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

1: Imagine taking our seat at a classical music concert. We arrive early, and the orchestra is warming up.  

“And it’s a very unpleasant noise because they’re all doing their own flourishes,” observes U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis in CEO Excellence by  Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra.

“Suddenly, they stop,” Richard describes. “And then out of stage right comes a human being holding nothing more … continue reading

1: To change workplace culture, the best CEOs survey team members to understand how engaged they are and how well they know the organization’s vision and strategy.

The first metric to measure? Will associates fill out the survey?

At Eaton Corporation, the power management technology company, former CEO Sandy Cutler and his team achieved a spectacular 96 percent participation rate on their voluntary survey across 175 countries and in 37 … continue reading