1: You are stuck.

“If only your prospects knew as much about your company and its solutions as you do, they would buy from you, right?” Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer write in their powerful book Conversations That Win the Complex Sale.

Not so fast, the authors suggest.

Erik and Tim emphasize the importance of finding your unique story and point of view as a salesperson. This is essential … continue reading

1: “We managers like to talk about change, so much that embracing change has become a cliché of management,” Andy Grove writes in Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company.

But not all changes are the same.

What Andy calls “a strategic inflection point is not just any change,” he notes. “It compares to change the way Class VI rapids on a … continue reading

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

1: “We had lost our bearings. We were wandering in the valley of death,” Andy Grove writes in his book Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company.

The year was 1984, a pivotal moment for Intel.

The company had been founded 16 years earlier.  “Every start-up has some kind of a core idea,” Andy notes.

“Ours was simple. Semiconductor technology had … continue reading

1: It was the summer of 1985.

One of Silicon Valley’s most legendary meetings was about to happen.

“I was in my office with Intel’s chairman and CEO, Gordon Moore, and we were discussing our quandary,” Andy Grove writes in his book Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company.

“Our mood was downbeat,” Andy recalls.

“I looked out the window at … continue reading

1: Panera Bread founder Ron Shaich prides himself on being a contrarian.

“If everyone is in favor of something, I’m probably headed in the opposite direction,” Ron writes in his terrific book Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations.

“When others are celebrating, I’m worrying, and when others are worrying, I’m looking for the silver lining.”

Does he just enjoy being disagreeable?

Nope. That’s not it.

“It’s … 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: “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

1: One summer night in Milwaukee, the San Francisco Giants lost to the Brewers in a brutal late-inning collapse.

Bruce Bochy, the team’s manager, found himself sitting alone in his office, brooding over the loss.

Still restless, he decided to walk back to the team’s hotel.

“It was maybe four miles, and it was late, and the Brewers’ stadium is not exactly pedestrian-friendly,” Rustin Dodd writes in his post … continue reading