Tim Cook Named His Successor — Have I Named Mine? A Strategic Planning Question
Questions this post answers On April 20, Apple announced that Tim Cook will hand the CEO job to John Ternus on September 1. That’s eight…
Ideas & Perspectives
Insights
Perspectives on leadership, growth, and the challenges facing business owners today.
Does My Struggling Leader Need a Coach or Another Training Course? A Strategic Planning Question
Questions this post answers You have a leader who isn’t working out, and you’ve decided to take action. So you start looking at programs. There’s…
Should I Really Cut Headcount for AI That Isn’t Proven Yet? A Strategic Planning Question
Questions this post answers One of the biggest questions facing businesses is what AI is doing to employment. Anthropic’s economists built a measure of what…
Why Is My Revenue Growing but My Profit Isn’t? A Strategic Planning Audit of Your Margin
Questions this post answers RSM is the audit, tax and consulting firm built around middle-market companies, and every quarter it surveys 500 of their executives…
Am I Cutting the Layer Where My Next Leaders Get Built? Strategic Planning for the Bench
Questions this post answers Gartner made a prediction in late 2024 that reads differently now that we’re living inside its window: through 2026, 20% of…
How Strong Is Your Inner Circle? A 90-Day Diagnostic
This series has made one argument from four directions: the top job cannot be done alone, and the room you build around yourself decides how…
C-Suite Alignment Matters
You hired your C-suite because they are exceptional at what they do. But that can also become the problem. When the VP of Marketing is…
Stop Surrounding Yourself with Cheerleaders
There’s a version of an inner circle that feels wonderful and does nothing: everyone in it thinks you’re right. It feels like loyalty. It works…
Your Transformation Plan Was Fine. Your Leaders Weren’t.
McKinsey has been studying why transformation efforts fail for decades. The number hasn’t moved much: roughly 70% of them stall, collapse, or quietly get absorbed…