The holiday season invariably leads to all kinds of resolutions for the coming year: lead a healthier lifestyle, go to church more often, spend money more wisely, lose weight and get in better shape, be a better parent, listen more to your partner/spouse, take some golf lessons, call Mom more often, etc., etc. If you’re like most of us, these resolutions decay as the New Year moves on, and after a couple of months we don’t even remember what we resolved to do. No surprise, then, that the resolutions never happen. For this New Year, we recommend taking a new approach.

Why change? If you consider that 50% of Fortune 500 companies of thirty years ago no longer exist today, the answer seems obvious. Yet, many company owners and senior executives shudder at the thought…because change is messy, hard, and difficult. According to the Harvard Business Review, 75% of corporate change initiatives fail. Business Week cites the fact that 88% of CEOs report change is their “biggest challenge.”

In our view, every day should be Veterans Day — not just November 11th. Just like Level Five leadership, commitment to honoring Veterans should not be a one day event; rather, it should be an enduring, every day effort to make a difference by recognizing those who serve. We are privileged to be in the company of Veterans, to walk the streets, vote at the polls, worship as we please, and pursue the “American Dream.”

Throughout the course of a recently completed 18 day trip to India, Vietnam, and China, I (Robert) had a unique opportunity to visit/meet with a dozen different companies and their leaders, and also observe their cultures…what struck me above all else was their concept of customer service. To be sure, they had distinct differences in their … Read more