Food for thought After decades of study, experience, and working and speaking with hundreds of CEOs and companies around the world over the past few years, I have found the following, for the most part: We do change wrong - 70% of change initiatives failWe do decisions making wrong - We rarely have a standard processWe do vision wrong - Visions are clear, detailed, … Continue reading Leaders, for the most part, do almost everything wrong…but don’t have to

Hiring? - Flip a coin There is data that shows the chance of a successful hire is fifty percent.Neuroscience shares that the standard interview process is fundamentally flawed and rife with biases. I believe that the worst way to hire someone is the standard interview process (e.g., strengths and weaknesses, how would you act in this situation?). The best … Continue reading How to Design a Better Hiring Process

Some things science knows that business does not One of the worst ways to hire the best people consistently is a face to face interviewCustomers do NOT know what they wantThe best enduring strategy is about being unique, not the bestHumans are crazy, irrational, impulsive, emotionally driven beings but predictably soFeedback is one of the … Continue reading Popular business myths

The most successful leaders stop solving the problem right in front of them and focus on solving the problem that created the problem right in front of them.Paraphrased excerpt from Upstream, Dan Heath's latest book, follows. I highly recommend this book for leaders!Where is my itinerary? (How Expedia saved $100M by looking upstream)In 2012, Ryan O’Neill, the head … Continue reading How Expedia saved $100M by looking upstream

Why People Do What They Do & What It Means For YouBob Moesta has had the greatest influence on my perspective as it relates to sales and marketing. I wish I had found him decades ago as my life as CMO and CRO would have been SO much easier.Enjoy this 45-minute podcast episode explaining the science behind decision making related … Continue reading Sales and Marketing secrets revealed by a master

As a team leader, I believe one of the most important privileges and duties you have is to find out what people's strengths are to cultivate a well--rounded, healthy, and highly productive team.  To assist, the following is an exercise combining work from Marcus Buckingham, Rory Vaden, and Bruce Eckfeldt.Provide an 8.5 x 11 clean piece of paper … Continue reading Team leaders have an outsized ability to affect fulfillment, engagement, and productivity

Emotions are created - literally created - by each human, each tribe and culture Lisa Feldman Barrett's startling, challenging, and fascinating book, How Emotions are Made, shares 20+ years of research across multiple disciplines with meta-analysis across thousands of studies.  In her book and subsequent findings, she posits that we are not born with built-in emotions but we create … Continue reading The human brain is a master of deception

Start with Vision, end with Cash One quick request for those who have read my book, Further, Faster. Please go here to write a quick review.  I am trying to get 20 more before the end of the month. Thanks - Bill Here is a checklist for any leader of any organization (most apply to leaders of a team. #5 … Continue reading CEO/Team leader priorities checklist

Neuroleadership Institute's (NLI) employee engagement formula  I encourage you to read this brief piece on how to create a more inclusive culture.  Doing so leads to psychological safety which leads to more creative ideas and higher levels of employee engagement.What I found intriguing was the order in which to do this as a leadership team. Inclusion comes … Continue reading Optimal steps for increased employee engagement

Short video - Useful and effective feedback technique from The Knowledge Project  Some of you may recall a post from a few months ago about my thoughts on Radical Candor. I believe this is not the optimal way to help people improve and grow since it focuses on feedback as the main technique.  I have come to learn through … Continue reading The Power of Great Feedback