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

1: It was the team’s very first strategic planning meeting.

Everyone who worked at the New York City restaurant Eleven Madison Park was there. The team had been divided into ten groups.

The question General Manager Will Guidara had charged them with answering was: “What do we want to embody?”

As Will went from table to table, listening in, he noticed a certain tension.

“Some people were arguing passionately about … continue reading

1: “Screw them. We could run a better convenience store than these folks!”

Twenty-one-year-old college student Ron Shaich was mad.  He and his friends had been “escorted” out of the Store 24 convenience store directly across from Clark University, which they attended.

The “beefy security guard . . . had taken one look at the trio of scruffy kids lingering over the ice-cream freezer and decided we were intent on … continue reading

1: “I can’t afford it.”  That’s what many entrepreneurs tell themselves.

“Far too many entrepreneurs,” Dan Martell writes in his book Buy Back Your Time, “spend their time grinding because they erroneously believe that they’re the only person for the job, they can’t afford any help, or they feel guilty not doing certain work.”

What gets in their way?  As their business grows, they hire wrong.  They hire to … continue reading

Yesterday, we looked at how  Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffett, Tom Clancy, and Andy Warhol spent their time.

How can we apply the lessons from this diverse group of incredibly successful people?  Dan Martell asks in his book  Buy Back Your Time.

We begin by creating a 2×2 matrix where we analyze how valuable each task we are doing in terms of (1) money and (2) … continue reading

1: Back in 2014, business was booming at Google and Apple.

Not so much at Microsoft. The one-time tech leader was stumbling.  

“As the world shifted to mobile and cloud computing,”  Geoff Woods writes in The AI-Driven Leader, “Microsoft was falling behind, gasping for breath. It was out of touch and slow to adapt.”

In February of that year, Satya Nadella became just the third CEO in … continue reading

1: Author and entrepreneur Geoff Woods was a senior in college.

“I was interning at a startup technology company, and I asked the CEO what job I should get after graduation,” Geoff Woods writes in The AI-Driven Leader.

The CEO paused for a moment and looked at him.  

“Geoff, you’re asking the wrong question! You should be asking, ‘What are the skills I can master that are so valuable … continue reading

1: If we “see AI as just another Google or a tool for writing better emails, we’re selling ourselves short,” Geoff Woods writes in The AI-Driven Leader: Harnessing AI to Make Faster, Smarter Decisions.

Instead, AI is “a strategic Thought Partner,” Geoff notes, “ready 24/7 to help us make faster, smarter decisions.

“When we recognize AI’s potential this way we gain an edge in a fast-changing world.”

Geoff defines … continue reading

1: In the year 2000, Blockbuster was sitting pretty.

The company was “the undisputed leader in movie rentals,” Geoff Woods writes in The AI-Driven Leader. “Millions of customers flocked to their local stores every weekend, driving annual revenues to a staggering $8.7 billion, with $1.4 billion in profits.”

Then, a startup called Netflix pioneered a new concept: DVD rentals by mail, with no late fees.

“The idea quickly caught … continue reading