The hardest thing about running a business must be figuring out how to manage people. When creating processes, the handoffs in the process, that is the interaction of people and departments are the hardest part. Creating alignment between individual goals and those of the company is endlessly challenging. Think of the creation of an incentive […]
Author Archive | david lightfoot
Book Review: Internal Time
This book was recommended by Daniel Pink in his book When—The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, the subject of my last blog. Pink had six books he recommended in his Further Reading section. He said of this book, “You’ll learn more from this smart, concise work—organized into twenty-four chapters to represent the twenty-four hours of […]
Book Review: When—The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
The latest book by Daniel Pink, When—The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, was released in January 2018 and became an instant best seller. Pink is one of the most successful authors of non-fiction books. His past bestsellers include: Free Agent Nation—This book is about the gig economy, self-employed people and how the economy—even the meaning […]
Fire and Fury—Inside the Trump White House By Michael Wolff
I have to believe that anyone reading this blog has heard of Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff. The book has been a publishing phenomenon. It was announced, and then the author started a tour giving interviews and chapters were excerpted in various publications. But the most effective marketing was by the Trump administration, who […]
Book Review: It’s Not About the Coffee by Howard Behar
A couple of months ago I talked about seeing Howard Behar, one of the key people in Starbucks’ success, speak at a business function. Despite his understated manner, I thought he was the best business speaker I’ve ever heard. I titled my blog, “The Wisdom and Humanity of Howard Behar.” My summary of why he […]
Book Review: The American Spirit
It has been over a year since the presidential election and I’m distressed. Not because Congress can’t get anything done. I’m fine with that, in fact, I prefer it when politicians get little done. No, what distresses me the most is the incivility of the political discourse and the lack of reason. I prefer when […]
Enjoying the Good Times, Preparing for the Bad, Redux
For several years I predicted that 2017 would be the year a recession would start. I began saying this about 2013 and for several years I thought my prediction looked good. But now it looks like I’m going to be wrong. The economic expansion continues with no end in sight. How long can this continue? […]
The Wisdom and Humanity of Howard Behar
For the past four years, I have been one of the sponsors of an annual event called Impact. At Impact 2017, held September 15-17, 2017, we gathered together CEOs from about 80 local small to medium-sized businesses. The sponsors, like me, are professionals who serve this size business. Every year Impact is terrific but this […]
Book Review: The Power of Habit
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit. Duhigg is a New York Times reporter who got interested in how habits are formed and how they are changed. His research resulted in this 2012 publication. Here is my review. The book is divided into three parts: The Habits of […]
The Curious Case of Iceland
In late April/early May my wife and I had a short vacation (five days including travel days) to Cabo San Lucas. We had beautiful weather, not much to do except lay in the sun, drink margaritas, go to dinner and repeat. In other words, boring. In July we took another short vacation, this time to […]