CEO

From the way I lead my business to the way I raised my three sons, nothing has shaped me quite so much as the people and culture I come from. My formative years made me the person I am today, and that includes the way I lead my team as President and CEO of SKYDEX.

The executive team of Etres Technologies spent the last year discussing a strategy to offer a new product into its current market. This new “story of the future” had the potential to significantly benefit both customers and the business. After much planning, the CEO and executive team gave the green light to the initiative, and

I applaud the efforts of organizational leaders who take well-considered steps to promote the core values of respect and inclusiveness. But can we agree that sometimes just a few not-so-well-considered words will undermine even the most carefully designed, well-intentioned actions? It’s time that we re-think some overly common terminology if we truly seek to foster

Going for the GOLD and sustaining the Olympic Gold Champion Discipline is a story on greatness, recently I had the opportunity to discuss exactly that with the United States Olympic Gold Medalist Connor Fields. THANK YOU for sharing! Q – “Let’s address the obvious, what has it meant and does it mean to you to

The idea of a “new normal” has permeated the conversation among business leaders for more than a year. We use the phrase as shorthand to refer to life and business during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s time to drop this figure of speech. Not only is “new normal” a tired cliché, but it

Climate crises and environmental disasters. Covid-19 and its variants. Social upheaval. Racial justice reckoning. Geopolitical conflict. Washington dysfunction. These and other disruptive forces are driving business leaders to rethink virtually every aspect of how their organizations operate. Disruption isn’t expected to ease up anytime soon–and it’s keeping business leaders awake at night. In the AlixPartners

What can organizational leaders learn from an unemployed, unmarried woman who lived more than two hundred years ago? As it turns out, a great deal. Jane Austen offers organizational leaders six tools for cultivating a post pandemic culture that develops, inspires, and sustains women leaders no matter what  constraint they face whether COVID or otherwise.

Many leaders barely needed to think about staff vacations through the pandemic, with so many layoffs; in fact when they did think of vacation it was as a concern that they couldn’t get anyone to take their time off. But a new reality is setting in this summer: in a recent Korn Ferry survey, nearly

For decades, Tom Mercaldo, president of Aquinas Consulting in Milford, Connecticut, relied on a combination of full-time employees and independent contractors around the U.S. to serve client needs, scrupulously following longstanding guidelines from the IRS to avoid trouble—and keep everyone happy. Then came California Assembly Bill 5. In January 2020, the state passed the new

Jonathan (“Jon”) Gray, president and COO of the Blackstone Group, vaulted into the ranks of the world’s 500 richest people after shares of the investment giant have soared amid a flurry of dealmaking and strong earnings. His fortune has jumped more than 50% this year to $5.9 billion. He ranks as the 495th wealthiest person

Many leaders are feeling unbelievably stretched and stressed beyond their limits, like tired rubber bands that no longer snap back. So how do you increase your elasticity so you can naturally return to a balanced state? Resiliency is the elastic force we use to return to normal when stress and crisis stretch us out. Unlike

Generational stereotyping at workplaces is not a new thing in today’s modern world. With the mainstream media using generational labels such as baby boomers and traditionalists, it is not hard to have generational stereotypes at work. Given the normalcy, most individuals may not even realize they are doing it in the first place. Is your

It’s one thing to get an organization to move off a burning platform. It is quite another to get an organization to move when there is no visible fire. The pandemic required leaders to make significant changes at great speed. For some it was a question of survival, for others it was to seize an

Goal setting has become a bit like alphabet soup. We have SMART goals and HARD goals or CLEAR goals and BHAGS (big hairy audacious goals). The number of goal setting acronyms is a bit astounding, but are any of these truly helping us achieve what we ultimately desire? We live in a culture that demands

Recently I met with the CEO of a Fortune 500 financial services company about something that was keeping him “up at night.” He said that while he has plenty of access to financial capital, thanks to flush markets and eager investors, he is extremely worried about his ability to access sufficient human capital to grow

It’s tragically common for people in organizations to be promoted up the hierarchy to their “level of incompetence,” a concept in management known as the Peter Principle. They are promoted because they did well in their previous job, not based on their potential to meet the needs of the new position into which they are

What do you do when you meet someone new virtually or in person? If you can see them, you may immediately start to size them up and figure out where they “fit in” based on their appearance. We do this automatically because it provides a level of comfort in dealing with the new person, but

Workers across the country and around the world have spent much of the past year working from home, at a distance to one another, adapting to Zoom screens rather than conference rooms. As we move toward reopening and a return to the office, leaders may face challenges helping workers adjust to the changes that come

During my company’s first six years, my only exposure to culture was a boring session on the subject at a minor conference. To me, culture seemed like so much marketing fluff. I didn’t see the point—my people and I were all grown adults, after all. I thought we were mature enough to self-manage. It wasn’t

With transmission rates and the number of new Covid-19 infections declining in highly vaccinated countries, governmental agencies have substantially eased their guidance about masks and distancing. As normal activities resume, remote employees may now return to the workplace. Yet the pandemic is not over, and employers must continue to protect their workers and manage risk.