Three problems holding your team back and giving a great career a bad name Trial by Fire My first day in sales — November 17th, 2008 — was not a good day. I was 23. I had moved to Manhattan a week earlier, shoehorning my possessions into a tiny Murray Hill apartment with…

How managers at my former employer drive performance — one word at a time. — Bainies Speak a Different Language Good managers and good coaches have a lot in common. Both have high standards. They believe a thoughtful, disciplined process drives results. They believe that when you’re doing the right things (as Bill Walsh would say), “The Score Takes Care of Itself.” I wrote recently that good coaches and managers…

Building a business is a competitive game. Competition means you’re going to need to differentiate yourself. You’re going to have to figure out a way to explain to people why they should pick you instead of someone else. You’re going to need to get smart on the options out there…

My 3 predictions for what comes next in the world of B2B GTM A few years ago, I started to notice more clutter on my LinkedIn feed. More formulaic self-congratulatory posts. More shameless, canned, clumsy pitches. More broetry. More (as a friend quipped) “B-players teaching C-players how to be A-players.” …

Amongst the most successful restaurateurs of the last 50 years, one stands out: Danny Meyer. Danny conceived of, built, and reinvented world-famous venues like Gramercy Tavern, The Modern, and my own personal favorite (and a frequent lunch stop just down the street from my office in Chicago), Shake Shack. Danny’s…

What Sylvester Stallone can teach you about diagnosing problems This is a multi-part series on how to learn to think strategically. If you haven’t read Part I yet, I suggest reading that first. The Three Techniques of Strategic Thinking The Richard Rumelt “kernel” framework we introduced in Part I of this series — Diagnosis, Guiding Policy…

How the “Less Data, More Often” approach can help get you and your team into a better analytical rhythm Less Data, More Often About a year ago, we started experimenting with a simpler approach to sales reporting at ParkerGale Capital. We called our new reporting strategy “Less Data, More Often.” Our new approach revolved…

What you learn when your spouse starts a company “That Was Not Good.” Arriving in Philadelphia in 2012, my business-school classmates and I shared the same two goals: Survive our first-year curriculum and land a summer internship. For almost all of us, the second goal was far more important. The MBA job search is…

Unpacking the weirdest job I’ve ever loved What Is It…That You Do Here? Working at Bain & Co. came with some great perks. One of those was the summer offsite. We all looked forward to it: For the break from making slides. For the fanfare around our office award presentations. …