Leadership

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  • Cultural intelligence and international travel

    Management-Issues
    20 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    It seem obvious that international travel can increase your cultural intelligence (CQ). But in some circumstances, international experience can actually decrease CQ and perpetuate ethnocentrism.    

  • Robert Louis Stevenson | Kindness is Essence of Love

    Serve to Lead® | James Strock
    James Strock
    24 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Robert Louis Stevenson | Kindness is Essence of Love The post Robert Louis Stevenson | Kindness is Essence of Love appeared first on Serve to Lead® | James Strock. This is a summary. Please visit servetolead.org for complete post.

  • The Most Overlooked Leadership Skill

    HBR.org
    Peter Bregman
    24 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    Even before I released the disc, I knew it was a long shot. And, unfortunately, it was a clumsy one too. We were playing Ultimate Frisbee, a game similar to U.S. football, and we were tied 14-14 with a time cap. The next point would win the game. I watched the disc fly over the heads of both teams. Everyone but me ran down the field. I cringed, helplessly, as the disc wobbled and listed left. Still, I had hope it could go our way. Sam was on my team. Sam broke free from the other runners and bolted to the end zone. But the disc was too far ahead of him. He would never make it. At the very…

  • How to Lead When You're Not in Charge

    HBR.org
    Gary Hamel and Polly LaBarre
    24 May 2013 | 11:00 am
    For all of the books (thousands) written on leadership, individuals (millions) who have participated in leadership seminars and dollars (billions) invested in leadership development, too many leadership experts still fail to distinguish between the practice of leadership and the exercise of bureaucratic power. In order to engage in a conversation about leadership, you have to assume you have no power — that you aren't "in charge" of anything and that you can't sanction those who are unwilling to do your bidding. If, given this starting point, you can mobilize others and accomplish…

  • The most surprising things about presenting online

    Management-Issues
    14 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    These are the most common things that surprise people when they're first starting to get to grips with presenting online. But none of them need to get in the way of what you already know about communicating effectively.    
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    HBR.org

  • How to Lead When You're Not in Charge

    Gary Hamel and Polly LaBarre
    24 May 2013 | 11:00 am
    For all of the books (thousands) written on leadership, individuals (millions) who have participated in leadership seminars and dollars (billions) invested in leadership development, too many leadership experts still fail to distinguish between the practice of leadership and the exercise of bureaucratic power. In order to engage in a conversation about leadership, you have to assume you have no power — that you aren't "in charge" of anything and that you can't sanction those who are unwilling to do your bidding. If, given this starting point, you can mobilize others and accomplish…

  • A.G. Lafley on Strategy's Tough Choices

    Video
    24 May 2013 | 10:05 am
    Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley explains why strategy has to be more than an aspiration. For more, see Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin, or, from the HBR archive, his 2009 article, What Only the CEO Can Do.

  • Four Lean Advertising Campaigns That Went Viral

    Thales Teixeira
    24 May 2013 | 10:00 am
    In my research, I use eye-tracking technology, facial-expression analysis, and lab experiments to better understand why people choose to view online videos, what narrative techniques keep them watching, and what features prompt them to share videos with friends. Since writing about this work in HBR last year, I've received a steady stream of requests from companies asking: How can we put that research to use? As a result, I've been studying how companies create and distribute online video advertisements, and I've examined some of the new firms that specialize in helping them do so. I've found…

  • An Encore at P&G (Standing Ovation TBD)

    Gretchen Gavett
    24 May 2013 | 9:30 am
    A.G Lafley is back as the CEO of P&G (nothing like the day before an American holiday weekend to announce a leadership change at a major company). There's a lot we don't know about this evolving story, but we wanted to give you a few insights. In Bloomberg Businessweek, Justin Bachman points out that one investor in particular has been increasingly irritated by the company's performance relative to its earning abilities. His colleague Diane Brady notes the very different consumer landscape than the one Lafley presided over four years ago. The Economist positions Lafley's return against the…

  • The Most Overlooked Leadership Skill

    Peter Bregman
    24 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    Even before I released the disc, I knew it was a long shot. And, unfortunately, it was a clumsy one too. We were playing Ultimate Frisbee, a game similar to U.S. football, and we were tied 14-14 with a time cap. The next point would win the game. I watched the disc fly over the heads of both teams. Everyone but me ran down the field. I cringed, helplessly, as the disc wobbled and listed left. Still, I had hope it could go our way. Sam was on my team. Sam broke free from the other runners and bolted to the end zone. But the disc was too far ahead of him. He would never make it. At the very…
 
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    Leading Blog: A Leadership Blog

  • 5 Leadership Lessons: The Manager and the Monk

    23 May 2013 | 9:01 pm
    The Manager and the Monk is one of those books that comes along every now and again, that will shape and inspire your thinking. It is a deeply philosophical book with very practical applications. The book is essentially a conversation between Jochen Zeitz (@JochenZeitz), the former Chairman and CEO of Puma, and Father Anselm Grün, the financial manager of the Münsterschwarzach Abby near Würzburg, Germany. Zeitz is also co-founder and co-chair with Sir Richard Branson of The B Team. Together Zeitz and Grün discuss important topics like success, culture, values, acting ethically, the…

  • Change with Confidence

    22 May 2013 | 12:50 am
    Change with Confidence by Phil Buckley is a great handbook for working through a big change project. The book is organized around 50 critical and practical questions change leaders ask. The examples provided throughout the book mostly reflect his experience as co-lead in the global integration of Kraft and Cadbury. I think that this is some of the hardest change to lead because you are not just merging systems and processes but different organizational cultures. He reflects on the critical issues and the analysis is quite helpful. Buckley's approach is people-centered and emphasizes the…

  • The First Step in Self-Awareness Isn’t You - Redux

    13 May 2013 | 1:09 am
    Human beings—and that includes most leaders—are relational. Self-leadership is fundamental to good leadership, but it is not the end-game. Self-awareness for self-awareness sake has a limited value. Through introspection and reflection we can get to know a great deal about ourselves—as far as we know. The problem is that we don't know what we don't know. Only when we are able to test our assumptions about ourselves, can we know if we are getting it right. It is when we see ourselves in relation to others and in relation to a higher purpose that we really begin to clarify (and many times…

  • The First Step in Self-Awareness Isn’t You

    10 May 2013 | 7:52 pm
    Ironically, the more self absorbed we are, the less self-aware we are. Self-awareness is vital to the development of a leader. But it's not navel-gazing. It is not an inward focus. It is an outward focus. Its ultimate goal is to improve our connection and effectiveness with others. The self absorbed leader struggles with self-awareness and emotional intelligence because self-awareness is about how we are perceived by others. It's about understanding how our behaviors are affecting other people. And we just can't do that by focusing on ourselves. It is easy for us to focus on ourselves—to…

  • How to Make Your Ideas Contagious

    9 May 2013 | 12:49 am
    As leaders we need to understand how to make our ideas catch on. This is most effectively done through word of mouth and social influence. It's more persuasive than advertising and is more targeted to an interested audience. Jonah Berger shares the science behind word of mouth in Contagious and even teaches a class at The Wharton School by the same name. Interestingly, most people think that most word of mouth happens online. But research finds that only 7 percent of word of mouth happens online. "Offline discussions are more prevalent, and potentially even more impactful, than online ones.
 
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    Management-Issues

  • How to manage a workaholic

    22 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    Far from being desirable, workaholism can lead to stress, exhaustion and even death. So how can managers help workaholic employees stay healthy and effective on the job? A new study has some practical suggestions.    

  • Cultural intelligence and international travel

    20 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    It seem obvious that international travel can increase your cultural intelligence (CQ). But in some circumstances, international experience can actually decrease CQ and perpetuate ethnocentrism.    

  • Intentional silence or dead air?

    20 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    It's a common complaint when presenting or leading a meeting online that not enough people participate or contribute even when asked for their input. Meanwhile, participants often feel that presenters speak too quickly and overwhelm their listeners.    

  • Rudeness will lose you business

    15 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    In all aspects of life, politeness and professionalism go a long way. Rudeness will lose you business. You would think that people would realize this, but alas, it seems the lessons still need to be taught.    

  • The most surprising things about presenting online

    14 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    These are the most common things that surprise people when they're first starting to get to grips with presenting online. But none of them need to get in the way of what you already know about communicating effectively.    
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    Michael Hyatt’s Intentional Leadership

  • 5 Reasons I Switched to Scrivener for All My Writing

    Michael Hyatt
    24 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    As a full-time writer, I take my tools seriously. With a blog, a podcast, speeches, and a new book in the works, I have to maximize my productivity. I have a daily word count goal, and I can’t afford to let the tools get in the way. But, unfortunately, they often do. Until a month ago, I had nearly half a dozen word processors in my active tool kit: I wrote my blog posts in ByWord and then transferred to MarsEdit for tagging and uploading. I wrote the “show prep” for my podcast and my speeches in OmniOutliner. I wrote my e-books and other shorter documents in Pages. I wrote my books in…

  • #055: How to Read a Non-Fiction Book [Podcast]

    Michael Hyatt
    22 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    It’s been said “leaders read and readers lead.” If that’s true, then reading is one of the most important things you can do to grow your leadership. But how do you get better at it and retain more of what you read? Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/Neustockimages Recently, my wife, Gail, and I had dinner with some close, neighborhood friends. As we always do with this group, we soon began discussing books. Click to Listen Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in browser | Download A few minutes into the discussion, Gail asked, “So how do each of you read a book? What are your…

  • Nothing to Writing [Quote]

    Rebecca Livermore
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Ernest Hemingway

  • What I Learned from a $300,000 Product Launch

    Michael Hyatt
    20 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    We launched Platform University back in January. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I didn’t have any experience launching a membership site. If you can’t see this video in your RSS reader or email, then click here. Fortunately, I had some really smart people helping me. As a result, we exceeded my 90-day membership goal by more than three hundred percent—the first week! (Oh me of little faith.) I shared the backstory with our Platform University members earlier this month in our “Backstage Pass” segment. Usually, this is members-only content, but I thought it might be…

  • The Easiest Way to Get Started Podcasting

    Michael Hyatt
    18 May 2013 | 10:57 am
    Because of the success of my own podcast, I am often asked, “So how can I get started podcasting?” I have a very short answer to that question. If you can’t see this video in your RSS reader or email, then click here. Listen to my friend, Cliff Ravenscraft, the Podcast Answer Man, and do everything he says to do. This is how I got started. His practical, down-to-earth advice is the primary reason my podcast is consistently in the iTunes top 10 for Business. Cliff has that rare ability to make complex things simple. He breaks podcasting down into its component parts and then walks…
 
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    Knowledge@Wharton

  • Investing in Gold: Does It Stack Up?

    22 May 2013 | 12:21 pm
    Gold has a timeless allure -- especially if you worry about stock market volatility, inflation, a decay of ordinary currency or the collapse of civilization. Yet not everyone agrees that gold offers the safe haven its promoters describe. How reliable can demand be for a commodity that very few people actually need? What is the proper role for gold in an investment portfolio? Why has its price been falling?

