Tag: leadership

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 […]

Hot List: BusinessWeek’s Best Seller List

BusinessWeek magazine ranks the 10 best selling hardcover and paperback business books for September 2009 and gives a short summary. 1. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. As you’d expect with Gladwell, there are lots of surprises in his explanation of why some people succeed fantastically. Pluck and smarts get less play here […]

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. […]

Creating a Winning Atmosphere

I just spent a week in Cooperstown, NY, the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. No, I did not achieve my childhood dream of being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame — I was there to watch my 12 year old play baseball at the Cooperstown Dreams Park. Cooperstown Dreams Park provides […]

Surviving the Recession: How to Cope with Tough Times

All right, I’m officially over the recession. I’m tired of reading, writing, thinking, and talking about it. Most of all I’m tired of having to deal with it every day in our business. I long for the good ol’ days. For our industry — publishing — that was the go-go ’90s. But at this point […]

Do Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures?

Is anyone else concerned about the decisions being made by companies during the current economic crisis?  Let me rephrase that. Is anyone else concerned about the decisions being made by the PEOPLE inside some companies during the economic crisis? Let’s face it, people make decisions. The decisions may be made on behalf of an organization, […]