Never Let an Employee Hold Your Company Hostage
Never Let an Employee Hold Your Company Hostage One of the most common conversations I have with business owners goes something like this: “Ed, if she leaves, we’re in trouble.” Sometimes it’s a…
Leadership Resources
Nothing of consequence is ever accomplished without some form of leadership. Leaders are the change agents of society. They architect the future by challenging the status quo and striving to make things better. They lean into big problems and seize large opportunities. They create opportunities for others to find meaning through doing good work. I have been fortunate to work closely with hundreds of leaders through the years and this category is inspired by this experience.
Blog Posts
Keep Searching Until You Find Your Grant
Keep Searching Until You Find Your Grant Few leadership decisions create more excitement than hiring someone you believe will transform your organization, but it doesn’t always work out. Few create more disappointment than…
What France Taught and Reminded Me About Family, Leadership, and Success
Opening Reflection – Balancing Achievement and Fulfillment As I write this, I am somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean on my way home from France. Like many long flights, this one has provided plenty…
Thank You, Mikel Arteta: A Leadership Lesson Acknowledged by a Lifelong Arsenal Fan
Thank You, Mikel: A Leadership Lesson Acknowledged by a Lifelong Arsenal Fan I have been an Arsenal fan since 1971. I was a boy living in England at the time, and I will…
The Business Growth Trap: Why Bigger Might Be Breaking Your Business
The Growth Trap There is a dangerous assumption many business owners make when things start moving in the right direction. They see revenue increasing, backlog growing, new opportunities appearing, the team staying busy,…
Don’t Fear AI — Learn How to Use It
Don’t Fear AI Why Artificial Intelligence May Be the Greatest Leadership Opportunity of Our Lifetime Over the last year, I have watched people react to artificial intelligence in two dramatically different ways. One…
When Fatigue Catches Up: A Hard Truth About Leadership and Life
When Fatigue Catches Up: A Hard Truth About Leadership and Life Fatigue doesn’t show up all at once. It creeps in. A late night here. A missed dinner there. One more weekend of…
Are You Growing… or Just Staying Busy? The Discipline Behind Intentional Personal Growth
Are You Growing…or Just Staying Busy? The Discipline Behind Intentional Personal Growth After 23 years as a Vistage Chair and a total of 30 years in professional services, seeing more than 1,000 speakers,…
Meetings Aren’t the Problem—Misunderstanding Leadership Is
Meetings Aren’t the Problem—Misunderstanding Leadership Is Why CEOs and Business Owners Need to Rethink Meetings and Their Role I’m always fascinated by leaders who complain about being in too many meetings. At a…
A Leadership Conversation with Jesus of Nazereth
The Setting: The Hills of Galilee – The Night Before The Sermon on the Mount Evening settles over the hills of Galilee. The last light brushes the limestone cliffs of Arbel before fading…
Recommended Reading
Why CEOs Fail
Why CEOs Fail is an important book because it reminds leaders that failure is rarely sudden. It is often built slowly through habits, reactions, and blind spots that go unchecked. For business owners…
Mental Toughness For Women Leaders: 52 Tips To Recognize and Utilize Your Greatest Strengths
Mental Toughness for Women Leaders – LaRae Quy This is a book about pressure. Real pressure. The kind that shows up when you’re the only woman in the room, when expectations are higher,…
Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Powerful Secrets of History’s Greatest Speakers
This book is a field manual. Not theory. Not fluff. It shows you how leaders use language to move people—to act, to believe, to follow. And if you lead anything—a company, team, or…
Reading Excerpts
Layered Leadership by Lawrence R. Armstrong
Layered Leadership by Lawrence R. Armstrong Book Excerpts INTRODUCTION Leadership, whether of a startup; Small, mid-sized, or large firm; team; church; or any organization, must work as a whole across the continuum…
Principles By Ray Dalio
There is nothing more important than understanding how reality works and how to deal with it. The state of mind you bring to the process makes all the difference. I have found it…
The Truth About Leadership by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
Myth and legend treat leadership as if it were the private reserve of a very few charismatic men and women. Nothing is further from the truth. Leadership is much more broadly distributed in…
Myself and Other More Important Matters by Charles Handy
Managing a business, or any organization, I came to see, was more practical art than applied science. Yes, there were some useful disciplines, as in any art form, but what worked best could…
Reflections On Life and Leading Book Excerpts – Part 2
