I wonder if the editors of the January-February, 2013 issue of Harvard Business Review connected the dots among their articles. As a reader I did. “The 100 Best CEOs in the World” is the cover story for an issue that also includes the article “Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills.”  Too many CEOs and their C-Suite [...]

Four fast-growing mid-size company CEOs shared success drivers at the recent Milwaukee Biz-Tech Conference-Expo. With rapid growth rates and distinctive business models, their advice is worth heeding. The panelists Mary Isbister, President of GenMet, a custom metal fabricator Mike Malatesta, founder and president of Advanced Waste Services, Inc. a customized service provider that reduces customers’ [...]

  I have long admired UPS for its continuous improvements in customer value. With a mission to “synchronize the world of commerce by developing business solutions that create value and competitive advantages for our customers,” the world’s largest package deliver company has emerged as a leader in supply chain management services and less-than-full truckload shipping. [...]

Craig Schiefelbein, CEO/owner of Wisconsin-headquartered Paragon Development Systems, Inc. (PDS) exemplifies strategic leadership. Is it any wonder then that his Information Technology Solutions (IT) company has grown in twenty-two of the last twenty-four years and strategically partners with healthcare IT departments across the Midwest? Schiefelbein’s strategic leadership rests first and foremost in his willingness to [...]

Madison-based TomoTherapy, a health care technology innovator, has sold out to another niche radiology technology company, California-based Accuray. The combined company will be better able to afford the direct sales and service forces and R&D investments critical to success when selling against radiology leaders like General Electric (GE), Varian Medical Systems and Siemens. Accuray’s superior [...]

Happy Thanksgiving. I love the Thanksgiving holiday.  Each year the celebration reminds me that practicing gratitude and believing in abundance create a more abundant life. These two concepts are at the heart of great leadership, an opportunity mindset, and building a better business model. Gratitude (versus being unappreciative) and a belief in abundance (versus scarcity) [...]

It seems natural to judge a political candidate by her previous work performance, which is precisely why my eyes are on the California Senate race. Former HP CEO Carley Fiorina is challenging the incumbent democrat, US Senator Barbara Boxer, to represent the financially strapped state. While the two women trade public policy barbs, HP shareholders [...]

Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio demonstrates one of the most important qualities of a strategic leader – an honest assessment of the status quo. “We know we’ve got a problem, which is starting pitching. We as an organization need to face that reality and address it, as opposed to shrink from it or excuse it. [...]

I am spending two weeks, mostly in Austria, exploring the Eastern Alps and biking along the Donau (Danube) River, before seeing Wein (Vienna) and Prague in The Czech Republic.  Austria is exquisite. The majestic views here make Wisconsin’s landscapes look like a table model for the real thing. (And I love Wisconsin’s land.) In Saltzburg, [...]

I spent the weekend in Scotland, where one cannot escape RBS’s logo, RBS standing for The Royal Bank of Scotland. Its brand imagery stands out exiting the airplane, passing city billboards, and reading or listening to local media. Today, the people of Scotland own close to 70 % of RBS because the former (duly fired) [...]