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Category Archives: Business Acumen
It is Better to Be Good in Fact than Great in Fiction
This is my 100th blog post in my blog “Helping Leaders Win.” If I had to sum up one line that describes my approach to business success and “winning leadership” over the previous 99 posts, it would be the title … Continue reading
Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School
In his book, Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School, Philip Delves Broughton recounts his experience as a student at HBS. It is an interesting read, especially for those planning to go to business school. For our … Continue reading
Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
In their excellent book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, Chip Heath and Dan Heath discuss the ways to make sure your ideas stick. An idea sticks when it is understood and remembered and has a … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Business Leadership, Communication, Made to Stick, Marketing
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Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
In their book, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan and Charles Burck drive home the point that execution is vital. The difference between a company and its competitors is its ability to execute; that is … Continue reading
The 9 Biggest Time Wasters in Business
The sheer waste of time in the typical business today is incomprehensible. From half-baked initiatives and pet projects that lead nowhere to endless and endlessly dull meetings, the typical employee can fritter away as much as half of his or … Continue reading
5 Business Fundamentals I Did Not Learn at Wharton
In a previous blog, I discussed the five business fundamentals that I learned at Wharton. Today, I discuss five keys to business success that I did not learn at Wharton (and that may not be learnable in a classroom environment). … Continue reading
5 Business Fundamentals Learned at Wharton
The start of another school year is upon us. As such, nearly 100,000 aspiring MBA’s will be matriculating in the next few weeks to begin a two year program that leads to that golden business passport – an MBA. A … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership
Tagged Business Leadership, Customer Service, Management, Marketing
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Why is Business Today So Complex?
Everything and everyone in business drive business leaders and businesses towards greater and greater complexity and more and more work. As Warren Buffett has said: There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult. … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership
Tagged Business Leadership, Do the Right Thing, Focus, Less is More, Prioritization
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Introducing – Build a Better B2B Business
My book, Build a Better B2B Business: Winning Leadership for Your Business-to-Business Company, is now available for sale on Amazon.com (Click Here). The book offers a simple, focused, and practical approach to business leadership. Today, business and business leadership … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership
Tagged B2B, Business Leadership, Customer Service, Do the Right Thing, Management, Winning Teamwork
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The Bedrock of Your Winning Business – Ethics and Integrity
“We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence. But, rather we have those because we have acted rightly.” — Aristotle The times are tough. The pressure on you and all your employees is intense. You have employees … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership
Tagged Business Leadership, Do the Right Thing, Ethics, Integrity
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Better B2B Branding
In B2C (Business to Consumer), the brand is and has long been a vital component of all sales and marketing efforts. The Nike Swoosh™, the Coke brand, and the Apple brand are literally worth billions of dollars each to their … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Sales and Marketing
Tagged B2B, Brand, Business Leadership, Made to Stick, Manage to the Brand
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How the Mighty Fall (Jim Collins)
How the Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In: Jim Collins Summary For companies, there are Five Stages of Decline Hubris (excessive pride) born of success When “we are successful because we do these specific things” replaces the … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership
Tagged Business Decline, Business Leadership, How the Mighty Fall, Packard's Law
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The Management Myth (Matthew Stewart)
The Management Myth: Why the Experts Keep Getting It Wrong: Matthew Stewart In this book, the author, Matthew Stewart, interlaces accounts of his life as a consultant with a critique of current consultant and management thought. His overall view is … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership
Tagged Competitive Advantage, Consultant, Pareto 80 - 20, The Management Myth
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The Magic of Three – The “Windex” of a Winning Business
Throughout my blog posts, you will notice that I construct lots of lists in explaining and clarifying certain points. You may also note that most of these lists have three points. In doing this, I am using a technique … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Perform / Execution
Tagged Communication, Focus, Make It Happen, Priritization
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Switch (Chip Heath and Dan Heath)
Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard: Chip Heath and Dan Heath This is an excellent book, which I recommend that you read. My notes are reasonably short and only give a flavor of what is discussed. Filled … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Improve / Turnaround
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Lessons from Private Equity any Company Can Use (Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur)
Lessons from Private Equity Any Company Can Use In the last few years, key Private Equity players have shifted their focus from financial engineering toward creating operating value. They are creating operating value in a systematic and focused way. As … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership
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Why Smart Executives Fail (Sydney Finkelstein)
The “standard” causes of failure do not explain why smart executives fail “The executives were stupid.” “The executives could not have known what was coming.” Etc. New ventures often fail spectacularly Do not lose sight of what counts in … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership
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Winning (Jack Welch)
Jack Welch’s best seller Winning gives the renowned GE CEO’s view on what business leadership is all about. As excerpted from the book and from a subsequent article in Business Week (www.businessweek.com), I give a summary of the business leadership … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership
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Change – A Broad Overview
Read the business magazines or the Wall Street Journal and change is, as always, a hot topic: “The world is changing faster than ever, so you have to change faster or you will become a dinosaur.” “People hate change. … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Improve / Turnaround
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David M. Shedd - Move Your Company Forward 