This week, TeamPF and I are on a retreat at the Oregon coast. I’ve made it a point to get us all here because one of the biggest oversights virtual team leaders […]
strategy
3 Hidden Truths About Staying On Your Path
I was reading Ego Is the Enemy over the weekend and this passage jumped out at me: “Only you know the race you’re running. That is, unless your ego decides the only […]
You’re Always Changing and So Should Your Systems
A big focus for our team this month is going through our processes and systems to make sure they’re working for us rather than against us. Much to my team’s chagrin sometimes, […]
Is Your Strategic Roadmap Too Ambitious?
When you take everything you want to do and start putting that in the quarters and months you actually have available — aka strategic roadmapping — know that the first draft is […]
Do You Know When to Say Yes to an Opportunity?
I had an interesting opportunity come together over the weekend. It’s too early to share what it is, but one of the things that made it interesting is that it’s a combination […]
How Are You Evaluating Your Own Work?
A couple weeks ago I mentioned that we’re building a more solid foundation with metrics on the team. I’ve had some people write in, curious about why that of all things and how […]
Does Your Trajectory Track Your Goals?
Angela and I are currently visiting our families in Arkansas, and that has me thinking a lot about life trajectories. A common response people give us after we catch them up on […]
The Content Delusion Rides on the Scalability Thesis
Editor’s Note: Jonathan invited me to share this post as a riff on the Good Life Project podcast. My bud Jonathan Fields recently published “The Content Delusion (Or Why You Still Need […]
The Two Dimensions of Business Focus
Entrepreneurs, executives, and small business owners are often advised to focus their businesses, but that usually comes down to being told to focus on a niche. There are at least two dimensions of […]
Take the Next Small Step and Build From There
Ever notice how quickly a small idea that we can work on today turns into a Big Thing that keeps us from doing something with the idea? An idea to explore turns […]
Inaction Stymies Excellence
“Action or inaction are both forms of leadership and standard setting.” – via Seth’s Blog: “This will blow over”. I love that Seth brings up inaction as much as action. Those times when […]
The Value of the Abundance Mindset in Small Business
[Note from Charlie: Ashley has been working with us since March and this is her first post on the blog. I happened to see her comment to a class participant about this […]
Time Management: It’s Not Rocket Science
I co-led a conversation earlier today on the topic “Time Management: Tips & Tools for Managers Who Don’t Have Enough Time” with a team of plant managers. I had five ideas I […]
Why I Was So Worked Up About Killing My Newsletter
I did a few unusual things this last Saturday. I killed my newsletter. I abandoned a marketing technique that I have been using for at least four years and that is the conventional […]
Understanding Founder’s Mojo
Working with hundreds of small business owners has gotten me used to noticing and addressing patterns that apply across businesses. One ubiquitous dynamic I’ve seen in my fieldwork involves what I’m calling […]
Whether We Go Big or Deep First Depends on Our Archetype
Jonathan Mead asked me and Jonathan Fields a great question on Twitter today. Here it is, for context: “True or false? People often try to go big with their mission before they’ve […]
KPIs vs CSFs: Analyze Your Business Momentum
What actions are critical to the success of your business and which effects are the most important? If you’ve ever seen the acronym KPI or CSF in a business context, you’ve seen […]
3 Simple Questions to Help Guide Your Business’s Operations
In my last article on the 3 Things Every Executive Should Focus On, we saw that setting the vision and strategy for the company is the primary job of the CEO. While […]