  • Upset about Political Bias in the Media? Blame Economics

    22 May 2013 | 12:21 pm
    News organizations are often accused -- and in some cases, outright acknowledge -- that their coverage is biased toward a particular end of the political spectrum. In a new paper, Wharton marketing professor Pinar Yildirim and her co-authors argue that the slant in coverage does not stem from the personal beliefs of a newspaper's corporate owners or staff, but rather from the economics of trying to attract and retain both readers and advertisers.

  • With Austerity Under Fire, Countries Seek a More Balanced Solution

    22 May 2013 | 12:21 pm
    Six years after the onset of the global financial crisis, economists and policymakers continue to fight bitterly over how to tackle the world's economic woes. Is fiscal stimulus or fiscal austerity the best medicine? Austerity advocates have largely won out -- until now. With many nations still struggling, and the findings of an influential study supporting austerity now under attack, backlash against that strategy is growing. The question is: Where can troubled countries go from here?

  • Google Glass: Can 'Tech Cool' Become 'Market Cool'?

    22 May 2013 | 12:21 pm
    With the introduction of Google Glass, an effort to create and market computerized eyewear, Google has captured the imagination of technologists, consumers and even sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live," while also raising a number of social and privacy issues. Experts at Wharton say that the Google Glass experiment will be important to watch from a business, marketing and cultural perspective, and they add that no one -- including Google -- has any clue how the search giant's efforts will play out.

  • Are Pop-up Stores Here to Stay?

    22 May 2013 | 12:21 pm
    Pop-up retail -- storefronts that open for a few days to sell products, launch a brand and/or create buzz -- has attracted business owners, landlords and customers alike. What is driving the trend, under what conditions is it most profitable and does it have legs?
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    Learned On by Andrea Learned

  • Why Bikes? My Personal Sustainability Driver

    Andrea Learned
    22 May 2013 | 8:43 am
    What is with my obsession with bikes and why do I veer into urban transportation so much in my otherwise more sustainable business and corporate social responsibility-focused writing and social network sharing?  Being interviewed for a recent GOOD piece on the corporate sponsorship opportunities for bike share programs got me thinking… Women, urban biking and sustainable business are the ultimate intersection of who I am, the work I do and my hope to make a long-term contribution to the sustainability movement. Who I am: I am practical, efficient, outdoor-active, curious, and…

  • Corporate Citizenship Pros Know

    Andrea Learned
    21 May 2013 | 8:51 am
    While social media was not directly mentioned in the topline findings of the recent Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship (BCCCC) report, “Leading Across the Organization: Profile of the Professionals 2013,” one glance at the executive summary does suggest a big social media opportunity. There is perhaps no more effective way than through social channels to build relationships and influence others, and those are among the top most important skills listed by the surveyed corporate citizenship professionals. As well, the majority of respondents reported spending a significant…

  • Sustainable B2B and the Opportunity of Social Business

    Andrea Learned
    2 May 2013 | 4:03 pm
    According to Adweek, new research shows that B2B brands are lagging behind B2C brands when it comes to the smart use of social media. So, it might well be our little secret as sustainable business professionals to jump in and show ‘em how it’s done. What an opportunity! …for developing thought leadership. …for humanizing complex topics. …for curating the amazing amount of great sustainability content from others that exists. …for (like the traditional brands mentioned in the Adweek piece) leveraging typically B2C strategies in the name of movement scale change (and triple…

  • Sustainability and The Bullitt Center

    Andrea Learned
    26 Apr 2013 | 11:19 am
    I was so inspired by the opening ceremony of Seattle’s Bullitt Center that I pulled tweets, images and the quick ribbon-cutting video from the various social channels for this Storify piece. For context, I included links to the New York Times and NPR stories and closed with links for more information on Harriet Bullitt, Denis Hayes (of EarthDay fame, and the Bullitt Foundation’s Executive Director/visionary) and Point 32, the developer of this incredible project. The excitement around this project makes me think green building technology could help increase interest in sustainable…

  • Does Social Media Fail Your Sustainable Business?

    Andrea Learned
    22 Apr 2013 | 8:26 am
    Going social with sustainability is not for everyone. In order to make social media work for sustainability’s sake, you have to see it as a long-term investment. You’ve got to truly believe you have personal or collective business wisdom to share that will forward the broader sustainable movement – even if that happens only one follower at a time. You must trust that there will be a payoff for spending hours on content development and relationship building. And, you must be strategic about spreading that knowledge and starting conversations, even without a well-defined end result. In…
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    Great Leadership

  • Why Leaders Should Not "Like" Their Staff

    23 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    Guest post from Gerry Czarnecki: Those who have read my books know that I believe the greatest injustice we can perpetrate on our staff is to like them. Yes, I truly believe that liking our staff creates the probability that we will be biased in our views when we are trying to successfully manage a team.   As I say in my book, Take Two and Call Me in the Morning:  Prescriptions for a Leadership Headache, I believe that liking people can also be a major impediment to being an effective leader.  Allow me to explain. Take two staff members. The first, A, is somebody I truly…

  • What Events Shaped You as a Leader?

    22 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    Guest post by Great Leadership monthly contributor Beth Armknecht Miller: I recently had the opportunity to have a conversation with the president of a privately held company as part of research for a book I am writing on talent management and development within small to mid-size companies. During our conversation he shared an event he had early on in his career that intrigued me. He was clearly a high potential early on and was tapped by his CFO to create and lead the new internal audit group for a public company. One day the CFO asked him to attend a board meeting so that he could…

  • 25 Career Options in Leadership Development

    21 May 2013 | 7:49 am
    Interested in a career in leadership development? There are a lot of ways you can make a decent living and have some fun developing leaders. Here are 25 that come to mind, in no particular order: 1. Mid-level or Senior Manager: managers developing the managers below them. 2. Leadership Trainer or Training Manager: conducting or managing leadership and management training programs. 3. Executive coach: helping to unlock the potential within managers through assessment, feedback, questions, etc… 4. Leadership Author: writing books about leadership. 5. Leadership Blogger: writing online posts…

  • The First Thing Leaders Need to Do When Leading a Big Change

    16 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Guest post from Phil Buckley: Most leaders will lead their organizations through multiple big change projects. Constant change is a business reality and organizations must continually adapt to their environments to stay competitive or risk losing relevance and becoming obsolete. For each change, leaders must define it, create a vision of the post-change world, and mobilize their teams to make it. Often, leaders become paralyzed by the magnitude of the change. Transforming an organization while keeping day-to-day operations running is like fixing a car as it is being driven; it’s…

  • After the Talent Review…Now What?

    14 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    I was at a conference recently and the session topic was leadership development and succession planning. One of the participants, an HR manager, raised her hand and asked: “We’ve recently implemented a talent review process, so we’ve done a decent job assessing our leaders, but now we’re struggling with what to do next. Do you have any suggestions?” The presenter did his best to provide a few tips, but in fairness, that’s a tough question to answer within the time allowed in a 60 minute conference session. It’s especially hard to provide a succinct answer when you’re been…
 
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    800 CEO Read

  • 24 May 2013 | 11:34 am

    dylan
    24 May 2013 | 11:34 am
    Tweet➻ Laura Hazard Owen has Six book publishing lessons from Open Road Media’s first three years up at paidContent that are relevant for everyone working in the industry. (I especially like their approach to video.) But the big takeaway for me was that, five years after leaving her job as CEO of HarperCollins, Jane Friedman thinks the future is bright for the small guys in publishing: The fact that Friedman built her company before ebooks had really taken off helped it get its footing and get ahold of digital rights that big publishers hadn’t yet focused on. Nearly four years in, it…

  • Hidden in Plain Sight

    Sally
    23 May 2013 | 12:16 pm
    Tweet It must be a lot of pressure to live up to the billing of “James Bond of design research” and the “Indiana Jones of technology for the developing world.” I mean, what do you wear? A tux with a dusty brimmed hat? Action adventure movie references aside, Chipchase takes us on a rollicking global adventure in his new book, Hidden in Plain Sight: How to Create Extraordinary Products for Tomorrow’s Customers, which hit the bookshelves in April. Design research, Chipchase explains in his first chapter, “Crossing State (of Mind) Lines,” concerns itself…

  • Ctrl Alt Delete

    Jon
    22 May 2013 | 7:59 am
    TweetThere’s a certain urgency to the new book by Mitch Joel, Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends On It. Its sentiment has also been expressed by authors such as Gary Vaynerchuk: Business is changing and if you don’t keep up, you’ll be left behind. And that’s putting it nicely. What Joel is saying is that if we don’t change, our companies will go out of business, and we ourselves will become unemployable. Scary stuff, yes, but the good news is the book has the answers to avoid these problems. Both Joel (and authors like…

  • KnowledgeBlocks Giveaway: The One Thing

    Sally
    21 May 2013 | 7:25 am
    Tweet If I were to ask my husband to make a “to-do” list of the things he wants to get done over the weekend, the list would top out at around 20 items. On it would be anything from cleaning out the garage and going to the bank…to moving our garden to the east side of the yard and building a new set of stairs. Over the 16 years we’ve been married, I’ve been a witness to his inability to whittle that list down to something manageable many times, and the inevitable result that he gets none of those 20 things done because he is overwhelmed and distracted. He wants…

  • Reinventing You

    Michael
    20 May 2013 | 10:39 am
    Tweet“What do people think of you? What do they say when you leave the room?” Maybe you don’t think you have a brand. Hopefully you don’t think that. As Dorie Clark demonstrates in her new book, Reinventing You, taking control of your professional future hinges on your acceptance and understanding of your current brand, and your ability to take control of where that brand is going. OK—we can call it a reputation, if that makes you feel better. As Clark points out early on, we simply can’t afford to disregard the impact that our personal brand has on our success. The idea that you…
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    Agile Management | NOOP.NL

  • Complexity Everywhere

    Jurgen Appelo
    23 May 2013 | 9:13 am
    Ernst & Young recently “discovered” that employees will resort to corruption and fraud when they are squeezed by management. Or, in other words, when you treat them unethically they will behave unethically. Surprise, surprise! It is hard to count the number of similar discoveries people have made over time. Patrick Hoverstadt, author of The Fractal Organization, wrote that Theory-X managers get constant feedback that their world-view is correct. They treat employees as people who cannot be trusted. Et voilà, the result is indeed that nobody can be trusted! You get what you measure!

  • What Makes a Great Conference?

