Posts by Mark Morgan Ford
The Surprising Solution to Office Politics
Bureaucrats can be mean-spirited, but usually they are overly enthusiastic organizers who lose sight of their roles in the business. Office politicians, on the other hand, are far worse. They are people who harbor very bad and destructive ideas about how to get ahead. If you don’t root them out of your business, they will destroy it. Indeed, office…
Read MoreWhat Matters Most in Business
I was taking my morning walk today, listening to TED Talks, as I often do, and the second talk that came up on my feed was a speech by someone named Bill Gross. The topic of the conversation was, “What factors matter most for startup success?” Before listening to this speech, I knew only one…
Read MoreHow to Become an Early Riser
I went into my office with a smile on my face. These four early risers comprised half the creative team of FSP. The fact that they were at work more than 90 minutes before 9:00 a.m. impressed me. Their good mood impressed me even more…
Read MoreHow to Avoid a Surprise-Attack Firing
Getting fired is not fun. But getting fired when you think you are doing a good job — that really sucks. The purpose of today’s message is to alert you to an important danger: Someone at your business may be thinking of letting you go. In fact, it may be more than one person. It…
Read MoreLiving a Full-Capacity Life
Today, I’d like to talk about health. My health. Your health. The prospect of having a richer life by enjoying better health.
I’ve been told that I shouldn’t write about health. I’m not a doctor. I’m not a nutritionist. I can’t claim to be an expert on health in any way. But I do know something about accumulating wealth and living well — and what I know is directly related to health.
Because without my good health, I couldn’t have accomplished nearly as much as I have in my career. That includes the bestselling books I’ve written, the multimillion-dollar businesses I’ve developed, and all the money I’ve made.
Read MoreInvesting As a Limited Partner Outside of Wall Street
It was 1985. Our direct marketing business was growing rapidly. For the first time in my life, I was making much more money than I could spend. Most of those extra dollars were invested in stocks and bonds. I was comfortable with the bonds but I was skeptical about the stock market. It felt dicey…
Read MoreHow Giving First Creates a Strategic Advantage
Fifteen years ago, when I first began writing for Early to Rise, lots of business gurus were writing about business as a kill-or-be-killed world. It was a popular idea, and some of its advocates were very good at making it seem like the hard-boiled truth. (You may, for example, remember Harvey Mackay’s best-seller, Swim With…
Read MoreWhat You’re Saying When You’re Late for an Appointment
I was eight minutes late for my lunch with SL. He stood up to greet me, smiling, and gave me a present—a book he had just published. A few minutes into our conversation—we share many common interests as well as overlapping business methodologies—he asked me, “So… what do you think about punctuality?” Embarrassed by the…
Read MoreHow To Make Tough Decisions Easy
About 20 years ago, a professor of philosophy introduced me to an idea I have used to clarify my thinking, cut through confusion, and make business decisions time and again. You may find it as useful as I do. We were having lunch, and the conversation turned to Nietzsche, the German philosopher and poet. I…
Read MoreHow to Gain a Sense of Your Own Mortality
I woke up this morning in pain again. I injured my shoulder wrestling a few weeks ago, and it doesn’t seem to be healing. Certainly not as fast as it would have healed when I was in my 30s.
This is one of the many execrable things that happen to you when you reach 60. But it’s hardly the worst.
Read MoreHow to Be a Better More Productive Person
Today’s essay was written specifically for people who have young children or grandchildren. But looking over it now, I see that it should be of interest to anyone who wants to become a better, more productive person. When I was a young father, I wanted my young children to be very good at everything they…
Read More10 Major Contributions From People With Liberal Arts Degrees
Well, my thoughts on education caused quite a ruckus. I recently wrote: A good formal education, in my view, is one that emphasizes the liberal arts: literature, language, history, and the arts. Some knowledge of science and mathematics is helpful. But these are skills that are not likely to make you anything more than a…
Read More