-
How Bad Do You Want It?
Today’s Strategic Reflection Post in two sentences: In selling, our job is to diagnose the problem, recommend the solution, master our sales process and ask for the business; the client’s job is to decide whether to buy. If we measure our performance only by whether they say yes or no, we may be judging ourselves…
-
What Martha Stewart Built Before Her Category Had a Name
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: Martha Stewart was building what we would now call a personal brand, creator business and lifestyle empire years before the language existed to describe any of it. Her story is a useful reminder that sometimes the work becomes clear before the category does. When Martha Stewart started…
-
Non sine periculo: A sound business motto
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: Entrepreneurship is non sine periculo: risk comes with the territory. The discipline is to understand what you are risking, what could be gained or lost, and whether the risk is worth taking. Perhaps every person starting a business should be handed a crest with three Latin words…
-
Focusing Only on Money Brings Good Numbers but No Happiness…
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal Post in two sentences: Money is an essential measure of business performance, but it is not the lone marker of success. When financial results become our only definition of success, we can achieve impressive numbers while losing the time, relationships, health and sense of meaning we expected success to provide. Money…
-
How Do You Live Your Practice?
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: We can spend so much time asking where our work is taking us that we forget to pay attention to how we are actually living it. Perhaps progress is less about proving that we are getting somewhere and more about building a practice we are willing to…
-
Steal Like an Artist, but Vet for Burden
Borrowing ideas from others is a great way to innovate, but every creative spark carries an unseen cost. Today we are surrounded by so many different ideas and ways of doing things that deciding what to steal can quickly lead to disorientation instead of clarity. Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist encourages remixing existing work.…
Alignment, Austin Kleon, brand strategy, business growth, business planning, business strategy, content creation, content strategy, creator economy, decision quality, Decision-Making, entrepreneurship, focus, innovation, Leadership & Practice, marketing strategy, personal branding, pre-decision thinking, productivity, resource management, Steal Like an Artist, strategic alignment, Strategic thinking, strategy, sustainable business -
A Practical Look at Faith in Business
Faith is often avoided in business. It either sounds too religious for the boardroom or perceived as too impractical for strategy meetings. Yet every entrepreneur exercises faith. None of these come with guarantees. In a Return to Love, Marianne Williamson tells us that there is no such thing as a faithless person. The question isn’t…
Alignment, belief systems, business growth, business leadership, business mindset, business strategy, business success, conscious leadership, Decision-Making, entrepreneurship, faith, intention, intentional leadership, Leadership & Practice, leadership development, mindset, mindset shift, organizational leadership, personal growth, problem solving, purpose, resilience, Self leadership, Strategic thinking -
Complete Fearlessness Is a Recipe for Ruin
Yesterday I wrote that cynicism is not wisdom. It is often fear wearing the mask of intelligence. Today, I’d like to explore the opposite extreme. Complete fearlessness. We often celebrate fearless leaders, fearless entrepreneurs, and fearless decision-makers. Yet complete fearlessness is not a virtue. In business, it can be be a recipe for ruin. Fear…
better decisions, business leadership, business strategy, courage, courage vs fear, critical thinking, entrepreneurship, fear, fearlessness, Leadership & Practice, leadership development, leadership mindset, organizational learning, resilience, risk management, Strategic Alignment Journal, Strategic thinking -
No Amount of Thinking Can Answer a Market Question
Leaders are paid to think. They analyze, forecast, model scenarios, debate options, and refine strategies. Thinking is essential. But there is one question that thinking alone can never answer: Will the market care? That answer doesn’t exist in a boardroom. It exists in the interaction between your idea and reality. You can spend months perfecting…
business growth, business strategy, continuous learning, customer insights, Decision-Making, entrepreneurship, evidence based management, innovation, Leadership & Practice, market validation, organizational leadership, strategic alignment, Strategic Alignment Journal, Strategic thinking, test and learn
Get Clarity before the Fix
