Rick Smith

Below is a clip of my interview last week on Fox Business News. The topic at a high level was about how retailers were going to approach Black Friday - would they simply look to their competitors and follow their lead? Who is doing well? Who is ...

Among all the players who were paraded passed us over the last year, there has been one common characteristic:  they were nearly all MEN.  Therefore, we might have expected that the MEN at the top would take a disproportionate hit in compensation due to the fallout. Not so.   Women CEOs were the ones ...

We have all felt it.  The brief chant of approval from the crowd.  The promotion.  The plaque.  The prize.    Applause is a powerful drug.  It is euphoric.  It is addictive.  It is deceiving. Applause gave us “Balloon Boy”.  Our quest for applause often leads us down murky paths.  We follow a career ...

Karmunication (n): Conversation that inspires the direction of your future. I have worked for many great managers: able to organize and delegate tasks to meet objectives. I have worked for several great leaders:  inspiring the entire team or organization toward a predefined path. But the leaders I remember most, those who made the ...

Management, in the short term, is easier than Leadership. Management is about control.  It is reaching your arms way out and grabbing onto as much as you can, and controlling it.  Leadership is about inspiring a whole bunch of things that are out of your control. Management is about power. Leadership is about ...

I recently had two separate conversations. During the first, an old friend was telling me about his exciting new pursuit into social entrepreneurship.  He was very enthusiastic, but was having trouble articulating exactly what he was planning to do.  I would let him finish, and then ask questions, trying sincerely to ...