"There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law."
Abraham Lincoln
Talking about Last Week's Riot with your Team
Last week’s events were shocking and are a big topic at every workplace. This article from HBR may help you address the topic with your employees. How to Talk with Your Team About the Violence at the U.S Capitol:
Collins is Back!
When you ask most executives to name the most important contemporary business writer, Jim Collins, author of “Built to Last”, “Good to Great”, “Great by Choice” plus many important articles, usually springs to mind. But you may not know that before “Good to Great” made him famous, he co-authored a book with his late Stanford Mentor Bill Lazier “Beyond Entrepreneurship: Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company.”
A few weeks ago, Collins released an update of his earlier 1992 book “BE 2.0 Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company” which includes the original 1992 book, plus four new chapters and five new essays. Among other gems he offers leaders the following advice (warning; shameless Vistage promotion alert):
“If you want the people with whom you work to improve their performance, first improve your own. If you want others to expand their capabilities, first expand your own. “
Collins’ work is always backed up by impressive research. It is number one on many 2021 Books to Read Lists.
Additional Recommendation: One of Collins’ most underappreciated books is “How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In“ He outlines five stages that a company can suffer if not well led that end in death or irrelevance. (Read it before it happens to you).
Galloway on 2021
It wouldn’t be the first weeks of January if there weren’t various prognosticators offering a look ahead for the coming year. One of the more insightful and entertaining is from Dr. Scott Galloway’s “No Mercy No Malice” blog. You have your choice of the written version if you like to scan it ….but if you can spare an hour and would like to be edified and entertained, I suggest his video in which he assesses his predictions from last year and then offers a look ahead.
Econ Recon
Monetary Facts and Fantasies: If you follow economics, the extraordinary measures to respond to Covid have many concerned about the future of our economy. Check out Brian Wesbury’s year-end musings on Inflation, Debt, Modern Monetary Theory and Bitcoin.
