Leaders and Strategies in Real Life: 11/7/17

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Instead of studying leadership, why not spend some time studying leaders and strategies in the wild? You can learn a lot from leadership experts, but you always see the leader and what he or she does through the expert’s personal lens. Supplement that learning with studying real leaders in real life situations and draw your own conclusions. The posts in this series will help you.

Every week I’ll point you to articles by and about real leaders in real situations and to articles about how real companies are faring in the marketplace. Read them. Think about them. Draw your own lessons and conclusions from them. Then try to apply those lessons in your own real life.

This week I’m pointing you to articles about Bruce Springsteen, WalMart, Tony Hsieh, Marc Benioff, and Tim Hassinger.

From Gianpiero Petriglieri: Bruce Springsteen, Artful Leadership, and What Rock Star Bosses Do

“Springsteen’s latest production, an intimate solo show, will combine readings from his recent autobiography, Born to Run, with a selection of songs. If it is anything like the book, the show will be a masterclass on management and leadership — only more lyrical than those featuring celebrity entrepreneurs, politicians, or generals.”

From Oliver Staley: Walmart—yes, Walmart—is making changes that could help solve America’s wealth inequality problem

“For decades, Walmart has been among the most vilified corporations in America, if not the world, for its labor policies, its supply chain practices, and its impact on small-town merchants everywhere. Given the history, many of its critics were surprised in 2015 when Walmart pledged to give more than 1 million of its workers a raise. The news especially shocked Wall Street, where concern about the potential impact on earnings pounded the stock price—more than two years later, Walmart’s shares still haven’t recovered.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From the McKinsey Quarterly: Safe enough to try: An interview with Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh

“Organizations are more likely to innovate and thrive when they unleash the potential of individuals and the power of self-organizing teams, says the online retailer’s CEO.”

From Adam Lashinsky: How Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Drives Relentless Forward Thinking

“Innovation, like creativity, is an amorphous concept. It’s the holy grail of business, but achieving it—even merely explaining it—is lightning-in-a-bottle difficult. In that way, Salesforceis a major outlier. Despite the fact that its products are mundane business productivity tools, Salesforce has nevertheless managed to bake innovation into its very corporate fiber. It’s a company that was innovative in the way it started doing business, in how it sold its products, and in the articulation of its corporate mission.”

From Dale Buss: A CEO’s First Day: Lindsay Corp.’s Tim Hassinger Slips into His New Role

“Tim Hassinger says he ‘felt like a sixth-grader in a new school’ on Monday. That’s because it was his first day as president and CEO of his new company, Lindsay Corp., in Omaha.”

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