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

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: McKinsey consultants asked a CEO how much time he spent managing other people’s egos. 

Probably 20 to 30 percent of the time, he answered.

Then, they asked him what percent of time people spent managing his ego.

Silence.  

“Beyond the anecdote,” Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra write in CEO Excellence, “the research is clear: When CEOs are asked if they act as a … continue reading

1: “Culture can be a hard topic to get one’s head around,” Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra write in CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest.

Perhaps the best definition comes from Marvin Bower, McKinsey & Company‘s former managing director, who said culture is “the way we do things around here.” 

Which is why the world’s best … continue reading