    Jurgen Appelo
    21 May 2013 | 6:58 am
    I’ve been asking around on email and on the social networks what makes a conference memorable, special, or amazing.  This topic has my special interest, not only because I attend between 20-25 conferences per year, but also because I’m trying to help make the DARE 2013 conference in Antwerp, Belgium a great experience. The obvious replies that people usually have are “amazing speakers” and “great hallway conversations”. I agree, and there’s plenty that organizers already do (or should do) to make that happen. But personally, I am more and more convinced that “greatness” is…

  • Let's Measure Something Meaningless

    Jurgen Appelo
    17 May 2013 | 7:22 am
    Imagine that the government decided an intake of 2.500 calories per day should be the maximum for each person, regardless of age, gender, health, metabolism, dietary habits, etc. And imagine that the government also measured and enforced this every day, claiming it is “for your own health”, and handing out daily fines for each person who went over target. How would you feel about this practice? Now imagine that the government decided that a speed of 130 km/hours should be the maximum for each driver, regardless of age, health, mental condition, road condition, traffic condition, weather…

  • Blog Post #700

    Jurgen Appelo
    12 May 2013 | 2:50 pm
    Actually, the previous blog post was number 700. This is blog post #701. I wrote blog post #600 almost a year ago. In that year my readership has dropped from 1528 to 853 page views per day, and from 1078 unique visits to 629 per day. Why? Well, I can make an educated guess. I have changed my focus to writing the Management Workout articles, which of course means less time for my blog. And there are other new side-projects, such as Happy Melly and DARE. And I stopped making the Top 100 lists, which have traditionally been the biggest traffic magnets on my blog. But I’m not complaining! The…

  • Dare to Be at DARE!

    Jurgen Appelo
    7 May 2013 | 4:50 am
    I got myself involved in co-organizing a conference. Again. But this is not just any conference. This is DARE! DARE is a conference conceived by Maarten Volders, the organizer of the wildly successful Lean Kanban 2011 Benelux. Maarten has teamed up with the initiator of the weirdly successful Stoos Stampede (Amsterdam) (that’s me) and the Happy Melly business network. DARE is for people who dare to discuss wild ideas about organizational change. For people who dare to introduce bold new practices in their businesses. For people who dare to make work more engaging. And for people who dare to…
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    Michael Lee Stallard

  • New Mummy Movie: Connection is Life-Giving

    Michael Lee Stallard
    15 May 2013 | 7:46 am
    Click here to view the embedded video. Recently I was speaking at a university about the importance of connection and Connection Cultures to help students, faculty and staff thrive in institutions of higher education. After I spoke, the president of the divinity school came up to me and said I needed to see a great new comedy entitled Warm Bodies.  He informed me that the movie is about mummies who are brought back to life by human connection.  How great is that!  Check out the trailer above.  I plan the watch the movie on iTunes this weekend. It’s been said that artists have their…

  • New Insights on Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

    Michael Lee Stallard
    14 May 2013 | 6:12 am
    In Untangling the Mind: Why We Behave the Way We Do, D. Theodore George, M.D., a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health, describes a new model for understanding America’s surge in emotional and behavioral disorders.  Earlier this year, a report by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine of the National Academies found that comparing a peer group of 17 wealthy countries, Americans under 50 now have the lowest life expectancy and fall at the bottom (i.e. were the worst) of nearly every morbidity category from deaths by substance abuse,…

  • Former Cab Driver Helps Liberate WWII France

    Michael Lee Stallard
    8 May 2013 | 6:51 pm
    Click here to view the embedded video. After American and British troops took control of the beaches on D-Day, they got stuck in France’s hedgerow country. Sergeant Curtis Cullen, a former cab driver from Chicago, came up with an innovation that General Omar Bradley, commander of America’s First Army, credited with helping to liberate France.  Watch the video to learn about this extraordinary story of innovation and the leaders and culture that made it all possible.

  • Your Work Culture: Live-Giving or Killing You?

    Michael Lee Stallard
    7 May 2013 | 7:26 am
    Are you working in a “culture of connection” where you feel a sense of connection to your supervisor, your colleagues, your day-to-day job tasks, and your organization’s mission, values and reputation?  A connection culture is life-giving as compared to a culture of indifference or culture of dominance that drain the life out of you.   To learn more, check out the video interview I did with Michelle Pokorny of Maritz Motivation following the keynote speech I gave at the Recognition Professionals International Annual Conference in New Orleans.

  • Attention is Oxygen for Relationships

    Michael Lee Stallard
    2 May 2013 | 4:49 am
    It’s been said thatattention is oxygen for relationships.  That’s why it’s important when meeting with an individual, to develop the habit of being present by staying focused on him or her and giving your full attention.  Be engaged and curious by asking questions and then ask follow-up questions to clarify.  Listen carefully to words and observe facial expressions and body cues. Pause before you respond to make certain he or she has finished. Don’t check your smart phone, don’t look at your watch, don’t look around the room or let your mind wander.
 
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    Leadership and Management / Turning Adversity to Advantage

  • Not Fast Enough

    brucelynn
    25 May 2013 | 12:44 am
       “If everything seems under control, then you are not going fast enough.” – Mario Andretti The inverse corollary to Andretti’s adage above is “If everything seems out of control, then you are going too fast.” That is my first instruction to coxes. Coxwains are the leaders of any rowing boat competition. They are not cheerleaders, they are not helmsmen (though they do steer the boat and shout at the rowers). They are Leader/Managers. And the Leader increases the rating (ie. strokes per minutes) when ‘everything seems under control’ and the Manager decreases it…

  • Turning the Tide of Adversity

    brucelynn
    24 May 2013 | 3:39 am
      Today UK schools from around the country converge on Pierpont rowing lake in Nottingham for the annual National Schools Rowing Championship including our very own Sir William Borlase (aka ‘Team Borlase’). Many of the talented Borlase squads will go far today, but others will be invariably disappointed. Such shortfalls can pay dividends as GB Rowing’s team psychologist Chris Shamrock outlines in his piece titled ‘Turning the Tide’. He overviews 5 key pieces of advice for being more resilient… Look for the positives. Take a holistic view. Move on quickly. Be clear about what…

  • Embracing the Failure of Normal

    brucelynn
    21 May 2013 | 12:15 am
      The ultimate diversity is not about external attributes, but internal ones. Many people can get around one’s look and background, but it is the different perspectives and attitudes that really cause the conflicts. Today’s UN sponsored “World Day for Cultural Diversity” captures that spirit with ‘Culture” planted right in the heart of it. In the spirit of embracing the failure to conform, I’ve written a number of posts extolling the world of weird. Michael Lazerow elaborates articulately with a number of further perspectives of the wonder of weirdness in his own post…

  • Badasssss Dreams

    brucelynn
    19 May 2013 | 9:18 am
       The unfinished novel or film script is one of the classic dream bubbles. Many of those converging on Cannes this week will be the hopeful carting their inflated aspirations in folios and CDs. Perhaps few as fervently and messianically as Melvin Van Peebbles (played by his son Mario Van Pebbles in the 2003 production “Badassss”) did with his 1971 film “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song”. The 1971 script was about breakthrough ambitions for African Americans. And the 2003 script doubled down on this dream by charting the 1971 filmmaker’s odyssey to bring this story…

  • Requiem for a Dream

    brucelynn
    18 May 2013 | 11:12 am
      The Cannes Film Festival continues with its parade of lesser known gems. Like ‘Requiem for a Dream” which premiered there in 2000. The title screams out ‘Death of Dreams’ and the film itself doesn’t disappoint. It explores a range of dreams from starting a being successful, being famous, and being loved. Unfortunately, its perspective is through the artifice that preys on vulnerable dreams and turns them into empty bubbles..drugs. Sara Goldfarb’s speech in the later part of the movie, played superbly by Ellen Burstyn, captures much of the dream downtrodden desperation…
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    Seth's Blog

  • Overcoming the impossibility of amazing

    Seth Godin
    24 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    If you set your bar at "amazing," it's awfully difficult to start. Your first paragraph, sketch, formula, sample or concept isn't going to be amazing. Your tenth one might not be either. Confronted with the gap between your vision of perfect and the reality of what you've created, the easiest path is no path. Shrug. Admit defeat. Hit delete. One more reason to follow someone else and wait for instructions. Of course, the only path to amazing runs directly through not-yet-amazing. But not-yet-amazing is a great place to start, because that's where you are. For now. There's a big difference…

  • Thoughts on education and the burgeoning trophy shortage

    Seth Godin
    23 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    It's graduation season, so a few relevant links about school, students and our future: Here's the audio of an interview I did with PlayBuffet My TEDx talk about education And a reminder about Stop Stealing Dreams, a free manifesto that asks, "what is school for?" I hope we can ask this question more and more often... Feel free to share with your favorite graduate. Or her parents. Bonus: 20 video minutes at Creative Mornings.

  • Let's start with "sorry"

    Seth Godin
    22 May 2013 | 2:43 am
    By the time the phone rings, there's already trouble. When that manager is called or this department is reached, it's because someone is disappointed, angry or stuck. Illness, broken promises or a real urgency have led to this new conversation even taking place. So don't start with, "[Name of company] mumble mumble" as if there's a blank slate just waiting to be written on. There's already a lot of writing on that slate. Don't demand to know the record number or begin with doubt and an edge of dismissal. Be on our team. "It sounds like we've got a situation on our hands..." is a fine way to…

  • Levels of marketing magic, the placebo effects of desire

    Seth Godin
    21 May 2013 | 2:45 am
    ANTICIPATION: Before the product is released, the true fans are buzzing and speculating and waiting in line. The anticipation is self-reinforcing, a placebo effect of desire. UTILITY: The album is good, the software is useful, the book changes things. It works better than we hoped. Exceeding expectations pays significant dividends. REMARK: It's purple. Remarkable. Worth talking about. The word spreads. Ten people tell ten people and suddenly, it's abuzz. Not because of PR or hype, but because the remarkability is built right into the product or service itself. And more people enjoy things…

  • You should buy the book

    Seth Godin
    20 May 2013 | 8:33 am
    Mitch Joel is a generous and perceptive blogger. Well worth the daily read. He has a new book. You should buy it. David Meerman Scott writes an essential blog, daily. His book is a classic. You should buy it. Tom Asacker writes a very thoughtful blog about marketing. Worth the read. He has a new book. You should buy it, too. Every day, Mark Frauenfelder and Corey Doctorow blog tons of goodness at Boingboing. They each have books. You should buy them and share them. Bernadette Jiwa's blog keeps getting better and better and you are probably already reading it. She has a new book on the way.
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    CEO Blog - Time Leadership

  • The Gamification Revolution

    8 May 2013 | 3:30 pm
    I am trying to get my youtube video to go viral so would appreciate any sharing, comments, likes, Tweets etc.++++++++++++++++++++++++++A friend of mine wrote an interesting article on BlackBerry 10.  Worth reading.++++++++++++++++++++++++++I do not believe in video games. One of my investment thesis is not to invest in them (although Canrock does have a small investment in Willpawn4food).  My theory is picking a hot game is like picking which movie will be hot - tough to do.I do not play internet games except chess and at one time, I played some solitaire, tetras etc.I do…

