Business leaders talk how and why
Done the right way, owning or managing a small business, a large company or a nonprofit organization is an honorable endeavor that contributes to a vibrant economy and makes the region a better place to live, work and play.
With that premise as a guide, please allow me to introduce you to C-Level, a new weekly column that will appear throughout the year in the Business section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
I have been interviewing and writing about businesses and their leaders for more than 30 years. This column will be the next manifestation of that journey.
The column will be a value-added venture to complement the award-winning journalism provided by our staff during the week. The Sunday column will go beyond those headlines. We will interview the leaders of companies in the news and drill down to answer two key questions: Why? and How?
These are leaders who have made many strategic decisions for their organizations. Why did they make that particular decision? And how are they going to implement that new strategy, tactic or concept?
This column primarily will be about executives in the “C” suite — CEOs as well as chief financial officers, chief operating officers, business owners and managers. We will tell their stories and explore their priorities and their visions for serving their stakeholders, including their companies, employees, vendors, customers and the community at large.
We also will examine the moments when they have been the most vulnerable or faced their most daunting challenges.
We are confident the timing of C-Level
could not be better. Coincidentally, one of the topselling business books on 800-CEO-Read’s list of “What Corporate America Is Reading” is a book titled, “HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything.”
The book was written by Dov Seidman, founder and chief executive officer of LRN Corp., a Los Angelesbased consulting company that has helped shape winning organizational cultures inspired by sustainable value at hundreds of companies worldwide.
Seidman’s book sums up his philosophy this way: “The flood of information, unprecedented transparency, increasing interconnectedness — and our global interdependence — are dramatically reshaping today’s world, the world of business, and our lives. We are in the Era of Behavior, and the rules of the game have fundamentally changed. It is no longer what you do that matters most and sets you apart from others, but how you do
Investment Trends
This column will return. what you do. Whats are commodities, easily duplicated or reverse-engineered. Sustainable advantage and enduring success for organizations and the people who work for them now lie in the realm of how, the new frontier of conduct.”
So, let the conversation begin. Tell us your stories and help us share them with our readers throughout Wisconsin. Collectively, we will help drive a vital dialogue that can contribute to the vitality of this state’s economy.
Steve Jagler is the business editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Send C-Level column ideas to him at steve.jagler@journalsentinel.com.