Goldman Sachs Exec: Leaving Due to “Toxic Culture.” Three Lessons for All of Us.
This past week, veteran Goldman Sachs employee Greg Smith submitted his resignation via the New York Times, due to the “toxic culture” that now permeates the organization. “I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it…. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for,” he said.
Smith’s resignation cost the company more than $2 billion.
Honest Tea CEO Seth Goldman Takes Persistence & A Commitment to Mission to New Heights
Imagine pitching your idea to 1,000 investors. Over and over and over again. A little insane, right? Not if you’re Seth Goldman, CEO and C-Tea-O of Honest Tea. When we think of Honest Tea, we think of a delicious beverage, and a wildly successful business.
Dig a little deeper into the roots of Honest Tea, and you’ll discover an entrepreneur who is forever committed to the mission of “changing the way people eat, drink, think and live.”
Seth shared the struggles of his early days with 300 business leaders at the sold-out ConnectPreneur Event in the DC region, architected by global serial entrepreneur and angel investor Tien Wong, CEO of Lore Systems (www.lore.net).
I Challenge You to Ask Yourself: Where are You on Your Ladder of Learning?
It occurred to me this weekend after I attended Yanik Silver’s (http://www.yaniksilver.com/) Underground 8 Online Seminar that one of the primary reasons I am SO FIRED UP about my future is because I am on the LOWEST RUNG of what I call my Personal Learning Ladder™ (PLL). I can’t remember the last time I learned so much in such a short period of time…. Learning opportunities are all around us. We have unprecedented access to knowledge, people, and information that previously was unattainable. What are you doing to continue your learning and growth?
Creating a Culture of High Engagement – And a Future That is Bigger and Better than Your Past
How engaged are you in building a bigger and better future for you, your company, your family, our world?
That was one of the questions I pondered as I absorbed every word that Matthew Kelly delivered at a recent Entrepreneurs Organization (www.eonetwork.org) event. Kelly is a master organizational consultant to several Fortune 500 organizations on the issue of employee engagement. He is also the author of the New York Times Best Seller “Off-Balance” and “The Dream Manager.” Kelly led 125 entrepreneurs through the thought-provoking exercise of questioning our own engagement, as well as the engagement of those around us, such as our employees.
Preserve, Destroy, Create: Your Only Path to Breakthrough Growth
“If it’s not broken, why fix it?” We’ve all said that as a justification for not moving forward with a difficult situation or decision. The question is, what if the status quo is broken and we’re just ignoring the need for repair? What if we lack the awareness, clarity, courage, or strength to take painful action to get to a better place? Business activity falls into three buckets: Preservation, Destruction, or Creation. To move to the next level, a business must go through all three phases.
Are You The Gatorade of Your Market? “No one else has the ability or right to do what we do in our market.”
When you hear “Gatorade,” what do you think? While the name may conjure up seemingly simple ideas such as “sports drink” or “flavored water,” the science behind the Gatorade brand is actually very complex, and is focused on something much bigger, bolder, and specific.
Sarah Robb O’Hogan, North American President of Gatorade and Global Chief Marketing officer of Sports Nutrition for PepsiCo, shared how Gatorade’s brand weakened during the bloated economy, and how the recession brought the brand back to its core consumer. Gatorade’s global mission is “to be the world leader in innovative sports nutrition.” Says O’Hagan: “No one else has the ability or the right to do what we do in our market.”
15 Ways to Be a Lousy CEO
Leadership isn’t just about knowing how to do the right things. It’s also about being hyper-aware of behaviors that can quickly alienate your employees and bring down your organization. In a position of leadership, everything you do counts. All eyes are on you, even when you aren’t there. Employees feel your presence throughout the day because you set the tone. This is what it means to be a leader – to be aware of how your actions and decisions impact others even when you are physically absent. My 17 years of business leadership have taught me 15 ways how to fail at leadership.
Status Quo Bringing You Down? Our Obsession With Being Better
It’s that time of the year when we tell ourselves that we’re going to be better next year. There’s no shortage of experts to help us achieve “better” or “more.” Is it just me, or are we experiencing an obsession with how-to-lists, habit lists, and steps to a better place?
Group Dynamics: Small Stones Cast Big Ripples
Throw a tiny pebble into a pond and watch the ripples reverberate. They cascade outward beyond the point that our eyes can see. The effects occur on the surface and beneath it. Have you ever thought about this change principle in the context of an organization? One of the most disruptive actions regarding a group’s dynamic is the addition of a new member. In an organization, bringing in just one new employee into a company can potentially affect the chemistry and interactions of existing employees, and therefore compromise productivity. Consciously or subconsciously, employees are thinking, “How will this change affect my job?” “How will this person affect how we do things around here?” Their sense of organizational trust may be challenged.
“Always.” “Never.” “Every.” A Guaranteed Path to Failure.
Always, Never, and Every are the easiest ways to set yourself up for failure. There’s no room for error. Everything is presented as an all-or-none… an absolute. Who wants to live life with no wiggle room for error?
The quest for perfection is too exhausting and completely self-sabotaging.
Be a little kinder to yourself. Show some self-love. Lower the self-expectations just a notch.
