General Business Resources

There are some general business macro topics that affect everything, not just discrete parts of the organization. It could be economic trends, governmental regulation, the stock market, geopolitical realties, or simply looking at your business from a 30,000 foot view. This category deals with big picture issues.

Blog Posts

Navigating New Business Venture Landmines: A Comprehensive Guide for Entrepreneurs

August 28, 2024

Launching a new business venture or starting up a company is an exhilarating journey filled with potential and promise. Yet, this path is often laden with hidden obstacles—what we can call “business landmines.” If not identified and managed effectively, these challenges can derail even the most promising endeavors. For entrepreneurs, understanding these landmines and preparing

The FOCUSED Model: Driving Your Small Business to Success

May 31, 2024

As a small business owner, achieving and maintaining success requires a clear strategy and a commitment to continuous improvement. One effective way to ensure your business remains aligned and driven toward its goals is by adopting the FOCUSED model. This model encapsulates the key areas that successful organizations focus on, helping them stay on track

Leading Your Company Through The Organizational Lifecycle

May 22, 2024

Among many other helpful insights, my business leadership professor at Penn State, Dr. Albert Vicere, taught me almost 30 years ago that every company follows a standard lifecycle. As your business grows, the challenges you face as a leader will evolve and occur naturally. To keep moving the organization forward, it’s crucial that you adapt

Recommended Reading

HBR on Entrepreneurship

Beginning with the basics of writing a business plan, this wide-ranging resource moves on to cover sophisticated topics such as how to navigate the world of venture capital funding and strategies for turning technological innovations into successful marketplace realities. Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship offers valuable insights for all types of business pioneers. The Harvard […]
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A Hacker’s Mind

Bruce Schneier
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Legendary cybersecurity expert and New York Times best-selling author Bruce Schneier reveals how using a hacker’s mindset can change how you think about your life and the world. A hack is any means of subverting a system’s rules in unintended ways. The tax code isn’t computer code, but a series of complex formulas. It has vulnerabilities; we […]
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Myself and Other More Important Matters

Charles Handy
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Please click on this link for the Myself and Other More Important Matters Book Summary. One of the world’s most influential living management thinkers, Charles Handy, has year after year been listed alongside business gurus, including Peter Drucker and Tom Peters, in the prestigious Thinkers 50 list. His views on management — and life […]
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Favorite Articles

From start-up to centaur: Leadership lessons on scaling

This playbook for founder CEOs on scaling from start-up to standout and beyond borrows lessons from the global B2B software-as-a-service industry. Scaling is no easy feat. Even companies that develop successful products have a greater than 80 percent chance of failure.1 Fast-growth companies face constant growing pains, especially at critical inflection points, and investors attribute 65 percent […]
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A Growth Strategy that Creates and Protects Value

For organizations to truly innovate and grow, leaders in every role and at every organizational level must be attuned to how they are creating new value while simultaneously protecting existing value. Just as a soccer coach must simultaneously pursue both scoring and defending, leaders must constantly focus their attention on opportunities to create value — […]
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Organizational health is (still) the key to long-term performance

McKinsey’s latest findings on organizational health demonstrate that it remains the best predictor of value creation and a sustainable source of competitive advantage in today’s global marketplace. Organizational health refers to how effectively leaders “run the place”—that is, how they make decisions, allocate resources, operate day to day, and lead their teams with the goal […]
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Leadership Interviews

Noah Berk, Co-President of obo – Leadership Interview

Noah Berk, Co-President of obo – https://theobogroup.com, shares his thoughts on leadership and business.

Helpful Websites

KPI.org

KPI.org is an online resource for KPI practitioners sponsored by the Balanced Scorecard Institute (BSI), a Strategy Management Group company. BSI provides consulting, training, and professional certification services to commercial, government, and non-profit organizations worldwide. BSI specializes in helping organizations: Become a high-performance organization Increase focus on strategy and results Improve organizational performance by measuring what matters Align the […]
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ITR Fed Watch

Each week, ITR Economics CEO and Chief Economist Brian Beaulieu provides an update on the Federal Reserve Board’s latest actions. Our use of factual rather than emotional inputs is key to our data-driven approach to economic forecasting. Our vigilant watch for Federal Reserve decisions is part of this approach. Catch up on ITR Economics’ latest analysis of […]
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BCG Henderson Institute

Since its founding in 1963, BCG has become known for its analytical approach to problem-solving, as well as the emphasis it places on the exploration and development of new business ideas and pursuits. Notably, BCG’s founder, Bruce D. Henderson pioneered the field of corporate strategy and developed concepts like the Experience Curve and the Growth-Share […]
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Video Favorites

How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio

Created by Ray Dalio this simple but not simplistic and easy to follow 30-minute, animated video answers the question, “How does the economy really work?” Based on Dalio’s practical template for understanding the economy, which he developed over the course of his career, the video breaks down economic concepts like credit, deficits and interest rates, […]
11 Habits of Successful CEOs

Video by Pete Scott describing the success habits he’s observed working with CEOs.

Reading Excerpts

Myself and Other More Important Matters by Charles Handy

Please click on this link for the Myself and Other More Important Matters Book Summary Chapter One – Are You Sure? The two zones of work and friendship operate best when they don’t overlap because the perceptions of who we are do not become confused. The truth is that we all behave differently, […]
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On Leadership and Business Book Excerpts Sections 3-5 by Ed Robinson

Please click on this link for the On Leadership and Business – Parts 3, 4, and 5 Book Summary. “Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” —Peter Drucker Part Three: It Takes […]
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On Leadership and Business Book Excerpts Sections 1-2 by Ed Robinson

Please click on this link for the On Leadership and Business Parts 1 and 2 Book Summary. “Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” —William Shakespeare Part One: Leadership Traits There is no such thing as passive leadership. Leaders lead! It […]
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Interested in learning more about leadership?

Ed’s books on Leadership, Life and Business will elevate your knowledge and give you the confidence to apply it to your personal and professional life.