March 1, 2016

8 things every CEO must know (from memory)

Question: Pete, are you up for this one? I just accepted my first ever position as CEO. It’s with a privately held $100 million company in […]
February 23, 2016

6 tips for rebuilding trust in a family business

Question: I am the president of a family-owned business — and the first person outside the family to run the business. There have been a lot […]
February 16, 2016

How Perfect is Good Enough?

Question: My boss gets annoyed because I am the last one to submit the responses or presentations she needs. I’m often late because I want to […]
February 9, 2016

How to avoid trust traps with your employees

Question: I am beginning to believe that I am naïve and too trusting. When I ask for an update, my employees often respond, “Just trust me.” […]
February 2, 2016

Dealing with the unimportant urgencies of now

Question Pete, our staff is constantly in a loop-to-loop of reacting instead of being able to plan. How do you suggest dealing with a work environment where […]
January 26, 2016

How to make sure your goals are more than just SMART

Question Pete, our company leaders want to see SMART goals for my production group in 2016, with a particular focus on improving efficiency. How do I […]
January 19, 2016

How much bad (personal) behavior should we tolerate in our businesses?

Question My boss Mike (not his real name) is a director in our company. My colleague, Sue, and I are team leads and we report to […]
January 12, 2016

How to get rid of the “don’t snitch” mindset

In my last column, I answered a question about punishing an employee who tolerated theft. Here are some ideas for how to get rid of the […]
January 5, 2016

Punishing an employee who didn’t say anything about thieving co-workers

Question Pete, I’m a store manager for a restaurant of a fast casual chain. Last month I discovered that two employees were stealing food supplies. I […]
December 29, 2015

26 leadership resolutions you can make for 2016

Leaders learn best when they take the time to reflect, learn from the past and identify ways to improve themselves. I checked in with some young […]