  • From Smart to Wise

    2 May 2013 | 2:01 pm
    Prasad Kaipa and Nvi Radjou wrote "From Smart to Wise - Acting and Leading With Wisdom".  I have long sought wisdom so jumped at a chance to read the book.  One of my favorite expressions is "wisdom is learning from other peoples' mistakes".  Wisdom is like corporate culture.  It causes right decisions to be made.  It allows for superior insight.The first chapter seemed unnecessary.  It talked about why wisdom is important.   I suspect people who do not know that would not be reading the book (although that is true of many things).  People who…

  • Back from Morocco

    2 May 2013 | 6:15 am
    I am just back from a week in Morocco.  Beautiful country.  A mix of modern with ancient. I hurt my knee running the first day but did manage a 5 mile hike in the Atlas Mountains.  But then did no workouts.  So I feel bloated (there was lots of food of course).   But as with all travel, I always feel behind when I return.  So I use an email management technique to ease my email stress.  It is based on the old time management principle - touch each piece of paper only once. What I do is allocate 2 minutes maximum per email (most take less than a…

  • 17 Apr 2013 | 8:50 am

    17 Apr 2013 | 8:50 am
    I was at a YPO event yesterday morning.  The speaker was prolific author Richard Barrett.He wrote a number of books including The New Leadership Paradigm - Leading Self, Leading Others, Leading an Organization and Leading in Society.His company has done extensive research and come up with tools on how to measure individual values and beliefs and company values and beliefs.  He has impressive statistics on the success of companies that are high alignment compared to others. He talks about a hierarchy - similar to Maslows from basic needs through goals.One thing Barrett said that made…

  • Boston Marathon Cowardice

    15 Apr 2013 | 7:33 pm
    I am greatly saddened by the act of cowardice at the Boston Marathon.  Any attack on the innocent and unarmed is cowardly but doubly so when there is no political agenda at the marathon.   It is not even a target that could possibly be hated like some people might dislike Wall Street.Thanks to all who asked about my wife, Elizabeth Waywell who was there.  She is fine.   She even had a spectacular run at 3:10 to come in 5th in her age group.  But the terrorism overshadows all. I have mixed feeling about even blogging and being positive as I usually try to…
 
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    The Tom Peters Weblog

  • Best of the Cool FriendsMarti Barletta

    Cathy Mosca
    22 May 2013 | 6:50 am
    One of Tom's favorite topics is the Women's Market, so who better than Marti Barletta to be included in the best of the Cool Friends? Her first book was Marketing to Women, and we talked to her about it in 2004. Her second book was PrimeTime Women, a label she gave to women aged 50 to 70, who needed a better descriptor than "Mature Market." That 2007 interview begins with a discussion of marketers' problem getting their ads onto the screens that people are actually looking at. That discussion continues to this day.

  • "1/47"

    Tom Peters
    13 May 2013 | 7:10 am
    I frequently say, "I've only learned one thing 'for sure' in the 47 years since I started doing 'this stuff.'" (The 1966 staring point goes back to my U.S. Navy Seabee days in Vietnam.) The term "for sure" is meaningful; as a scientist by disposition, I don't believe as a matter of course in "for sures." So this exception is a big deal—to me. And that one for-sure thing is ... WTTMSW. Or, to clarify ... Whoever Tries The Most Stuff Wins. In Search of Excellence was constructed around "eight basics." And the first was "A Bias for Action." As we said then, and it's become more true over…

  • Piggy Sue!

    Tom Peters
    8 May 2013 | 4:57 am
    The two great folks who are doing sustainable farming at our place have become parents. Well, not really. But their productive porker mom, Piggy Sue, just produced (about 72 hours ago) a litter of 15. Some of the newcomers below ...

  • Jabil, Saint Pete Beach

    Cathy Mosca
    2 May 2013 | 1:25 pm
    Earlier today Tom was in St Petersburg Beach, Florida, speaking to Jabil. Their website states they have "Global Expertise in Intelligent Supply Chain Design." Jabil, St Petersburg, FL Jabil, Long Version

  • Presentation Excellence

    Shelley Dolley
    26 Apr 2013 | 6:51 am
    Tom has given more than 2,500 speeches in the last 30 years. He knows what it's like to face a crowd, whether it be friendly or skeptical. As his own toughest critic, he's never been completely satisfied with his performance. While he has offered pointers here and there, he's never written at length about speaking until now. We are fortunate that he has overcome whatever trepidation he may have had to tackle this topic. You'll find in the document below extensive advice and practical wisdom about speaking from a man who has spent most of his life on a stage, trying to share knowledge and spur…
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    Three Star Leadership Blog

  • 5/24/13: Stories and Strategies from Real Life

    Wally Bock
    24 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
     Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog Working Supervisor's Support Kit A collection of tools and information that will help you do a better job as a boss.  Contact Wally  about coaching, consulting, or speaking to your group. Some of the best learning happens when you read stories real people and real companies. Read them for ideas, for lessons, and inspiration. This week's stories and strategies from real life are about a company growing faster than Apple, business models, the battery and bulb business, Sony, meeting the 9 to 5 challenge, Intel, and Snapple. From…

  • Boss's Tip of the Day: How can I help?

    Wally Bock
    24 May 2013 | 6:31 am
     Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog Working Supervisor's Support Kit A collection of tools and information that will help you do a better job as a boss.  Contact Wally  about coaching, consulting, or speaking to your group. If you're a boss, you know that every day is a challenge to do better. This tip is based on the same research I used to develop my programs and the Working Supervisor's Support Kit . How can I help? Power questions can help you and the team improve performance."How can I help?" is the power question that expresses the heart of your role. If…

  • The Second Phase of the Revolution

    Wally Bock
    23 May 2013 | 1:18 pm
     Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog Working Supervisor's Support Kit A collection of tools and information that will help you do a better job as a boss.  Contact Wally  about coaching, consulting, or speaking to your group. Each Revolution starts with a basic invention.  For Printing, it was movable type, for the Industrial Revolution, it was the steam engine. For the Digital Revolution, I'd nominate the UNIVAC computer. That first invention is important, but things don't change much for another half century. It's the period some engineers call "The Steam…

  • Boss's Tip of the Day: Tell power stories

    Wally Bock
    23 May 2013 | 6:30 am
     Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog Working Supervisor's Support Kit A collection of tools and information that will help you do a better job as a boss.  Contact Wally  about coaching, consulting, or speaking to your group. If you're a boss, you know that every day is a challenge to do better. This tip is based on the same research I used to develop my programs and the Working Supervisor's Support Kit . Tell power stories Stories are the way humans communicate best. We've used them since we developed language. If you're a boss, you can use them to help the team…

  • 5/22/13: A Midweek Look at the Independent Business Blogs

    Wally Bock
    22 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
     Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog Working Supervisor's Support Kit A collection of tools and information that will help you do a better job as a boss.  Contact Wally  about coaching, consulting, or speaking to your group. Independent business blogs are blogs that aren't supported by an organization like a magazine, newspaper, company, or business school. Those people provide lots of great content, but they don't need any additional exposure. In this post, every week, I bring you posts of quality from excellent bloggers that don't get as much publicity. This…
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    Rajesh Setty » Blog

  • Are you ready to do something special?

    thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)
    19 May 2013 | 10:43 pm
    Before I go any further, watch these two videos that will set the context for this article. While there is a chance that this may be staged, the point is to focus on the lesson on not on winning a debate that will lead to nothing. Video #1: Pumpcast News, Part 1 – The Tonight Show with Jay Leno This is a short video (5 minutes) where Jack Rafferty surprises a cool couple (husband is a bartender and wife is a fitness instructor) Click here to view the embedded video. Video #2: Pumpcast News, Part 2 – Happy Couple on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Jay Leno invites the happy couple…

  • Six Simple Growth Equations

    thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)
    11 May 2013 | 7:27 am
    I was advising a young student who is getting into his first real job and wanted to keep everything plain and simple. The outcome was the following six simple growth equations. 1+1 = ? This is where you are working without a purpose. You don’t know what you want in life so you are confused whether you are growing or sliding sideways. The anxiety to “get things right” robs a lot of your growth. 1+1 = -1 This is where you make dumb career decisions such as focusing on personal gain at the expense of relationships. You take advantage of people forgetting that you don’t…

  • One More Thank You

    thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)
    5 May 2013 | 3:10 pm
    Can one more Thank You make a big difference? The answer is Yes – just ask any person who received that Thank You from you. Why is it “one more” Thank You? The focus of this article is on that “one more.” The concept is so simple but one that has changed my life in a very profound way. Let’s get to the heart of it right away. [ Note: Printing this page might make this easy to do this exercise but it not required ] Think about your most recent “win” – be it in your personal or professional field. A win could be anything that has moved the…

  • Mini Saga #128 – Readiness

    thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)
    29 Apr 2013 | 4:17 pm
    Mini Saga #128 – Readiness It was Dave’s first camping trip with his three friends. Tired after hiking all day, they wanted to sleep early in their tent. Seeing three pairs of earplugs in Dave’s hand, Sam asked him, “Why do you want three pairs of ear plugs?” Dave smiled, “They are not for me.” Readiness involves caring for yourself AND caring for others involved. Note: 1. A mini saga is a story told in exactly 50 words. Not 49 or 51 but exactly 50. 2. You can download a photographic manifesto of Mini Sagas at ChangeThis. Here is the link – Mini Sagas:…

  • Why some smart people become oblivious to their stupid actions

    thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)
    18 Apr 2013 | 8:31 pm
    Have you seen some people do stupid things? More importantly, have you seen some smart people do stupid things AND are completely oblivious to that fact? If you are curious to know why this happens, please read the outcome of my mini-research project on this topic. [ Note: Replace "You" with any smart person in question ] Over the last few weeks, I asked a bunch of people about stupid things that they have done and what was the cause of that. I got dozens of interesting answers. Here is the partial list:  Didn’t seem stupid when I did it. Error in judgment, should not have happened I…
 
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    Business Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen Shapiro

  • My SUCCESS Magazine Audio Interview

    sshapiro
    13 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Business Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen ShapiroToday’s Monday Morning Movie is actually an audio file… In the October 2012 issue of SUCCESS Magazine, there was a four page article by yours truly. You’ve been able to read the article online since it was published. (It is the cover article; “Innovate of Die!”) However, unless you subscribe to the magazine, you will not have heard my 22 minute interview with SUCCESS Magazine’s publisher, Darren Hardy. It was on the CD included with the magazine, but not available anywhere else. Darren was kind…

  • Facts About Happiness That May Surprise You

    sshapiro
    11 May 2013 | 11:06 am
    Business Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen ShapiroToday’s Friday Fun Fact… At the end of this month, I will be speaking in Copenhagen at a Happiness at Work Conference.  This got me thinking about what it is that makes people truly joyous. Business Insider gathered some research on this topic and amassed 36 Scientific Facts about happiness, some that may come as a surprise. Here are a few of my favorites: You have to earn 2.5x as much money to be as happy working for someone else as you would be working for yourself:  Perhaps that is why Forbes reported that…

  • A Toast to Creativity

    sshapiro
    26 Apr 2013 | 8:00 am
    Business Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen ShapiroToday’s Friday Fun Fact… In previous posts, I have shared a variety of activities that I engage in to still my mind and foster more creative thinking.  These include activities like walking on the beach, meditating or sitting in the hot tub. Andrew Jarosz for the University of Illinois shares another way… drinking alcohol. In his recent study, Jarosz found that a moderate level of alcohol “loosens a person’s focus of attention, making it easier to find connections among remotely related ideas.” The study…

  • Be Alive; Be Creative

    sshapiro
    17 Apr 2013 | 3:00 am
    Business Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen ShapiroHere’s the transcription of my Monday Morning Movie… The other day I attended a small group session on creativity. Less than a dozen people were in the room, from all walks of life. Most of them weren’t from the world of business. The facilitator asked the question, “What is creativity?” I decided to sit back and see what others would say. I heard the types of responses that I would typically hear if I asked that question in a corporation. For example, it’s about new ideas. It’s about novelty.

