A Formula for Success and a Recipe for Disaster
Leadership
Elon Musk’s current net worth is estimated to be over 200 billion dollars. He has been the owner, or part-owner of PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and Twitter (X) . Yet, in Walter Isaacson’s biography of the controversial figure, he seems to display several qualities that would prevent him from being a successful leader. In fact, some of the reasons he has had so much success in business are also what have brought him so much infamy.
He has a bold, clear vision and he takes risks. He develops business models that create demand and…
Read more.When All the Options Are Bad
Strategy
Reaching a good decision when facing a complex and uncertain situation is one of the fundamental roles of a leader. Typically, this requires a series of well-run meetings that progress the discussion until a workable solution is identified and embraced. However, despite this being a common process in organizational life, most people would say it seldom operates smoothly and frequently leads to less optimal solutions and lukewarm implementation.
Bob Woodward has made a career of writing about the inner workings of the White House. His reporting is so in-depth, you wonder how he manages…
Read more.Traveling Far to Understand What is Near
Leadership
Traveling ranks high among the best learning opportunities available. Crossing borders, oceans, and cultures naturally broadens our horizons as we are forcibly pushed out of our comfort zones. There is an excitement that stimulates our learning when confronted by new sights, sounds, and smells. For the traveler on vacation, the goal is often to fill the schedule to experience as many once in a lifetime moments as possible.
However, that is not necessarily the approach of the most seasoned of travelers, the travel writer. They do not book their journey just looking for the…
Read more.Breaking In and Standing Out
Strategy
Rock musicians are rarely who we look to for examples of strategic thinkers. In the genre’s heavy hitters such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Jimi Hendrix, we find careers and even lives lost to scandals, drugs, and burnout. The typical American image of a rock star tends to be someone that exists in the moment, lives hard, and likely does not plan for the future. In spite of this, strategic thinking would seem a necessity in the music industry – one of the most competitive areas imaginable.
Most highschoolers who pick up…
Read more.What Matters Most in Today’s Leadership
Leadership
It hardly seems worth noting that the last four years have been turbulent. But a statement by the authors of the article, “The Five New Foundational Qualities of Effective Leadership,” in Strategy + Business did create a moment of pause. They stated, “numerous leaders who were at the top of the CEO succession list in 2019 are no longer deemed fit-for-purpose by company directors. In the 10 to 15% of organizations we have worked with in which the 2019 top successor is still viewed as the best choice, those executives have often made significant, overt shifts in…
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