Business

Where does innovation come from?

May 8, 2014
Peter Diamandis has built his entrepreneurial career around gathering creative people and letting them loose to chase lofty goals. The 51-year-old founded the X Prize Foundation, a nonprofit that runs competitions to identify the most ambitious ideas and technologies to help humanity.

Growing your A+ people

April 24, 2014
“Great leaders surround themselves with A+ people,” says Sander Flaum, chairman and CEO of Euro RSCG Becker. “Jack Welch [former CEO of General Electric] said the biggest mistake he ever made was not moving quickly enough on people who weren’t A+.”

No power plays for this bank CEO

April 23, 2014
As president and chief executive of Tangerine—formerly ING Direct Canada—Peter Aceto could act like most big bank CEOs and cultivate an image of aloofness and power. But he does the reverse.

Coaching your team to victory

April 17, 2014
Some entrepreneurs love to launch businesses, but they lack interest in managing growing enterprises. Tom Gegax made the successful transition from startup bootstrapper to business builder.

How her honesty spun Zipcar back around

April 10, 2014
In 2000, Robin Chase founded Zipcar. The car-sharing service was an instant hit; within three months, the firm had 400 members. Chase was about to secure new funding to grow the business when she crunched the numbers and realized her business model was seriously flawed …

At Zappos, it’s all fun and business

April 8, 2014
Most CEOs abide by social norms. Not Tony Hsieh of Zappos.

Dynegy CEO sets ‘be here now’ culture

March 27, 2014
Leaders cannot talk their way out of a deteriorating business. To reverse course, take bold steps. Bob Flexon became Dynegy’s CEO in July 2011; four months later, the energy company filed for bankruptcy. To boost morale, Flexon unveiled a series of dramatic changes.

A new CEO asked just 4 questions

March 20, 2014
Within a week of Kevin Johnson becoming CEO of Juniper Networks in 2008, he met with all his direct reports in a group. He told them he wanted to listen and learn, so he asked four questions.

How to relate? Create CEO ‘user manual’

March 13, 2014
Ivar Kroghrud sees himself as “chief ironing officer.” In his 13 years as CEO of QuestBack, he spent much of his time ironing out employees’ problems. He’s now lead strategist at the Oslo, Norway-based firm, which provides feedback management tools.

Get more miles from simple strategy

March 6, 2014

Bruce Halle’s competitors keep expanding their service and product offerings to capture a bigger chunk of car owners’ expenditures. Why does Halle resist? Because his strategy is to address what the consumer is actually buying.