McHugh Michael, Author at Michael McHugh

Adapt to Change in Business: The Hidden Advantage Behind Dick’s Sporting Goods

“Sometimes the most profitable decision on a spreadsheet is the worst decision for a business.” — Ed Stack In the mid-2010s, Dick’s Sporting Goods bought GameChanger, an app used by baseball and softball coaches for scorekeeping, live-streaming, and scheduling. Dick’s turned the app into a data engine disguised as a coaching tool. It gave the product

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Friday Five: Relentless Improvement, Compounding Advantages, and the 7 Powers of Business Strategy

Friday Five, Newsletter / McHugh Michael

No. 341 | July 17, 2026 Welcome to Friday Five, a short collection of ideas to take into your weekend. This week’s theme: compounding advantages and the patience required to build them. The common thread: the most valuable people and companies behave as if their position is temporary. They never assume today’s advantages will last,

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Relentless Improvement: Why Dick’s Sporting Goods Keeps Winning

Change Management, Entrepreneurship / McHugh Michael

“Do right for the company. Do right for society. You can’t prosper unless the community around you prospers.” — Ed Stack At the start of the 2000s, British Cycling barely mattered. Then British Cycling hired Dave Brailsford. In more than a century, Britain had produced no Tour de France winners and just one Olympic gold medal.

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Friday Five: Championship Standards, Integrity, and Opportunity Hidden in Problems

Friday Five, Newsletter / McHugh Michael

No. 340 | July 10, 2026 Welcome to Friday Five, a short collection of ideas to take into your weekend. This week’s theme: persistence, integrity, championship standards, building things people can feel, and finding opportunity in difficult problems. The common thread: the best builders and leaders adopt the behaviors long before the rewards arrive. If

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June Reading List: 2 Best Books I Read in June 2026

Books / McHugh Michael

“Champions behave like champions before they’re champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners.” — Bill Walsh Bill Walsh took over a miserable San Francisco 49ers team in the late 1970s. He immediately focused on small details like how the staff answered the phone, dressed, and carried themselves instead of obsessing over

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Friday Five — Peter Thiel’s Business Strategy, Walt Disney, and Jim Simons

Friday Five, Newsletter / McHugh Michael

No. 339 | July 3, 2026 Welcome to Friday Five, a short collection of ideas to take into your weekend. This week’s theme: making great art, taking action, having a plan, dreaming big, and staying persistent. If this resonates, forward it to a friend. Most readers discover Friday Five because someone they trust shared it

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How Great Entrepreneurs Focus on What Matters: Peter Thiel’s Best Business Strategy from Zero to One

Business Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Startup Strategy, Strategy / McHugh Michael

Ample Hills Creamery began as a husband-and-wife ice cream shop in Brooklyn, serving some of the city’s best ice cream. It quickly attracted famous fans, including Bob Iger and Oprah Winfrey. Success brought opportunity. The founders chased nearly every opportunity that came their way. They stopped focusing on the thing that made the business special.

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Friday Five — Beating Negative Self-Talk, Dominating Niche Markets, and Building for the Future

Newsletter / McHugh Michael

No. 338 | June 26, 2026 Welcome to Friday Five, a short collection of ideas to take into your weekend. This week’s theme: beating negative self-talk, dominating niche markets, and building for the future. If this resonates, forward it to a friend. Most readers discover Friday Five because someone they trust shared it with them.

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Competition Destroys Profits: Peter Thiel’s Most Controversial Idea from Zero to One

Business Lessons, Entrepreneurship, Strategy / McHugh Michael

Larry Page and Sergey Brin wanted to make internet search dramatically better. They built a search engine that was clean, fast, and almost unnervingly good at finding information. It quickly left its rivals behind. Their new company, Google, became something very close to a monopoly. AdWords turned it into one of the greatest money-printing machines

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Friday Five — Self-Improvement, Taking Ownership, and Original Thinking

Friday Five, Newsletter / McHugh Michael

No. 337 | June 19, 2026 Welcome to Friday Five, a short collection of ideas for your weekend. This week’s theme: longevity, taking ownership, originality, and the uncomfortable process of getting better. If this resonates, forward it to a friend. Most readers discover Friday Five because someone they trust shared it. Music of the Week

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