Category: CEO & Boards

Change Management in SME

November 3, 2010

This is the last installment in my series on Change Management:  Chapter 1: Leading Change – Part 1 of a Series Chapter 2: Leading Change – The Art of Change Management Chapter 3: Leading Change in a Perfect Storm Chapter 4: Leading Change – The Need for Speed Chapter 5: Leading Change – Putting it ...

Hiring Senior Talent – Part II

November 1, 2010

In my last post, I asked "are you ready to make your next senior hire?" and promised some tips on how to land great people. In the mid-1990's, PeopleSoft was on fire. Our stock price was rising, our culture was cool and our customers generally loved us. There was an "underdog being successful" feeling around ...

Hiring Senior Talent

October 31, 2010

I was recently coaching a friend through their search for a new job. He is a professional service exec looking for a VP role in a small tech company.  He had narrowed his choice down to two companies and was meeting with the CEO of his #1 choice.  He had met the entire management team ...

Six Characteristics of a Technology Juggernaut

October 27, 2010

If you are an entrepreneur, looking for funding and you haven't read Howard Gwin's post on Digital Puck entitled Six Characteristics of a Technology Juggernaut, read it now. It is a sobering recipe for what it takes to get funded. It is also a scorecard that every Board and CEO of a start-up should be using before they ...

Leading Change – Putting it all together

This is the fifth installment in my series on Change Management:  Chapter 1: Leading Change – Part 1 of a Series Chapter 2: Leading Change – The Art of Change Management Chapter 3: Leading Change in a Perfect Storm Chapter 4: Leading Change – The Need for Speed By the end of 2003, PeopleSoft's Global Services Group ...

Leading Change – The Need for Speed

October 14, 2010

This is the fourth installment in my series on Change Management:  Chapter 1: Leading Change – Part 1 of a Series Chapter 2: Leading Change – The Art of Change Management Chapter 3: Leading Change in a Perfect Storm In 2000, I moved from software VP Sales to Managing Director of what was to become PeopleSoft Global ...

Leading Change in a Perfect Storm

October 5, 2010

This is the third installment in my series on Change Management:  Chapter 1: Leading Change – Part 1 of a Series Chapter 2: Leading Change – The Art of Change Management From when I joined PeopleSoft in 1996 through to the end of Q3, 1998, we were on a tear. When PeopleSoft went public in 1992, ...

Leading Change – The Art of Change Management

October 4, 2010

This is a continuation of my previous blog: Leading Change – Part 1 of a Series I am currently working with a few small companies that are introducing significant changes in their business. The drivers forcing these strategy changes are unique to each business; some being driven by external forces such as markets, technology advancement or ...

Leading Change – Part I of a Series

September 30, 2010

At a recent coaching session, our discussions turned to "leading change in an organization". My client is a small software company in a niche market. They have been successful growing the company by hiring junior staff. As a result, their average age demographic is well below 30. In benchmark comparison to other software companies, their ...

Optimists, Pessimists and Pragmatists

September 17, 2010

Have you ever been accused of being “Cup Half Empty” versus “Cup Half Full”? Winston Churchill once said “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” I love being around entrepreneurs because as a group, they are “Cup Half Full” people. They are the first to see the ...