Fortune Favors the Offensive: 5 Principles of speed and aggression from history’s greatest generals

One of the great regrets of my life is not having served in the military. I've become painfully aware of my lack of service since moving to the D.C. area, where it feels like everyone is either active duty or retired military or a "defense contractor" or an FBI/Secret Service agent. They're all way way … Continue reading Fortune Favors the Offensive: 5 Principles of speed and aggression from history’s greatest generals →

Born Lucky: Playing Warren Buffett’s Ovarian Lottery

Warren Buffett says he was born lucky. Being born in America, in the 1930s, without having to overcome barriers of race or gender, combined with the power of compound interest, allowed Buffett to amass one of the greatest personal fortunes in the history of mankind (which will be almost entirely given to philanthropy). As Buffett … Continue reading Born Lucky: Playing Warren Buffett’s Ovarian Lottery →

Having Kids Won’t Kill Your Career, But Seeking Work/Life Balance Might

Kids are generally thought of as little career killers for their parents. I can understand why. Kids take up a lot of a parent's time with their need for attention and supervision, and time is a manager's most valuable and scarcest resource. Kids can also be unpredictable and cause their mom or dad to miss … Continue reading Having Kids Won’t Kill Your Career, But Seeking Work/Life Balance Might →

The Top 10 Tips For Being A Great Manager (Not Really)

The other day a new guy asked me, "Can you give me some tips?" I think he wanted me to give him one of those top ten lists, you know, the ten simple things you need to do to be a great manager. There is such a thing as a stupid question. If you're … Continue reading The Top 10 Tips For Being A Great Manager (Not Really) →

Screen Addiction

I read this Newsweek article called "Is the Internet Making Us Crazy" last week. It's about how people are becoming more addicted to the web, digital devices, and screens in general. I am one of these people. I think I may spend around eleven hours each day looking at a screen. In the morning my eyes … Continue reading Screen Addiction →

Entropy Always Increases – The second law of thermodynamics applied to business management

Why do we experience time in one direction? In other words, why do we remember the past, and know nothing about the future? And why is it a complete certainty that my company and your company will some day go out of business?

Management Skills: Never Be A Victim

The CEO of my company once gave me some great advice. I asked him what the best part about being CEO was. He said the best part was this great feeling of satisfaction he had in looking back on his career. When he thought about all of the adversity he overcame he had a fulfilling … Continue reading Management Skills: Never Be A Victim →

The Perfect Job

Enjoy your stupid barbecue America. I hope it rains on your pool party. Working Memorial Day weekend is one part of my retail management job I will never get used to. In fact, I don’t care much for working any holidays, nights or weekends like my job requires. It stinks and I have a right to … Continue reading The Perfect Job →

Obsession

I'm obsessed. "Stop checking that damn phone," is the advice I get from my wife on off days. Each hour I get an automatic email with a sales update, and sometimes I stare at my phone for a minute waiting for the email to pop up. I check that phone several times each minute, sometimes … Continue reading Obsession →

Results (Money) Are The Only Thing That Matters

When I was twenty-one I landed my first real management job as a restaurant manager at a Marriott. And when I first started this job, our food and beverage department was performing dreadfully on our key metric - Guest Satisfaction Survey Scores (GSS Scores). We were consistently last or in the bottom five out of … Continue reading Results (Money) Are The Only Thing That Matters →

Time

My time is beginning to pass faster. I barely noticed it. The other day Kelly and I were looking at some pictures from when we first met, and, boy, I looked a lot younger. Granted, I'm still younger than most people reading this post, but just two months away from my thirtieth birthday and my … Continue reading Time →

Demma’s Employee Engagement Curve: How managers can fight performance atrophy

I have a hypothesis that most employees naturally follow the below engagement curve. Without intervention from management, employees who begin in an enthusiastic honeymoon stage eventually slide into negative contribution and finally end their tenure as a bitter and disruptive veteran. All things naturally decay, and performance is no exception to this rule. It's the … Continue reading Demma’s Employee Engagement Curve: How managers can fight performance atrophy →

When The Monster Stops Growing, It Dies

I am lucky to work for a growth company. We also happen to be the industry leader, by a huge margin, but this doesn't stop us from aggressively pursuing more growth. In fact, I once heard a senior executive at our company tell a group of managers that if he doesn't grow and perform better … Continue reading When The Monster Stops Growing, It Dies →

More Communication Is Better

I love this phrase - "more communication is better" - which I am shamelessly stealing from Mark Hortsman and Mike Auzenne of Manager Tools. This week I took Mike and Mark's advice. I heard a coworker share a communication best practice at our annual regional manager conference a few weeks ago. This manager is new … Continue reading More Communication Is Better →

Stop Reading Books, Start Reading Literature

I used to read a lot self help books. I figured I could learn how to manage myself and my direct reports better by reading, so I read books like Think and Grow Rich and Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and How to Win Friends and Influence People. I also read popular business books like Good … Continue reading Stop Reading Books, Start Reading Literature →