I started writing professionally almost 30 years ago.
My first newspaper column debuted on April 17, 1986 for a venerated newspaper, the St. Louis Globe Democrat.
It was focused mostly on entrepreneurial finance, where I was spending most of my time during those investment banking and venture capital years.
Next: 3 Pillars of Business Success
My focus has changed over time, and for the next 20 years or so, I devoted my writing to what I believe are the three most important pillars of business success: Leadership, Strategy and Finance.
I started writing a bi-weekly newspaper column, Building a Business, in the fall, 2007 for the North Bay Business Journal, then the San Francisco Bay area affiliate of the New York Times.
Leadership is, of course, the cornerstone of business success because it’s all about the people and how to lead, inspire and organize them to maximize your business success.
At the most basic level, you also need a clear Strategy that describes the goals and objectives you will pursue.
You also need to focus on Finance to make sure you have the financial resources to achieve those goals so that business finance is not the reason for business failure.
Today: The 3 Pillars of Executive Performance
During the last 35 years scrounging around in the trenches of entrepreneurship, I have always taken close note of executive performance.
Why things go wrong despite the best plans and intentions.
What works and what doesn’t … and I’ve written extensively during this period to try to capture the essence of the lessons I have learned.
Leadership
As a result of these intensive and extensive experiences, I expanded my focus on the Leadership aspect of successful businesses because it is so central to building a successful organization.
There are, however, two additional components that can make or break our chances of being a great leader.
Productivity
First, there is our own Personal Productivity which drives our ability to manage our time and activities to focus on what’s most important to achieving our goals. We must make a personal commitment to implementing the best possible practices, strategies and tools to make sure we are present in the moment and doing our part to increase what we personally do to become more effective leaders.
Accountability
Second, there is Accountability, which I think about as our effort to make sure that others are equally productive. We need to provide independent and unbiased feedback to our fellow leaders and colleagues to provide them with the resources and tools to be successful, and hold them accountable for doing their part to make our organizations successful.
That’s what I’m writing about
So, that’s a short version of the journey … what you’ll find here … and why.
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