The Hit Man

Introducing the Leading Smart podcast -- How a job in the car stereo business ended up being mostly about firing people. And how that lead to a lifelong fascination with management, organizations, and team building.

On Time

The flop sweat caught me off guard. Driving to a doctor’s appointment, I was running just a couple minutes late. Yet I was filled with panic and driving like a jerk, darting from lane to lane and cursing people for driving too slowly. This for an appointment I was paying [...]

Buzzword Nonsense

We are on a delightful vacation in Hawaii and there is a corporate retreat also taking place at the hotel. It has all the trappings of the typical boondoggle, with employees and their spouses being plied with ample food and drink. I’ve seen dozens of these, even been on a [...]

The Why Matters

When working with Brainpower workers, companies are finding out that the “why” matters. I noted it in the foundational explanation of The Brainpower Age, and more companies are feeling the effect. Today’s New York Times writes about tech workers who want to know “What are we building this for?” Employees [...]

Are superstars worth the pain?

Once in a while, as a manager, you will be fortunate enough to have a team member who is a superstar. These people are not just above average, they are vastly better. They are smarter, more driven, highly focused, and they get far more work done than the rest. It [...]

Metrics, Metrics, Everywhere

If you are in any kind of management position, there seem to be a million metrics to track. You get huge pressure to track a number of financial metrics such as EBITDA, gross sales, net profit, and others, there are sales metrics divided up every which way (by territory, by [...]

Jerk Is To The Bone

In a recent article in BusinessWeek magazine, Jack and Suzy Welch advocated active pruning of the jerks from your organization. They said “nothing hurts a company more than when the bosses ignore, indulge, or otherwise tolerate a jerk.” They go on to compare employees on two scales, performance and values. [...]

Teams of Individuals?

Reading an interesting article in Fortune Magazine entitled “How to Build Great Teams” made me think about the classic debate: do I want a team of superstars or a team of simply good people who work together superbly? The world is filled with examples of both, and this article seems [...]