Leadership Lessons on a Yellow Pad
April 12, 2025
Many, many years ago we managed to piss off a big customer. I flew across the country to meet with the CEO and try to mend the relationship.
I was nervous. He was known as a fiery leader who drove his team hard. He ran a large public company with thousands of employees. I was a young, middling manager for a small business. He kept me waiting. When he finally came rushing into our meeting he was waving a yellow legal pad.
“Do you know what this is? It is three pages of great ideas,” he said, not waiting for an answer. He had just come out of a three-hour strategic meeting with his top executives, and he was pumped.
“And do you know what the hard part is?” He paused, this time waiting for me to admit I had no clue. “The hardest part is choosing the one or two of these great ideas we will focus on next year.”
Our meeting went well. He is a customer and friend to this day. That yellow legal pad has stuck in my head through the years as I led teams and then a company.
Good leaders know how to get the most from their organization. They set clear priorities, keep the team focused, and recognize and course correct when focus is lost.
These things are happening right now, as reported by a wide variety of sources.
War in Ukraine
“Trump urges Russia to ‘get moving’ on a ceasefire in Ukraine,” the BBC reported Friday after US Mid-East Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Putin for four hours.
“I’ll have that done in 24 hours,” Trump repeatedly said last year, as reported by the AP.
Negotiations with Iran
Witkoff will be in Oman Saturday for talks with Iran about its nuclear program. “It’s all about leverage,” Fox News reported in advance, noting the two sides are squabbling about whether the talks will be direct or indirect.
“There will be bombing if Iran does not make a deal,” Reuters reported Trump saying on March 30.
Tariff War with China
“The game of chicken between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is getting riskier,” the center-right Indian newspaper Economic Times reported Thursday.
“Trump is waiting for Xi to call. The Chinese see it differently,” CCN reported Friday, as the two leaders jockey over who will pick up the phone first.
Billionaire Backfires
“Trump tariffs backfire on Elon Musk as Tesla pulls US-built models from China,” Fortune said Friday.
“White House is in chaos as billionaires turn on Donald Trump,” Australia’s Daily Telegraph reported.
Market Gyrations
“Trade uncertainty triggers the third largest pullback in the S&P 500 since 2019,” an Edward Jones report noted Friday.
“U.S. stocks are losing amid Trump-Xi trade war,” Market Watch’s end of week wrap up said, but at least, “by less than China’s market.”
RFK Restates His Vaccine Skepticism
“Health Secretary RFK Jr. declares certain vaccines have never worked,” The Network Journal, a business magazine for black professionals reported RFK saying in a Wednesday interview with CBS News.
“This is another example of Kennedy being an ignoramus about vaccination…And you can quote me on that,” University of Pennsylvania professor emeritus and vaccine scientist Stanley Plotkin told STAT News.“
Legal Issues
“Many lawyers who argue for Trump at Supreme Court are heading for the exit,” the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
“At the Supreme Court, the Trump agenda is always an ‘emergency,’” the NYT said Thursday.
Summing Up
“The Third-Worlding of America,” is how Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman summed up recent economic news in a Substack post Friday. “Savvy traders have realized that there’s no coherent economic strategy.”
Good leaders know how to get the most from their organization. They set clear priorities, keep the team focused, and recognize and course correct when focus is lost.
“I don’t know how this ends,” Krugman said. “In fact, I don’t know what policy will be next week. But that’s basically the point.”
These things are happening right now.
Notes.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm3kxxx8x9o
https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-war-un-election-a78ecb843af452b8dda1d52d137ca893
https://www.foxnews.com/world/trump-demands-do-or-die-nuclear-talks-iran-who-has-leverage
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/10/politics/trump-xi-china-tariffs/index.html
https://fortune.com/2025/04/11/trump-tariffs-backfire-on-elon-musk-as-tesla-pulls-models-from-china/
https://www.edwardjones.com/us-en/market-news-insights/stock-market-news/stock-market-weekly-update
https://tnj.com/health-secretary-rfk-jr-declares-certain-vaccines-have-never-worked/
https://www.statnews.com/2025/04/10/rfk-jr-single-antigen-vaccines-novavax-fda-decision/
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/us/politics/supreme-court-trump-emergency.html
A common misconception is that fascist governments are ruthlessly efficien;, they make the trains run on time. Nazi Germany was anything but. Hitler intentionally gave subordinates overlapping responsibilities so they would squabble and have to come to him. The trump admin’s incompetence takes nothing away from the danger they pose. Just as they use lying as an expression of power, their incompetence is an expression of contempt for governing and the governed.
ReplyDeleteRelated: I’m not one to think in terms of conspiracy when greed and stupidity will serve to explain events, but holy crap! If you were on a mission to blow up the foundations of American power, you could hardly do a better job. You know the current list as well as I do. Is a poorly planned military adventure next up? If it happens, I’m going to have to rethink my stance on conspiracies.
Spot on, Charles. I also eschew conspiracy theories but T embraces multiple conspiracy camps and taps them in when useful, and discards them when not. Similarly, the dysfunction within the T Administration seems intentional, just to keep the courtiers off balance. Where will this take us? See "Blueprint for Autocracy" and "Raising an Army." The one thing we can count on is if T gets pushback he will double down.
DeleteMore likely, and in some ways more disturbing, are plans being floated for use of US troops within the US, against immigrants or protesters, for instance, or for atypical military use such as attacking Mexican drug cartels.
DeleteI think that’s coming. Trans people, immigrants, and protesters are the first and easiest targets. Deportations remain popular.
DeleteAnd speaking of the conspiracy camps trump surrounds himself with, they have disturbing things in common: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk
Yes, strange bedfellows.
DeleteJohn, Project 2025 wasn't written by him and I don't believe he's doing anything more than nodding his hateful head and watching the destruction of all things Americans supposedly value. Even if he somehow disappeared, there are lots of puppetmasters ready to steamroll through. He's manipulating the stock market and world economies. He owns SCOTUS and Congress. Next stop-military use against Americans. Who's going to stop him? (Also, love your opening story and its focus on leadership. Who do we have???)
ReplyDeleteThanks. Following P 202r is red meat for his base, as long as it suits his purpose for the moment.
DeletePete Hegseth when he fired the JAGs: “Ultimately, we want lawyers who give sound constitutional advice and don’t exist to attempt to be roadblocks to anything that happens.”
ReplyDeletehttps://www.yahoo.com/news/pete-hegseth-says-quiet-part-151947862.html
Yep. Watching Pres El Salvador in Oval claiming Abrego Garcia was arrested 6X and shot cop in US. T just repeated claim Ukraine started war. S Miller now explaining why they will not accept Sup Court ruling. Doubling down.
ReplyDelete