Beware of your expertise GM3

In the third of our series of posts on transitioning to becoming a General Manager I’d like to dicuss the expertise that got you the GMs job and how this strength can become a weakness.

This transition is often called moving from being an “I-shaped” specialist to a “t-shaped” generalist

As a new leader, you may have worked your way up the ladder by being an expert in your field.… Read more

What’s a tech company?

Tech companies command fantastic valuations and are routinely exempt from doing things that tired old-fashioned analog companies do- like make a profit, or make strategic sense.

But really, what is a tech company? Soon to IPO, WeWork and Peloton, don’t have much in common: one company rents empty buildings and converts them into office space, and the other sells home fitness equipment and streaming classes, both, though, claim to be tech companies.… Read more

Top 10 signs of a Dysfunctional Board

I believe I was very lucky that few of the Boards of Directors I was a part of were really dysfunctional. Having said that a  dysfunctional board of directors has the ability to cause multiple headaches for your business or organization. In the penultimate discussion on Boards Lets look at why Boards go bad.

Not only will a dysfunctional board of directors often fail to make decisions that are in the best interest of the business, its dysfunction has the potential to move outside the confines of the boardroom, causing negative publicity.

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Upcoming Series


I am set to publish a 4 part series on managing boards of Directors over the next two weeks.

I hope that this is of use to those readers who are parts of Boards or who are about to either set up their own Board of Directors or Advisors, or joining similar Boards.

Being part of a Board is very different from being on a management team- different skills, different attitudes needed.… Read more