“The quality of a person’s life is in
direct proportion to their commitment to excellence,
regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
Vince Lombardi
1913-1970
Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers, 1959-1967
“Waiting for Trouble”
Most of us are familiar with the late Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” One of the book’s great lessons is understanding the difference between the “Urgent and the Important.” Marketing guru Seth Godin, in a very short blog post, builds on the late Dr. Covey’s wisdom.
We can focus on opportunities, or problems.
But to so, you must first ask yourself, Are you Organizing for urgent?
What to do, Where to do it
The young people in your life may find the following of particular importance.
Recent years have witnessed the resurgence of an American phenomenon; the ability and willingness to move from state to state for better opportunity or to flee areas that lack promise or are in decline. Recently, millions of Americans have abandoned California and New York for Texas and Florida. In decades past, even more move moved from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt in search of alternative futures.
LinkedIn has access to some of the best employment data available, not only about the hottest jobs, but the hottest job markets. If you want to know what to do, and where to do it, check out this list of the Fastest growing jobs in US cities growing jobs in US cities.
50 Ways to Kill Your Startup (or New Product or New Division)
The late Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett’s partner at Berkshire Hathaway once remarked “It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent..”
One way to be ”to be consistently not stupid” is to learn from the mistakes of others. A good place to start is a recent Entrepreneur Magazine article which offers an important checklist: “Here Are the Top 50 Mistakes I’ve Seen Kill New Companies”. Many of these might apply to a new division or product line as well!
Econ Recon:
A Chaotic Week: The economic news this week was not the best. Inflation as measured by the CPI was up 3%. This was the fourth consecutive month of rise with no relief in sight. Inflation plus a labor market and both industrial production and retail sales still moving up will do little to motivate the Fed to reduce short rates and there seems to be little to bring down longer term rates like mortgages.
The next trend will be one of rise according to ITR Economics’ Brian Beaulieu who suggests that the Trump administration’s tariffs aren’t likely to bring prices down either. In this week’s Fed Watch, Mr. Beaulieu unpacks the data from a chaotic week.
Friends,
As you seek to grow the value of your business this year, where are you getting your advice? This will be an action-packed year of changes and opportunities.
Don't go it alone. My CEO peer advisory group consists of 19 high-performing, non-competing business owners. They share their experience to help each other solve their biggest challenges and capture their best opportunities, all in a confidential forum. As a result they grow faster, with less stress.
Contact me if you think you may be a candidate for our team. Typical members are growth-oriented CEOs/owners of southeastern New England businesses with revenues between $10 million and $200 million.
Do away with being 'lonely at the top'.
Scott
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