Perspectives for leaders
Recent articles from Doug Thorpe on leadership, strategy, and the decisions that shape meaningful progress.
Browse the full archiveThe Business You Want Already Exists. Someone’s Waiting to Hand You the Keys. The five things that stop corporate leaders from buying a profitable business — and why four of them aren’t what you think. It’s 9:47 on a Sunday night. Your laptop’s open because Monday already looks ugly. You’re scanning a calendar full of
You’ve probably done it without even thinking about it. Someone on your team turns in work that’s a little soft. Not terrible — just not what you needed. So you decide to light a fire under them. You get a little sharper in the meeting. You push a little harder in the one-on-one. You figure […] The post The Fine Line B
It’s 9:47 on a Tuesday night. The house is quiet. Everybody else has clocked out of their day — the team, the kids, the neighbors. But you’re still at the kitchen table with the laptop open, because there’s a decision that has to get made and, well, you’re the only one who can make it. […] The post The Weight You’re Ca
A client asked me a great question about leadership confidence the other day. We were in the middle of a coaching session and she leaned back, thought about it for a second, and said, “Doug, how do I square this? Everyone tells me a leader has to be confident. Stand tall, project strength, don’t flinch. […] The post Th
It’s a hundred degrees on a College Station afternoon, and I’m standing at rigid attention against a wall in the Corps of Cadets dorm. I’m a freshman—a ‘fish’ here. An upperclassman stands close, testing if I can recite what he told me to memorize. My shirt is soaked. My mind is racing. And the only […] The post The Be
How to Actually Tell If a Candidate Is the Real Deal You’re staring at a stack of resumes and every single one is perfect. Flawless bullet points. All the right keywords. LinkedIn profiles so polished they practically glow. On paper, you’ve got twelve unicorns fighting for one job. And your gut is quietly telling you: