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Virtual Boss: 5 Tips for Effective Remote Leadership
During the past year, we have had to become comfortable working from home—while also trying to balance family life, care-taking, etc. While the recent pandemic has forced the issue for many, I have actually been working remotely with my team in the UK since 2010, when my family moved to Colorado. During that time, I’ve found that a hybrid model—partly in the office, party at home—truly does deliver the best of both worlds!
The Family CEO: Aging Leaders Who Can’t Stop Leading
The Personal Side of Business Succession Planning It’s one of the most common pain points for my clients on the succession planning keynote speaker circuit: the leader who can’t stop leading. In a standard corporate transition, business is business. In the best of...
Knowledge Transfer Basics: 5 Tips to Avoid the Brain Drain
It’s a great time to be a succession planning keynote speaker—the working world has never needed our guidance more than it does now! But with more than 80 million baby boomers planning to retire before 2030, we’re about to face what might be the biggest knowledge gap in history.
10 Essential Lessons Learned at a Succession Planning Retreat
When diving into the fundamentals of succession planning with prospective clients I meet on the succession planning keynote speaker circuit, I often compare the process to creating a last will and testament. After all, that’s essentially what it is: basic estate planning for one’s business.
The 1 Simple Thing Successful Business Leaders Have In Common
Many of the people I meet on my succession planning retreats share a common complaint: strategy takes work! It can be incredibly difficult to tear oneself away from the day-to-day management of the business to focus time and resources on what feels like a theoretical future.
Fundamentals of Succession Planning
As a consultant and succession planning keynote speaker, I often take it for granted that business owners know what it is, and why it is important. However, several recent virtual conversations with groups of business owners made me realize that this is not the case—so I thought this might be a good time to revisit some succession planning fundamentals.
The Ai Revolution in Hiring
I have come across an assessment tool that could be a game changer when looking to promote or hire new talent into a key role in your organization. It is called pymetrics, and is an Ai based assessment tool which helps you find the best fit for any particular role. It was developed by Frida Polli PhD; an academic neuroscientist from Harvard and MIT turned entrepreneur.
Self-care to Survive a Crisis
I recently read this excellent article by David Lancefield in the Harvard Business Review and it made me think about an important principle during times of high stress, that of self-care.
Do These 5 Things to Survive a Business Turnaround
If there’s a small silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s the opportunity that many companies have had to make their operations remote.
Foolproof Strategies for Recognizing the 5 Cs of Leadership
When leading succession planning retreats, I often ask my attendees to think about the managers they have worked for over the years and whether or not these people were good leaders. I received very different answers – what I heard was astounding.
6 Leadership Assessment Tools to Try in 2021
I have always been serious about improving my leadership skills and investing in professional development. This goes back 25 years to when I was a young leader in my family business, and was responsible for leading a team of people who were older and more experienced than myself. Today, as a leadership and succession planning keynote speaker, I help my clients develop these qualities.
Leading Yourself to the Top in Succession Planning
Within the next 10 years, Boomers will have all but handed over the reins of corporate leadership to succeeding generations. This is likely the biggest leadership handover the corporate world has seen to date, and companies large and small are wisely making preparations. On the succession planning keynote speaker circuit, I’ve been working with my clients to create unique strategies that work within the realms of their family businesses.
Tips for Building a Balanced Board
As a succession planning keynote speaker, I meet a lot of family business and closely held company owners—and I find that a surprising number of them are operating without any kind of advisory board. Of course, most of them are attending my talks in the context of...
The Talent Turnaround: Why Your A-Players Will Get You Through This + How to Keep Them
How the world has changed in recent months! While we’re learning to balance the challenges of “the new normal” during a global health epidemic I wanted to offer a few thoughts on the value of human capital. Please read on for valuable tips on how to keep your A-Players.
Five Reasons Your CEO is Putting Off Retirement
In my travels as a succession planning keynote speaker, I meet a lot of business owners & CEOs. Not surprisingly, the subject of succession planning comes up often, but what *is* surprising — the number of successful corporate leaders who claim to have a succession plan in their head, and nothing written down.
The Myth of the Safe Decision: Risk + Reward in a COVID-19 World
Regardless of industry or company size, today’s business leader likely has some incredibly tough decisions ahead. With the entire world experiencing the COVID-19 crisis together, it’s clear that the rules of business engagement have changed.
This One Thing Could Bring Your Business Down (and it’s Not COVID-19)
In the midst of this global crisis that we’re all navigating together, most business owners and leaders are focused on basic survival. They’re exploring the nuances of a (suddenly) remote workforce, looking for creative ways to recoup unexpected losses, and pondering substantial operational pivots to adapt to an ever-expanding “distance marketplace.”
Inspiration in Transition: On Successfully Weathering the Storm
In times of crisis, employees look to their leaders for reassurance as well as inspiration. They want to know that the company they work for is going to survive the current challenges—and hopefully, one day thrive. We have never before seen the global economy hit “pause” in this way.
Stepping Out, Not Down: Why Your Aging CEO Won’t Retire
You’ve done your succession planning homework, and you’ve taken all the right steps—whether this involved meticulously grooming younger members of the family business, or conducting an exhaustive search for a competent and closely aligned outside candidate for you...
The Next Generation of Leaders: 5 Things Gen Z Needs to Succeed
On the succession planning keynote speaker circuit—and in this blog—I talk a lot about Millennials in the marketplace. Comprising half the current U.S. workforce and expected to reach 75% over the next five years, this complex generation cannot (and should not) be...
Freedom to Fail: One Simple Way to Foster Fearless Employees
Failure is an inevitable part of life—and, of course, business. It’s a topic I cover thoroughly as leadership and succession planning speaker, in part because I learned early in my career to actually value failure for the indelible lessons it can teach us, both about business and about ourselves.
