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Leadership

When Things Go Wrong: The Warren Buffett Way to Handle Problems

“Get it right, get it fast, get it out, get it over.” *** In an interview with Jeff Cunningham, Warren Buffett hits on two principles that elude most of us. Interviewer: I was reading a Lincoln quote the other day, “With …

Read moreWhen Things Go Wrong: The Warren Buffett Way to Handle Problems

Ben Horowitz: The Struggle

In The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers, Ben Horowitz describes the struggle. Every entrepreneur starts her company with a clear vision for success. You will create an amazing environment and …

Read moreBen Horowitz: The Struggle

The Peter Principle and the Law of Crappy People

If you’ve ever worked in an organization, you’ve no doubt come across someone in senior management and asked yourself how they ever got promoted. The Peter Principle, coined by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their …

Read moreThe Peter Principle and the Law of Crappy People

The Power of Noticing: What the Best Leaders See

In The Power of Noticing: What the Best Leaders See, Harvard Professor Max Bazerman, opines about how the failure to notice things leads to “poor personal decisions, organizational crises, and societal disasters.” He walks us …

Read moreThe Power of Noticing: What the Best Leaders See

Lincoln on Leadership

Fight the Good Fight The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. Try Honey Before Vinegar If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are …

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10 Life Lessons From a Navy SEAL

“If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.” *** Naval Adm. William H. McRaven delivers an amazing University of Texas at Austin 2014 Commencement Address. Returning to his alma mater last …

Read more10 Life Lessons From a Navy SEAL

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

The problem with most business books is they present a formula for problems that ultimately have no formula. You’re reading something with no practical value and you’re not really learning anything. There is no formula for …

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16 Leadership Lessons from a Four Star General

“We like to equate leaders with values we admire, but the two can be separate and distinct.” *** Say what you want about General Stanley McChrystal and the Rolling Stone article that led to his premature retirement from the …

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Temperament is more important than IQ

During a recent interview Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger had some interesting comments on how to outsmart people who are smarter than you. Munger: We’ve learned how to outsmart people who are clearly smarter [than we are.] Buffett: …

Read moreTemperament is more important than IQ

The Unwritten Rules of Management

William Swanson’s unwritten rules of management is full of pithy advice. Swanson is the former chairman and CEO of Raytheon Company. Originally a part of a presentation to engineers and scientists at Raytheon, someone asked him to …

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An Interview on Leadership with James March

In an illuminating interview published in the Academy of Management Learning and Education, Joel Podolny, then Apple’s HR vice president, spoke with renowned organizational theorist James March. True to form, March shared insights …

Read moreAn Interview on Leadership with James March

Leadership Is a Gift Given by Those Who Follow

“Leadership is a gift. It’s given by those who follow. You have to be worthy of it.” —General Mark Welsh *** The video is 50 minutes long, but it might be the finest piece of public speaking you’ll see all year.

Read moreLeadership Is a Gift Given by Those Who Follow

Poaching Stars is a Terrible Idea to Improve Performance

In an effort to improve performance we often turn to the simple answer of trying to hire a star from another organization. This sounds like a great idea, is hard to argue with, and offers the promise of an instant performance boost. In …

Read morePoaching Stars is a Terrible Idea to Improve Performance

17 Management Lessons from Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio, the sixty-one-year-old founder of Bridewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, offers the following management advice. Dalio says “Taken together, these principles are meant to paint a picture of a process for the …

Read more17 Management Lessons from Ray Dalio

James March: On Leadership

After reading The Ambiguities of Experience, I set out to read another book by James March: On Leadership. The genius of March takes a while to appreciate. I assure you, however, this thought-provoking book is packed full of wisdom you …

Read moreJames March: On Leadership

Google’s Quest to Build a Better Boss

The HR department’s long run on gut instincts may be coming to a close. Recently, Google applied their engineering (data-driven) mindset to building better bosses and the counter-intuitive findings suggest that promoting the best …

Read moreGoogle’s Quest to Build a Better Boss

William Deresiewicz on Learning To Lead and the Ills of Exposing Yourself to a Constant Stream of Other People’s Thoughts

William Deresiewicz delivered a stunning lecture on Solitude and Leadership to the United States Military Academy at West Point. In the lecture, Deresiewicz convincingly argues that We don’t teach leadership; Excellence doesn’t …

Read moreWilliam Deresiewicz on Learning To Lead and the Ills of Exposing Yourself to a Constant Stream of Other People’s Thoughts

Youngme Moon: On Business Competition and Escaping the Competitive Herd

There are many ways companies compete with one another. Unfortunately, a lot of those ways seem like nothing more than an expensive route to commoditization. Companies are relentless in their pursuit of finding their weaknesses. They hire …

Read moreYoungme Moon: On Business Competition and Escaping the Competitive Herd
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