Beware Your Strengths…. Hill Takers and Hill Finders…. Econ Recon: Easing and Delay…. Shameless Self Promotion Department

July 8, 2013

“Excuses are the antithesis of accountability.” 

Dr. Jason Selk

Director of Mental Training for the St. Louis Cardinals

Beware Your Strengths

“To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail” describes what happens to many CEOs and senior executives when they continue to use the strengths and talents that made them successful at a prior gig in a new and different job, only to struggle or fail. (Examples include Bob Nardelli’s failure at Home Depot after a long successful career at GE… Ron Johnson who just left JC Penney worse than he found it after crushing it at Apple….the list is long).

 A recent one page article in the Economist Magazine, Too Much of a Good Thing explores this phenomenon. Other CEOs like Lou Gerstner, who successfully transitioned from American Express to IBM, and Richard Branson of Virgin, who seems to be the ideal CEO for Virgin no matter how big it gets, seem to have figured out how to keep their personal assets from becoming liabilities as their companies grew and/or  their roles changed. If you want to explore this important topic in more depth, check out uber-coach Marshall Goldsmith’s classic  “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.”

Hill Finders and Hill Takers

We often divide managers into planners and implementers/executers. Here’s another take on the distinction that may be more meaningful and illustrative: Hill Takers and Hill Finders. Both are necessary and it’s important to have both. Which are you?

 Shameless Self Promotion Dept:

Entrepreneur Magazine on Benefits of CEO peer groups

CEO peer groups are not for everyone. This article from Entrepreneur Magazine on “The Benefits of CEO Peer Groups” may help you decide if you should keep going it alone.

Econ Recon: Easing and Delay

This week’s job figures cast a positive light on the ongoing recovery, but Vistage Staff Economist  and ITR Economics Principal Alan Beaulieu continues to maintain that a slowdown, if not a recession, awaits us in early 2014. Two factors contributing to this are Quantitative Easing and the delay of the Affordable Care Act Employer Mandate. Check out  Alan’s two short but insightful blog entries and you’ll understand why.