He quit????

It feels like a gut punch. You get a call from an important, trusted team member and it is not business as usual. He calls to give you his notice. What??? >

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 old. But, I don’t feel “old” How old is old? >

Fishing is down, phishing is up

After 3 Vistage meetings this week where Technology Strategic Planning speaker, Joe Beaulieu,  spent at least 40 minutes discussing Cybersecurity, I came home to find a phishing email addressed to 2 of the meeting attendees from a third. I texted the supposed sender with a photo of the email and he immediately replied “phishing”. >

We make assumptions….

In life, we make assumptions all the time. I’m feeling good today, so I assume I will feel good tomorrow. If I put away money each month, I will have enough to pay for repairs for a car breaking down. Forecasting on a larger scale works the same way. If 10,000 people a day retire in the US because they turn 65, that same percentage will retire 10 years from now when people turn 65. >

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 of snow last season, so is a lot more prepared for big weather of this type. Preparing for change in business is a lot like preparing for this hurricane. You know it will hit, but you don’t know exactly where. >

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. My descriptor of what they are saying is” It’s squirrelly out there”. >