-
Join 405 other subscribers
Blogs by Topic
Tweets
Tweets by DavidMShedd
Category Archives: Perform / Execution
Keep Eyes on the Business
100 years ago, Henry Ford said: “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all but goes on making his own business better all the time.” To be successful leaders, we need to be that … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Leadership, Perform / Execution
Tagged Do the Right Thing, Focus
Leave a comment
6 Simple Expressions of a Good Leader
To be a good leader, we need to master and put into practice the basics. The basics of good leadership start and end with how we communicate and interact with our teams and our customers. I offer my list of … Continue reading
What’s Our Zero to Sixty?
Late one afternoon, a major plumbing leak sprang up in a building we were helping to build. Our field team sprang into immediate action, mobilized a large crew of workers, worked overtime, and repaired the damage caused by the water … Continue reading
Complexity and Problem Solving
I recently listened to a course titled Understanding Complexity. A key takeaway from the course is that the tools we use for regular problem solving do not fully work with complex problems. In regular problem solving, we determine the root … Continue reading
Creeping Complexity
Anthropologist Joseph Tainter writes, “Complexity creeps up on you.” Today, complexity has been creeping up and overwhelming us. Within our companies and in our personal lives, we need to fight hard against this complexity to enable us to realize our … Continue reading
Upward Communication Makes Us All Better
In a previous blog, Communicate Upward, I discussed the need for upward communication and how to communicate upward. In this blog, I discuss upward communication and how it improves our employees’ understanding and capabilities. Upward Communication Good upward communication needs … Continue reading
Reject Equality… Embrace Fairness
In a previous blog, I wrote about Ideological Necrophilia, the continued love of ideas that have been tried repeatedly and proved (again and again) not to work. One failed idea that I wrote about is that we need to treat … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Perform / Execution, Team / People
Tagged Equality, Ethical Leadership, Fairness
Leave a comment
Team Building
Winning teamwork is fundamental to the success of any organization. Winning teamwork requires trust, openness, communication, and respect among the members of the team. The purpose of a team building event is to deepen the bonds within the team and … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Perform / Execution, Team / People
Tagged Team Building, Teamwork, Winning Teamwork
Leave a comment
The Team is More Important than the Individual
At the height of the Great Recession, the CEO was focusing the company on production efficiencies to reduce costs. One regional president, by contrast, was driving forward to grow sales. This president’s region outperformed all the other regions. But the … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Perform / Execution, Team / People
Tagged Leadership, Teamwork, Winning Teamwork
1 Comment
Ideological Necrophilia
“Ideological necrophilia – a love of ideas that have been tried and proved not to work.” Moises Naim (Venezuelan writer and journalist) In the political world, we see ideological necrophilia in a continued love of Marxism and communism by the … Continue reading
6 Simple Expressions of a Good Leader
To be a good leader, we need to master and put into practice the basics. The basics of good leadership start and end with how we communicate and interact with our teams and our customers. I offer my list of … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Perform / Execution, Team / People
Tagged Leadership Success, Simple Expressions
Leave a comment
Rough Seas Ahead?
Economists, politicians, and many business leaders are predicting a recession in 2023 as the Federal Reserve continues to tighten to lower inflation and inflationary expectations. Alas, I have no insight on whether an economic downturn will come to pass. I … Continue reading
Evolution and Change in Business
Looking at our businesses within the context of evolution can give us actionable insights to help move our businesses forward. Despite what we may have read or heard; evolution is not about a dog-eat-dog world where only the strongest individuals … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Improve / Turnaround, Perform / Execution
Tagged Change, Change Management, Evolution
Leave a comment
Let’s Be Scientific
As leaders, we are required to constantly evaluate evidence and make decisions. In doing so, we often succumb to “winging it” and making decisions on the fly, trusting our gut. While this might work for some decisions, it does not … Continue reading
Field Centric
As leaders, we can get wrapped up in so many different activities and meetings – meeting with the finance, human resources or marketing department; talking to investors, banks and insurance companies; strategic planning; looking at acquisition candidates or joint venture … Continue reading
Patience
The regular readers of my blog are aware of my focus on Decisiveness and Getting Things Done. But, as in all things in leadership, balance is required. Good leaders balance this decisiveness with a healthy dose of patience. There are … Continue reading
Three Keys to Teamwork
The fundamental determinant of success on most projects and at most companies is teamwork. Volumes have been written about how to foster teamwork. My small contribution is to suggest that each of us, when part of a team, keep three … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Perform / Execution, Team / People
Tagged Accountability, Humility, Simplicity, Teamwork, Winning Teamwork
1 Comment
Seek Out the ‘Useful Answer’
“When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.” Dalai Lama In my company, as in many others, we have a formal system to review work that we have done. Whether called post-project reviews, re-caps, or post-mortems, these reviews give the people … Continue reading
The First Two Steps in Process Improvement
Most process improvement initiatives fail miserably. First, they do not improve the processes they were supposed to improve. Second, they waste managerial and employee time, effort and attention. Or, third, the process may be improved; but this improvement does not … Continue reading
Top Three Things to Do Today to Be a Better Leader
To build a better business, we need to be better leaders. This does not mean we need to rush out and get more training or education or bring in a consultant (absolutely not!!). Instead, we need to focus on the … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Leadership, Perform / Execution
Tagged Follow Up, Leadership, Positivity, Simplicity
Leave a comment
David M. Shedd - Move Your Company Forward 