In the CEO Afterlife

article thumbnail

Stop Managing Your Career

In the CEO Afterlife

Inherent in the definition of career is the opportunity to progress. More than ever, people are seeking mentors, “branding” themselves and carefully managing their careers in order to dash up that quintessential corporate ladder. So what is wrong with managing your career? Getting ahead” was my father’s way of saying it.

Career 199
article thumbnail

Leading Without Direct Reports

In the CEO Afterlife

Craft or Career. Decades ago, I was moved by a business school article entitled, “Craft or Career. The author, a professor, was making the point that crafts and careers are not mutually exclusive – that craftspeople do not have to climb the management ladder to realize fulfilling careers. Which Will It Be?

Report 100
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Does a Mentor have to Breathe?

In the CEO Afterlife

To most of us, mentors are people of experience and knowledge who help the less experienced advance their careers and/or their education. In the early days of my 40 year business career, I was lucky to work under two gentlemen who instilled several critical success factors that guided me from Brand Manager to CEO.

Mentor 228
article thumbnail

Getting Out of Life What You Put into It

In the CEO Afterlife

My career as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company had come to an end with the sale of the company. That career shift resulted in plenty of travel and lonely nights in hotel rooms. That was not the case. On my back as I bailed from the corner office was another type of parachute, a golden one.

Hotels 100
article thumbnail

The Latest in Corporate Bail Outs – Women

In the CEO Afterlife

Today, there’s a venerable list of female executives who have shattered that glass and gone on to illustrious careers as successful CEOs. It was a “wow moment” in my career – an eye opener, to say the least. That was two decades ago. One might think the likes of Melissa Mayer (Yahoo!), I was in for a shock. Some eyes welled.

Diversity 200
article thumbnail

The Difference between Strategists and Strategic Planners

In the CEO Afterlife

I’ve met both over my long career as an executive, a consultant, and a board member. Strategists and Strategic Planners may read the same periodicals and have similar destinations in mind, but there is a difference between the two. Strategic Planners, at the outset, are disadvantaged by the definition of their role.

article thumbnail

10 Ways to Slay Goliath

In the CEO Afterlife

My business career is characterized with a bunch of David versus Goliath encounters. As a 23 year-old Macleans Toothpaste Brand Manager in 1970, my colleagues and I competed against powerhouses P&G, Colgate and Unilever. When I joined Jacobs Suchard (then Nabob Foods) in 1977, I found myself up against the muscle of Kraft and Nestle.