Have you ever noticed how a newly hired CEO often starts his/her tenure with a BANG!  Making all sorts of immediate changes – whether it’s replacing the entire leadership team, reorganizing, initiating a major acquisition or spinning off a business unit?   One thing...

An executive once asked me a question that launched me on a 4-year quest for an answer.  We were discussing examples of visionary leaders who led their organizations to great heights.  He looked at me with desperation in his eyes and said, “HOW do visionary leaders...

I love to watch Shark Tank and I’ve been known to purchase a product that the Sharks reject.  So, what was the problem?  Why don’t the Sharks bite on a good product?  Because it’s not about the product.  It’s about the business. I’ve observed business owners make the...

A rarely-used Major League Baseball backup player who spent the entire game (and most of the season) on the bench made a game-winning play…from the bench.  Yes, you read that correctly. It wasn’t a highly paid player on the field.  The game was won by someone sitting...

Imagine you take your car to the car dealer to get serviced. Before you give your car to the service manager you see the following performance statistics posted on the wall: Average time to wait for an appointment after requesting one—27 days Number of people who...

I used to work on a research team for a company that produced an operational risk software product. I always found it interesting how different members of the same team answered an important question: what do you do? Here is the way Person A and Person B...

My business intelligence (BI) and analytics software salesman friend said something interesting to me the other day over lunch. He said, “I don't sell software, I sell gym memberships. When someone joins a gym they are not really buying the membership....