Magic, Management, and Logistics

Magic, Management, and Logistics When I spoke at the National Logistics and Distribution Conference earlier this year, I was interviewed by Bob Bowman of SupplyChainBrain.com for an Executive Briefing video. The interview was recently published and they gave me permission to share it with my viewers on my YouTube channel. If you’ve ever wondered why […]

The Atlanta Braves, Cobb County, Leadership, and Unforced Errors

The Atlanta Braves, Cobb County, Leadership, and Unforced Errors Leadership is a risky business. Leadership is a risky business. Sometimes you march through a rain of opposition, only to come out stronger and more connected to those you lead and your former opponents for having led with honor and grace. And sometimes, just as you […]

Focus: The Key to Effective Action

FOCUS: The Key to Effective Action

The Curse of the Capable You have overcome obstacles. You’ve hired outstanding people, trained them through their skill gaps, and equipped them with amazing tools. You’ve streamlined your organizational structure, your physical environment, and your business processes. You’ve established clear goals, reviewed them regularly, motivated and encouraged and team-built like all the books said. And […]

Change Management and New Shoes

Organizational change initiatives are complex in part because they can succeed or fail based on variables such as human psychology, business agility, economic environments, leadership skills, communication skills, technical capability, and even the occasional lucky break. Managing change is a combination of business acumen, social instinct, and leadership abilities that can’t be reduced to silly, […]

The Value of a Backward Glance

Mining the value of the clients on last year’s calendar will never completely take the place of developing new business, but the profitability minded performer remembers that it takes less effort and fewer resources to do more work for an existing client than it does to create a new one. Cars have large windshields to make it easy to see the road ahead, but they also have mirrors for very good reasons. So here’s my warning: the value of that client in your mirror is greater than it appears!