Leading By The Book Leadership Education

Amidst the chaos of our days, it’s not uncommon for things to be constantly bothering us in the backs of our heads while not getting the attention that they need to be rectified. These are nagging things and thoughts that we can’t kick and typically we do our best to bottle up and file away. If we’re not careful, these will eat away at us and rob us of our mental clarity.

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To my dear Sears colleagues, past and present:

With Sears Holdings filing bankruptcy, it will surely be a tough day for all of us who either currently work or formerly have worked for the company. While we knew this day would soon come, that expectation alone doesn’t shield us from the staggering magnitude of emotion that we will continue to feel for quite some time.

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Tim Kopp is a General Partner with Midwest-based Hyde Park Venture Partners investing primarily in tech companies. Prior to this, he was the CMO of ExactTarget, and Indianapolis-based SaaS company that had a tremendously successful IPO and was ultimately acquired in a $2.5B transaction by Salesforce. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to learn a great deal from countless members of the ExactTarget team, and Tim is no exception. He’s a phenomenal leader that shares some wonderful perspectives and lessons in this episode. To learn more about Tim, visit his site CMO to VC.

One of the most rewarding parts of my career – and I hope for you as well – is the great group of people that I’ve had the pleasure of working with. One person in that group is Alasdair James, the CEO of Pier 1 Imports.

Alasdair and I worked together at Sears Holdings Corporation where he was the President of Kmart. He’s an intelligent leader, and one of the easiest people to work with that I’ve ever come across. He has incredible international experience and has worked with some of the world’s most well-known brands. Wherever you are in your leadership journey, this episode will provide great insight and introduce you to one of the best leaders I’ve had the pleasure of working with.

Take a look at the media. They talk a lot about “successful” people. The same goes for the social circles we run in. You hear someone referred to as successful. By and large, when that word is used, it’s referring to someone doing well financially.

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