CEO
Speak Plain Words! | Anecdote
Although most guides to effective leadership emphasize communicating in understandable language, many executives lean toward complex, technical, impressive-sounding messages in daily business communication.
While 90% of leaders surveyed acknowledge using abstract and overly complex words, the most effective leaders communicate more directly with engaging stories that assure understanding and forge stronger human connection.
Can you explain what you do for a living and why you do it in clear, understandable language?
"Don’t use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.” ~ Mark Twain
anecdote.com
Leadership
Work smart - working harder is not a sustainable advantage | NFX
It’s often said that success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. In other words, 1% of success comes from the idea and 99% comes from execution.
Although this may be true when growing a business, in the early stage of a startup, the core idea makes a huge difference. Small changes in your initial idea/direction will make a big difference to where you end up!
It’s just as hard to build a mediocre company as a transformative one. Both will take 100% of your time. Hard work is not a sustainable strategic advantage.
Work smart - don't waste your time and energy on a mediocre idea!
nfx.com
Technology
Why Cash Is Becoming Obsolete | QZ
New technology is upending everything in finance, from saving to trading to making payments. Slow, fee-heavy ways of doing things are giving way to automated, AI-enabled services from nimble fintech upstarts. And some of the most innovative mobile and online financial services are taking emerging markets by storm, bringing millions into the formal financial system for the first time.
It’s hard to imagine cash remaining a viable medium of exchange in the world once you get past the next five to 10 years, depending on which country you’re talking about. Even if consumers prefer to use cash, for businesses, using cash is a hassle. They have to handle cash. They have to make change. They have to store cash. Cash is vulnerable to loss and theft. That's why many businesses around the world are moving quickly and decisively toward digital payments.
qz.com
Career
Five Questions to Rock Your Job Interview | Korn Ferry
With millions of leaders considering a change in employers this year, job interviews are more important than ever to showcase your talent and determine if a new role or different employer is a great fit.
Beyond predictable interview topics, here are five questions to ask that will highlight your intelligence, curiosity, ambition, and enthusiasm for a new role while also helping you learn more about your prospective boss or employer.
What two things are you looking for that will likely help the next leader excel in this role?
How will you know the leader you hire is succeeding?
What do you enjoy most about working on this team?
What business challenges and changes has this team addressed recently?
When can I expect to hear back about next steps?
kornferry.com
Books
New and Notable Books | Indra Nooyi - My Life in Full
Indra Nooyi, the former chair and CEO of PepsiCo, is one of the only women to run a Fortune 50 company and one of the foremost strategic thinkers of our time. In her new memoir, “My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future,” Nooyi describes the events that shaped her life, from her childhood and early education in 1960s India to the Yale School of Management to her rise as a corporate consultant and strategist who ascended into the most senior executive ranks in business.
washingtonpost.com
BCedX
Are You Lucky? | BCedX
What's luck got to do with it?
That's a question one client asked me this week while discussing his career so-far.
Here’s my answer.
Luck, of course, dictates where we are born, our gender, our parents and siblings, our initial socio-economic class, and the genes that influence our health, energy, and intellect.
Beyond these significant factors, the lives and careers of successful leaders I coach are shaped by four considerations.
Choices.
For better and worse, choices have consequences. Saying “Yes" to opportunities, assignments and experiences that align with our greatest interests and strengths increases probability of achievement. Saying “No” to things that divert our attention from our strengths and talent accelerates our advancement.
People.
The people we live, work, and play with are the biggest predictor of our life and career experience. Finding and working for a great boss is often more important than finding a great job. Be a great boss. Hang-out with people who share your beliefs and inspire you to step-up your game.
Preparation.
Luck, it is said, happens when preparation meets opportunity. There are no shortcuts to success in the biggest jobs and competitions. Pay your dues. Put in the time. Practice and prepare the way you expect to perform. Be quick, and don't hurry!
Beliefs.
Luck happens for those who believe they are lucky. Luck happens for those who have courage to act on their beliefs.
How lucky are you?
You can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket!
zendesk.com