What can General Motors CEO Daniel Akerson teach you about leadership? (Part 1 of 4)

Dan Akerson and me

One of my greatest experiences was serving on the board of trustees for the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association. As you may recall from an earlier post, the fact that the son of former German Army POW could serve in such a role speaks volumes about the greatness of our country.

The experience has allowed me to meet and work with admirals, generals, legends, ambassadors, cabinet secretaries, presidential advisers, Wall Street titans – you name it. To say I’m grateful for the experience is the mother of all understatements.

A few months ago, I had the great honor of sitting next to Daniel Akerson, the CEO of General Motors...

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Don’t let your smarts stop you from thinking big

I had the great opportunity to interview John LaPides, former CEO of Snow Valley Inc., a couple of times over the last month (you can watch the video or download the audio of our most recent interview here). John was CEO of the company for almost 30 years before selling it to Nestlé, and although he can’t share any details, he will say that the water bottler and refreshment company did well in the sale. His successful exit was fueled by some very impressive performance for his industry:

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What about creativity?

When I was a submarine officer on the USS Philadelphia, we had a technical problem occur while we were on a mission – a problem that caused us more than a little bit of concern.
If we replaced the component that failed, it would require us leaving our station and immediately conducting integration testing. Unfortunately, leaving the station was not an acceptable option, given the fact that we were on a mission of great importance to national security.

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Ground rules for building a $1B business

I had the great fortune of getting to know a local business legend — Alan Peyser — over the past few weeks. Alan helped found a company in 1975 that was eventually acquired by Cable & Wireless. As president and CEO of the new venture, he grew it from $6 million in 1980 to $1.1 billion in 1995. I learned a lifetime’s worth of wisdom by talking with him and trading e-mails over the last few weeks – especially when it comes to customer service and hiring great people. I don’t have the space to write down even half of what he shared with me, but one of the coolest things he gave me was his list of Ground Rules that helped him achieve such great business success:

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The biggest mistake business leaders make

I asked Art Medici, a partner at Newport Board Group, what was the biggest mistake CEOs routinely make. Given Art’s extensive CEO pedigree (he’s raised money, right-sized, navigated through mergers and acquisitions, founded companies, turned companies around, etc.), I figured he was the right guy to ask. He answered, but along the way he also gave me a bunch of other wisdom. Here are some highlights:

1. Get potential buyers of your product or service involved early in any development process. The conceit that a majority of entrepreneurs or inventors have is that, based on their experience, they know exactly what the marketplace wants. The problem is....

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Five great ways to fail in business

In honor of the bicentennial of the War of 1812, I wear a special 2-flag lapel pin. On the left-hand side is the U.S. flag and on the right is Oliver Hazard Perry’s iconic battle flag from the War of 1812 : “Don’t Give Up the Ship.” The flag holds a place of honor at the Naval Academy. A replica hangs on the wall in Memorial Hall, right over the list of our alumni who were killed in action (see the picture close by). The original is in our museum. Perry had the flag made in honor of his friend Captain James Lawrence, who said the words after he was mortally wounded in battle onboard the USS Chesapeake in 1813.

Victory at all costs may be critical in war, but... 

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The hidden destroyer of customer experience

A few weeks ago, my wife and I took our kids to one of my favorite places to visit in the summer — a water park. In this case, it was Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in New Jersey. We had to find a few rides that my youngest – 5-year old Ted – could go on, and without too much trouble, we found the perfect one: Hurricane Mountain. With six slides and a capacity of 960 riders per hour, we were guaranteed a swiftly moving line. When we got there, the “outside” line was only about 8 deep, and the waiting time at the “inner” line was reported as 10 minutes. So, we got in line and waited.

And waited. And waited. And waited...

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