Blogs

Future leaders at the cottage

Playing poker with 8-9 twenty-somethings, waiting for the rain to stop, is always interesting. These were articulate and successful high achievers and the discussion eventually evolved towards career issues. 

For Cisco, How Many Priorities is Too Many?

CEO Perspective: Canada, You suck at Marketing !

I suppose I should say we suck at Marketing as I am in the soup too.
I was just reviewing some of the material from the recent CVCA Conference and heard again repeated remarks like “We have great technology but we need to have better relationships with customers and partners.” – code for we suck at Marketing.

One Reason Interviewing Candidates is So Difficult

I was browsing in my local bookstore on the weekend when I came upon a small book titled ‘Toughest Interview Questions’. Always interested in this subject I quickly leafed through it and put it in the pile to buy.
This morning, as I started to read it carefully, I noticed that while the book posed a variety of interview questions along with the attributes they probed, it also counseled candidates on how best to answer them. After reading several of these answers, I looked again at the cover of the book only to realize that the full title of the book was actually 101 Great answers to… The Toughest Interview Questions.

A Eurico Moment

Eurico Rosa Da Silva rode Big Red Mike to a Queen’s Plate victory, and his biggest thrill was meeting the Queen.

It is not often that we look to royalty for insight into how to demonstrate leadership in the modern age. So in our age of egalitarianism Queen Elizabeth II stands as an exception. To overlook her ability to connect with people would be a shame. Wherever she visits she gives leaders a tutorial in how to make everyone she meets feel special.

Strategies for those wanting to make a career or sector change

Many transitional executives contemplate career changes. It may be a career auto or general manufacturing sector executive questioning its future, or a large-company type who covets the chance to work in a smaller organization. Often, it is simply individuals longing to shed unfulfilling careers for exotic destinations as yet unknown. While such transitions are achievable, they are tricky and must be planned. It certainly will not happen simply by informing a headhunter of your ambitions.

Articles

Working for Family Businesses - Part 1 -The StoneWood Perspective

It is the dominant form of business structure worldwide From farmers to small mom-and-pop shops to one-third of Fortune 500 businesses, estimates are that over 80% of businesses are family-owned or controlled,. These include global icons such as Michelin, IKEA, Tata, Ford, Roche, Henkel, Heineken, Cargill, Mars, Bacardi’s, Wal-Mart, Samsung, Bosch, and countless others.
Family business leaders are often the best and brightest executives in their industries. They run professional, innovative, aggressive companies that expand the horizons of innovation, productivity and efficiency. Some observers believe that family firms, with their lower leverage, long-term approach and loyalty to employees point the way to a more stable kind of capitalism in the future.