It’s common for football teams to focus on the fourth quarter. Players can be seen holding up four fingers as a way of signaling that “it’s time to double down, focus and finish strong.” For businesses, the fourth quarter is especially critical for two reasons....
When considering the future of the enterprise, Senior Leadership Teams can benefit from a different way of framing their discussions. One way to approach this is to use the acronym COIN; Concerns, Obstacles, Issues and Noise. Let’s take them one at a time. Concerns...
The most recent issue of the Harvard Business Review features a cover story on the issue of conflict in organizations and the leader’s role in managing these inevitable disruptions. Timely to be sure. Of all the patterns I’ve seen in my work with organizational...
I read an interesting article recently about a pro sports team in the northeast. Seems they traded away their most talented (and most expensive) player. In return, they received what could generously be called “prospects”; that is, largely unproven...
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article (Reasons Why Managers Are So Miserable at Work by Ray A Smith, August 4, 2025) managers are frustrated and under more pressure than ever before. Tasked with translating strategic visions into operational...
One more comment on the many benefits of face-to-face meetings with customers. An objection I often hear is this: “My customers are too busy to see me…”. Well, that’s probably true, given the nature of most customer visits. Consider this: are you going there to...