  • Meeting George

    sshapiro
    16 Apr 2013 | 8:28 am
    Business Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen ShapiroBack in 2006, my Goal-Free Living book was published by Wiley, and I was feeling quite proud. Later that same year, after giving a speech in Los Angeles, I drove up to Santa Barbara to attend a conference, arriving just in time for lunch. While standing in the line for the buffet, I turned around and said hi to the guy next to me. He told me his name was George. He then asked me what I did. Given my new book and the success of my speech earlier that day, I said with a bit of swagger, “I’m an author and professional speaker.” I…
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    Orrin Woodward: Life & Business

  • John Law: Paper Money & Inflation

    Orrin Woodward
    24 May 2013 | 6:02 am
    John Law has been called a knave, fool, and an evil genius. Probably all are true in some sense, but probably most accurately, he is another person who sought utopia in something for nothing (SFN). Printing money is not the same as producing goods. Somehow, however, the lure of SFN, continues tempting governments to print paper and call it real value by government fiat. Simply stated, this results in a devaluing of all the money in the system, making every productive citizen a loser by the government’s unconscionable actions. Nonetheless, inflationary policies, like printing fiat money…

  • Edmund Opitz: Man’s Freedom & Responsibility

    Orrin Woodward
    23 May 2013 | 9:05 am
    A man born into freedom is responsible for his life. He cannot blame his father, mother, siblings, environment, partners, or anything else besides himself if he is unhappy with the results. Yes, bad cards are dealt to good people; however, if one keeps playing the game of life, eventually he will receive new cards and develop a winning hand. Man, in other words, must build his life upon the proper principles to reflect his love of God, by serving Him and mankind. People are free to reject what I just wrote, but not free to reject the consequences of living life with improper principles.

  • Entrepreneur as Leader

    Orrin Woodward
    22 May 2013 | 5:38 am
    An entrepreneur must be a leader. Why? Because he or she must build and lead teams of people to accomplish the task, satisfy the customer, and do so at a price that leaves profit for the team members. In other words, ineffective leaders soon prove to be ineffective entrepreneurs because the customer isn’t satisfied nor the teams paid well. Nonetheless, many would-be entrepreneurs start business while ignoring the importance of leadership to the health of their enterprise. Entrepreneurs should enter into markets where they feel they can satisfy the customers better than their…

  • Clarkston News Reviews LeaderShift

    Orrin Woodward
    21 May 2013 | 5:43 am
    Don Rush, Assistant Publisher for Sherman Publications, wrote an excellent review of LeaderShift recently in the Clarkston News. Don has won numerous awards for column, editorial and feature writing and I was very impressed by the level of detail and understanding he culled out of his first reading of LeaderShift. I truly believe that any concerned North American, who invest the time to read the book, will finish it a different person than when he began it. The book teaches so much through the dialog and the reports of breakthroughs from different readers astounds even my high expectations of…

  • The IRS & the Five Laws of Decline

    Orrin Woodward
    17 May 2013 | 5:06 am
    LeaderShift by Orrin Woodward & Oliver DeMille Oliver DeMille and I explain the Five Laws of Decline (FLD) in our newly released NY Times bestseller LeaderShift. I originally developed the FLD back in 2008 to explain why companies and societies predictably decline. Indeed, learning to check the FLD is essential for turning around any ailing company or community. Not surprisingly, these five laws are thriving in American Government today. In fact, with the latest disclosures of the IRS targeting conservative groups, the Five Laws of Decline, if anything, appear to be accelerating.  The…
 
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    The Chief Happiness Officer

  • Watch this awesome speech by Charlie Kim, CEO of Next Jump

    Alexander
    16 May 2013 | 5:04 am
    I recently wrote about New York based company Next Jump and the world-leading things they’ve done to create a very happy workplace. Here’s a fantastic speech from their founder and CEO Charlie Kim where he talks about the principles behind Next Jump: It’s an hour long and I highly recommend watching the whole thing.

  • Fighting cancer with happiness

    Alexander
    15 May 2013 | 6:29 am
    The staff of Delete Blood Cancer with their brand new copies of Happy Hour is 9 to 5. WOOHOO! I recently spoke about happiness at work in New York and after the event, one attendee sent me this email: Thanks for coming to speak to the group in New York last month. Glad I got the chance to finally meet you after reading your blog for so many years. When I got back to work the next day, I told my department about your talk and showed them some of the videos on your site. My boss, inspired by the overall message of Arbejdsglaede and amused by the hand-drawn video, bought a copy of your book for…

  • 10 years of happiness at work

    Alexander
    1 May 2013 | 4:24 am
    10 years ago today I had my first paying customer in Woohoo inc. I have now spent 10 years making millions of people in 30 countries happy at work. I have never before in my life done the same thing for 10 years running and I can honestly say that this is the most fun and the most fulfilling thing I have ever done. I am incredibly thankful to way too many people to mention here but I am fully aware that this journey would have been completely impossible without my great friends, playmates, partners and clients around the world to help me, inspire me and challenge me. Here’s to the next…

  • Happiness at work in Bulgaria

    Alexander
    22 Apr 2013 | 12:32 am
    This weekend I was in Sofia, Bulgaria to speak at an event about happiness at work arranged by the Bulgarian foundation Credo Bonum. The event had two speakers, Nic Marks and myself, and we kicked ass if I do say so myself. Nic is a researcher with a long background in happiness research and gave an excellent overview of how to define and measure happiness at work. I could then offer some specific ideas of how to create happy workplaces. The event was a massive hit and turnout was huge with a large group of people having to stand in the back. I also did a number of TV interviews as well as a…

  • Quitting with style. And cake.

    Alexander
    17 Apr 2013 | 1:44 am
    If you gotta quit (and sometimes you gotta) you might as well do it with style. Related posts Top 10 bad excuses for staying in a crappy job. How to know it’s time to quit. Top 10 signs you’re not happy at work. Best resignation letter ever. How Kim found the courage to quit.
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    TerryStarbucker.com

  • 10 Keys To Building a Culture Of Accountability

    Starbucker
    19 May 2013 | 3:30 pm
    Two weeks ago I wrote about how leaders needed to be more human to achieve the “success trifecta” – a great company, happy employees, and a fulfilled leader. One of the pillars of the more human philosophy is the establishment of the Culture of Accountability.  I touched on it briefly on that previous post – it’s the key to getting to a place where “the need to be good is replaced with a relentless passion to be great”. There are 10 things every leader must do to foster this culture: 1)   Roles & responsibilities are clearly (and properly) defined – What are the…

  • Why Automatic Pilot Is A Button A Leader Should Never Push

    Starbucker
    12 May 2013 | 3:30 pm
    It’s so tempting…… There are times when it seems so logical, and so right, to just kick it back and push the auto-pilot button. Things are going fine. There are no disturbances in sight. Status Quo?   Sure, why not? (Plus, I’ve got other distractions calling me – like all those Social Media sites that keep popping messages on my screen) After all, if it ain’t broke…… DON’T DO IT.  Don’t hit that button. Take my word for it on this one.    Leadership isn’t the kind of thing you can “just let happen”. A leader has…

  • Why Leadership Needs To Be More Human

    Starbucker
    5 May 2013 | 3:30 pm
    I was always uncomfortable on a pedestal.   Call me modest, or humble, or whatever, but it just doesn’t suit me. There’s something so detached about it.   There’s a real physical separation between you, the leader, and they, the people you lead. Communication from the pedestal is made by words and sounds, both written and spoken.   But words and sounds aren’t enough. They’re not human enough. In fact, they’re barely human. What’s more human is a real personal connection with those you lead.   I felt like I really needed to look into the eyes of every single employee I…

  • Basic Instincts: 10 Leadership Acts You Shouldn’t Have to Think About

    Starbucker
    28 Apr 2013 | 3:30 pm
    It’s once again time for my annual trip to Chicago next weekend, for my SOBCon event.    The thought of that trip always brings back memories of a conversation I had a few years ago at the event with my good friend and fellow blogger Chris Garrett. In that conversation, we had a (very) deep discussion about the things that were “like breathing” to me – those things that define who I am, but I rarely thought about, because they come completely naturally.  I ended up writing a post about it afterwards,  and that concept, “like breathing”,  has stuck with…

  • How I Answered The Call of Leadership – And Won A “Can’t Win” Election

    Starbucker
    21 Apr 2013 | 3:30 pm
    It was the spring of 1981 –  my junior year in college.    I had just successfully completed my “core” courses in my selected major of accounting with “A”s across the board, and was sailing towards my senior year with a bright future of debits and credits ahead of me. Accounting seemed right for me.  I was good with numbers, and had a knack for the fundamentals of business.  And, most importantly, I could become a “professional” right away. I didn’t want to go to graduate school.  I needed to get out into the working world and make money.
 
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    Lolly Daskal

  • Leadership: What We Don’t Know We Don’t Know

    lollydaskal
    21 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    I believe that learning is stronger than knowledge, that perception is more potent than reality, that vision is more powerful than actuality. I see learning taking place at three separate levels: What we know we know. What we know we don’t know. What we don’t know we don’t know. These three levels of learning, in our leadership fit together to create knowledge, perception, and vision. Level One: What we know we know You know you can lead with process and procedures and do a great job. You’re empowered and confident, and all that’s left is to fill in a few gaps here and there.

