How old is old?

I was in my teens when the mantra was “don’t trust anyone over 30”. Y2K was going to crash the internet but it didn’t. Singing about “when I’m 64” was hilarious until it was comforting. All those wise sages who said pay into retirement in your 20’s were actually right. I guess I am officially […]

Survey says?

If you ever watched Family Feud, you are familiar with the phrase “survey says?”. Contestants guessed the most popular answers to surveys taken of a relevant group and won prizes for the most accurate answers. Vistage surveys its Members with less than $20mm in annual sales and you can find the August report here.

Every day habits

Play that old game with me where you take a phrase and change the emphasis on the key word to explore how that changes the meaning. Let’s start with every day HABITS.

Preparing FOR change

The rains have started as Hurricane Hilary moves on shore into California. The path has shifted east so Los Angeles will not be in the center.  When we left Mammoth yesterday to make sure we prepared in LA, we didn’t think Mammoth would be directly in the path.  Now it is. Mammoth had 70 feet […]

Confirmation bias

How often do you catch yourself looking for only those opinions that agree with your own? That, my friend, would be confirmation bias: only looking/listening to those who agree with you. While that seems to be a time honored tradition in politics, it is not good in business.

It’s squirrelly out there

Talking to 30+ CEO’s each month, in a variety of industries gives me a particular view of the economy that doesn’t always correlate with the national press. Often described as Main Street, not Wall Street, the best poll that aggregates their feelings is the Vistage/Wall Street Journal poll that many of my Members participate in. […]

Using humor in the workplace

As most of us know, using humor in the workplace is fraught with risk. It can drive people apart, shut them down, or get them fired. So, jokester beware.

The value of things

Two days ago, our cruise ship, the Viking Mars pulled into Lofoten, Norway, where fishing for Arctic Cod has been a mainstay for over 1000 years. The cod spawn there each January and men from all over Norway would go there to fish. They would hang the fish to dry and because it doesn’t quite […]

The power of writing it down

What are the things you write down every day? My guess is your to-do’s and calendar/schedule comprise 90% of what you write down these days – items you record for yourself with keystrokes or by hand so as not to forget. Most of our other keystrokes are messaging and emailing with others.  Communication  that used […]

Theory versus reality

Let’s say you decide to do something differently. You decide to go vegan to improve your health. You do a lot of research about foods you could eat and food you actually like to eat. You set a date to move over completely, or you slowly initiate more vegan meals. The reality is more complicated […]