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: 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: 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: “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: The two Opsware leaders sat in a sterile conference room at the EDS headquarters in Plano, Texas.

EDS was their largest customer.

“Largest customer really understates it,” Opsware CEO Ben Horowitz writes in his book The Hard Thing About Hard Things.  “EDS accounted for 90 percent of our revenue.”

On the other side of the table sat Frank Johnson (not his real name)—“a big guy who grew up … 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: “Imagine we’re floating in a clear blue ocean—somewhere warm like Hawaii or Mexico,” Ron Shaich writes in his terrific book Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations.  

“Waves are breaking and rolling toward the white, sandy beach,” Ron notes.  “We know that’s where we are headed, so our ultimate destination is clear.  And we know that any wave will take you to shore.

“But not just … 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: Salomon Brothers CEO John Gutfreund was about to get fired.

The year was 1991. A major scandal had rocked the prestigious Wall Street investment bank.

And, it was all so unnecessary, Charlie Munger writes in Poor Charlie’s Almanack.

Charlie should know. He had a front-row seat to all the action as Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, then Salomon’s largest shareholder.

2: The scandal happened when Salomon’s traders submitted … continue reading

1: “In God we trust, all others bring data,” management scientist W. Edwards Deming once said.

“The best CEOs adhere to this mantra,” Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra write in their book CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest. 

“Our decision-making principles insist on evidence,” says former Intuit CEO Brad Smith.  “One of the mottos is, ‘Because of (blank), … continue reading