Blog

Revenue Leads Expenses

By Peter DiGiammarino

Most leadership teams know the problem. They set an annual revenue target, build spending around it, and move forward as if the planned revenue inflow is already on its way. If revenue later develops more slowly than hoped, the organization is forced to pull back, delay hires, cut initiatives, and explain why the original plan … Continue reading Revenue Leads Expenses

Before You Build, Get Clear

By Peter DiGiammarino

Before You Build, Get Clear AI makes it easier than ever to build, prototype, and automate. It does not make it any less important to think. When the cost of building drops, the cost of building the wrong thing rises. Remember Peter Drucker’s aphorism that ends wtih “… are you doing the right thing?” That is … Continue reading Before You Build, Get Clear

Finding the CEO for What Comes Next

By Peter DiGiammarino

An IntelliVen Insight by Eric Palmer. AI is not a feature cycle. It is a reset of SaaS economics. Eric Palmer, a highly successful Senior Operating Partner with more than 30 years of experience leading private, public, private equity-owned, and venture-backed companies, recently shared what he is seeing across  software businesses. Eric uses and has … Continue reading Finding the CEO for What Comes Next

Time Horizon Discipline

By Peter DiGiammarino

Leaders often say: “We don’t have enough time.” “We’re far from our goals.” “Everything feels urgent.” Most of the time, the issue is not time. It is a mismatch between the decision and the planning horizon. Manage to Lead is built on clarity and disciplined change. Time horizon discipline is part of that clarity. Different … Continue reading Time Horizon Discipline

When Attention Is the Constraint, Focus the Work and the Reviews

By Peter DiGiammarino

Most things go wrong because leaders are spread too thin, not because the work is impossible. When the volume of initiatives outstrips reviewer capacity, important items get little or no attention. Meetings slip. Mental presence drops. The fix is to match what we take on to the attention we can invest, and to raise the … Continue reading When Attention Is the Constraint, Focus the Work and the Reviews

The Architecture of Resilience: How Early Labor Silences Fear in High-Stakes Leadership

By Peter DiGiammarino

By: Richard Block From a very early age, working was a given. It was simply what you did. In reflecting on these early experiences and contrasting them with the lives of my children and grandchildren, I see a significant divide. The loss isn’t just in the paycheck; it is in the “patterns of behavior” that … Continue reading The Architecture of Resilience: How Early Labor Silences Fear in High-Stakes Leadership

From Tool to Teammate: Six Practices That Make AI Work for Us

By Peter DiGiammarino

At IntelliVen, we work from a defined body of leadership and management practice: the Manage to Lead (MtL) System. It is documented in our text, taught in our classes, and organized into more than sixty tools and templates and 70 insights and tutorials. We use these tools every day with clients and trainees and we are … Continue reading From Tool to Teammate: Six Practices That Make AI Work for Us

When there’s no right answer: get input, get commitment, then decide

By Peter DiGiammarino

Calls about who the team counts on for what are hard. Leaders worry about making valued people feel overlooked or diminished. Direct reports mostly want clarity, fair reasoning, and as much scope and recognition as they can reasonably earn. This post offers a way to handle those tensions: get input one-on-one, secure commitment to support … Continue reading When there’s no right answer: get input, get commitment, then decide

Say the Same Words. Mean the Same Things.

By Peter DiGiammarino

Walk into almost any leadership meeting and you will hear the same words: Vision. Strategy. Mandate. Values. Culture. Everyone nods. Everyone is confident they understand. Then you listen a little longer and realize something important: People are using the same words to mean different things … and different words to mean the same things. That … Continue reading Say the Same Words. Mean the Same Things.

Steering Committees: Engaging Stakeholders for Guidance, Commitment, and Growth

By Peter DiGiammarino

Note: A complementary reading for MtL Module 8 Get Help Leaders who “get help” know success comes not from going it alone but from surrounding themselves with structures that strengthen thinking, accountability, and action. In Manage to Lead, we emphasize the value of an Accountability Board, Advisory Board, Coach, and Peer Group. There is another … Continue reading Steering Committees: Engaging Stakeholders for Guidance, Commitment, and Growth

How to build a “pizza-making” business.

