Leadership

Hard-earned lessons from decades of building and running businesses.

Below are 278 leadership posts from Tim. Use the filters to find what you are looking for within this category.

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“What is Your Circle of Competence?”
PostLeadershipBuilder

“What is Your Circle of Competence?”

By Tim McCarthy

March 31, 2025

Warren Buffett says, "Know your circle of competence, and stick within it. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital." Perhaps like you,...
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Connection is Powerful
QuoteLeadershipBuilder

Connection is Powerful

By Seth Godin

March 3, 2025

“The smartphone is the most expensive device most people own, and the one they use the most. Here’s everything you can’t have, can’t afford and won’t get, right here. Here’s...
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Kindness Makes Money
PostLeadershipBuilderSeeker

Kindness Makes Money

By Tim McCarthy

March 3, 2025

It startled me even as these words came out of my mouth. And the students at Ohio State's Fisher Business school would not let me get away without proof. Here’s...
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I Moved Your Cheese
BookLeadershipBuilder

I Moved Your Cheese

By Deepak Malhotra

February 3, 2025

Book of The Month: “I Moved Your Cheese”, by Deepak Malhotra Editor’s note: Each Christmas my dear friend, Sister Maureen Burke, gives me brain food, usually more than one book....
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Learned to Do
QuoteLeadershipWhat's NextBuilder

Learned to Do

By Deepak Malhotra

February 3, 2025

“You, Zed, are asking them to be. But they have only learned to do ." ---Deepak Malhotra, from “I Moved Your Cheese”
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The Three Levels of Risk
PostLeadershipBuilderSeeker

The Three Levels of Risk

By Tim McCarthy

February 3, 2025

Editor's note:  I'm asking forgiveness from Mardy Grothe, whose first and last names I misspelled when citing his wonderful quote blog,  www.drmardy.com , last month. Risk is an interesting topic,...
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Talk with Tim Ep. 5 Character Lending
VideoLeadershipBuilder

Talk with Tim Ep. 5 Character Lending

January 27, 2025

Before diving into marketing, Ron Mattocks and I take a step back to talk about my journey—how I built, sold, and reinvented businesses, and why I now spend my time...
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Talk with Tim Ep. 4 The List
VideoLeadershipBuilder

Talk with Tim Ep. 4 The List

January 27, 2025

A good list isn’t just a collection of names—it’s your biggest marketing advantage. In this episode of Talk with Tim, I break down how to identify the right customers, focus...
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Talk with Tim Ep. 3 Distilling Numbers
VideoLeadershipBuilder

Talk with Tim Ep. 3 Distilling Numbers

January 27, 2025

Numbers matter, but which ones should you actually track? In this episode of Talk with Tim, Ron Mattocks and I break down how to cut through the noise, focus on...
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Talk with Tim Ep. 2 Define the Need Then Fill it
VideoLeadershipBuilder

Talk with Tim Ep. 2 Define the Need Then Fill it

January 27, 2025

Marketing isn’t about throwing ideas into the wind and hoping something sticks. It starts with defining the need, building your list, and knowing exactly who you’re trying to reach. In...
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Talk with Tim Ep. 1: Marketing as a Business Discipline
VideoLeadershipBuilder

Talk with Tim Ep. 1: Marketing as a Business Discipline

January 27, 2025

Marketing isn’t about making things look pretty—it’s about knowing your customers and giving them what they actually need. In this episode of Talk with Tim, I sit down with Ron...
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Wake Up, Get Up
QuoteLeadershipBuilder

Wake Up, Get Up

By Sal LeCesse

December 2, 2024

“If you wake up, get up. If you get up, do something”. ---Sal LeCesse
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Ego
QuoteLeadershipBuilder

Ego

By Farnam Street

October 31, 2024

“The healthy part of ego helps when we lose; the humble side helps when we’re winning” ---Farnam Street
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Golden Rule 1.a, 1.b, and 1.c
PostLeadershipTim's StoryBuilderMentorSeeker

Golden Rule 1.a, 1.b, and 1.c

By Tim McCarthy

October 31, 2024

The best version of the golden rule is: “Treat others as you wish to be treated”. Ideally, that would be the only rule we need. But for real life, which...
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Warren and Bill
BookGivingLeadershipBuilder

Warren and Bill

By Anthony Mc

August 6, 2024

Book of The Month: "Warren and Bill" by Anthony McCarten Editor’s Note:   McCarten is a playwright, known for “Bohemian Rhapsody”, among other movies. This seems to make his writing...
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Fear and Love
PostLeadershipTim's StoryBuilderMentorSeeker

Fear and Love

By Tim McCarthy

July 1, 2024

Paulo Freire said, “The opposite of love is not, as we many times or almost always think, hatred, but the fear to love, and fear to love is the fear of...
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PostLeadershipTim's StoryBuilder

Newsletter: Planning for Failure

By Tim McCarthy

April 1, 2024

Writing good business plans is a key to success, but good plans must accommodate searching and failing over time to be effective.  Said differently, no plan is perfect – nor...
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PostLeadershipTim's StoryBuilder

Newsletter: Success in the Balance

By Tim McCarthy

April 1, 2024

Successful organizations are more about hard work and effectively deploying people than they are about great ideas.  Great ideas must be balanced by great work ethic, leadership and a balanced...
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PostLeadershipTim's StoryBuilderMentor

Newsletter: God’s Not Done Yet

By Tim McCarthy

April 1, 2024

Great coaching creates great organizations.  Be careful not to judge your players too soon. [more] I was an aspiring advertising agency exec on a pretty fast track but I’d just...
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AI is as Big a Change as the Internet
QuoteLeadershipBuilder

AI is as Big a Change as the Internet

By Seth Godin on AI

April 1, 2024

In 1840, at the dawn of the information age, the king of Sardinia asked Charles Babbage what nearly instant messaging like the telegraph could possibly be good for. Twenty years...
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The Secret to Employee Loyalty
PostLeadershipBuilderSeeker

The Secret to Employee Loyalty

By Tim McCarthy

March 2, 2024

Ah, the golden key to loyalty among the ranks! Here it is: Invite your team to stick around for the long haul, but if they decide to fly the coop,...
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