Building Better Bosses

Welcome to the?MAD?newsletter - for C-level Executives who want to?Make?A?Difference - in themselves and their organizations. Highlights this week: #LeadershipDevelopment, #StrategicPlanning, and more...

In this Issue

1. Building Better Bosses
2. Here Comes the?Fun
3. Three?for?All Time?
4. A Plan is?not a Strategy
5. GPS to the?Corner Office
6. Econ Recon

Building Better Bosses

It’s been said that the job of the CEO is to manage the managers.?Maybe a better way to say it is that the job of the CEO is to build better bosses.?The CEOs spend his or her time getting work done through others (hopefully) who in turn get work done through their direct reports.?“Our research shows that 75% of small and midsize businesses have programs dedicated to developing managers and leaders.”?If you want to help your team grow as managers and leaders, download the latest Vistage Research Report?Leadership Development Building Better Bosses.?You will learn:

• Why it is critical for small and midsize businesses to develop better bosses
• What CEOs are doing today to build better bosses
• How workplace, culture and accountability are key elements of developing better bosses?
• Who to target for training and leadership development

Here Comes the Fun

The War for Talent is being fought on many fronts; compensation, work from home policy, employee benefits working hours and now, there’s one more battle to be won:?how much fun do your employees have at work????

A short article in CEO Magazine stresses that “not all fun is equal in the new-office era. Savvy CEOs are making sure there’s method to the mayhem.“?There’s a right and wrong way to have fun at work.?Find out how in?Here comes the Fun.

Three for all Time

In a past issue, I shared a graphic that dynamically explored?how the size rankings of the largest companies changed over the past three decades.?Gary Cooper, the publisher of the American Business History Center published an article in 2020 in which he shared his list of the companies he thought had the greatest impact on American life.??These are companies that?created things that worked, that served a purpose, and visual impact remain with us today.?We would not be the same country without their influence.?

Before you click on the link below,?make your own list of which three American companies you think deserve to be listed as the greatest of all time.

Then check out the Cooper’s list of?The Three Greatest American Companies of All Time.

A Plan is Not a Strategy

We’re more than halfway through 2022 and before long CEOs and their key executives will start focusing on plans, strategies, and budgets for 2023.??Most executives will admit if pressed that next year’s plan tends to look a lot like last year’s plus 10% to 25%.????

Your 2023 planning process may produce more meaningful results?if you’ll take 9 minutes to listen to Professor Roger Martin’s video featuring a powerful executive summary on the differences?between "strategy" and "strategic planning".?You need both to better your understanding the crucial difference between them.?

And while we’re on the topic,?great strategies eventually require great tactics.?Do you know the difference??This short video will explain this important distinction.

GPS to the Corner Office

Many desire to be a CEO but will fall short either for lack of desire, opportunity, or ability;?some may fall short just a few steps short of the corner office because?they are unaware of the “breakthrough pathways that the most successful C-Suite residents tend to leverage”?according to a short HBR article.??For a quick overview of how to find the path to the C-Suite check out?How Do I Become a CEO?

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Econ Recon

What Inflation?:?An annualized inflation rate of over 9% was reported for the month of June, leading many to expect there’s much more to come in terms of higher prices?and the eventual interest rate increases required to bring inflation to heel.

But maybe not.?ITR Economics Brian Beaulieu offers a 5-minute podcast/article in which he makes the case that?“the signs of lessening inflation are all around us”?and that if policy makers and the Federal Reserve fail to perceive it,?they may increase rates too much and/or too soon,?accelerating the recession they want to avoid. In particular, he makes the point that many executives misjudge?when?the effect of interest rate increases will actually occur.?Check out Mr. Beaulieu’s useful insights on?Interest Rates and Inflation.?

A Refocused Fed:?With the resurgence of inflation for the first time in 40 years, many fear an increase in interest rates will tip the economy into recession. It’s been so long since we had to worry about inflation that even those who follow matters economic may have forgotten that past successes in coping with inflation relied on more than just interest rate?increases. For a good primer on what worked before, and might again, check out Dr. Brian Wesbury’s summary at?Refocusing the Fed.

I also publish this newsletter via email. DM me if you would like to subscribe. I'd be grateful if you would recommend or forward this newsletter to your customers, vendors, and colleagues.?

Sue Tinnish, PhD,?Vistage Chair, 847.404.7325,?[email protected]

#ChicagoCEO?#CEOs