By Peter DiGiammarino | March 30, 2012

Chief executive officers, managing directors, executive directors, and chief administrators subscribe to intelliven.com for content, cases, and tools to help organizations they lead perform and grow to their full potential. Leaders of any organization, no matter how large or small, those who aspire to be leaders, and those who help and support leaders all find the site full of … Continue reading How to build a “pizza-making” business.

How to quit a job you love.

By Peter DiGiammarino | March 26, 2012

It is not easy to quit a job you love. Even with a new dream job in-hand, cutting the cord that connects you to a place you have become part of can be one of the most difficult challenges you ever face in your career. While there is no surefire method, the steps below reflect … Continue reading How to quit a job you love.

Alternatives to a COO

By Peter DiGiammarino | March 23, 2012

Responsibilities shouldered by the Chief Executive Officer (aka: CEO, Managing Partner, Managing Director, or Executive Director) of a successful venture increase with growth in scale and complexity. The tension between the need to get things done, get others to do things, bridge the “white space” between organization units, and to represent the organization externally (e.g. … Continue reading Alternatives to a COO

Three Steps to Selling a Work Plan

By Peter DiGiammarino | March 14, 2012

Follow the three steps below to prepare and present a professional services workplan for a prospective customer. Those who hire service providers should also study the steps to understand how the best providers think through what they propose to do for you. To calculate a price for a body of work, first prepare a plan … Continue reading Three Steps to Selling a Work Plan

Beyond the Summit: Crafting a Life of Fulfillment and Balance

By Peter DiGiammarino | March 11, 2012

Most of us seek in our professional affiliation what some call a state of flow or what others call happiness, exhilaration, satisfaction, or leading a fulfilled life. Along these lines see: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and The Doom Loop System by my long time personal executive coach Dr. Dory Hollander who passed away … Continue reading Beyond the Summit: Crafting a Life of Fulfillment and Balance

An Action Plan for Executive Transition Into a Lead Role

By Peter DiGiammarino | March 1, 2012

Executive Transition into a Lead Role One of the hardest things for a senior executive to do is break into an existing system of operation. At first there is an exhilarating air of difference. Everything is new and there is so much to figure out and to absorb. The opportunity to have a major impact … Continue reading An Action Plan for Executive Transition Into a Lead Role

Master the High-Stakes Interview: Essential Strategies for Success

By Peter DiGiammarino | February 29, 2012

Following these tips will increase the odds that a high-stakes job interview goes well: Be Yourself Be honest … be genuine … be sincere. It is not worth being someone other than yourself just to land the job because in the end it will not be possible for you to continue being the person who … Continue reading Master the High-Stakes Interview: Essential Strategies for Success

A Plan to Eat Right for Life

By Peter DiGiammarino | February 29, 2012

“Nothing tastes as good as being fit feels” is a good mantra to run through in your mind over and over as you concentrate on taking in only enough calories to live as they say Eat Right for Life, in order to get and stay fit.  You should also exercise (see this post for details … Continue reading A Plan to Eat Right for Life

Note on Letters of Recommendation

By Peter DiGiammarino | February 23, 2012

Students, parents, teachers, and those who write letters of recommendation for admission to a high school or college often underestimate how much of a difference the recommendation makes. Those who take recommendations seriously and who work to make them the best they can, find it a relatively easy way to get an edge on the … Continue reading Note on Letters of Recommendation

Craft Your Resume with Pride: A Guide to Showcasing Confidence, Creativity, and Results

By Peter DiGiammarino | January 31, 2012

The most important thing about your resume is that you be proud of how it presents you. If you are not proud of it, then how can you expect any one else to be impressed? Keep working on it until it presents you in just the way you want. Whenever you even think about your … Continue reading Craft Your Resume with Pride: A Guide to Showcasing Confidence, Creativity, and Results

Eight Reasons Executive Review Meetings Underperform

By Peter DiGiammarino | January 21, 2012

The main reason things go wrong  is lack of management attention. Hence the importance of Executive Review Meetings! However, management reviews can also go wrong.  Here are eight common reasons why they often do: # 8. The leaders did not prepare, so the meeting becomes the preparation and the review never materializes. # 7. Too … Continue reading Eight Reasons Executive Review Meetings Underperform