The Leadership Journey

 Winning the Talent War Compensation Strategies Biotech Uses to Attract & Retain Top Talent Keeping up with hiring trends takes constant attention, research and creativity.  Based on anecdotal evidence, it appears that comp is king! I checked in with Mike Esser, Managing Director with...

Keep Top Talent Through Mentoring Want to retain your best people… Start with your leadership team. We're used to the term mentorship being tossed around when it comes to top performers serving as role models and providing inspiration to promising stars rising through the ranks...

Ignite the HR Advantage The competition for attracting & retaining top talent is the toughest it's been in 50 years! I asked expert Human Resource professionals what advice they had for CEOs who want to leverage HR to win the talent war and achieve the...

Strategic Planning Kills Innovation How to Outthink Your Competition & Create New Markets If you want your organization to create something that has yet to be imagined, that your customers didn't know they couldn't live without before it was introduced, then you and your team...

Shareholder Activism: Are You Prepared? Being Proactive is Key With over $130b of assets under management and a professed goal of creating shareholder value through better run companies, shareholder activists continue to gain momentum by going after publicly traded companies.  The good news is, with...

The NASDAQ Way: Reimagine and Deliver the Future Now Since its launch as the world's first fully electronic stock exchange 50 years ago, NASDAQ has kept growth and innovation at the forefront as critical metrics of success. And that continues today. With many of the...

Alignment Takes Effort Start with a Targeted Communications Plan In our current, work from home, hybrid world, communications from inside and outside of work are increasingly slowing down people's productivity. With emails in the hundreds and distractions endless, (WiFi issues, kids learning in the next...

ResMed's Planning Delivers Epic Results Long before any news was reported on Covid-19, ResMed, a world leader producing and innovating cloud connected devices for people with sleep apnea, COPD and chronic respiratory conditions, observed an unusual trend. Reports coming from their subsidiaries all over the...

Well before COVID-19 became front page news, Richard Pascoe, CEO and President of Histogen, heard about unusual disruptions in materials being delivered by key suppliers in Wuhan, China.   He quickly reached out to his industry connections and across the globe to ask if they...

https://vimeo.com/476172521 According to the FBI, reported cyberattacks have increased 300% since COVID forced employees to work from home. While you are working, sleeping and everything in between, malicious botnets (networks of computers), and hackers are relentlessly testing for vulnerabilities that will give access to your...

Leaders of growing companies face relentless, critical and even competing demands to provide vision, resources and strategic focus, all while evoking aligned execution from their team.  Whether a startup, midsize or Fortune 500, organizations that put an early focus on attracting, developing and retaining top...

3 Common Scenario Planning Questions “The true test of leadership is how well you function in a crisis.” Brian Tracy In an increasingly uncertain world of work, one thing we can celebrate is the end of the phrase – “We've always done it that way”. ...

As COVID-19 restrictions ease, leaders are inviting people back to the workplace. And, not everyone is ready or eager. What we're hearing is a mixed bag of emotions, with some people excited to go back to their traditional office, others who want to remain virtual...

No doubt, these are dynamic and unprecedented times for Boards.    Even before the Covid-19 pandemic and it's daunting, challenging and severe demand on leaders of companies, the world economy was already a rapidly shifting experience  for companies. Include the California mandate requiring adding women...

“We will be stronger.  Let's not waste a crisis.” As the world battles the COVID-19 crisis, leaders heading businesses are making difficult, high stakes decisions under volatile, uncertain and ambiguous conditions. Garry Ridge, Chairman and CEO of the beloved WD-40 company, is responsible for developing...

People don't quit their job – they quit their boss and the company culture.  In our current world of 3.6% unemployment, your most valuable skill is your ability to attract and retain top talent.   So, how do you keep your best people?  Recent Gallup research...

The work you do every day as a leader matters and it impacts all of your stakeholders, for better or for worse.   Besides having performance goals raised every year, creating high performing teams, recruiting and grooming new talent, all while growing the bottom line...

With a seat at the leadership table, a strategic budget and Board support… you will unleash a marketing super power. According to Board advisors, when a company brings in a new President from outside their organization, one of the first two positions that President personally...

Corporate Directors' Forum shares their Diversity Strategy Even with continuous, unassailable evidence showing that companies with diverse leadership teams have better innovation, cultures and financial performance, U.S. businesses are significantly lagging on the diversity front. While many leaders realize they must take action, many aren't...

Why should you care? California made the first move in 2018 by passing bill SB 826 to insure that publicly traded CA companies reflect gender diversity on their Boards. Currently, women hold 17.7% of Board seats in Public Companies, which is remarkable given research shows...

