attention to CEO performance, the decision to replace a CEO not only requires a complex analysis, but the wrong decision will have far-reaching…
Rogue CEOs & Board Accountability
Rogue CEOs...given the recent failure of banks and financial institutions previously thought to be untouchable, there has been a tremendous amount of justifiable venom being spewed at the CEOs of these firms. Their ignorance, and in some cases their arrogance, allowed these rogue CEOs to operate outside of normal business rules, conduct self-serving agendas, and partake in self-dealing…
The Ultimate Executive Coaching Guide for CEOs
The role of a chief executive officer in any company or organization is an intimidating role to fill. While a position at the top is a desirable one, the regrettable assumption is that the CEO of a successful company is the person expected to have all the answers. It's true that executives typically rise to the C-suite based on their ability to make sound decisions, but they are only one person.…
Innovation Management
Much has been written about the importance of innovation but there is very little information in circulation about how to actually stimulate innovation. While most executives and entrepreneurs have come to accept the concept of innovation management as a legitimate business practice, in theory, I have found very few organizations that have effectively integrated innovation as a core discipline…
Talent Management
I receive at least 20 e-mails a week from executives and entrepreneurs asking "How do I recruit top talent?" I've adequately addressed my favorite boomerang question in many previous pieces including three of this blogs most-read posts: "How to Win the War for Talent" "Team Building" and "Who Should do the Hiring". So in today's post, I'm going to take a different approach to deal with the talent…