My wife and I operate a foundation where we give college scholarships to high school seniors who will be majoring in engineering, science or math. In interviewing a perspective recipient recently I was struck by how clear it was that she has real leadership potential.

Net, Nokia seems incapable of doing two things at once; keeping the low end phone business growing while aggressively trying to catch up in smartphones. What is the problem here? Basically when a leader has two efforts that deserve major attention.

Having fun in business, and making career progress, is all about driving things that make a difference, and being part of an organization that strives to continually improve. Don’t get bogged down with a bunch of wimps!

Discontinuing a project, product, or service requires much more energy to achieve than most people realize. The reason is that it is somewhat counter to human nature.

In mid-September, 2012 when Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, was on stage in San Francisco introducing the iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy team was huddled with its ad agency listening to the presentation, tracking each new feature and watching real-time comments on blogs and social media sites.

I recently met with the leaders of a company that, for the past three years, have been working to improve its operating profit margins. The leader was very proud of its 14% improvement over that three year period, going from 8.0% to 9.1%.

When I asked to understand the details, the leader reviewed with me a large spreadsheet which summarized over 40 different initiatives, each with a leader named and a description of the opportunity, the idea being pursed, target savings, target completion dates, and current progress assessment.

As JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson has discovered, trying to force a brand into an Apple-shaped mold doesn’t ensure success. Rule #1 in trying to generate a successful business is to realize you need a unique and appealing benefit for the customer. Ideally, the benefit is supported by a sustainable advantage that delivers superior value versus [...]

Apple could surprise us in the next six to nine months by emerging with yet another big new idea. On the other hand, I think the stock market is telling us that the public is beginning to believe that Apple really doesn’t have strong visionary leadership. Apple will be a solid technology company but the Apple era may be on its way out.

Recently when I was having a conversation with a current high-ranking executive at Wal-Mart, I was telling him how back in the late 1980’s I was part of a Procter & Gamble group of that was working with a group of Wal-Mart execs, including Sam Walton himself. We were trying to implement ways the two companies could work together more easily. The person I was chatting with told me that while he had never met Sam, all Wal-Mart employees know all about Sam and that he is universally respected.

We are not talking about stupid people here. These are seasoned business veterans who have proven over the years that they are very talented. So why do they, on certain occasions, do really dumb things?