1: “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters – one represents danger and one represents opportunity,” John F. Kennedy once said.
Yesterday, we explored how the best CEOs create a small team of senior leaders to deal directly with the crisis. This prevents the CEO from becoming all-consumed by the situation and enables the rest of the organization to continue to get work done. … continue reading
1: “It’s ten years out, and Netflix is a failed firm. Estimate the probabilities of the different causes.”
That’s the exercise Netflix CEO Reed Hastings poses to his leadership team.
“Let’s say one cause is that a plane crash takes out Netflix’s headquarters,” Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra write in their book CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest.… continue reading
David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, was among the first executives to embrace the power of purpose.
Back in 1960, talking to HP’s training group, he said: “I want to discuss why a company exists in the first place,” he began.
“In other words, why are we here? I think many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money. While this is an important result of a … continue reading
1: It was the 1990s. DBS Group CEO Piyush Gupta was working at Citibank and was halfway through a three-year assignment within the bank.
One afternoon, he sat down with his executive coach, who asked him to identify the A, B, and C players on the team he was leading.
Piyush had some A players. But many of those on his team were B and C players.
“The coach bluntly … continue reading
1: Selecting the right people and putting them in the right roles is just the beginning of the CEO’s role in managing talent.
The best CEOs, write McKinsey consultants Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra in their book CEO Excellence, make a considerable investment of time and energy “into coaching, retaining talent, managing performance, and planning for succession for the most valuable roles.”
These leaders become … continue reading
