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Thanks for visiting Sword Tips from Exkalibur

We’re glad that you see value in our mission to help you Become a More Effective Leader. You’re in good company … with emerging leaders and seasoned executives … as we seek to go deep into the canons of Leadership and its brethren like Accountability, Communication and Productivity.

We’re supplementing that focus with additional “Business Briefs” in which we’ll share diverse perspectives on the workplace, the economy and the factors that have the greatest impact on leaders and their organizations.

Sword Tips also includes a variety of curated stories, with alluring insights into our lives outside the office. We’ll examine life’s mysteries, innovations and pleasures. We’ll uncover scientific discoveries, technology advances and intriguing perspectives … with timeless information that’s relevant to you, your business and your life. You’ll also have a little fun, a few laughs and enjoy entertainment options in music, TV, movies along with novels largely drawn from the Mystery-Thriller-Suspense genre.

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    Click the button below to read our latest newsletter or browse some of our recent articles below that focus on Leadership, Productivity, Team-Building and Accountability. 

    Recent Leadership Articles

    Best Advice I Ever Got Entrepreneurship Family Business Leadership Performance Planning & Forecasting Strategy Surviving the Storm

    Win in a tough economy

    You've heard much of it here before … Take Action, Plan Carefully … so take a minute to reinforce that mantra by reading a short article from the Harvard…
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    Accountability Compensation Entrepreneurship Leadership Numerati Performance Sales & Marketing

    Incentives Rule!

    In his fascinating book, Freakonomics, Steven Levitt remarked that "Incentives are the cornerstone of life" … yet so many companies don't pay more than cursory attention to them, and…
    Read More
    Accountability Economy Metrics & Reporting Numerati Performance

    Are you measuring productivity?

    Today's WSJ article touting the leap in productivity is a good reminder that metrics based on unit inputs/outputs is a very valuable tool. Make sure that you're not just…
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    Economy Entrepreneurship Family Business Leadership Planning & Forecasting Taxation

    Small Business Confidence Drops

    Small businesses have become more pessimistic about the chance for economic recovery in the next six months, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business. The…
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    Entrepreneurship GTD: Getting Things Done Leadership Productivity

    How to budget your time

    The Wall St. Journal sponsored a series of video interviews with executives to probe some of their "leadership lessons".The 90 second monologue by Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft about…
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    Latest Columns Leadership North Bay Business Journal Performance Productivity Strategy Surviving the Storm

    Leadership | The Fires You Want Are The Ones You Set

    Create your own firesFire has been around since before Prometheus stole it from Zeus and shared it with us mere mortals.We won’t revisit the penalty that Zeus bestowed but…
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    Economy Entrepreneurship Leadership Pricing Surviving the Storm

    Aggressive pricing finds NEW customers

    A recent WSJ article focused on a few small businesses who are finding that aggressive pricing, the death spiral that usually befalls struggling companies, can also be used to…
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    Compensation Economy Innovation Leadership Surviving the Storm

    Sure you don’t want to be a lawyer?

    The big New York law firms continue to amuse and titillate. Again, one of the firms, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, is offering $80,000 to incoming lawyers to defer their…
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    Capital Strategy Entrepreneurship Finance Growth Strategy Leadership Planning & Forecasting Strategy

    Why Business Plans don’t deliver

    I have written several posts lately about the value of business plans and the nature of the pitch to raise money.The MIT Sloan Management Review weighs in with a…
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