Quote: Transparency is a hot issue in halls of legislators and executive offices and something that everyone has to do.  Increasing transparency is part of CEO strategies and investor commitments.  Transparency is the solution to regulatory challenges.  Transparency is something demanded by consumers ranging from support for free trade through to the ingredients in our food.

Quote: The implications of a phantom sales forecast meant something fundamental was broken. In talking to each of his salespeople, he discovered the sales team had no standardized sales process. Each was calling on different levels of an account and trying whatever seemed to work best. This was just a symptom of something deeper –  while they thought they understood the target customer their initial hypotheses from Customer Discovery were wrong. But no one had told the CEO.

Quote: You can choose to be defeatist or to pull your socks up and try again – harder this time.  Enjoy the journey and not just the destination otherwise even when you arrive you may not find the happiness you were looking for, as I suspect my $500 million friend has not (luckily for me he doesn’t read blogs! ).  Read this book (“The Alchemist”) if you want a reminder about enjoying the journey. Or read the magnificent book “Eat, Pray, Love” and follow the Italian mentality of  ”Il Bel Far Niente (The Joy of Doing Nothing)”. And remember, whatever adversity your facing – enjoy the journey.  Life is 10% how you make it, 90% how you take it.

Quote: As a leader, it is important to take the time to know your audience so that you can communicate meaningfully with them. When you know people well, you can choose to relate to them in ways that they will understand and appreciate.