The best CEOs make talent management a priority – I believe this wholeheartedly. When I say “a priority” I mean they make it one of their top three agenda items in every staff meeting and they give it adequate time for review and discussion. Great CEOs and their staffs are continually ensuring that they have […]
My very first “official” marketing role was Product Manager for Baxter’s base/core/what-the-business-had-been-built-on I.V. (intravenous) product line. You know all those I.V.’s that get hooked up “stat!” to bleeding patients on all your favorite T.V. shows? That was the business I was responsible for…and it was worth over $500 million in revenues at the time I started as […]
My inner Isis (you’ll remember her from my Goddess of Vision post) is pretty ticked off, and she’s been that way since Thursday when I had a conversation that went something like this… Me: Can you articulate your vision for the organization? Him: Yes, we have a vision statement. Me: All I see is a mission statement. Him: Same thing. […]
I realized over the last few weeks as I have been breathing life into this blog that I have begun to lose strands of hair. Now, it’s not noticeable at all and it’s certainly not like I don’t have a few extra to spare, but it’s annoying and was surprising to say the least. I mentioned this to a wise friend, who […]
I have the honor and the privilege of working with the CEO Connection, an exclusive organization comprised of CEOs leading companies with more than $100 million in revenues. Part of my role includes spending time on the phone with CEOs who have been nominated to join the organization, discussing the culture that they’ll find within […]
It’s been amply chronicled how I nearly chickened out of launching this blog and was brought back from the Pit of Despair by my friend Mack Collier and his words of wisdom on the eve of my launch. (No, I never encountered any Rodents of Unusual Size while in the Pit, but I digress for fellow Princess Bride fans…) There was one other, […]
I’m a July baby, born in the sultry heat of a Boston summer. My parents were young and had just celebrated their one year anniversary when they had me…shortly after which my dad went off to service in the Army. We lived in an Italian section of Boston in a 3-flat. My grandpa lived alone […]
Have you ever watched a football game on TV? Of course you have. Ever seen a really bad play that clearly did not go the way the Head Coach or the team had planned? All the time. What happens next? In the span of, I don’t know, maybe 30 seconds the entire competitive landscape is re-assessed […]
It was June of 2006. I was on home-based dialysis because both of my kidneys had stopped working the previous summer. Every night at around 9:00 pm I would head to my bedroom for the night, hook myself up to a dialysis machine via a tube in my stomach, and stay there until 6:00 am. […]
I recently attended a conference at which a number of CEOs and marketing executives were present. One morning when at a breakfast table with seven others the discussion turned, as it often does, to how we could be of help to each other. One CEO in the group asked the marketers present for some creative […]