“What’s the most important mindset for success in business?” A video podcaster named Nina asked me earlier today. For a second, I doubted I would be able to identify just one key mindset for success.I find questions about “what one thing?” sort of over-simplifying. As trusted advisors to CEOs and investors of large companies, our consultants at ghSMART typically emphasize the importance of context. There is no “perfect candidate” to hire for a job, for example. Success depends mostly on a leader fitting a given context, which has many variables—the customer landscape, strategic challenges, operating challenges, financial or legal factors, culture, etc. [Continue »]

By the time you become CEO, you will be awesome at running meetings. As a humble bystander, and CEO myself for a couple of decades, I have grown to appreciate the fine art of how to run a meeting well. I have seen billionaire tech CEOs run meetings where people cried their eyes out they were so inspired, and I’ve seen front-line supervisors at an aluminum can manufacturing company run meetings so poorly that people were falling asleep–heads clunking down on the table. [Continue »]

You will reach the top of your field. And others won’t. “How do you know? My field is quite crowded with lots of smart people,” you say. I’m going to share with you a secret to success that will change your mindset and how you spend your time, and will alter your career trajectory to the tippy top of your field. There is a tactic that I learned the hard way when I founded ghSMART at the age of 23 (over 20 years ago). [Continue »]