Three Things Business Leaders Must Constantly Do To Remain Extraordinary

Leadership is hard. Vision, strategy, financing, legal, IT, HR, operations, management, sales, marketing… and staying strong through it all. Tough.

If you don’t absolutely love what you do, if you don’t believe in the positive difference you are making in the world around you, you can fatigue very quickly.

Culture Spotlight: Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (Join Us October 11th for Back-to-School Back-to-Business!)

Founded in New York City in 1987 by Steve Mariotti, a former entrepreneur turned high school math teacher in the South Bronx, NFTE began as a program to prevent dropouts and improve academic performance among students who were at risk of failing or quitting school.

Combining his business background with his desire to teach at-risk students, Steve discovered that when young people from low-income communities are given the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship, their innate “street smarts” can easily develop into “academic smarts” and “business smarts.” Through entrepreneurship, young people discover that what they are learning in the classroom is relevant to the real world.

Do Employees Make Your System Smarter? Or Is It The Other Way Around?

What’s the smartest and strongest aspect of your organization? Is it your employees, or is it your organization?

If you follow the thinking of the spectacularly failed Enron Corporation, who religiously subscribed to the belief that having better talent at all levels is how you outperform, then you put most of your stock in the strength of your people. At the height of its hiring frenzy, Enron was bringing on 250 newly minted Ivy League MBA’s a year, grossly overpaying them, giving them Carte Blanche to pursue strategic ideas, and catering to their every professional demand.

What Is Your Family’s Culture?

What family legacy are you creating? What words would a stranger use to describe your family if they met you for the first time? More importantly, what words would your kids use to describe your family?

Many business leaders build vision statements and a core value system for their organizations. They have clearly defined rules of engagement, and roles & responsibilities for key players. They reward achievement and performance, and penalize for performance infractions.