  • The Duality Of Leadership

    lollydaskal
    14 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    In life and in leadership, we are constantly dealing with duality. To learn, we need to be curious. To lead, we need to have followers. To be strong, we need to be vulnerable. To give, we need to receive.  As twenty-first century leaders, we need to understand that we are moving toward a NEW ethic, one that is built on duality. In the OLD way of thinking, we based our leadership on a set of shared values and principles aimed at achieving moral perfection while maintaining social order and well being. What got left behind in the old approach are the things that we are coming to value and…

  • Honor Yourself

    lollydaskal
    7 May 2013 | 4:05 am
    Today I ask you to honor yourself. I know what you are probably thinking: that the best leaders are the ones who are of service to others. But in the work I do with CEOs and organizations, I have found that most masterful leaders, the ones who lead with heart, are the ones who begin with honoring themselves. Honoring yourself doesn’t mean feeding your ego or inflating your importance.   It means seeing the truth of who you are and leading from that strength. It means that if you are in a jam you do not compromise on your values but you stand firm in your integrity. It means that if you…

  • Don’t Solve Your Problems

    lollydaskal
    30 Apr 2013 | 3:40 am
    What’s your first reaction when you confront a problem? Do you…. Identify it, define it, examine it, analyze it, seek solutions? I want to ask you to try something NEW. Don’t solve your problems. Recently, while conducting a workshop, I sat at a table with a group of intelligent leaders who were tackling a problem. As the trainer, it was my job to keep the group engaged in critical and strategic thinking. But this group was stuck—stuck in their ideas, discussion, dialogue, and conversation. We were approaching the 45-minute mark, and they were just going around in circles. I said,…

  • Strangers Unto Ourselves

    lollydaskal
    23 Apr 2013 | 3:47 am
    “Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, These three alone lead life to sovereign power.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson For those of us who lead, traits like self-awareness and self-control should be a natural part of our emotional intelligence. But we might not know ourselves as well as we think we do. Imagine someone in a coaching session. Asked to describe himself, he gives a list of positive traits: hard-working, caring for others, sensitive, with a passion for order, excellence, and doing great work. Now he’s asked a new question: What do you think your co-workers would say…
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    The Clarity Rules Blog

  • Presenting at Customer Experience Design 2013

    8 May 2013 | 2:03 am
    Quantifying Customer Experience - Presented at Customer Experience Design 2013 from clarityrules   This week, representing SMS Management & Technology, I presented at the Customer Experience Design 2013 conference in Darling Harbour, in Sydney Australia.  Such a beautiful place and I wish I could have stayed an extra night and visited my sister-in-law.  Alas.The conference was a pretty good day, with case study-style talks from the banking industry, the National Broadband Network, insurance & financial services and industrial product design, as well as…

  • 4 Lessons in business transformation from a former religious extremist

    5 Oct 2011 | 6:31 pm
    Learning can come from unexpected places - Notes from a terror propaganda man:Maajid Nawaz was born in Essex in the UK.  He gave a TED talk at TED Global in July 2011.  In his talk, he revealed that from the age of 19, for thirteen years, he was a member of an Islamist extremist organisation, and his focus, from the UK to Pakistan, to Denmark and to Egypt, was on spreading the messages of their social movement in order to unite similar extremists across borders, to make it easier to take collective action.After spending time being tortured in an Egyptian prison, he had an…

  • 5 presentation lessons from the King's Speech

    18 Jan 2011 | 7:21 pm
    Jesse Desjardins @jessedee pulled together a nice slideshare presentation with five good preso reminders we can take from the popular movie the King's Speech.The five lessons are the following:Have faith in your voiceAdmit you need helpPut the hours in (!!)Become an expert from experienceBroadcast a true version of your self (a bit like Garr Reynolds' presenting naked)Have a peek at his great slideshare slides below. Note the full-bleed images (no logo-every-page-corporate-template-nonsense there) and the appropriate use of typography. I like how well the tone of the font on the 'lessons'…

  • Creepy robots and how not to turn people off when telling business stories

    4 Jan 2011 | 7:53 pm
    On the right is the face of one of the most sophisticated androids on the planet. Nevertheless, the face isn't quite right is it?... In fact it's kind of creepy.So! It looks like authenticity is going to be one of the new trends in presentation for 2011. Hallelujah! (See Nancy Duarte's other predictions here.)I once had a mentor of mine tell me: "Greg, listen very carefully and remember this: Intent (he said,) counts more than technique." And he was right. It's a saying that has stuck with me for a lot of years. What he meant was that you can learn all the clever people-influencing techniques…

  • Four presentation predictions for 2011

    3 Jan 2011 | 4:57 pm
    Nancy Duarte, one of my Clarity Heroes, author of Slide:ology and Resonate has posted her annual presentation predictions for 2011. In quick summary, her four predictions are:Tablet war will shape the future of presentationAuthenticity will trump 'spin'Slides will be hand-sketched and scanned inPeople will opt more for 'no-slide' presentationsSee her full post here.
 
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    Lead on Purpose

  • How to Foster Productive Communication with Employees

    Michael Ray Hopkin
    18 May 2013 | 10:25 pm
    Guest post by Diane Pierre-Louis The best leaders are nearly always excellent communicators. Clear and productive communication between management and staff is a great stage-setter for a successful and rewarding workplace environment. Whether you feel that you’re already communicating well with your employees or know this is an area that needs polishing, it’s always wise to review some common-sense strategies. Listen with Intent The art of meaningful listening requires effort and practice, but it is well worth the effort in the end. Generally, most of us are pretty lousy listeners.

  • How can you make a positive perception?

    Michael Ray Hopkin
    11 May 2013 | 11:29 pm
    How we perceive things shapes our lives. In the book Beyond Illusions: The Magic of Positive Perception, Brad Barton—a magician, athlete and all-around great guy—takes you on a journey of looking past illusions and forming positive perceptions that will change your life. When we understand how we’re deceived, we have the power to no longer be enslaved by the illusions and misperceptions that create personal, social and business crises. This is how we achieve freedom. Each chapter deals with a compelling topic, with humor and emotion. I literally laughed out loud reading some parts and…

  • How do leaders make lasting change?

    Michael Ray Hopkin
    4 May 2013 | 4:36 pm
    One of the great leaders and thinkers of our time is Clayton Christensen, ”a down-to-earth” alum of BYU, Oxford and Harvard. His book The Innovators Dilemma has impacted the business world perhaps more than any other book in recent history. He has expanded his research and applied his theories to other industries like health care, higher education and even governments and tax systems. I found two recent articles about Clayton Christensen that have increased my understanding about leadership: The first is published in the BYU Magazine’s Spring 2013 edition. (As a BYU alum I get the…

  • Trust in Leadership – 5 Key Practices to Earn Trust

    Michael Ray Hopkin
    27 Apr 2013 | 5:30 am
    Guest post by Daniela Baker One recent article in Forbes magazine examined the interesting phenomenon behind a shift in today’s leadership principles. The article’s author asserts that old leadership models were based on power because business was essentially about competition. Today’s more collaborative, creative business models, on the other hand, require leaders with high emotional intelligence – business leaders who can build trust among their colleagues and employees. The bottom line: if you want to make it as a real leader in today’s business culture, you’ve got to earn…

  • Why Sports Builds Leadership

    Michael Ray Hopkin
    20 Apr 2013 | 7:23 pm
    Guest post by Jordan Spindler Leadership is a personal trait that often proves elusive to many people, however is intimately related to personal success. Leaders are at the forefront of their fields; they are respected and quite often wealthy. Leaders also foster social change, and most of our cultural, social and economic progress is the result of leadership. It’s no surprise that many people would like to acquire this trait and would like to see their children develop strong leadership skills. While leadership remains easy to define and identify, a consistent summation of characteristics…
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    Recovering Leader

  • When Awe of Others Gets in Your Way

    david@leadershipunleashed.com
    20 May 2013 | 6:10 pm
    A seasoned executive in a senior role told me, "Jack is a legend – successful, brilliant, famous. When I’m in the board room with him, I tend to keep more to myself – after all, I don’t add as much value as he does.” One could easily say my client has a confidence problem, or needs to mature more, which are quick explanations without solutions. Looking more closely, he was discounting his own value.  He was seeing it as variable, rather than constant.   And in viewing it that way, he was marginalizing his own contributions. More seasoned executives than one might think get in the…

  • 10 Essentials of Great Leadership

    david@leadershipunleashed.com
    5 May 2013 | 4:59 pm
    As a former divisional COO at a Fortune 500 company who started literally in the mail room, and over the last 10 years as an executive coach, I’ve lived, practiced, studied, observed, and reflected often on the essence of great leadership.  Here are ten themes I would categorize as “essentials” -- that whatever will be my next opportunity to lead, I hold them as daily reminders to help me be at my best. 1. Leadership means showing your people why they should care about your mission. Make sure they are fully on board with it, and they're more likely to give you great, rather than simply…

  • How to Practice Leadership in Disagreement

    david@leadershipunleashed.com
    25 Apr 2013 | 7:17 am
    Fostering candid debate is critical for effective leadership. Absent that, the quality of your own leadership will be limited, as your team will give you what you want to hear, rather than what you need to know. In my executive coaching practice, I notice many leaders imagine themselves open to being challenged or contradicted.  Yet in practice there are two issues: 1. many people working for a leader tend to avoid conflict and/or “yes” the one in charge, and 2. the supposedly open-minded leader may have a blind-spot tendency to go on offense or defense when challenged, sending the…

  • Leading Well: 10 Ways to Keep Good People from Caring Less

    david@leadershipunleashed.com
    21 Apr 2013 | 8:29 am
    Every person who truly cares about the quality, volume, and overall mission of his or her work is a tremendous asset to any organization. In my experience as a coach and c-level executive, I learned the hard way how important it is to select people who care, and de-select people who don’t care. That’s basic leadership – surround yourself with an amazing team. Once you’ve got the right team, what’s next is an even more important leadership lesson: It’s not the leader’s role to motivate, engage or otherwise try to make people care.It’s your job instead to treat people well, and…

  • Your Cluelessness is a Goldmine!

    david@leadershipunleashed.com
    15 Apr 2013 | 8:11 am
    What we can’t see about ourselves, but is obvious to others around us, can be pure treasure. What you may find there: Useful strengths, and self-limiting behaviors – the ones that hold you in a pattern of even slightly less than your best. They are usually plain to those around us, even though politeness or fear on their part can keep them from sharing them with you. For example, here are four leader profiles, each successful by conventional standards, knowledgeable in their field, skilled at doing their job, and leading good people: 1. The leader who is stuck on transmit, talking so…
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    George Ambler - The Practice of Leadership

  • Are You Thinking Big and Aiming High?

    George Ambler
    28 Apr 2013 | 11:49 am
    Photo by h.koppdelaney “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” – Michelangelo, Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer Big, bold and compelling vision is what separates great leaders from good leaders. Great leaders set great goals. Great goals are ambitious, challenging, they stretch you and your team, taking you outside of your comfort zone. “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?” — Steve Jobs…

  • Busy is Killing Leadership

    George Ambler
    20 Apr 2013 | 7:59 am
    Photo By Vincent_AF “Never confuse movement with action.” – Ernest Hemingway Busy is killing leadership! Considering the experience and competence of leaders, their position and influence, their authority, the resources that they command, too many spend their time making the routine happen, instead of investing their time and energy into those few significant things that will create the organisation’s future. They fail to take advantage of the opportunities they have to make a real difference. One of the key reasons is that leaders find themselves distracted by busyness.