76% of Senior Executives report they're miserable in their roles…here's how to change that.   For the first time in 50 years, job candidates control the market! Why are many executives feeling dissatisfied in their current role? Much of it is because senior leaders and...

What Directors and Leaders Should Know Now The premise of blockchain is brilliant: a decentralized ledger that eliminates the possibility for failure by taking centralized components out of the picture. Specifically, what blockchain technology is meant to do, is automate trust.  Proponents predict blockchain will...

5 Proven Ways to Outperform the Competition Is your company's leadership truly dedicated to innovating?  Are leaders rewarded for creative fails? Do you recognize the innovation blockers?  Recent research from Washington University Olin School of Business is predicting 40% of Fortune 500 Companies will be...

5 Proven Practices for Rapid Growth An interview with Verne Harnish, CEO Scaling Up, Founder of the Entrepreneurs Organization and their premier CEO program at MIT, bestselling and award-winning author and Forbes contributor. Growing a business is exhilarating. Regardless of whether you've founded your own...

According to current research, at best only 30% of Corporate Change Initiatives succeed. You've seen the stats… 80% of people quit their New Year's resolutions by the 2nd week of February. Here's what I use with my clients to stack the odds in their favor...

Where has AI had the most traction and success and what does the future hold? Gioia Messinger iOT pioneer, Founder of Arlo, the #1 DIY smart home security system on the market today, weighs in on AI taking on jobs that are dangerous, dirty and...

CEO Lenny Comma on the payoff of social investments and the value of connection to employees Millennials are leading the charge and demanding that organizations and their leaders play a meaningful role in creating positive social change.  Not only that, 76% of investors also expect...

Here's how to shake it off, get on board and start outperforming your peers by 33%. Diversity is a hot topic and yet, with almost all leaders at the highest levels in organizations looking to make progress, there are constant demands to do more and...

Alexander McCobin talks to us about seismic change in corporate culture. Alexander McCobin has the business world's ear, and they're paying attention.  If you're not familiar with his name yet, you will be.  Alexander and his team from Conscious Capitalism are connecting with CEO's and...

No matter the industry, we're living and working in a time of unprecedented and accelerating change. In this fast-paced landscape, you have two options: lead innovation to stay ahead of the game or fall stagnant and be left in the dust. Click here to LISTEN...

With the right encouragement and tireless reinforcement by your leadership team, you can build a team dynamic that creates a culture of competitive advantage so contagious – it goes viral! Our guest Garry Ridge, CEO and board member of WD-40 Company, is responsible for developing...

Grit, Resilience & Allies: Lessons from Women Leaders in the C-Suite! What can we learn from the trailblazing women who navigated their way to the highest levels in Global Corporate America? In this podcast, Joann Lublin, Wall Street Journal Management News Editor and author of...

What can the “Win at all Costs” cultures at Wells Fargo and Uber teach us about dangers to watch for in performance-based cultures? Michael Berthelot, Director of Fresh Del Monte Produce Company, and adjunct Professor at UCSD for the Rady School of Management had two...

Any google search will tell you the odds are against you sticking to your New Year's resolution or any big goal.  Why? Because changing behavior is hard and most people take on change without setting themselves up to win. The good news is, there is...

Dr. Maria Urso's tips and tricks on how to eat well, indulge your cravings and avoid hitting “the wall” at work Is what you eat impacting your performance at work? Do you hit a wall around 2pm that no combination of candy bars and caffeine...

Award-winning financial crime reporter, New York Times editor, and author David Enrich held our Corporate Directors Forum audience spellbound! In a room of over 200 attendees at the CDF event – in partnership with University of San Diego Law School – Enrich regaled us with...

It's not enough to bring experience and expertise, more and more I'm seeing that besides having the talent to lead people to performance, my executive clients need to manage their energy within demanding roles. That means eat right, sleep enough, use your vacation time and...

It's time to say goodbye to the overused maxim “I'll sleep when I'm dead”. Scientific Research and the most productive people on earth, continually reveal the path to true success, is to take care of your head, body & heart. And, that's where Caroline Jones...

In the wake of repeated cyber attacks on Equifax showing how in demand and vulnerable, our data is to the bad guys…cybersecurity has made it to the top of every executive, business owner and Board members list. What can you do to protect yourself and...

On August 19, 2009, MK Performance Group’s Kelli McCauley did a complimentary teleseminar about finding out the 4 things that top-level financial leaders are doing now, to position themselves to be ahead of the game and have a considerable lead when consumer confidence and the...