CEO Insider

As much as it pains some of us, we are all in the people business. Until the robots take over, we are always engaged with another person, be it a customer or a coworker, a loved one, or a stranger on the street.  Relationships are the core of leadership because...

The pandemic reignited the debate surrounding the need for society to visualize a new world of work. Empathy for people’s exhaustion is driving C-suite discussions on alternatives to the five-day, 40+-hour week. In response, the California state legislature which represents the world’s fifth-largest economy introduced legislation that would mandate a...

Most organizations typically relegate creatives, especially designers, to their marketing departments, where they can create pretty logos, brochures, and marketing materials. As a result, it is highly unusual to find creatives (right-brained individuals) leading large enterprises or organizations.  The last well-known creative/right-brained CEO the world remembers is Steve Jobs. That's...

Despite the pandemic, executive recruiters face one of the strongest candidate markets in the past twenty years. You have more negotiating power than ever for executive compensation.  When it comes to executive equity compensation, do you know that there are differences between employee equity from a corporation and an LLC?...

During Season 3, Episode 14 (Hartsfield’s Landing) of the hit TV series The West Wing (1999-2006), President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) and Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) talked about a foreign policy dilemma and how to negotiate a way forward that would avoid military conflict. While the two were playing chess, Sam...

The high-end customer segment is one of the fastest-growing components of today's marketplace. According to a recent study by Technavio Research, the luxury goods market is predicted to grow $33 billion over the next five years.  Even as the economy proclaims inflation, wealthy (and wannabe wealthy) consumers have shown little...

As technology evolves, so does cybercrime. In fact, most people do not realize that today’s cybercriminals leverage the same technologies, business models, and service offerings that ordinary, non-criminal enterprises use. Similar to the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model where consumers access software and services in exchange for a monthly or recurring fee,...

Resiliency, trust, and connecting through a shared sense of purpose. Which metrics do you like to use when presenting to your Board of Directors or adjusting your strategic plan? In addition to the usual financials, I find it interesting to ask fellow business leaders about the bellwethers they monitor. For...

While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may feel like a giant leap backward for civilization, how business has responded may also mark the beginning of a huge leap forward. Hundreds of U.S. companies have curtailed or entirely stopped doing business with Russia in response to its indiscriminate war on Ukraine. These...

"Transactional success" was one of the strategic goals for Mona Ataya when she founded and grew Mumzworld into the largest online baby shop in the Middle East. I heard Mona Ataya's story as she was interviewed by HBS professor Ranjay Gulati for his What They Are Made Of series of...