You have heard of a reality check. Today I am going to suggest an alacrity check. Alacrity (as many of you have heard me say) is moving with speed and enthusiasm. Speed without enthusiasm is robotic. Enthusiasm without speed is daydreaming. No speed and no enthusiasm is the existence of [...]
Some companies actively choose to defer innovation. They make across-the-board cuts when times (inevitably) get tougher. They cut today with the plan to invest tomorrow. Like deferment of payments of student loans or only paying the minimum payment on a credit card, it is an acceptable strategy if it is [...]
We see it every day: people driving with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a phone to read or text with. It’s a plague and not just limited to “kids these days.” Many people old enough to know better do it too. And do you think that [...]
Free-market capitalists (yes there are still many of us unabashedly proud ones left) would all agree that competition is good. Competition between rivals is certainly good for consumers, but it is also good for companies too. Of course, if we are targets of that competition is can be unnerving, but [...]
Options to improve are not limited to technology. For domestic flights, options for tickets used to be limited to first class and coach. Today, there are many options which (depending on the airline) may include choice of first class, main cabin, basic economy, size of seats, and whether the fares [...]
Keeping fresh is one of the most important things people can do to stay at the top of their game. I recently started a new hobby (clay shooting) and that has reminded me of some key lessons that are particularly important in running a successful enterprise. People can hurt you [...]
No I am not talking about 25 pounds or 25% body fat. I am talking about leaning down the 25% of things you might not enjoy on a day to day basis in your work. Research by Dr. Dan Harrison shows that people that enjoy 75% or more of their [...]
Sometimes we need to pause and put things under further review. Hard to believe, but football season is around the corner. I am looking forward to the excitement of great games and great plays. The great plays are almost always reviewed, especially when the big games are on the line. [...]
While low engagement is flogged as a leading cause of poor business performance, incompetence is an obvious, but often, down-played factor. Leaders don’t like to talk about it. Even “experts” like to gloss over it. When relating my observation about the cause of an organization’s awful results as “gross negligence [...]
While on a trip this summer, I got a pass to a new gym. There, I was surprised to see an elderly woman with a portable oxygen tank working out with her trainer. I was impressed. Talk about ignoring excuses. When we see action without the excuses we applaud it. [...]