Important Questions

11 Oct, 2011

It’s the Culture, Stupid!

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:52+00:00October 11th, 2011|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Innovation, Leadership, Results|

What separates the marketplace heroes in every industry from the has-beens and wanna-bes? It can’t be just products, services, or price. Your competitors don’t hire all geniuses and leave you with the dunces. Their computer systems, compensation, and operational processes are not dramatically better than yours. When they discuss strategy, the words on their flip charts are not significantly more insightful than yours. The difference is an intangible. It is a culture where every person at every level is focused on and committed to delivering results that are critical for success.

30 Sep, 2011

Want Growth? Part IV: Try Some Confidence

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:53+00:00September 30th, 2011|Business Growth, Business Strategy, Government & Politics, Leadership, Personal Development|

The numbers are in, and people lack confidence. Not all people, but enough of them to slow consumer spending and business investment. Lack of confidence changes behavior. Confident consumers spend more money because they believe the future will be positive. Confident sales people make more sales because they trust their ability and the value of their product. Confident companies invest in innovation, talent development, and new equipment because they believe that they will be rewarded for their investment.

22 Sep, 2011

Want Growth? Part III: Raise the Talent Level

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:53+00:00September 22nd, 2011|Business Growth, Business Strategy, Government & Politics, Leadership, Personal Development|

Your value in the marketplace is in direct proportion to the importance and complexity of the problems you can solve and solutions you can provide to your customers. Put another way, you can’t earn a brain surgeon’s salary with a talent level that qualifies you to be a convenience store clerk.

13 Sep, 2011

Want Growth? Part II: Show Me the Incentive

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:53+00:00September 13th, 2011|Business Growth, Business Strategy, Government & Politics, Leadership, Personal Development|

“People do things for their own reasons, not for our reasons.” – William Marston My seat mate on a recent flight owns a successful small business. It is growing in a down economy because he [...]

6 Sep, 2011

Want Growth? Part I: Start With Trust

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:53+00:00September 6th, 2011|Business Growth, Business Strategy, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

The U.S. economy is in a self-fulfilling death spiral propelled by mistrust. There is a good chance that the same thing can be said of your industry, your employer, and your career. Growth requires investment, and that requires confidence. You can’t cut your way to sustainable growth. When trust is absent, people naturally protect their immediate self-interest. This will occur even if it leads to their long-term individual and collective undoing.

17 Aug, 2011

Let’s Be Honest About Dishonesty

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:53+00:00August 17th, 2011|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

Dishonesty is not new, but let’s be honest—our society has raised the rationalization of dishonesty to an art form. When it comes to the truth, we embellish, expand, enrich, soften, shave, stretch, and withhold. We misspeak, pretend, bend, and improve. We are guilty of mistakes, misjudgment, and truthful hyperbole. We exaggerate, spin, filter, and inflate. However, we rarely—or perhaps even never—believe that we are guilty of dishonesty.

17 Aug, 2011

Leadership & The Tea Party

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:53+00:00August 17th, 2011|Accountability, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

What’s not to like? Millions of like-minded people promoting limited federal government, individual freedoms, personal responsibility, free markets, and a return of political power to the states and the people. How could anyone argue that the Tea Party is a bad thing? Oh wait! That can’t be right. The Tea Party is actually millions of small-minded people who engage in racist behaviors and want to take away the power of the federal government to set policy and help society by cutting the funding to every social program that they don’t like. So which is it? The answer is, “It depends on your point of view.”

11 Jul, 2011

Leading is a Matter of Trust

By Randy Pennington|2014-10-19T22:38:13+00:00July 11th, 2011|Accountability, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Results|

“We don’t trust them!” This phrase has become synonymous with a prevalent, if not majority, response when people are asked about their leader’s ability to affect positive change. Almost continuous rounds of cost-cutting; feelings that [...]

4 Jul, 2011

The Return of Responsibility

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:54+00:00July 4th, 2011|Accountability, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development, Results|

The trials of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and disgraced self-help guru James Arthur Ray both ended in guilty verdicts. Blagojevich was found guilty on 17 of 20 counts of corruption. Ray was found guilty of three counts of negligent homicide from deaths in a sweat lodge ceremony. And though some would argue that the verdicts in both cases were never in doubt, the results could have gone either way. Here are three lessons leaders can learn from these two seemingly unrelated cases:

25 May, 2011

How Important Are Your Values? What Is Your Number 2?

By Randy Pennington|2011-05-25T18:31:34+00:00May 25th, 2011|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Performance Improvement, Personal Development, Results|

Values – every company hangs them on the wall and distributes them on wallet cards. It is the same for individuals. Ask ten of your friends to list their values, and at least eighty percent will use words like respect, integrity, and honesty. So how important are your values? Will you sacrifice them for the results and outcomes you desire? Are they so important that you would lay down your life – figuratively or literally – to protect them?

20 Apr, 2011

Lead the Experience

By Randy Pennington|2014-11-02T18:50:23+00:00April 20th, 2011|Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Execution, Innovation, Leadership, Personal Development, Results|

Why do certain companies, brands, and even people stand out in a world where everyone is basically saying and doing the same things? For the most part, we all get it wrong. We focus on the tools – like marketing campaigns, social media, and advertising – and ignore the goal – to make customers want to do business with us. Here are three things you can do to define and deliver an experience that sets you apart:

15 Apr, 2011

The Rewards of Staying Stupid

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:59+00:00April 15th, 2011|Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Execution, Innovation, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Results|

I published a piece titled “Stupid Has Its Own Momentum” in November 2010. Since then, examples of stupid having its own momentum. have continued ... and continued ... and continued. Stupid maintains its own momentum because there are incentives to do so. Here are three powerful rewards to stay stupid:

6 Apr, 2011

What It Takes to Live and Lead with Integrity

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:59+00:00April 6th, 2011|Corporate Culture, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership|

Integrity appears at or near the top of every list of desirable leadership traits. We claim it as the mantle of the leaders with whom we agree and decry its absence in those with whom we disagree. You would think a behavior and characteristic so widely accepted as important could be universally defined. So go ahead—take a stab at it. Integrity is . . . It is not as easy as you thought, is it? And that is the challenge: You can’t live or lead with integrity – or expect others to do so – if you can’t clearly define it?

29 Mar, 2011

R-E-S-P-E-C-T: A Rant

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:59+00:00March 29th, 2011|Communication, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

The debate of divergent ideas consumes the airwaves. It streams across the Internet in a multitude of bits and bytes; and it populates the pages of the print media. Most important, it occupies the time, energy, and resources of our leaders. So how is the debate working so far? Are you seeing results? The absence of respect – for the process, the opposition, and the people being governed – is a prime culprit in our failure to act and deliver results.

22 Mar, 2011

Ask a Better Question

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:59+00:00March 22nd, 2011|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Execution, Government & Politics, Innovation, Leadership, Performance Improvement, Results|

Southwest Airlines faced a dilemma early in its operation—a cash shortage was forcing it to sell one of its four airplanes. The implications are obvious—selling the airplane generates cash for operations and cuts capacity to generate future revenue. Government leaders are facing their version of this challenge in budget meetings across the country. Should we raise taxes and fees in a difficult economy, or do we cut services at a time when they may be needed most?

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