09/28/17

Critique — CEO Shoptalk

Everybody needs a good critique, right? Ahhh, criticism is the breakfast of champions, no?

Big Red Car here on a cloudy Texas day. Only going to be in the low 80s today. Time to start thinking about the swimming pool, eh? Haha, Hell no. Swimming today, y’all.

So when you’re a CEO you will receive and give critiques. Makes sense, no? Performance appraisal — feedback — is the breakfast of champions.

Today, I want to get your mind right about how to receive this when it is you being critiqued. Ready?

Continue reading

09/27/17

The American Flag, a Veteran’s Perspective

Veterans have a special attachment to the American flag. Allow me to explain why.

Big Red Car here in a cloudy Austin By God Texas day with some reflections from a veteran on the flag of our great country. This is written to explain how enraged veterans may be over recent events which they interpret to be disrespectful to the flag under which they served and, by reference, disrespectful to them. The Big Red Car is not doing missionary work here, not trying to espouse a view, but trying to provide information for you to be able to understand how a veteran might feel about this.

“I want you to see how this became about the flag, the Star-Spangled Banner, veterans, and patriotism. It is not an illogical conclusion,” said your Big Red Car.

Firstly, this controversy was initiated by NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick when he sat down and then, subsequently, took a knee during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner at the start of a San Francisco 49ers game (26 August 2016) . He explained his action thusly, “I AM NOT GOING TO STAND UP TO SHOW PRIDE IN A FLAG FOR A COUNTRY THAT OPPRESSES BLACK PEOPLE AND PEOPLE OF COLOR.”

His words are the glue that attaches his protest to the flag. The flag was being displayed during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner. There is no necessity to look for linkages to the flag and the Star-Spangled Banner, they were there from the beginning. They were put there by Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick went on to say, “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

In this manner, Kaepernick drew attention to the idea that policemen killing innocent people should not be tolerated. He fleshed this out in numerous statements which identified specific police killings of black men.

Let’s stop for a second and reason together. Regardless of whether one agrees with Kaepernick’s actions, is there anyone in favor of cops killing black men? As a foundation value, that is not particularly controversial. Nobody wants cops killing anybody, if it can be avoided.

Continue reading

09/25/17

Horribles — the List of Horribles

Horribles, Big Red Car? What are you talking about? Horribles?

Big Red Car here on a nice Monday, bit of sun and all is well in Austin By God Texas. On Earth as it is in Texas.

When you get finished with Vision, Mission, Strategy, Tactics, Objectives, Values, Culture and when your pitches are pitch perfect (elevator, taxicab, board, onboarding), you have a business engine canvas, a business process graphic, dollar weighted org charts — you are a top 1% CEO.

Now, what do you do?

You create your List of Horribles.

Continue reading

09/25/17

The NFL — Wrecking A Brand

Big Red Car here on a cool Monday, bit cloudy in the ATX. This weekend the NFL went to work in a serious way to wreck its brand. It was a damn good start.

If you have the American flag, the Star Spangled Banner, veterans, patriots and patriotism, Mother Goose, and Donald Trump on one side while the NFL and some 13% of its players are on the other side, which side do you want? Which one walks away with the win or the lesser amount of damage? You decide.

Let’s review the bidding, shall we?

Last season, we had twenty-nine year old Colin Kaepernick, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, take a knee during the playing of the National Anthem. When asked, “Why?” Colin responded, “To protest police oppression of people of color.”

Continue reading

09/23/17

Facts & Strategy

Facts are nice things. Not as nice as a root beer float, but nice.

Big Red Car here on a cool Texas morning with the Fahrenheit set at 72. Hello, Fall!

So, I am in the midst of helping a bunch of CEOs either craft their first crack at strategy or to revise something they did some time ago.

Writing strategy is an exercise in storytelling. It is fiction. It is the future and all writing about the future is fiction. It is fiction you intend to make come true, but it is still fiction.

It is, however, based on facts.

Continue reading

09/22/17

Mercedes Benz v Tesla — Game On Electric SUVs

Big Red Car here on a gray Texas day, y’all. Going to be a nice cool one.

So, the Big Red Car is a muscle car, meaning I drink regular gasoline, put out the torque, and sip a bit of 10W40 (The Boss has me on an “old guy” synthetic oil diet. Son-of-a-bitch! I liked the old fashioned oil, but I admit my joints feel better with the old guy stuff. Just as long as he stays away from the Blue Emu.).

So, Mercedes announced it is going to spend $1,000,000,000 to get into the electric SUV business. Hello, America!

Continue reading

09/21/17

America’s Next War

The US has been engaged in war for the last three decades.

Big Red Car here on a fallish Texas day, fallish meaning it will not be 90F today.

So, today, we talk about our next war. There is war on the horizon, y’all. It will be a vastly different war than recent ones.

Continue reading

09/14/17

Juicero — Judgment

Juicero, Big Red Car?

Big Red Car here in the lovely, sunny, cool ATX enjoying a fresh squeezed carrot juice with some ginger and some sugar beets. Do not tell the guys at Jiffy Lube about this. All they serve is that senior citizen synthetic crap.

So, have you heard about the failure of Juicero? No? Allow the Big Red Car to explain it to you. Comes now, Juicero! Juicero! Juicero!

Continue reading