Category: Oswald Letter

Dan Oswald, CEO of Simplify Compliance, writes about management, leadership, and the workplace. Occasional guest articles are written by other leaders and C-Suite executives from BLR. 

Penny-wise and Pound Foolish?

I read the other day where Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration’s pay czar, is planning on limiting the compensation of top employees at firms receiving large amounts of government aid. Now the initial reaction of the masses might be that this is an excellent decision. In fact, my guess is that is exactly how the […]

Excellence Not Perfection

The other day a friend of mine suggested I type “excellence vs. perfection” into the Google search box and see what came up. When I got back to my office, I did exactly as he had suggested. The very top organic search result was a link to the site www.boodrow.com/boodrow4/perfection.htm, which had a list that […]

Mother Knows Best

Last week, I wrote about the decline of civility in our world. It seemed to me that if we all would reflect on what we were taught as children by our mothers, we’d treat one another a whole lot better. That got me to thinking about the impact my mother has had on my life […]

What Would Your Mother Say?

My mother is a wonderful woman. She’s a gentle, caring, nurturing person. When I was growing up, she instilled in me and my siblings a sense of how to treat others. My mother did this by example more than anything. She showed us how to treat others through her actions and words. She rarely, if […]

Facing Adversity

My 12-year-old is facing a challenging situation for one of the first times in his young life. And as any parent can tell you, it’s tough to watch your child suffer. Now I don’t want to blow things out of proportion, I’m not talking life or death here, but he’s facing adversity and struggling with […]

What Does It Take To Be A Leader?

A lot is written about leaders. Go to your nearest bookstore and you will find shelves full of books written by politicians, businesspeople, and athletes on how to be a leader. Is there a secret recipe that if you follow every step will make you a leader? I don’t think so. But there are some […]

The Willingness to Dream

For a homework assignment, my youngest child had to find an inspirational quote that he liked and take it to school to share with the class. His choice was a quote that I had not heard before, but its message really struck me. I was impressed enough with his choice that I’d like to share […]

Favre Fumbles When It Comes to Leadership

I’m going to admit it upfront — I’m a huge Green Bay Packers fan. I grew up in Wisconsin and followed the Pack since I was a boy. I was in diapers when they won the first two Super Bowls and then suffered through some pretty lean years in the ’70s and ’80s. But the […]

Management Lessons from the Oval Office

Last week, the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article that discussed President Barack Obama’s management style. Among other things, the article said the President likes to get deeper into the details than many of his predecessors. It also discussed how he uses debate-like techniques to drill into subjects, even having staff members take and […]

5 Lessons from Obama’s ‘Beer Summit’

A couple of weeks ago, President Barack Obama held a gathering at the White House that has become known as the “beer summit.” In attendance at this meeting with the President were prominent Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, who is black, and police sergeant James Crowley, who is white, along with Vice President Joe Biden. […]