Leaders and Strategies in Real Life: 5/29/18

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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 strategies for uncertain times, the McDonald’s turnaround, Famous Dave’s comeback, how compassion builds better companies, and the GE meltdown.

From Brigadier General George Forsythe, Karen Kuhla and Daniel Rice: Five CEOs Share Strategy During Uncertain Times

“CEOs agree we’re living in a VUCA world. VUCA stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Various CEOs say they’re seeing all aspects of it. Here are five on their strategy during uncertain times.”

From Sam Oches: Inside the Plan to Fix McDonald’s

“Steve Easterbrook has been McDonald’s CEO for three years, and his signature Turnaround Plan is already paying dividends.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From John Ewoldt: With new CEO and Dave himself, Famous Dave’s shifts from evolution to revolution

“‘The past CEOs knew they had to refresh Famous Dave’s, but instead of talking to me they went and hired these fancy marketing companies, literally spent fortunes, and hired marketing people who had to study barbecue,’ Anderson said. ‘I’m saying, ‘Hey, I’m in the Barbecue Hall of Fame. Don’t you think you should talk to me?’ Jeff is the first one who did.’”

From Wharton: LinkedIn’s Jeff Weiner: How Compassion Builds Better Companies

“The following was adapted from the graduation speech given this week by LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner at Wharton’s graduation ceremony. A version has also appeared on LinkedIn.”

From Geoff Colvin: What the Hell Happened at General Electric?

“Few corporate meltdowns have been as swift and dramatic as General Electric’s over the past 18 months—but the problems started long before that.”

For some ideas about how to get more from this series of posts, check out “Studying Leaders in the Wild.

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