Alex Raubitschek, Ortus Interim (Photo credit: Steve Bowbrick) Interim help can make the difference between failure and success. We've seen this over and over again. We've seen so many new leaders flailing around because there is so much more to do than they and their existing team can ever hope to get done. They [...]
Imperative Workshop: The Turning Point from Converging to Evolving
February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Converging and evolving is always the right approach for a new leader. Yes, sometimes you can stretch out the converging piece so long that the approach looks a lot more like assimilating. And sometimes you need to evolve so fast that it's a shock to the system. But both assimilation and shock are really just [...]
Five Steps to Turn Wasteful Meetings into Drivers of Success
February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
At their best, most meetings are a waste of time. Instead of inspiring and enabling, way too many of them actually drain participants’ willingness and ability to do real work. Yet QlikTech has found a way to turn its annual corporate summit into a positive, culture-building and culture-reinforcing event that everyone looks forward to. When [...]
Executive Onboarding: The Key to Accelerating Success and Reducing Risk in a New Job
February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The most effective executive onboarding includes: Getting a head start Managing the message Building the team Image via Wikipedia Failures in new roles almost always come back to either poor fit, not getting done what needed to get done, or something changing. Everyone involved tends to blame someone else. Failed executives say, “They turned out [...]
Corporate Culture: The Only Truly Sustainable Competitive Advantage
February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Image via Wikipedia Given enough time and money, your competitors can duplicate almost everything you’ve got working for you. They can hire away some of your best people. They can reverse engineer your processes. The only thing they can’t duplicate is your culture. BRAVE CULTURES ARE SUSTAINABLE All music is made from the same 12 [...]
Rich Boughrum’s Top 5 Books for Interview Preparation
February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Financial Executives Networking Group Newsletter February 5, 2012 – From Rich Boughrum, Charlotte NC Chapter, Rich writes: Hi Matt – Here is a short book review / recommended reading list for the newsletter based on my recent preparation for interviews. – I would like to pass on what I have felt is very efficacious input [...]
Following Gabrielle Giffords’ BRAVE Leadership
January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Image by Talk Radio News Service via Flickr We are witnessing an amazing tale of overcoming adversity unfolding in real time. We all know the story of how Gabrielle Giffords was one of thirteen people injured, while six others were killed, in gunfire a year ago. We all have seen the stories of the miraculous [...]
Paul Callahan Wins the Match Race Inside the Fleet Race to Go Back to the Olympics
January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Paul Callahan won the Olympic trails this past weekend and will represent the USA again in the Paralympic Sonar class in the UK this upcoming summer. I previously talked about Paul in an article on Forbes.com on how Positive Misdirection Instills Confidence. Paul is one of my personal heroes – win, lose or [...]
Thorsten Heins’ New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan as CEO of RIM (Blackberry)
January 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Image via Wikipedia RIM/Blackberry's shareholders and customers should be scared. They are watching a train wreck happen in slow motion. This is a company that is in trouble. It has been out-innovated by its competitors. It has failed to keep its network up and running on a consistent basis. No matter how they spin [...]
Why RIM’s New CEO Needs to Change the Platform for Change
January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Getting promoted from within is often trickier than is readily apparent. Getting promoted from within during a turn-around is far trickier still. It’s important to strike the right balance between continuity and change. With that in mind, RIM’s new CEO, Thorsten Heins, needs to change his current thinking on that balance. Going to be continuity [...]