  • Leaders Are Readers

    George Ambler
    13 Apr 2013 | 10:20 am
    Photo By Jayel Aheram Reading has always been a habit of great leaders. It’s one of the most powerful sources of growth, inspiration and new ideas. Reading is a great investment in your personal development. If you want to improve your leadership you need to read. Effective reading is a habit that goes beyond just skimming or scanning. Effective reading requires you read deeply, understand and apply the ideas and lesson to the challenges of the day. Here are some habits that will help you get the most out of your reading. Leaders Read Quality. To get the most out of your reading time…

  • Email that Gets Results is Structured for Clarity

    George Ambler
    1 Apr 2013 | 6:58 am
    Photo By apdk Clarity requires that you bring structure to your writing. Your message must be clear and messages are clear when they’re well structured. Structure is important as it provides the recipient with a framework that makes it easy for the reader to follow and understand your message. Limit your email to one main topic per message. Limit your email to a single main topic per message. Do not included multiple actions in a single email as this overwhelms the reader and increases the likelihood of miss-understanding and that some actions will be missed. Structure your message into…

  • Email that Gets Results is Focused on a Single Outcome

    George Ambler
    1 Apr 2013 | 6:41 am
    Photo by Nina Matthews Photography Focus helps you get to the point quickly. People don’t want to read through a long and rambling email consisting of a collection of unrelated ideas. Focus requires that you set a single goal for your message. Your goal should be guided by one of the 3 types of email outcomes. Once you have decided on your message outcome consider the following guidelines to help you strengthen the focus of your message. Keep your message focused on a single outcome. This requires that you’re clear as to the purpose and objectives of your message. Focus strictly on a…
 
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    Pink Slip

  • Kitchen Nightmare, alrighty

    23 May 2013 | 11:23 pm
    Last December, I posted about a rather intemperate Boston restaurateur  (Pigalle-ing Out) who went flaming after a diner who claimed that the Thanksgiving pumpkin pie tasted like vomit. The story had an awwwwww ending: chef and diner ended up FB friending each other. Still, it was an object lesson about the perils of using social media. Let’s face it, if you’re going into the restaurant these days, the only thin skin you can afford to have is on the duck confit. You need to be able to tough out the negative comments, swallowing hard and reaching out to the wronged diners to say how…

  • Well, I appreciate World Nutella Day, even if Ferrero doesn’t (and even if I don’t actually like Nutella).

    22 May 2013 | 11:20 pm
    We have long been told that the most successful consumer brands are those that get their consumers to do a lot of their marketing for them. Thus, Harley-Davidson has fans who sport the official H-D gear, get the company logo tattooed on their arms, and name their children Harley and Davidson. Closer to home, half the people in Boston are occasional walking billboards for one of the local sports teams. As the possessor of a Red Sox fleece, tee-shirt, pin, earrings, and two caps, I’m one of them. And that doesn’t even count my “Pennant Fever” tee from 1986. Right now in Boston, I’d…

  • Greetings from Nerd-ville: We’re Number Two!

    21 May 2013 | 11:58 pm
    Sometimes you just luck out and end up living in the place that suits you. Seriously, I pity the anonymous commenters who frequent boston.com and bostonherald.com (and who may even be in the paid employ of  the latter, given the insanely frothing nature of the comments there) to – no matter what the topic of “conversation” is – piss and moan about how terrible it is to live in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Honestly, you’d think that the Bay State is anything other than an excellent place in which to live. Most educated – 1st Lowest divorce rate – 1st Healthiest – 4th…

  • Landlines

    20 May 2013 | 11:16 pm
    I’m one of those old-fashioned types who still has a landline. I can’t remember when the last time I made an outgoing call on it. (Actually, that’s not quite true. On the day of the Marathon bombings, when there was no mobile service for a while, I used it to call the landlines of my local sister and local brother to make sure that they were okay, so I could email by traveling sister and non-local brother and let them know we were all safe.) Once in a blue moon, I’ll use it my landline to dial into a conference call. Sometimes it’s just easier to be on speaker, and the landline is…

  • A dream is a wish your pocketbook makes

    19 May 2013 | 11:08 pm
    A dream may have been a wish that Cinderella’s heart made, but, Jiminy Cricket, if you’re a well-heeled NYC parent and not a hearth-sweeping skivvy, a dream is a wish that your pocketbook makes come true. Or so it seem, based on an article in the NY Post – and when are they ever wrong?  -  on hush-hush, word of mouth service that, for about $1K a day, is (make that was) helping folks who had better things to do than wait on line tapping their Tod’s in the broiling Florida sun. Hel-lo-o! The workaround is hiring a disabled person to become an ad hoc member of your family,…
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    Sanders Says

  • How To Deal With A Deficit Of Time

    Tim Sanders
    22 May 2013 | 10:09 am
    This week, I’m going to write about how deficits, those times in our lives where we feel malnourished, depressed, overextended, can actually be a great benefit to future success. The truth is, there’s no better time to reevaluate your process than when things aren’t going well. We’ve all heard very successful people say they learned more from failure than success and there’s a reason for that. Because it’s true! The trick is to efficiently breakdown the reasons for your deficits, rectify them, and then utilize that knowledge so that when the surpluses come roaring back (and they…

  • Are You Following Your Top Priorities?

    Tim Sanders
    14 May 2013 | 8:41 am
    Recently, I realized that there's a big difference between our priorities and our values. Oftentimes, you set your priorities based on external requirements (what does the world expect from you?). Values are the criteria by which you allocate resources and make decisions.  Your hold them high or low at a personal level.  You act them out.  You don't write them down in a bullet point list (like priorities).  But it's your values that determine the actual order of priorities you follow in life. So, instead of trying to list priorities in order, I grouped them into Top,…

  • Social Media Lessons Learned From The Audience

    Tim Sanders
    26 Apr 2013 | 8:16 am
    Last night I attended a fireside chat where Vince Thompson interviewed The Audience founder Oliver Luckett.  His company manages social media from major brands including artists, athletes, entertainers and super-cool companies.  (His co-founders are none other than Ari Emmanuel and Sean Parker).   Every month, The Audience reaches between 600million and a billion people with their branded content.  He thinks of the company as a modern day Factory (think Warhol, not Demand media) that produces objects for brands to publish for their followers and key stakeholders.  During his comments, a…

  • Our first book: Finding the Next Steve Jobs (by Net Minds)

    Tim Sanders
    20 Apr 2013 | 3:55 pm
    Less than a year ago, I met Nolan Bushnell at a METal breakfast, where I gave a talk on "the Future of Publishing."  He told me he had a few books he was working on, and was interested in talking to me about publishing them via Net Minds.  We met the following week (see above) and cooked up a third idea: Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Hire, Retain and Nurture Creative Talent.  I had just read Steve Jobs (by Walter Isaacson), and was aware of Nolan's history with Jobs, and how he created a creative-friendly workplace culture at Atari.  I knew that many companies…

  • What's Your Last Lap Of Commitment?

    Tim Sanders
    8 Mar 2013 | 7:27 am
    About nine months ago, two synergistic things happened: I decided to get in shape and we got a new dog.  And he's a miniture poodle pup named Banksy that needs to be walked...a lot.   So each day, I walk him up and down the Hollywood Hills.  Some days, I've got a lot on my plate, and the thirty minute walks can make me a little frantic that I'm not getting work done.  (Note: I don't believe in filling that time with phone-work.)  Sometimes, since the hills are so steep, the last 1/2 mile of the walk tuckers me out.  Sometimes I'd turn right on the street just…
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    Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog

  • Leadership is Already Inside You

    John Agno
    24 May 2013 | 6:25 am
    "I believe that everything you need to be a great leader is already inside.  It's in your DNA," says Robert S. Murray, author of the new book "It's Already Inside."   "I also believe that the leadership talent, which is innate within us, needs nurturing and practice to bring it out," he continues. The world's greatest organizations--the ones that have happy employees, satisfied customers and a growing bottom line--all share a common trait.  They all know what they are famous for.  They know why their customers buy from…

  • Filling Critical Organizational Roles

    John Agno
    23 May 2013 | 6:17 am
    Only 4% of U.S. employers report having an ample pipeline that will cover most of their leadership and management needs, according to a global survey of more than 2,000 senior human resources executives in 14 countries by Right Management.  Most of the 650 U.S. executives participating in the survey (85%) indicated they instead expect to rely on a combination of internal talent development and outside recruitment.  In addition, 11% U.S. organizations routinely look externally before filling critical roles.   According to the findings, employers outside the U.S. are…

  • The Power of Collaborative Leadership

    John Agno
    16 May 2013 | 2:33 pm
     The Power of Collaborative Leadership by Bert Frydman, Iva Wilson and JoAnne Wyer has arisen from the spirit of partnership and mutual inquiry.  It is a rare book, one that actually captures "thinking in the moment" from experienced practitioners.  It reflects the complexity of feelings and multiplicity of interpretations that coexist in complex change efforts. In short, the book is for those who are genuinely interested in expanding their capacity to learn from history.  For those looking for easy answers and quick fixes, it would be better to…

  • Your Personality at Work

    John Agno
    15 May 2013 | 8:29 am
    When we come to know and accept ourselves, we become free to accept others and appreciate how they complement us. Whether you are looking for a job promotion, seeking peace within your team, or looking to improve relationships, we can all benefit from learning more about what drives and energizes us.  Finding common ground among an office or different personalities can sometimes be difficult or even detrimental to a career or an organization. What if discovering what motivates you and others, you can begin to identify and eliminate what doesn't?  In "The Birkman Method:…

  • Buy a Book to take a Self-Assessment

    John Agno
    14 May 2013 | 10:33 am
    There have been a number of books published that allow you to take a self-assessment within the book or authorize you to take one online and then provide a more complete understanding of who you are within the book. A new book, "Personality Power: Discover Your Unique Profile and Unlock Your Potential for Breakthrough Success" by Shoya Zichy allows you to categorize the personality style of yourself and others.  Drawing on the work of human behavior pioneers like Carl Jung and Isabel Myers (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), the author's proprietary…
 
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    Predictable Success » Blog

  • 3 signs your ‘amazing’ corporate culture sucks

    kellyzeeh
    23 May 2013 | 6:58 am
    A version of this article first appeared at Inc.com. Corporate culture is an amorphous concept at the best of times. About the only thing you can be sure of is that when it’s bad, you know it. The lousy utility company’s so-called ‘customer service’ call center; the uniformly unsmiling flight attendants working for that dreadful airline; the coffee shop with no atmosphere, dire food and non-existent service – when you interact with a business that has a soured or bad culture, it’s painfully obvious. So the opposite must be true, right? That you can tell a…

