Scrooge on Leadership… When Great Processes Create Bad PR… Three Essential Mistakes… Econ Recon: Be Careful What You Ask For… Rate Hikes Sooner

“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change.”

Ebenezer Scrooge

From  “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens

Scrooge on Leadership : (or why “A Christmas Carol” Should be Required Reading in Business Schools)

If asked what work of fiction is most identified with the Holiday Season, most would immediately say Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.To the casual reader, Ebenezer Scrooge is portrayed as a despicable miser who does not well represent the private sector. But it may be that a more thoughtful reading provides important lessons for executives and managers to take away from this classic Christmas story.

Find out why one writer thinks that   “One of the most powerful leadership books ever written is “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens.”   

When Great Processes Create Bad PR

Ralph Waldo Emerson warned us that “Foolish consistencies are the hobgoblins of little minds.” To which most CEOs would say “But good processes create great results.” But what happens when an unanticipated situation presents itself to an unprepared employee?You train employees in your processes…do you train them to recognize when the process will cause a problem…and what do about?One very successful Australian technology CEO shares what can happen when an otherwise well trained employee meets a “one off situation.” Take a moment to find out why he “applied for a job at McDonald’s to learn how to run my business.”

Three Essential Mistakes

Vistage CEO Leon Shapiro recently contributed a short article to Fast Company in which he suggests that there are three essential mistakes every leader should make as early possible in his or her career.

He says “these mistakes will test you as a leader on just about every level—from the strategic to the tactical to the emotional. Quite simply, getting these big three business mistakes out of the way now will make you a better leader.”

Econ Recon

Be Careful What You Ask For: Executives and consumers alike are rejoicing over the decline in oil prices and the consequent effect on company bottom lines and the money in our pockets. However, Vistage Staff Economist and ITR Economics Principal Alan Beaulieu reminds us that there are no unmixed blessings and that we need to be careful what we ask for…we might just get it! Take a moment for Alan’s brief but insightful analysis of the other side of the coin of falling energy prices.  

Rate Hikes Ahead?: Watching the Fed can be a tedious activity unless you have someone to give you the short version. Economist Brian Wesbury’s Christmas gift to us is that short version. He has analyzed the minutes of the Fed’s latest meeting and provides a one page summary for those who need know how interest rates in 2015 will affect their businesses. Are rate hikes ahead?