THOUGHTS OF CHAIRMAN MAC

  It’s Easy to Understand Hard in Business No question, it often seems as though we live in a complicated, bewildering and challenging business environment. This goes for both those attempting to build a business and those seeking to create a rewarding career. There seems to be an endless stream of challenging problems to solve. And yet, the reality is that, at its core, the business of business is simple . Believe it or not, the tougher it seems to get to be in business, the simpler it should be to be in business.   My contention is that the single biggest inhibitor to decoding the simple secrets to problem solving in business is a bumbling gaggle of bureaucratic managers who only offer byzantine systems, inflexible control points, conflicting strategies and knee-jerk actions which only serve to make problem solving much more complicated than it need be. And this approach to problem solving leads to suppressing the flow of fresh ideas and creative actions that could conve...

  TEN RULES TO REBEL AGAINST TO BECOME AN EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESSFUL LEADER     If your desire is to become an effective and successful leader, at any level, you will find yourself constantly beseeched to follow the established rules that have ostensibly been laid down to show you the best path to achieving your goal. Initially, these rules may have been well intended, but over time many of them have evolved into a set of stultifying leadership commandments carved in stone. This results in a structured rigid approach to leadership that creates a commonality of approach, but, in so doing, stifles enthusiasm, initiative, creativity and freedom of action. Leadership rules are to be respected, but that does not mean they are inviolet and can’t be challenged. Especially if these rules reach the point of actually impeding or obstructing the implementation of new, creative approaches to leadership. Listed below is a group of established leadership rules that have become ...

  The traditional image of the entrepreneur as a dashing adventurer who recklessly gambles with their life and financial future is grossly inaccurate in today’s world. Historically, we think of such luminaries as Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and J. Pierpont Morgan as the epitome of the entrepreneur. More contemporary figures include Steve Jobs, of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft fame, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Tim Cook of Netflix. And let’s not forget Elon Musk of Tesla. These are the type of individuals that renowned management consultant and author Peter Drucker had in mind when he wrote, “An entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.” The Beliefs of the Entrepreneur These entrepreneurs and others like them had strong beliefs about a market opportunity and were willing to accept what others viewed as a high level of personal, professional, or financial risk to pursue that opportunity. What distingui...

  If Thinking And Acting “Outside The Box,” Is The Thing To Do, Why Is It That So Few Do?   We’re all put in “the box.” The purpose of the box is to control our thinking and actions and to make sure we conform to the established and accepted norms. The most often heard rejoinder in the box is, “You can’t do that.” It’s a strong box with high sides intended to keep us confined, but (except for the box they put us in when we die) it is possible to get outside the box. But with the vast majority passively accepting life inside the box, what would possess you to even want to think about getting outside the box? Well, successful entrepreneurs and business executives come in all genders, ages, shapes and sizes. They function in a wide variety of industries, they have vastly different personalities and leadership styles, but if you look closely you will discover that despite all their differences, they have one thing in common. They each fought and found a way to think and act ...

Change is a constant that impacts all facets of our life, for our entire life. Understand, change does not just happen, it is caused. How we respond to change either when it’s needed or how it is imposed on us will determine how successful we are in life and our career. Let’s admit it, no matter how large or small, most of us are leery of change. Even if we are unhappy with our current situation, we are still more comfortable with the status quo. In short, most of us prefer the known to the unknown. And yet, it’s how we deal with the unknown that will determine our future. Can’t Change Everything All At Once Change is so ubiquitous in life and business it would be impossible to explore all the variants of change in a short piece such as this, so I will focus on the most effective way to deal with change in business, from the standpoint of management.   Assume you are a CEO, senior executive, division manager or department head in an established company or an entrepreneur bu...

    In the history of our country, banks have played an important, albeit often destructive, role in our country’s economy. From 1854 to the present, the United States has experienced 34 recognized financial recessions or depressions. A review of these economic downturns shows that irrational, ill-advised, risky, illegal and downright stupid actions of banks were often the trigger of these economic calamities. Why is it that banks have been so consistently intertwined with financial pain in this country? There is a simple answer to that question: Bankers are congenitally stupid . Banks have consistently served as a reliable repository for college graduates in the bottom 10 percent of their class. If it were not for banks willing to give these dullards jobs, they probably would have ended up in insurance.   Instead, these dunderheaded bankers have been entrusted with the safety and security of our country’s financial wellbeing. And over the years, bank customers an...