by Mark O'Brien | Dec 15, 2014
I have a troubled relationship with planning. I see it as teetering on a scale between dubious advisability and abject futility. Nevertheless, I do recognize the need for it, even if the plan is nothing more than a map on which to plot course corrections. Nothing...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 12, 2014
Thinking is hard work, which is why so few people do it. (Henry Ford) I saw a profile on LinkedIn the other day describing the person who posted it as a thought and people leader. I’m certain the gentleman who posted it is many things, most of which are likely...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 11, 2014
I recently listened as an experienced salesman, employed by a software and professional-services company, bemoaned the fact that his prospects don’t seem to answer the phone anymore. He wondered if the phone had outlived its usefulness, if Alexander Graham Bell...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 10, 2014
Perhaps the only thing more difficult for a company to derive than its elevator pitch is a list — even a short list — of its principal differentiators. In October of this year, The Chautauqua Center for Meaningful Distinction surveyed 647 of the companies in the...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 9, 2014
If you publish an article like this, complicating otherwise simple, intuitive logic, you should expect some push-back. Here it is: The article’s subtitle is “All Value is Subjective”. Of course it is. If it weren’t, no one would pay for The War...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 8, 2014
I recently read an article called, “Just How Sick of Leadership Posts Are We?” It’s unabashed in its disdain for leadership posts that are trite at best, deliberately deceitful at worst. (That’s a paraphrase and an understatement.) I have a...
