“CEOs are in the business of making decisions” Sam Reese, Vistage CEO I’ve been reflecting this week on a quote from Economist Thomas Sowell “There are no solutions, only trade-offs.” I work with CEOs. They take decisions. They feel responsible for the consequences of these decisions. They often wait to find a “perfect solution” rather … Read more
Update June 2023: OpenAI have now provided an extensive guide to Prompt Engineering. It’s worth a review. Prompt Engineering. Today I’ve been on a zoom call with a group of senior business leaders from around the world. The number of times that chatGPT has been mentioned (by very senior business people) hit me. In my … Read more
I’ve met some excellent business managers… who are extremely poor managers of their own life. They get results. They support others. They build capable, effective teams. Their business grows. …but they are not joyful. They are not waking up motivated each day. They are not finding themselves energised through the day by the activities, people … Read more
“Sometimes all you need for exceptional results is average effort repeated for an above-average amount of time.” James Clear Consistency beats brilliance. The 20 mile march. Daily progress. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step… and you’ll reach it within a year if you go for 3 miles a day. I’ve … Read more
We had an event this week in Madrid with Dan Wertenberg, a Vistage Chair from the USA as the speaker. What is the Role of the CEO? He shared an interactive and valuable 90 minute session with the gathered CEOs about the 3+1 roles of the CEO. The 3+1 “non-Delegatable roles” of the leader. Chief … Read more
Bad stuff happens. Bad actors exist. Decent people do bad things. Bad people do their things. Nature does it’s thing… storms, snow and clouds. It can look pretty bleak some days. The news can seem to be a constant flow of disasters, invasions, road accidents, kidnappings and domestic violence. (This is my summary of the … Read more
“Most people prefer a problem they can’t fix to a solution they don’t like” Lee Thayer This sentence is mad…. but there is a certain truth to it. Lee Thayer is the author of several books on the practice of Leadership. He was a big proponent of working to integrate thinking, being and doing into … Read more
My single most widely watched video ever on youtube is “How to Start a Speech”. The opening line of the video is: “What are the first words you should say in a speech?” In today’s busy, distraction-filed world… you have a few seconds at the beginning of any speech (youtube video, tiktok, instagram etc) to … Read more
Persistence is one of the most important qualities that a person can possess. It is the ability to persevere, to keep going even in the face of obstacles and setbacks. In life, success often depends on persistence more than anything else. In this video: Whether you’re trying to achieve a personal goal or working towards … Read more
Reputation… “the beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone”; “a widespread belief that someone or something has a particular characteristic.” Your reputation shapes how people see you. “A man with a reputation for getting up early can stay in bed all day” Irish proverb The reputation you have shapes how everything you do … Read more