We all know the feeling… Hair prickling. Hands and teeth clenched. Clammy palms. Frozen limbs. Staring eyes. Rapid pulse. Helplessness… Yes, it’s our age-old friend FEAR come to visit. The question is, why? Fear is a normal, even helpful reaction we are told, one programmed in by evolution. Blood...

In the long run, private equity is inexorably gaining market share: “The number of US public companies has declined by about a third over the last 25 years […] Private market returns, meanwhile, are outpacing public returns over every time horizon […] These advantages explain why private markets continue...

Congratulations! You failed! With all due respect to Friedrich “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” Nietzsche, failing may be overrated. Of course, after you failed, you should at least try to take a lesson from your failure if for no other reason than not to repeat it. For example, one of my...

Winners and losers. It does not require much conscious thought when you are in danger of drowning to swim toward anything that will keep you afloat, yet in the context of careers, executives often hold on to sinking industries simply because they do not trust themselves to make a change. Employers...

Wouldn’t you really rather have a choice of employment offers from two or more companies? Having two offers (or more) gives you leverage when negotiating the terms of that next step. Not to mention being somewhat choosey about the actual role, the benefits, the company culture, etc. Having a choice...

It currently seems that both Europe and the US will narrowly avoid a recession, even though inflation continues to pose a threat, and interest rates are likely to rise a bit more. Still, there is tremendous life in the market for executives regardless of the economic cycle—especially in the unpublished...

Tech stocks had a rough year in 2022: the tech-heavy NASDAQ index was down 33% (versus the overall S&P 500’s decline of “just” 20%). Consumer confidence fell in the first half and negatively impacted tech revenues before recovering. Meta made some mistakes. Interest rates rose, further dampening...