Capitolism

For everyone who thinks the National Championship game was a snoozer last night, you’re only partially right. The game wasn’t competitive — although it remained closer than it should have because of Alabama’s inability to score touchdowns. But we witnessed one of the very best defensive performances in football — ever, period. LSU passed the 50-yard line once, and Alabama had one penalty, with three minute to go in the 4th quarter. Coach Nick Saban had his team supremely ready, and it showed. Stellar performance, and it made the game much more compelling than some might lead you to believe.

My friend Tom Disantis writes an excellent post on sales advice from Sir Winston Churchill. He has a really neat take on some of Sir Winston’s most famous sayings. Great stuff.

I have revised the About page, to more fully explain what Capitolism is, er, about. I have elucidated upon the goals of Capitolism and the issues in view. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am in the process of drafting a strategic plan for Capitolism in 2010, and will share that on the blog when I complete the plan.

About Capitolism:

Capitolism addresses, explores and focuses on issues concerning business, trade, leadership, management, economics and small business. Issues at the intersection of these topics will attract Capitolism’s particular interest. In probing these matters, Capitolism will rely on lessons from philosophy, history, literature, current events, great speeches, newspapers, magazines, sports, academia, science, theology, military history, poetry and the authors’ own experiences, as appropriate. The aims of Capitolism are threefold:

1. To explore challenging and even subterranean issues pertaining to business, economics and leadership

2. To offer a hopefully interesting and unique perspective on these issues to readers

3. To create a venue for wide-ranging, thoughtful, penetrating discussion on these issues

You, the reader, will judge how well or poorly Capitolism achieves these aims. We encourage your comments, whether you agree, disagree or violently disagree with our writings.

Management’s Dirty Little Secrets, by Gary Hamel. Mr. Hamel makes some excellent points. Indeed, if you merge some of the data he presents, you see a key truth emerge: people do not leave companies, they leave bad managers. Read the rest of this entry »

Bob Prosen makes some excellent observations about America’s top companies — whether we say they are the best companies to work for or the most admired. Culture matters. Communication matters. Management and coaching matter. Consistent treatment matters.  Leadership follow-through on commitment matters. Raising the bar matters. Expecting high performance matters. Pressure-testing candidates’ fit with culture in the hiring process matters.

These seem like simple things. As concepts, they could not be simpler. But because of poor leadership, and people not adhering to principles in their behavior, organizations go awry.

Capitolism will have much more to say on this topic, throughout its writings.

For most of our lives, people tell us how to learn, or society dictates the how to us. Growing up, we sit in a classroom, listening to a teacher, taking notes and hopefully digesting the lesson. Perhaps the teacher intersperses exercises or group activities. We complete homework and assignments, and maybe even do (relatively simple) group projects. Read the rest of this entry »

“The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.” Socrates

Seeing this quote today made me ponder the first lesson in managerial wisdom. What realization must a new manager make in order to begin maturing into an effective manager?  It is this: the new manager must understand that the men and women in his charge have dreams, ambitions and goals which have nothing to do with their jobs or with him. Read the rest of this entry »

Sonny Jurgensen, the famed former quarterback of the Washington Redskins, recently said “Vince Lombardi was such a great coach because he simplified the game for everyone.” Lombardi must have made a quick and dramatic impression on Jurgensen; Lombardi coached him for only a year before he died of cancer prior to the 1970 season. Read the rest of this entry »