It's not possible to read any new or old material about organizational behavior without coming across a screed or two on the general subject of how too many meetings simply represent a waste of time, energy and resources. I've taken a shot at it, too. (See How to Deal with Time Wasters) Such sessions rarely accomplish anything except maybe some pseudo-bonding.

I've always loved the game "musical chairs." You know, that game where a group of kids is circling a cluster of chairs, and everyone has to find a seat when the music abruptly stops. There is always one less chair than the number of players. The one person left standing is eliminated.

Winter is on its way-- something we're more than familiar with in Chicago-- but I'm not just talking about the weather. It's becoming frostier and frostier for startups caught in the lukewarm limbo between ideas and invoices to get their early backers to up their bets, especially when it's not clear that they've found a viable business model and/or a way to stop the bleeding sooner rather than later. 

There have been a lot of prescriptive articles about the critical--and often ignored or overlooked--need for succession planning in large companies, particularly at the highest management level. And I've seen the massive notebooks at some big businesses that detail the candidates and the replacement process for practically every member of the senior team. 

The Chicago Cubs are having a spectacular season, clinching their division and on the way to winning 100+ games. Without taking anything for granted, it's clear that their talent strategy and their commitment to rebuilding with young, impact players has begun to pay serious dividends.

Hardly a week goes by without my hearing yet another version of the same startup struggle. The companies may change, but the song remains basically the same: we couldn't find it so we had to build it and now "it" is a bigger business opportunity for us than the business we set out to build in the first place.

I was recently asked about the productivity tools, handy tips or other strategies I have used over the years to help me stay on course--focused on my most important goals and primary objectives-- in the midst of the messy multitude of ongoing emergencies, unavoidable distractions and regular interruptions that make up my typical day. I wish I had a good answer. Or a magic wand to solve the problem. 

Even though other major cities in the U.S. are suffering from problems with gun-related violence, Chicago has sadly become the media poster child (hopefully just for the moment) and whipping boy specifically for gang-on-gang shootings and the related and random violence that continues to take innocent lives in its wake. 

I never knock clichés. They wouldn't be repeated for decades by millions of people if there wasn't at least some grain of truth and inherent value in most of them. Even Yogisms, the "philosophical" observations of the late, great New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra always provided some genuine guidance.

Some of the best ideas I've ever heard from eager young entrepreneurs never seem to see the light of day. There's plenty of passion at the beginning of these conversations. The energy and enthusiasm are there. But as time passes, their interest in making it happen dissipates, momentum fades, and at that point, for many of these folks, it's on to the next great idea or "story."