Pause Don't Pounce

Welcome to this week's?MAD?newsletter - for C-level Executives who want to?Make?A?Difference - in themselves and their organizations.?This week's features?increasing your #EQ, #JimCollins, tips for leading a company backed by #PrivateEquity, a special report on #Talent, and more.

In this Issue:

1. Pause instead of Pounce
2. Caesar?and Succession
3. Jim Collins on Time Frames
4. War for Talent:?“The State of Employment and Wages” (Special Report from Vistage Research)
5. Both?And
6. Econ Recon

Pause instead of Pounce

The value of demonstrating a deliberate calm. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Jacqueline Brassey, a McKinsey senior knowledge expert, and Aaron De Smet , a McKinsey senior partner, talk about how extraordinary leaders succeed through volatile times by demonstrating “deliberate calm.”?To resist the temptation to react as usual, De Smet says, people need to be “very cognizant of a mindset that is reactive to protecting the status quo, where I just fall back on what I know, versus a learning mindset where I have to say, ‘This is an opportunity for me to learn something and evolve and adapt.’”

Listen to engage in a practice of intentionally choosing self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and mindfulness:??When things get rocky, practice deliberate calm.

Caesar and Succession

The great Peter Drucker once observed that succession is the CEO’s most important job.?Many who lead organizations are facing what maybe the most important decision of their careers:??Who will hold this job after me?

As a CEO you may not have sole discretion over this decision, but you can certainly influence it.?A few lessons from one of the greatest organizations of all time may help:?the Roman Empire.

While guilty of some repugnant practices, the Empire was an incredible achievement of organization that lasted for 700 years, as a republic, for almost 400 as an empire and set the stage for Western Civilization. Not every emperor picked a good successor, but some did, and we can learn from their successes and mistakes.?What would our world look like had any of them chosen differently?

A short article from Chief Executive Magazine offers?Lessons from Ancient Rome on the Art of Succession.

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Jim Collins on Time Frames

Many CEOs who sell their companies today do so to private equity. Many of those CEOs remain on board for some period after the sale, often as minority partners with the new owners.?One major adjustment for many is a shift from a longer-term focus to the shorter time horizon of private equity.

Jim Collins thinks these competing time frames can be reconciled.?Check out an executive summary of his thoughts in this short article??Jim Collins Shares Some Useful Advice for CEOs of PE-Backed Companies.?

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The War for Talent: The State of Employment and Wages

Coping with the War for Talent and its attendant battles of hiring, wages and culture is a key concern for many CEOs.?Vistage Speaker, Marc Emmer and Vistage Research Gurus Joe Galvin and Anne Petrik have prepared?a 21-page analysis of “The State of Employment and Wages” to help you plan for 2023 and beyond.?

“This special report?examines how spiraling wage pressures, the hybrid work environment and employee satisfaction all contribute to this workplace evolution and?provides the best practices CEOs need to unleash the productivity of their workforce.”

Note:?this report is being made available to non-members as well.?Please feel free to forward this post and link to other C-Level friends and associates.

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Both And

F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, once remarked that?“the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”??One example of this may be in the field of leadership.??Executives are often categorized by the extent that are “people focused” or “task focused.”?

Venture capitalist Ravi Gupta of Sequoia Capital (and former COO and CFO of Instacart) says a great leader needs to be both.?“All of the great leaders I’ve worked with are this way. Founders and board members. Coaches and teachers. My parents. I aspire to be?demanding and supportive.”

Econ Recon

A Plow Horse with Shin Splints:???Dr. Brian Wesbury has a reputation for optimism but that appears to be changing.?In a recent blog post, he unpacks what at first glance was a positive November employment report and sees thorns beneath the roses.??

He writes??“Put it all together and you have a weak economy that’s still growing but showing some signs of wear and tear.?A Plow Horse, with Shin Splints. Stay tuned: rougher times are ahead, a recession is still in the future, but not happening today.”

?A Double Dip Decline:???Housing is a huge part of the economy and economists watch it carefully. ITR Economics’ Brian Beaulieu is watching this sector and sees real challenges ahead; part is due to higher interest rates and partly “COVID echo extreme behavior,” for why he sees a double dip decline in housing more severely than originally projected.?

Tis the season for sharing. Please re-share this post on social media. I also distribute via email and welcome new subscribers. Wishing you a productive week!

Sue Tinnish, PhD,?Vistage Chair, Facilitator, & Executive Coach

Find me easily at: 847.404.7325,?[email protected], Twitter:?@STinnish, LinkedIn:??www.dhirubhai.net/in/suetinnish, Website:??https://vistage.com/chairs/sue.tinnish