The previous Lesson Found highlighted how being empathetic is a fundamental tool of leadership. How to do that is today’s Lesson Found.
A client asked my advice about an “always” productive team member who lately was barely producing. His company has been 100% virtual since March but the client only recently started to notice the problem. The client tried talking to the employee but the situation was not changing. (more…)
Could the “problem with millennials” be burnout? Why CEOs and owners should care is a Lesson Found.
In a her 2019 article, Anne Helen Petersen identifies Millennials as the “Burnout Generation” due to the circumstances of their coming of age. Petersen, a Millennial herself, makes her case in great detail (more…)
When you get into your car on frigid winter mornings, the warmth of your breath fogs the windshield. That fogged windshield offers us a Lesson Found on the current business environment.
A few months after she bought it, I was driving my mother’s new car. I was distressed because I couldn’t clearly see out of the windshield. Everything seemed foggy. Then I turned in the direction of the rising sun and couldn’t see anything. (more…)
I’ve recently found myself in discussions with CEOs and Owners about the difference between being a “leader” versus a “manager”. And that is the subject of today’s Lessons Found.
According to Merriam-Websters, to “lead” is to “guide on a way especially by going in advance; to direct on a course or a direction.” This is in contrast to the definition of “manage”: “to handle or direct with a degree of skill such as to exercise supervisory direction of; to make and keep compliant.” Considering both at their extremes, leadership takes a broad, future-focused (more…)
Did you know the inspiration for the N95 Mask was a molded bra cup? That is where today’s Lessons Found start.
Sara Little Turnbull was an unlikely candidate to become one of the nation’s top industrial designers. With a flair for interior design, Sara Little (her preferred professional name) was an editor at House Beautiful magazine before forming her own company in 1958. At about the same time, she wrote an article, “Forgetting The Little Woman”, in which she took major manufacturers to task for ignoring end users when designing products. And the corporate giants of the time took notice. That is how she found herself in front of 3M’s all male executive team (more…)
“Control your own destiny or someone else will.” This quote from Jack Welch, GE’s famed former CEO, is the inspiration for today’s Lesson Found.
I recently came across an article reconsidering the maxim “The Best Predictor of Future Behavior is … Past Behavior”. While the article’s focus is not business oriented, it does offer lessons on the current business environment. (more…)
There are many different ways to react to the disruption from coronavirus and the resulting downturn. My clients have come to recognize it as an opportunity both for their business and for Lessons Found.
We have three choices in the face of a crisis. 1. Give up; 2. Act like nothing has changed; or 3. Adapt. (more…)
It’s Girl Scout Cookie season. And the Girl Scouts’ new alliance to promote their cookies is the source of this week’s Business Lesson Found.
When you indulge in Girl Scout Cookies do you ever think: “This would make a great cake!” The Girl Scouts have teamed with the Food Network to make this a reality. In a new show, Girl Scout Cookie Championship, bakers are challenged to feature the cookies in original baked goods. From a marketing perspective, this show is a great way to extend the Girl Scouts’ reach. (more…)
The sale of the New York Mets was recently scrubbed because of one owner’s compulsion to retain operational control. This is a cautionary Business Lesson Found for owners of both family and non-family businesses.
Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen offered $2.6 billion to purchase an 80% stake in the struggling Mets. This was welcome news to some in the Wilpon family who have shares in the team but have grown increasingly frustrated with the meager results under the eccentric management style of Mets’ COO Jeff Wilpon. (more…)
I recently heard an economist identify “opportunity costs” as “the most useful idea in economics”. That comment sparked this Business Lesson Found.
According to Investopedia “opportunity costs represent the benefits an individual, investor or business misses out on when choosing one alternative over another.” (more…)