Day: June 12, 2013

Struggle and leadership are unquestionably intertwined. Whether attempting to turnaround a fledgling organization, trying to discern the best way forward in today’s competitive marketplace, or rallying stakeholders around a new initiative, struggle is simply par for the leadership course. Yet cultural taboos have prevented executives from speaking openly about their struggles, fearing that such disclosure would indicate weakness, indecisiveness, or even incompetence.

The death of the global supply chain is premature. Some media report that US labor costs are lower than China labor costs. Others contend that fuel costs are so high that global trade is no longer cost effective. And then we have those that only look at how shipping times from Asia to the US have become longer, creating issues from an agility perspective. While each of these perspectives is true, they are not valid augments for relinquishing global supply chains and bringing manufacturing closer to home with onshoring and nearshoring.

The signature legislative achievement of President Obama’s tenure, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), was born without a single Republican vote in Congress and nurtured to fruition by the Supreme Court of the United States. The impact on small and medium size business will force many CEOs to make difficult choices.