From the category archives:
The recent secret service scandal has once again thrust a disgrace into the limelight. Several men have already lost their jobs, more will probably follow, and the US suffers embarrassment on the international stage. I can hear the clarion cry. “Let’s throw some training at this!” We hear this wail consistently right after the “Something [...]
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Esteemed Irish colleague, Patrick Daly, shared this story on a website we both frequent: An economist, a chemist and a physicist are marooned on a desert island. Their only food is a can of beans, but they have no can opener. The physicist says, “Let’s try to focus the tropical sun onto the lid – [...]
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Just what we need: another Jane Fonda book. This time she supposedly explains how great life is after seventy with every manner of intimate detail about her romantic life. Who cares? She also takes this time to, once again, “apologize” for her behavior in Hanoi—well, sort of. She currently has a blog post entitled, “The [...]
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Yesterday The St. Louis Business Journal sponsored a program for CFOs to discuss the current decisions in Washington and their impact on individuals and businesses. To make his point, one of the panel members asked audience members to raise their hands if their companies had laid off workers during the recent economy. While those people [...]
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Today marks the 150th anniversary of a date that doesn’t merit celebration. Rather, it commemorates a dark time in our nation’s history—a time characterized by chaos, change, and strife among those who shared a common nation, mutual friendships, and joint ancestry. Decades of growing strife between North and South erupted in civil war on April [...]
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I use WIN—What’s Important Now–to help people keep priorities top of mind. This short acronym also reinforces the admonishment I used to issue to my children before they left the house: “Do what’s right, and avoid what’s wrong.” To the untrained ear, all this advice might seem the same. Au contraire. Doing what’s right means [...]
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On the other side of the globe and right here at home decision makers face unprecedented problems related to Japan’s earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear threat. Mother Nature started this one, but last year the man-made oil spill caused a tragedy that affected the world. Borders no longer separate one nation’s problems from those of another. [...]
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The best business lessons often come from unrelated news stories. The one that has dominated the media since April 20th has been the tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and it is rife with lessons for senior leaders. This catastrophic explosion that caused an oil spill from a BP offshore drilling rig is [...]
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Yesterday I interviewed Mark Abels, TWA’s former VP of Corporate Communication. On that fateful day in July of 1996 when Flight 800 crashed, Mark was one of the people in charge of media relations for the company. As most tragedies do, this one came as a surprise. When Mark received the call that he needed [...]
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Poland’s tragic and unexpected loss of its president and many senior leaders spotlights the very nature of crisis—it comes by imposition rather than invitation. In the throes of mourning, Poland’s citizens also face the questions of the country’s governance. Of course, succession plans already exist, but questions remain. If your company were to experience a [...]
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