My experience is that it takes courage to put your personal responsibilities and public objectives on a white board and keep it updated for everyone to see. Does your organization have “Strategic Performance Issues” that are known, frequently updated, and owned by everyone?

Our great industry and your customer markets are NOT a zero-sum game. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had to come to that personal understanding re. software and computers and they did ahead of their industry! My observation is that most organizations have capabilities – that not just their target customers and prospects – but also including nearby compe...

When was the last time you wrote a special check or bought a high-end dinner for an employee or a department who went the extra mile? Do you celebrate birthdays and work anniversaries? Is there space in those gatherings for recognizing significant achievements? If ever there were a time for senior management to make sure that everyone knows how muc...

Don’t worry about what might happen, worry about what you need to make happen for your customers. They are your lifeline, your future, and they need you. Stay focused on what you don’t know that you should know and what you need to do better and can do better.

Let’s all meet next year and do a better job of listening and becoming more proactive with our customers and their challenges. Let's find inflection points to elevate our associations’ leadership and vision while supporting our treasured publishers who put their economic welfare on the line with the rest of us, committed to serving their sponsors.

At a recent CEO Peer Group Session, Members were comparing their Key Performance Indicators. Each Member had a different set of KPI’s. A question, seemingly important during discussions --- was posed: “Which KPIs do you use to guide your pursuit of future business you want to develop…to improve your company’s performance….?”

Most customer organizations want fewer suppliers. They want suppliers who provide resources and solutions with talent, creativity, and proactive thoughtfulness. This pandemic is loaded with opportunities if you’re asking, “Who’s crying in pain and wants solutions to previously unsolved needs and pain?”

Some of us are old enough  to recognize how “dumbed-down” our great industry has become. Blame it on software, a younger generation that expects to be “spoon-fed” or have someone else on the team pay the early-on price for success from Innovation. Last week I reviewed the effectiveness of a Sample Library with our Plant Managers Peer Group...

How hard do we work to avoid creating and capturing a new opportunity? Are we teaching our front-line key personnel to be alert to opportunities by a public acknowledgment of their accomplishments to their peers? By what means do you plan to accomplish what you need to accomplish?

Individual P & L's were reviewed on a recent CEO Peer Group Call. One member after another compared their 2020 vs. 2019 numbers, including how they got there and what they were working to improve. Almost without exception, one member after another reported lower employment, with equal-to-higher revenues per employee in 2020 vs. 2019.