“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors,
and let every new year find you a better man.”
Benjamin Franklin
1706-1790
The Single Best Interview Question
Peter Thiel is one of the most successful entrepreneurs (Paypal, Facebook, Palantir) on the planet. If you haven’t read it, his book “Zero to One” should be required reading for anyone who really wants to do something new and valuable.
When he interviews for his team, Mr. Thiel asks a question that helps him identify the contrarian capability of the interviewee. In short, he’s asking if they are a “horizontal” thinker or a “vertical” thinker. Take two minutes to learn about The Single Best Interview Question You Can Ask.
The Arc of Tragedy
A Vistage Speaker once told my groups that “the second worst thing that can happen to a company is success.” Too often success is perceived as a “finished good” instead of a metric that what we’ve done is working, but no guarantee of future success.
A few months back I referenced a book by Jim Collins in which he explored how companies grow and die (and how to keep the latter from happening). “How the Mighty Fall” should be on every CEO’s desk and re-read annually. In it, Collins describes the “arc of tragedy” that awaits every company that is unaware of it …..or thinks itself immune.
If you’ve not read it yet, spend a few minutes with this Collins in this video interview for an executive summary when the book first came out (After which I’m pretty sure you’ll read it).
How far along is your company on the ‘Arc of Tragedy.’
‘No Regrets’ is No Way to Live
No life is free of regret. We’d all like do-overs on more than a few things. Often, we do our best to put them behind us and society often encourages us to do so.
Author Daniel Pink (“Drive”, “To Sell is Human”) isn’t so sure. In his new book, “The Power of Regret” he makes the compelling point that a proper understanding, and use, of our past regrets can be the start of a better path forward.
Check out this 2-minute video preview of his new book. (If you subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Pink offers an excellent essay summarizing this book in this past Saturday’s Review Section: ‘No Regrets’ is No Way to Live. Brene’ Brown who wrote “Dare to Lead” writes that “The world needs this book.”
The most important thing that managers manage are themselves. This book may help you do that.
A Little Fun: The 5 Best Super Bowl ads of 2022
We all would appreciate a little more humor these days. Fortunately we had some of the best served up this week in the Super Bowl ads.
Fast Company not only gives us their version of the 5 Best Super Bowl ads of 2022 (and the worst one) but also provides some insights on what formulas the agencies used to achieve their goals. A fun and creative read for those marketing fans among us.
Econ Recon
Yikes! Hikes! The Fed has announced that it will start raising rates. Brian Beaulieu of ITR Economics has a few thoughts about interest rates and the impact on the economy over the next three years.
A Message From Scott:
Friends,
Much of the great information curated by the Vistage Research Team is for Vistage Members only. However, some can be found on their public site. Scrolling down in this link www.vistage.com shows great "Research and Insights" info for non-member senior executives. If you’d like to learn more about Vistage Membership, please contact me at Scott.Thurber@vistagechair.com
Best,
Scott
