1: Then Intel CEO Andy Grove was sitting in a conference room with other members of the Intel team.

The topic? “Evaluations of a certain highly touted new software from a company whose other products we already use,” Andy writes in his legendary business book, Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company.

Intel’s head of Information Technology shared the challenges her team … continue reading

In honor of Presidents’ Day next week, I’m going to share several posts on Abraham Lincoln this week.

1: Eleven days after the Union victory at Gettysburg and ten days after General Ulysses S. Grant’s crucial triumph at Vicksburg, Abraham Lincoln suffered what was likely his most gut-wrenching setback as commander-in-chief during the Civil War.

At Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee “had been forced to relinquish the battlefield for the first … continue reading

Ron Shaich, the influential founder and longtime CEO of Panera Bread, earned a reputation for his impactful talks that shaped the company’s direction.

“While every speech I gave was different, the underlying storyline was always the same,” Ron reflects in his book Know What Matters.

“Here’s where we’ve come from. . .  Here’s where we are today.  And here’s where we could be tomorrow—if we get a few … continue reading

1: There are two traps CEOs and leadership teams fall into regarding innovation.

Trap #1: “The minute we think we truly understand the customer and can take our attention off discovering what matters, we’re dead,” Panera founder Ron Shaich writes in Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations.

“Sooner or later,” Ron notes, “even the most brilliant and innovative concept will fall behind the times and become … continue reading

1: “Top-down innovation gets a bad rap,” Panera founder Ron Shaich writes in his terrific book Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations.

“The popular business press abounds with criticism of initiatives that come tumbling down from the peak of the org chart,” Ron observes.

“And yet, take a closer look at most companies, and you’ll find that organizations are still doing it that way.”

Why is … continue reading

1: “So tell me this,” the young executive asked, “Is Panera almost as good as Donatos?”

“Is he joking?” Panera Bread CEO Ron Shaich thought to himself.

It was the early 2000s. Ron was sitting in an executive boardroom at McDonald’s headquarters outside Chicago. Ten years earlier, he had purchased the St. Louis Bread Company and renamed it Panera.

On the other side of the table were members of McDonald’s … continue reading

1: In the middle of the dot-com crash, against all odds, Ben Horowitz had succeeded in finding a buyer for Loudcloud, the cloud computing company he had founded.

EDS agreed to acquire the firm for $63.5 million in cash, along with the associated liabilities and cash burn.

Not only that, “we would retain the intellectual property, Opsware, and become a software company,” Ben writes.

“EDS would then license … continue reading

1: Today we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., perhaps the most influential American of the 20th century.

And yet, the greatest American civil rights leader was at first unwilling.

In September 1954, at age 25, Martin had just completed his doctorate at Boston University. Soon after, he and his wife, Coretta, moved to Montgomery, Alabama, so he could pursue his goal of becoming a pastor. … continue reading

1: “Remember, Ben, things are always darkest before they go completely black,” said Netscape founder Marc Andreessen to his business partner and then Loudcloud CEO Ben Horowitz.

“He was joking, but as we entered our first quarter as a public company, those words seemed prescient,” Ben writes in his wonderful book The Hard Thing About Hard Things about being a Wartime CEO. The year was 2001. It was … continue reading

1: It was the middle of the dot-com implosion in 2001. Loudcloud CEO Ben Horowitz sat in his office, arms folded.

Across from him sat two colleagues, both of whom had graduated from Stanford Business School.

They presented forty-five slides about why Ben’s decision to start a software division was “quixotic, misguided, and downright stupid,” he writes in his book The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

“They argued that … continue reading