Can your organization thrive if its strategy doesn’t align with operations? Maybe. Maybe you’ll be successful despite this misalignment; maybe for a short time at least. For a short time, if you have a stellar pool of talented advisors and leaders, loyal clients, and awesome products and services, then the misalignment can be masked for a while. Eventually, however, top talent will recognize the disconnect and leave–or worse, become disengaged, potentially leading to desertion …
A transformational leader can utter the words “I messed up” even once seated in the c-suite. Accepting responsiblity is challenging for most, but it is particularly so for those in leadership roles. While working as an organizational consultant in graduate school, I saw this play out in a way that was less than ideal. My colleague and I had prepared a presentation for a prospective client: we included numbers, statistics, data – here’s how our product can impact …
Why is it that you are not wealthy? Perhaps it is because you are not pursuing opportunities that exist in the marketplace. – The Millionaire Next Door, page 211 Great entrepreneurs find novel and marketable solutions to meaningful problems. This characteristic hasn’t changed since 1996 when The Millionaire Next Door was published, although technology has changed the nature of the problems. Last night, at the Atlanta Startup Village’s monthly meetup, the leaders of five companies …
Thoughtful career writers will correctly point out that self-employment isn’t for everyone. Just as being a surgeon or a carpenter isn’t for everyone, we have unique characteristics that allow us to be more successful in some jobs or endeavors versus others. This principle applies with equal force in the arena of entrepreneurship: being self-employed requires certain competencies in order to be successful. Even finer distinctions can be made within self-employment, too, so here I’m …
Would you hire a professional advisor based on his or her social media profile? While examining the tables and data in the chapter titled “Time, Energy, and Money” in The Millionaire Next Door, I reread the section titled “Who are your suppliers?” It reads in part: How did you hire your household’s financial advisor? Did you list the position in the help-wanted section of your local newspaper? Did you evaluate the stacks of resumes your …