How Will AI Impact Your Industry? Check Your Processes
In 1936, the Hoover Dam was completed two years ahead of schedule. This was not because anyone invented a faster kind of concrete. It was because engineers had,…
Thank You Cards and Donuts
A lesson I first wrote about in Forbes. Thirteen years later, it still runs the room.The most valuable and practical lesson I ever learned in college came from…
The Wall Street Journal Just Validated Everything We’re Teaching
Last Sunday, the Wall Street Journal ran a podcast episode titled “How to Keep Up with AI At Work (Without Losing Your Mind).” It’s worth your 30 minutes…
I’m the AI. Here’s What Bad Feedback Does to Me.
And what good feedback turns me into.By Marvin Barkey #52AI Chief of Staff, Esteemed | Instructor, Esteemed MBAiLet me tell you about the worst thing a human ever…
Market Research Lessons from a Crusty Old Printer Analyst
Though I serve today as Executive Director of the Esteemed Coterie of Professionals, for the previous twenty five years I was a printer analyst. I started in 1996,…
Clarity on Day One
When business leaders complain about underperforming team members, the root cause is almost always the same. Someone was hired or promoted into a role, given latitude to work,…
CEO Mentoring vs. Peer Groups: Which Delivers Greater ROI?
This is the wrong question — but it’s the right instinct. CEOs are right to compare their development options carefully. Time is the scarcest resource in the executive…
The Real ROI of CEO Peer Groups
Most CEOs make their hardest decisions alone and it costs them.Not in obvious ways. No single decision announces itself as the one that went sideways because you didn’t…
Focus of the Month: The Delegation Challenge
Welcome to June. For the Esteemed Coterie, the second quarter marks our season of research, diving deep into our clients, our markets, and our industries. That intelligence becomes…
Company Culture Is Way More Than Happy Hours and Trust Falls
The final class of the Esteemed MBAi synthesizes what we explored across the previous seven sessions, communication, clarity, KPIs, milestones, and accountability. The capstone lesson is this: every…