What Coach Ted Lasso can teach us about leadership

“Be someone that people want to follow,” and lead in a way that “makes everyone on your team feel like they matter.” The leadership philosophy and principles practiced by Coach Ted Lasso are universal. They transcend professions. Follow them and you will be successful leading your organization.

Achieve success by following these ‘first principles’ of leadership

The first two principles of effective leadership: Be someone people want to follow. Lead in a way that makes everyone on your team feel like they matter. As we enter 2023, we should all be guided by what I identify as “first principles” of leadership. Unfortunately, many leaders in business, nonprofits and politics miss the mark.

FTX: Latest example of auditor failing as financial guardians

Audit firms are the guardians that protect the investing public and those who rely on companies’ financial statements. It is imperative they have the capability to audit those companies and maintain their independence, especially when the fees received are a significant portion of the audit partner’s and audit firm’s income. They need to fire their client if they uncover a pattern of fraudulent practices.

Does your company have too many chiefs?

When I see staff organization titles like chief knowledge officer, chief visioning officer, chief sustainability officer, chief strategy officer and chief innovation officer, I wonder why these areas aren’t the responsibility of existing positions within the company. I also wonder about the lack of ownership by the line organization of the initiatives developed by staff “chiefs.”

Elon Musk has not demonstrated good critical judgment as CEO of Twitter

Musk needs to win back advertisers’ confidence by issuing a policy that states that tweets that are baseless unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, that are posted for the purpose of stirring up discord, hatred and violence and that undermine society will not be tolerated. He needs to ensure Twitter has skilled moderators to make those judgment calls.

Philadelphia must address the issue of crime

We need to change the mindset of people who commit crimes. They need to know that they will be arrested and prosecuted. Candidates for mayor in the May 2023 primary election need to outline in detail how they will address the issue of crime in Philadelphia, This is our city’s number one issue.

As CFO, do you know what your CEO and board expect of you?

What does the CEO want from their CFO? A true business partner, a champion of continuous improvement, will part company with toxic direct reports and an individual who develops strong partnerships with the company’s business leaders. What do boards want from the CFO? Independence, integrity and candor. No surprises.