In 1970, John Sculley was a newly hired marketing executive at Pepsi. His first assignment: to develop a distinctive glass bottle to compete against Coke’s...
Today, many people see Bill Gates as a globetrotting humanitarian. But in the 1980s, he was a headstrong entrepreneur. An incident involving company co-founder Paul...
Eric Greitens became a Navy SEAL by becoming a leader. He figured the best way to start Hell Week would be to pull together a team of seven and keep them together, using...
Within a week of Kevin Johnson becoming CEO of Juniper Networks in 2008, he met with all his direct reports in a group. He told them he wanted to listen and learn, so he...
In 2000, Robin Chase founded Zipcar. The car-sharing service was an instant hit; within three months, the firm had 400 members. Chase was about to secure new funding to...
"Credit belongs to he who is in the arena," Theodore Roosevelt said, "his face marred by dust, sweat, and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs to come short and ...
The best managers walk a fine line by earning the respect of their team without going overboard and befriending everyone. Here’s how you can strike the proper...
The essence of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, according to his biographer, is that his personality was integral to his way of doing business. For one thing, he acted as...
Many leaders urge employees to take responsibility and make smart decisions. But some leaders interfere by insisting on signing off on those decisions. By delegating...
During his weekly TED Radio Hour, Guy Raz curates the best TED Talks on new ideas and inventions, highlighting key moments from each talk and further interviewing the...
When David Cote became Honeywell’s CEO in 2002, it was in disarray. And so he listed 12 behaviors that he wanted everyone to follow. He felt that unifying the...
After more than two years of testing a Doritos-flavored taco shell, Taco Bell still had not signed a contract to partner with the company that made Doritos. So as the...
Steve Reinemund, Pepsi’s former CEO, recalls an incident in which his counterpart at Coca-Cola called out of the blue. Coke’s CEO thanked Reinemund for his...
"We’re in an industry with 115% annual turnover," says Brian Fielkow, president and CEO of Jetco Delivery. "Our raw number is about one-third of that." How does he...
David Pensak faced a challenge during the early days of the Internet. He wanted people to understand the purpose of a firewall. But they were still grappling with the...
Top leaders connect with others easily, emphasizing shared interests and minimizing resistance. Try these techniques to communicate better with colleagues.
For many years, executives tended to control the flow of information in their organization. They would limit who had access to data and expend much effort ensuring...
In November 1942, Col. Curtis LeMay delivered a briefing to his World War II bomber pilots. He told them they would fly directly toward the target, maximizing the risk...