Very few of us have a life curve that is only upward-sloping. The difference is that “lucky” people just do not let their periods of adversity define them in unhelpful ways. They just…
Reflections on Life and Leading Book Excerpts – Part 1
You do not have to settle for a life of quiet desperation and hope that one day things will change. The future is now, and the sooner you start living the life you…
On Leadership and Business Book Excerpts Sections 3-5 by Ed Robinson
I believe that business and nonprofit leaders need to think differently about what constitutes success. Besides the quality of their people, what differentiates most high-performing companies is their vision, focus, and discipline. Culturally,…
On Leadership and Business Book Excerpts Sections 1-2 by Ed Robinson
The leadership journey requires you to cogitate constantly on the role you and others should be playing. As you achieve some level of success, your business may challenge your capabilities to lead it.…
How To Lead by David M. Rubenstein
Surrounding yourself with great people. Learning to delegate early on - not trying to do everything yourself. Making sure you've got the kind of people who are praising the team around them, not…
Leadership: Essential Writings By Our Greatest Thinkers edited by Elizabeth D. Samet
Please click on this link for the Leadership – Essential Writings By Our Greatest Thinkers Book Summary STUDYING THE SYSTEM “Our little systems have their day.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson In Organizational…
Leadership In War By Andrew Roberts
Please click on this link for the Leadership in War Book Summary Chapter 1: Napoleon Bonaparte “Napoleon recognized that the best way to inspire his people was through two means: imbuing people…
The One Thing by Gary Keller
Chapter 1: The ONE Thing “What’s the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?” “Where I’d had huge success, I had…
How The Mighty Fall by Jim Collins
Five Stages of Decline: Hubris Born of Success Undisciplined Pursuit of More Denial of Risk and Peril Grasping for Salvation Capitulation to Irreverence or Death “The concept of hubris is defined as…
Learning Leadership by Kouzes and Posner
Introduction: “The shortage of (exemplary) leaders is a result of three primary factors: demographic shifts, insufficient training and experiences, and the prevailing mindsets that discourage people from learning to lead.” “Exemplary leaders strive…
Time Really is Money By Rob Slee
Please click on this link for the Time Really is Money Book Summary Chapter 1 – Introduction: “…most business owners spend almost all of their time on less than $50 per hour…
Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg
Introduction “Productivity isn’t about working more or sweating harder.” “…productivity is about making certain choices in certain ways. The way we choose to see ourselves and frame daily decisions; the stories we tell…
How to Be a Leader by Martin Bjergegaard & Cosmina Popa
Please click on this link for the How to Be a Leader Book Summary Introduction: Bystanders vs. Leaders “Bystander apathy… Simply put, the more people who can help, the fewer actually…
On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis
Introduction to the Revised Edition, 2003 “Bad economic times allow second-rate leaders to exercise power recklessly and with impunity. Good times will come again, and when they do, the leaders who survive and…
Trillion Dollar Coach by Bill Campbell by E. Schmidt, J. Rosenberg, and A. Eagle
Please click on this link for The Trillion Dollar Coach Book Summary Chapter 1: The Caddie and the CEO The Trillion Dollar Coach “In our previous book, How Google Works, we argue…
Lincoln on Leadership by Donald T. Phillips
Introduction Lincoln stood for all that was right, honest, and self-evident. The foundation of Abraham Lincoln‘s leadership style was an unshakable commitment to the rights of the individual. The genius of leadership lies…
Beneath the Armor by Ole Carlson
Please click on this link for the Beneath the Armor Book Summary Introduction: “There are new frontiers for you to explore, markets to penetrate and a business that deserves your absolute utmost…
Reading Summaries
Be The Best Part of Their Day
Introduction: Why communication matters on the shop floor (and in the boardroom) Most teams don’t stall out because of skill gaps; they stall because people feel unseen, uncertain, or uninspired. When communication frays,…
Layered Leadership
Central Thesis Leadership is layered, not linear. Enduring organizations align several layers—self‑leadership, team development, clear strategy, disciplined execution, market focus, innovation, culture, and succession—so each layer reinforces the others. The leader’s ongoing task…
Peak Performance: Aligning The Hearts and Minds of Your Employees
Introduction In the pursuit of organizational excellence, aligning the hearts and minds of employees is crucial. Jon R. Katzenbach’s “Peak Performance: Aligning the Hearts and Minds of Your Employees” provides a comprehensive guide…
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