Smart Leaders Do More Than Talk About Talent

Those of you familiar with my work know how much I detest politically correct sound-bites. Even worse - when those sound-bites are used in an attempt to make statements that embolden a corporate position that doesn't really exist, to begin with. Just because something is written in a vision or mission statement, placed on a website, included in company collateral material, or frequently espoused…

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Vision vs. Mission

Today's Myatt on Monday's question was posed by a CEO who asked: "Can you define the difference between vision and mission?" What a great question...it's always refreshing to me when an executive checks their ego and asks a clarifying question (a characteristic of great leaders by the way) rather than pretend they know the answer. The reason this is such a great question is that I've witnessed…

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Why Consensus Kills Team Building

I read an interesting post by Dan Rockwell (@LeadershipFreak) entitled "Six ways to make teams work" and found myself in complete agreement with Dan on 5 out of the 6 points. Where Dan lost me was on point #4 - Teams Decide by Consensus. In recent months I have observed a decent amount of politically correct discourse on the topic of team building, consensus and equality. The gist of the argument…

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Customer Experience Management

You can either create great customer experiences and leverage the benefits thereof, or you can watch poor customer experiences erode your revenue, profits and ultimately your brand equity. I was recently asked the following question: "What is the difference between CRM and CEM, or is there any difference between the two?" In a previous post I addressed the practice of Customer Relationship…

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Leadership vs. Management

As a person who makes their living in the field of leadership, I can tell you without any doubt that "Leadership" is different than "Management." While there seems to be a never-ending stream of politically correct pontificating in corporate circles about the differences between managers and leaders, most of it misses the mark. Leaders and managers play different roles and have different…

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Attorney-Client Privilege

Attorney-client privilege is an often discussed and mostly misunderstood legal enigma. It has been my experience that many business people don't have a clear understanding of when this privilege exists and when it doesn't. This possibility for confusion can sometimes lead to a consumer of legal services thinking that their legal matters are protected when they are not...In fact, I had an…

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Transitioning the CEO

Today's Myatt on Monday's question comes from a board member who asks: "Our current CEO is underperforming against expectations...How does the board know when it is time to transition the CEO?" While it is refreshing to hear a board member paying attention to CEO performance, the decision to replace a CEO not only requires a complex analysis, but the wrong decision will have far-reaching…

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Rogue CEOs & Board Accountability

Rogue CEOs...given the recent failure of banks and financial institutions previously thought to be untouchable, there has been a tremendous amount of justifiable venom being spewed at the CEOs of these firms. Their ignorance, and in some cases their arrogance, allowed these rogue CEOs to operate outside of normal business rules, conduct self-serving agendas, and partake in self-dealing…

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The Ultimate Executive Coaching Guide for CEOs

The role of a chief executive officer in any company or organization is an intimidating role to fill. While a position at the top is a desirable one, the regrettable assumption is that the CEO of a successful company is the person expected to have all the answers. It's true that executives typically rise to the C-suite based on their ability to make sound decisions, but they are only one person.…

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Innovation Management

Much has been written about the importance of innovation but there is very little information in circulation about how to actually stimulate innovation. While most executives and entrepreneurs have come to accept the concept of innovation management as a legitimate business practice, in theory, I have found very few organizations that have effectively integrated innovation as a core discipline…

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Talent Management

I receive at least 20 e-mails a week from executives and entrepreneurs asking "How do I recruit top talent?" I've adequately addressed my favorite boomerang question in many previous pieces including three of this blogs most-read posts: "How to Win the War for Talent" "Team Building" and "Who Should do the Hiring". So in today's post, I'm going to take a different approach to deal with the talent…

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Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a core business practice that most everyone reading this post will be familiar with at some level. It is likely that you've read about CRM, have attended workshops and seminars on the subject and perhaps you even believe you've implemented what you feel is a CRM initiative. While customer relationship management is certainly not a new business practice it…

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