Jet Blue Founder, David Neeleman, said this on Guy Raz’s How I Built This podcast. I’ve been thinking about it ever since. First, if you’re not listening to Guy Raz’s How I Built This podcast, you should be. Every episode features a long-format interview with the founder of a successful business. Guy does a great…
Decades ago, my boss told me this as a compliment. When I did research for this post, I found out the phrase is also pregnant with political meaning. As part of Mussolini’s rise to power, he took control of Italy’s large-scale public works projects which included rebuilding the railroads after WW1. As Prime Minister, he…
There’s not consensus on who coined the phrase, but I’ve thought about this bit of genius hundreds of times over the course of my work and personal life. Sometimes problems are hard to solve because the solutions are hard to execute. The solution might require a very difficult conversation – a conversation that will elicit…
It’s been my privilege to work with several family businesses over the last 13 years. In some, the owners have no day-to-day responsibilities, but have turned over operational responsibilities to a CEO or GM. In others, they are both owners and operators. These clients have spanned several industries. However, in one business discipline, for both…