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Leadership with Other People’s Money
By Robert Sher The cash-constrained CEOs among us often wonder what it would be like to bring in some investors. That outside money, or “other people’s money” (OPM) would ease the strain of being cash poor, right? Maybe for a bit – but easing the strain is not exactly what…
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Management by Getting Your Hands Dirty
By Robert Sher I like the notion of management by walking around. It was all the rage about 15 years ago, but it is still useful. When a CEO spends too much time in his plush office, he’s not as aware of what’s really going on in his company. Jim…
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Stop Consultants Running Amok
By Robert Sher Some of the most highly trained and powerful people we as CEOs bring in are consultants, also known as lawyers, CPAs, mentors and more. Many times they know more than us in their area of expertise. Sometimes their credentials are amazing. Sometimes they do incredible things for…
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Taking Training Seriously
By Robert Sher I remember the pain so vividly when, many years ago, I was listening in my car to a tape of a telemarketer missing one close opportunity after another. I couldn’t stop myself from hollering at my tape deck, “Go for the close!” It hurts when training is…
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Great People Doing the Right Things
By Robert Sher I asked him for his secret for staying at the top of the “rocket” that is his company. He said, “I’m not that introspective”. Nonsense. He grew a 15 million dollar firm to a 2 billion dollar firm in 11 years. He’s introspective. He’s thinking about who…
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Dan Warmenhoven
Dan Warmenhoven discussed his vision and strategies that have enabled Network Appliance to grow 40 times since he joined them in 1994. He focused their efforts on being the product innovation leader in their market, and created a strategy that IBM, HP and Sun found impossible to follow. We especially…
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Communication Skills Count
By Robert Sher The Alliance of Chief Executives brought Chuck Smith, CEO of SBC West to an invitation only, private session on June 17, 2005. Over 100 members attended, and Mr. Smith’s comments about business leadership were on point and valuable for all. His incredible presentation style and command of…
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From Brand to Icon
By Robert Sher As she entered the beautifully forested QVC Studio Park grounds, Lori wanted to shout for joy. The dream of sharing her passion with millions of women nationwide was drawing closer, and her jewelry business would sell many thousands of units in one amazing hour on April 13,…
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Chuck Smith
Chuck Smith shared some of the leadership lessons he has learned during his career, moving from an entry-level employee to CEO of SBC West.
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Compensation Systems: Giving and Getting
By Robert Sher All CEO’s know that if everyone on the team were a motivated, top performer, the bottom line would improve. In Rick Sutherland’s case, he found a way to increase his bottom line fourfold by lighting a fire under his team—- and they loved it. It was at…
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Not all Clients are for You
By Robert Sher They thought it was normal. That all clients would be like their first – fair, experienced, paid their bills on time, and sent the volume of work they had promised. The fairytale start changed as the experienced architects (but new as businessmen) learned that some clients did…
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Planning for Passion
By Robert Sher Back, way back in the beginning of this century (2000), the Silicon Valley was still wild, with companies rising and falling with the twitch of an index finger on the keyboard. Aztec Software followed the high growth model. But when high growth didn’t materialize as planned, the…
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Cut Customer Costs Instead of Prices
By Robert Sher Just because concrete is grey, ugly, heavy and a “basic” industry, doesn’t mean that the science and technology behind the manufacturing and delivery of this essential building material isn’t exciting. Made from sand, gravel and cement, this most basic building material isn’t what you think, and isn’t…
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Face to Face with Your Important Clients & Customers
By Robert Sher Think of your top three suppliers. Do they really care about you or your business? Do they really understand your challenges and how their product or services affect your business? Beyond the typical romancing – golf outings, lunches and ball game tickets, do they really engage you…
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Rob Wrubel
Rob's career has taken him from journalism and educational software to CEO of Ask Jeeves to his newest venture, Yoga Works - the largest and highest quality family of yoga studios in America.
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Purist to Populist
By Robert Sher The masses keep invading the province of the purist. Once, only computer geniuses could help their kids learn to use the computer. Then came Windows and Knowledge Adventure’s kid/parent friendly software that everyone could afford, install and use! Once, only techies were smart enough to use Boolean…
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Sailing Beyond the Small Business Mindset
By Robert Sher A parable: Sam took some friends sailing on his new 23 foot sailboat. He and his buddies wanted to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge. They impressed themselves with the speed they made going under the Gate, headed toward Japan, being pushed along by a mild wind…
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Bill Novelli
Bill Novelli is the leader of one of the most powerful organizations in the country, AARP, with 65 million members. Bill spoke to the Alliance about “How America Can Afford to Grow Older.”
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Jerry Johnston
Jerry spoke to the Alliance about his leadership philosophies and vision for The Clorox Company.
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Bill Coleman
Bill is the CEO of Cassatt and Founder of BEA Systems - the fastest software firm ever to exceed $1 billion in revenues. Bill spoke to us about his personal philosophies in building and leading companies.
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The Pain Doctor
By Robert Sher Tom Engdahl is the pain doctor of business. Just like a pain doctor, he looks for pain in an industry then develops the cure. He’s done it over and over again, each time with a business success and a liquidation event. The Case Engdahl had just sold…
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Showcasing Your People
By Robert Sher K/P Corp is a mature business in an industry grown old. Printing goes back hundreds of years to the day of the Industrial Revolution, and the pride of printers was and is their equipment and capabilities. Just watch a printer glow as they take you through the…
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In Charge but Not In Control
By Robert Sher Tom Oliver was ready for the ride up the hockey stick in May of 2000. After selling the last business he helped run, this opportunity arose, and he was excited. A product that helped people heal faster fit his value set, and CoolSystems looked like it was…
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It’s No Longer Product vs. Service
By Robert Sher Don’t we all envy software manufacturer margins? Build the software once, then sell hundreds or thousands of copies for big bucks, and the marginal cost for each copy is a buck, two tops. Randy Wheeler of Valley Oak Systems, Inc., is a software manufacturer, making good money,…
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George Halvorson
George spoke to the Alliance about his leadership philosophies and vision for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan.
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Mary O’Hara-Devereaux
Mary O'Hara-Devereaux, an internationally known futurist and the author of several books, talked to Alliance members about “Navigating the Badlands” and her visions for the future.
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John Hamm
Former CEO of Whistle Communications, John Hamm is the author of the highly acclaimed article in the Harvard Business Review on “Why Entrepreneurs Don’t Scale.” John's presentation to the Alliance was “The CEO Operating System: A Model for Consistent Leadership Practice.” Over the last six years, John has worked with…
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Eamonn Kelly
Eamonn is a specialist in strategy formulation and organizational learning and development. He has explored four distinct scenarios over the next ten years about how the business and society will change and evolve. He is also the co-author of “What's Next: Exploring the New Terrain for Business.”
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Mark Walton
Mark is an internationally known innovator, educator and advisor in the fields of leadership, management and executive communication. His real-world expertise has been refined over a distinguished career of more than three decades at the highest levels of business, media, military and government. Mark spoke to the Alliance about “Mastering…
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Peter Cartwright
Alliance members participated in an interactive discussion with Peter on his innovative strategies in building a competitive power company in a very challenging industry.
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The Alliance of Chief Executives is an active community of business leaders that focuses on deep strategic exchanges, challenging existing assumptions and generating fresh ideas.
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Email: info@allianceofCEOs.com
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