The Resistance

Dave Kinnear 1-On Leadership

Engagement: I was slightly amused at the recent NY Times anonymous editorial about the “Internal Resistance” to the President’s leadership. “Welcome to our world,” I said out loud to no one in particular. They are lucky that this is out in the open. We in the private sector rarely get such a heads up! According to Gallup for over two …

Modern Employees

Employees First

Dave Kinnear 1-On Leadership

Sustainable Advantage: I don’t know how we can claim we have a sustainable competitive advantage unless, that is, that we believe that advantage to be our ability to learn faster than the competition. Technology is moving much too fast for us to think that some sort of product or service is really our competitive advantage. But continuous learning, a willingness …

Ears are in my way!

Her Ears Are In My Way

Dave Kinnear 1-On Leadership

Behavior: One of my leadership mentors, author David Marquet, makes it clear that in his experience, if you want to effectively change people’s behavior, you have to change the environment. I learned that lesson again recently when my assistant, pictured here, exhibited unwanted behavior. It was my own fault. I came home from a photo shoot and put my camera …

People First

People Always

Dave Kinnear 1-On Leadership

Mission First: But people always. Here’s my takeaway from the mantra: “Mission first, people ALWAYS.” It is true that we are always dealing with people. Ourselves, our leadership team, our employees, our customers and our vendors — all are people. At least for now! I’ve long said that we need to put our employees first. I know from experience that …

Southwest Airlines

The Business of Business

Dave Kinnear 1-On Leadership

High Flyer: Herb Kelleher, the beloved longtime CEO of Southwest Airlines, said, “The business of business is people. Yesterday, today and forever.” I buy that statement. Employees, leadership teams, boards, customers, suppliers—all the stakeholders comprise people. At least for now! It is hard to see how any business organization can do well, let alone thrive, if they do not learn …

We don't want employees

We Don’t Want Employees

Dave Kinnear 1-On Leadership

Face it; many (most?) employers have employees only because they have to in order to provide a product or service. Few employers will admit this in public. They make jokes about it — “Business would be fabulous if I didn’t have to deal with employees,” — and we know that jokes are at least half true. (By the way, sometimes, they say the …