8 Steps to a Succession Plan

Many small to mid-size businesses find themselves dealing with the priority of short term urgencies on a daily basis.  It is easy to put off some of the long term needs and say....we will get to it later. 
One of those needs is the creation of a valuable Succession Plan. 

Here are the steps:

1.  Set long term goals for ownership

2.  Establish a set of managerial competencies

3.  Evaluate the Management team

4.  Debrief the assessment

5.  Seek quality legal, tax advise

6.  Create a robust performance management system

7.  Identify Successors

8.  Handcuff your best people 

You can read more about this in the Vistage Research Center  here 

Hope you find it helpful

     Steve Brody

How to be a CEO

Very interesting article from the New York Times where the author interviewed a large number of CEOs over an extended time period.  He found certain consistencies in high performing CEOs.....these include:

  1.  A shared habit of applied curiosity.  They tend to question everything.  They want to know how things work, and how to make them better.

  2.  They loved a challenge.....actually feeling a sense of discomfort is their comfort. 

  3.  How they managed their career.  There was a focus on doing the current job well......not putting too much focus on where they were headed next.

Do these characteristics resonate with you?   Are they helpful? 

Read the full article  here          

Hope you find it valuable.

       Steve Brody 


      Author Adam Bryant,  Oct 2017 

10 Problems only smart people have

Have you ever found yourself talking about or listening to another leader explain about all the really smart people they have? 

While being smarter sounds appealing, actually living everyday life as an extremely intelligent person can throw up some very real but  rarely acknowledged, challenges. 

Author Peter Drucker has said that......Intelligence has no correlation to success.   Rather Emotional Intelligence is a far more important element that helps drive success.  What happens with super smart people? 

  They overinellectualize things

  They are perfectionists

  They are afraid of looking stupid

  They forget what its like to be a beginner

  They want to skip the basics 

Can you relate to the above thoughts.  Read more about this from an Inc Magazine article  here     

Hope you find it valuable

      Steve Brody

7 Signs You're Exuding Confidence

Have you ever met a very confident leader? A person who exudes self-esteem and somehow commands respect.

This person isn’t really different from anyone else, they just seem different because they consistently demonstrate a high level of confidence in themselves, their actions, and their decisions. This person has a presence that most people don’t have. For those in leadership and potential leadership positions, you likely want to be one of these people. Just how do you go about that? 

Here are 7 key attributes from well known Executive Coach,  Marshall Goldsmith. 

  -  Being well prepared
  -  Having effective use of language
  -  Showing Brevity
  -  Having a strong sense of humor
  -  Being generous
  -  Having a sense of proportion
  -  Enter a room with grace 

Read the full explanation  Here 

Hope you find it valuable.

   Steve Brody

The Secret behind Amazon's Stunning Success

...And it's a combination of Innovation & Accountability.  Just how does the Internet giant continue to Innovate.

This is an interesting description from a prior Amazon employee.  It includes these concepts:

  - Focus on customer experiences & convenience

  - Good intentions are not enough

  - Fear of being ordinary

  - Deliver Goals & Innovation

  - No awards for employee tenure


Read more  here 

Hope you find it helpful

     Steve Brody


   Source:   Andrea Leigh     Aug 2017

What's your Leadership Promise?

I recently came across a blog article about Leadership and the power of a Promise.
This writer noticed a statement on the side of a coffee mug while in Starbucks.  It said:

  Our Barista Promise

 Love your beverage or let us know.....we'll always make it right.


Nice statement.....huh.  Could this apply directly to Leadership in your organization?

 What is your leadership promise? What is it your people can expect from you or count on you to do no matter what?

Here are some possibilities I think would be good starting points:

I will always listen to your viewpoint with an open mind.

I will strive to be equitable and ethical in all of my decisions.

I will never belittle or demean you.

I will not hold you back from other job, promotion, or growth opportunities.

I will be trustworthy.

I will be honest.

I will care about you as a person, beyond just an employee showing up to do a job.

 I will give you the direction and support you need to do good work.

 I will make time to talk with you on a regular basis.

When developing your leadership promise, consider the following:

What are your non-negotiables as a leader? What values, responsibilities, or priorities will you never compromise?

In what realms of your leadership are you willing to have people call you out if you don’t deliver?

What is your comfort level in setting public expectations that you’ll need to live up to?

 What are your core values and how do those influence the way you show up as a leader?

  What your leadership promise says is less important than actually identifying it, and once you know what it is, there is only one thing that remains—deliver on it.

The above are valuable points to consider......how would it apply to you and your organization?  

        from  Randy Conley.....Jul 2015  

  Hope you find this helpful........  Steve Brody 

3 Quick ways to become more interesting & unforgettable!!

Here is a 3 step formula to create an interesting business story.....that gets remembered.
The ability to hear and remember a story is literally part of our DNA.  

Look at this nice article from Inc magazine  to create & practice this process.

     Read more here

Hope you find it valuable......... Steve Brody