BHAGs And F-TAGs

BHAGs are big, hairy audacious goals. They’re full of long-term vision and loaded with ambition. F-TAGs are finite, tiny, achievable goals. They’re bite-sized next steps we can order and cross off a list. Great leaders have BHAGs. They can act as a guiding light for an organization and unify the culture under a shared mission. …

How To Take Control Of A Story: Liverpool’s Asterisk Edition

The English Premier League (soccer) season took a 100-day break due to the pandemic. Liverpool, who were on track to claim their first title in 30 years, were nervous going into the gap. It wasn’t clear if the league would return, and the talk started to revolve around if this year’s winner would forever have …

Leadership During A Crisis With CEO Ed Bastian

Ed Bastian has had his hands full navigating Delta through the pandemic. If you think you’ve had a rough go, imagine being the CEO of an airline right now. It’s a war on all fronts to still have any business at all whenever this ends. Time will tell if he succeeds. Bastian recently appeared on …

Podcast Of The Week: The Real Story Of MTV As Told By The Founders

I’m already on the record as a huge fan of Bob Pittman and the Math & Magic podcast. His contribution to so many of my formative media experiences between MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, etc., is, literally, immeasurable. This week they posted a special combo episode taking highlights from everyone he’s interviewed about the early days of …

Podcast Of The Week: Dr. Randall Stuttman On Becoming An Admired Leader

Every now and then I look at a podcast title and description two or three times, glancing at the length, and wondering if I should even bother. I came very close to skipping this one and am so glad I didn’t. Dr. Randall Stuttman is a leadership coach and founder at the Admired Leadership Institute. …

Custodians And Creatives

Every organization needs custodians and creatives. People to care for things, and people to bring new things in. People who maintain the operation, and people who reinvent it. People who hold onto the past, and people who chase the future. The combination is what makes it sustainable. We’d like to think custodians can protect the …

Empowering The Front Lines To Lead: Krulak’s Law

Krulak’s Law says that the life of an organization is in the hands of the people on the front lines, not the managers at the top. Charles C. Krulak is a retired Marine who does a lot of critical thinking and writing about strategy. In “The Strategic Corporal: Leadership in the Three Block War,” he …

Leading Our People (Virtually)

Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson shared a post on leading companies virtually. Do read the whole post, but let’s focus on this: Leading a company in this time is very hard. My job mostly entails talking to our portfolio company leaders and I am hearing that they are yearning to be able to walk the halls, …

Our Spartan Shield

The Spartans would fine a soldier who lost a helmet or breastplate in battle. However if a soldier lost a shield, he would be put to death. By their logic, the helmet and breastplate were worn to protect the individual, but the shield, that was borne to protect the whole army. There was no excuse …

Ogilvy’s Killer Poets

David Ogilvy said, Most good copywriters fall into two categories. Poets. And killers. Poets see an ad as an end. Killers as a means to an end. If you are both a killer and a poet, you get rich. Ogilvy was writing about people in the advertising business, but his advice extends much farther. In …