Kevin Kruse Blog

The year 2000 was a very bad year for Campbell’s Soup.

The company that began in 1869 and sold soup in 120 different countries hit upon bad times. Sales weren’t just slowing, they were declining. They lost 54% of their …

10:00am. My hour of power for health is complete, and I’ve finished an hour of focused writing time. Time to open my email accounts…deep breath.

The Google alert on my own name shows that my previously scheduled blog post went live …

“I have a great idea for a business, but the economy sucks.”

Last week someone told me that they have a great idea for a new business, but they are going to wait until the economy turns around.

I told them that every one of my businesses I’ve launched in …

I know I say it over and over again: It’s all about the talent.

And when it comes to hiring, the secret formula is:

Great Hire = A lot of candidates + A rigorous interview process

Once again I see evidence of that, this …

Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Tim Tebow has been everywhere lately. Tebow has crossed into American pop-culture this year because of his improbable win streak and public displays of his Christian faith. He wore a microphone during last Sunday’s game vs. Chicago; …

A close friend of mine recently participated in a war game that was run by the US Naval War College. It brought together multiple military and civilian organizations as well as international partners, with the goal to help participants …

Earlier this year I was turned on to the great work of the Acumen Fund by Seth Godin. In short, the Acumen Fund is fighting global poverty by investing “patient capital” in for-profit companies that deliver goods and services …

Are you thinking deeply enough about all the “buyers” of your products and services?

The Legendary Ray Bard, Bard Press

Earlier this week I attended a conference for authors organized by 800-CEO-Read. I had the pleasure of meeting the legendary publisher, Ray Bard. If you aren’t familiar with Ray, …

Managing Change: A Real-World, 3-Step Process

In a recent board meeting someone brought up John Kotter’s 8-Step Process for Leading Change. Kotter is a well-respected Harvard Professor, author, and of course consultant on “change management”–which happens to be one of the hottest business topics in the last …

Whenever anybody signs up for my free newsletter at kevinkruse.com they get an automated email from me asking, “What are you struggling with right now?” When I set this up I had assumed managers and business leaders asking me about leadership, marketing, and engagement. To my surprise most of the …

Blaming Non-Recurring Events for Missing a Forecast

I just got out of a board meeting for a company I’m an investor in. It included a third quarter update from our CFO and President.  In great detail they walked us through the year-to-date financials, including where we were “over budget” …

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life…Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.” –Steve Jobs

My new article on FastCompany.com explores the idea of variable pay, and how it just might solve our unemployment crisis:

Many professional athletes have incentive-laden contracts based on performance.

Last month, NFL quarterback Michael Vick signed a new $100 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, making him one of the highest …