These posts were prompted by many conversations for career advice or feedback from ex-colleagues and employees. As I recall, these were...

Forrester interviewed me years ago for a paper on working with IT in startups and Dell. Bottom line: the most important aspect to good...

What are the CEOs at top retailers looking for in their next ecommerce or digital marketing executive? “People want the unusual,” said...

Overcoming inertia requires executive buy-in. Despite talk of innovation, it’s a challenge to get groups of people to do something new....

I just read a fascinating global study on what CEOs think of Marketers, by the Fournaise Marketing Group. Some of the interesting...

Early in my career I took inter-office relationships for granted, eating lunch at my desk during those busy dot com days in...

I'm amazed how many employees don’t understand the basics of a P&L. Those who do know how their measures feed the P&L. And, as a result,...

A reader commented and agreed that taking risks (Career Tip #12) would be great, but wondered how he could take bigger risks. I think...

Many people do it the other way around – build up the background, details of decision criteria, lay out all the options, and eventually...

Executives who land a high level position, play it safe, and clutch onto high salaries, need to be flushed out of companies. They have...

I learned the ‘can do’ lesson early in my startup experience. In 1996 the President of our .com startup suggested I find and email...

In any company with multiple product lines or divisions there are some parts of the company that have high margin % and/or high revenue...

I learned a painful lessons early in my management career. It is foolish to try to control too much. First, I discovered I didn’t have...

I asked the one of the best manager's I've had what what he looked for in his next position and these were his three criteria:...

Sometimes it’s helpful to have something recognizable on your resume. My first interview with Dell in early ‘99 was for managing Dell’s...

Inform your manager and peers about what’s going on. In 1x1s, in email, in staff meetings, make sure you are giving updates and status on...

If there’s one piece of advice I’d give anyone in any job who wants to be considered a ‘rockstar’ it is to take initiative. Be...

Throughout my career I’ve worked for and with many bad managers, some good ones, and a few great ones. The great ones manage the business...

But more to the point, it’s important who you GET to know. You may know many people, but are they the right people. And further, do you...

When word of mouth takes off on a product there is usually a small sentence, maybe a couple, that are shared about that product. “It was...