  • 3 Phrases That Will Get You Noticed

    kellyzeeh
    18 May 2013 | 10:22 am
    A version of this article first appeared at Inc.com. I spend a lot of time helping leaders with succession planning – essentially, helping them develop other leaders. What’s interesting is what happens just before the ‘developing’ begins. Truth is, leaders aren’t developed from scratch. What happens instead is that someone is first recognized as a potential leader – then the development begins. So what is it that leaders look for in those they think might have the potential for leadership? How are future leaders recognized? By a lot of things, obviously,…

  • 3 Things Every Great Leader Knows About Themselves

    kellyzeeh
    16 May 2013 | 10:16 am
    A version of this article first appeared at Inc.com. Every good leader possesses a heightened sense of awareness – an ability to read situations in which they find themselves, and act accordingly. Great leaders take this one step further. They are not only aware, they are also self-aware. They know much about themselves. Perhaps not everything (who of us knows ourselves entirely?), but more than most. Driven by innate curiosity, passion and a desire to improve what they do you, can also be sure that a truly committed leader knows more about themselves today than they did a year ago. The…

  • Lost voice, The little engine that could, C-C-C-Coaching | New at Predictable Success

    lesmckeown
    12 May 2013 | 8:30 am
    I left my voice behind in Rockford, IL. And not just some of it. All of it. As a result, those near and dear to me had a restful weekend while I nursed my throat and showed the little card on the right to everyone I met. (Yes, it was embarrassing, thank you for asking…)In my business, losing one’s voice entirely is like being a golfer with no clubs – it’s a little hard to do what you’re paid to do. Thankfully my voice came back 4 days later – just two hours before I was due to give a keynote in Alexandria, LA. Happy days.In other news, the videos are now up…
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    Great Leadership

  • Why Leaders Should Not "Like" Their Staff

    Dan McCarthy
    23 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    Guest post from Gerry Czarnecki: Those who have read my books know that I believe the greatest injustice we can perpetrate on our staff is to like them. Yes, I truly believe that liking our staff creates the probability that we will be biased in our views when we are trying to successfully manage a team.   As I say in my book, Take Two and Call Me in the Morning:  Prescriptions for a Leadership Headache, I believe that liking people can also be a major impediment to being an effective leader.  Allow me to explain. Take two staff members. The first, A, is somebody I truly…

  • What Events Shaped You as a Leader?

    Dan McCarthy
    22 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    Guest post by Great Leadership monthly contributor Beth Armknecht Miller: I recently had the opportunity to have a conversation with the president of a privately held company as part of research for a book I am writing on talent management and development within small to mid-size companies. During our conversation he shared an event he had early on in his career that intrigued me. He was clearly a high potential early on and was tapped by his CFO to create and lead the new internal audit group for a public company. One day the CFO asked him to attend a board meeting so that he could…

  • 25 Career Options in Leadership Development

    Dan McCarthy
    21 May 2013 | 7:49 am
    Interested in a career in leadership development? There are a lot of ways you can make a decent living and have some fun developing leaders. Here are 25 that come to mind, in no particular order: 1. Mid-level or Senior Manager: managers developing the managers below them. 2. Leadership Trainer or Training Manager: conducting or managing leadership and management training programs. 3. Executive coach: helping to unlock the potential within managers through assessment, feedback, questions, etc… 4. Leadership Author: writing books about leadership. 5. Leadership Blogger: writing online posts…

  • The First Thing Leaders Need to Do When Leading a Big Change

    Dan McCarthy
    16 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Guest post from Phil Buckley: Most leaders will lead their organizations through multiple big change projects. Constant change is a business reality and organizations must continually adapt to their environments to stay competitive or risk losing relevance and becoming obsolete. For each change, leaders must define it, create a vision of the post-change world, and mobilize their teams to make it. Often, leaders become paralyzed by the magnitude of the change. Transforming an organization while keeping day-to-day operations running is like fixing a car as it is being driven; it’s…

  • After the Talent Review…Now What?

    Dan McCarthy
    14 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    I was at a conference recently and the session topic was leadership development and succession planning. One of the participants, an HR manager, raised her hand and asked: “We’ve recently implemented a talent review process, so we’ve done a decent job assessing our leaders, but now we’re struggling with what to do next. Do you have any suggestions?” The presenter did his best to provide a few tips, but in fairness, that’s a tough question to answer within the time allowed in a 60 minute conference session. It’s especially hard to provide a succinct answer when you’re been…
 
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    IMD Business School - Tomorrow's Challenges Articles

  • GOOD PILL HUNTING

    Stuart Read,Wiltbank Robert
    24 May 2013 | 5:56 am
    mPedigree is a company that checks the authenticity of medicines. IMD Professor Stuart Read tells the story of how one young activist turned his idealism into a lifesaving business

  • HOW LOYAL ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES?

    Preston C. Bottger,Jean-Louis Barsoux
    23 May 2013 | 9:29 am
    People who feel poorly managed, unrecognized, under-utilized or frustrated can be lost to the competition. IMD Professor Preston Bottger and Jean-Louis Barsoux explore how to best value talent.

  • LESSONS FROM CHINA

    Bill Fischer,Umberto Lago,Fang Liu
    17 May 2013 | 7:42 am
    Few Chinese companies have been as successful as Haier. The company’s story has lessons that should be valuable for managers in any industry and any market.

  • MOVING FROM LAUGHINGSTOCK TO SAVING GRACE

    Shlomo Ben-Hur
    10 May 2013 | 8:15 am
    It’s no laughing matter that organizations spend over $200 billion on learning each year. IMD Professor Shlomo Ben-Hur explores what works and what doesn’t in the world of corporate learning.

  • BAVARIA'S MIX OF TRADITION AND INNOVATION

    Benoit Leleux,Jan van der Kaaij
    10 May 2013 | 7:26 am
    Potent brew: Benoit Leleux and Jan van der Kaaij tell the story of Bavaria, a Dutch family-owned beer company with an innovative approach to marketing
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    thoughtLEADERS, LLC

  • 3 Ways Leaders Undermine Team Accountability

    Mike Figliuolo
    22 May 2013 | 10:02 am
    Today’s post is by Roger Schwarz, author of Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams: How You and Your Team Get Unstuck to Get Results (CLICK HERE to get your copy).  Here’s Roger… Do you see accountability problems in your team? Do your team members need to be more accountable? If so, you may be contributing to the [...] This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/blog for more.

  • How to Make Rude People Lose Their Minds

    Mike Figliuolo
    20 May 2013 | 4:03 am
    What is wrong with people these days?  Since when did being rude not only become acceptable but it seems to have become the norm. Road rage.  Uncouth manners.  Snappy remarks.  Abrupt and curt conversations.  Mean comments. Profanity-laced tirades on the phone. It’s disappointing and painful.  The worst part is rude behavior can bring out ugly [...] This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/blog for more.

  • The Art and Process of Leading Transformational Change

    Mike Figliuolo
    15 May 2013 | 10:02 am
    Today’s post is by Maureen Metcalf – a thoughtLEADERS instructor and author of The Innovative Leadership Fieldbook. and the newly-released Innovative Leaders Guide to Transforming Organizations (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Here’s Maureen: Sarah was the Vice President of Marketing for a Fortune 100 company when we met several years ago. She was known throughout [...] This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/blog for more.

  • Why it’s Important to Deliver Tough Feedback

    Mike Figliuolo
    14 May 2013 | 2:02 pm
    Today’s post focuses on the importance of providing clear and direct feedback to members of your team. It’s an excerpt from One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership (you can get your copy here). Taking risks on people is important but leadership requires more than that. The other side of the [...] This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/blog for more.

  • 5 Steps for Turning Your Organization into a Thought Factory

    Mike Figliuolo
    8 May 2013 | 10:03 am
    Today’s post is by Mats Lindgren, CEO of Kairos Future and author of 21st Century Management – Leadership and Innovation in the Thought Economy (CLICK HERE to get your copy).  Here’s Mats… “Mission: Get some ideas.” That was Dagens Media’s (Today’s Media) front-page headline on September 12th 2012. The article in Sweden’s leading trade paper for [...] This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/blog for more.
 
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    lastingleaders.com

  • Free Teleseminar: Interview with Justin Davis on preventing burnout in leadership

    17 May 2013 | 9:13 am
    Date:   Wednesday June 19  Time:   2:00pm Central Many demands are placed upon people in positions of leadership. They struggle to balance those demands and will often drift into , unhealthy behaviors, addictions, and some will become discouraged and leave altogether. Justin Davis is a pastor who has gone through this experience himself. He struggled with addiction, and fell into an inappropriate relationship. After going through a time of restoration, he has dedicated himself to helping other pastors avoid this trap. He and his wife Trisha have written a book about marriage for leaders…

  • Why People Get So Mad at Pastors

    16 May 2013 | 8:05 am
    by Wayne Cordiero and Francis Chan A friend of mine recently changed careers after being in pastoral ministry for nearly a decade. I asked him how his new job was going. “Really well,” he said. “These days, people get mad at me only once or twice a year. When I was in pastoral ministry, it seemed like someone was mad at me every other day.” I understood. I can still see the parents of a teenager, in my office crying because their son was walking down the wrong path. They were desperate for help, expecting and even demanding that I intervene in their son’s life.

  • Overcoming Codependence

    11 May 2013 | 9:53 am
    Many people struggle with their relationships. Our acting out kept us from nurturing many relationships, and damaged – or even destroyed – others. But there’s more to this story. It’s also possible that what brought us to addictive behaviors in the first place was that our relationships weren’t what they needed to be. We felt alienated from people. We felt insecure around people. Maybe we weren’t sure how to relate honestly with people when we had conflict. There’s an interesting chapter in Charlotte Kasl’s book “Women, Sex, and Addiction,” which talks about…

  • Overcoming Emotional Hurt

    19 Apr 2013 | 5:32 pm
    When people have hurts and struggles in relationships, they tend to work on resolving them by focusing on forgiveness. There’s nothing wrong with forgiveness, but sometimes it’s hard to get there. Maybe we should be talking more about compassion instead. Let me explain. We all know that we’re supposed to forgive people who hurt us, but we get hung up on what it means and how to do it. We struggle to make sense of the jumble of emotions we still feel, even after we’ve made that seemingly momentous decision to forgive. The focus of forgiveness is often on what amounts to a…

  • Dealing with feelings of emptiness

    3 Feb 2013 | 7:00 pm
    How many times have you heard someone say: “I just feel so empty?” Maybe they didn’t use that exact word, but that was the gist of it. Sometimes this label “emptiness” gets thrown around in talk about depression, sometimes with burnout, sometimes with relationship problems, or sometimes “mid life crisis.” As a young pastor my reaction was to think in spiritual categories … people feel empty because they need God. But what happens when godly people still feel empty? What happens when pastors feel empty? It’s time we add another, more…
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    Business Wisdom: Words to Manage By

  • "Standing Still" Is not an option

    Bill Matthies
    24 May 2013 | 11:44 am
    "A man grows most tired while standing still." Chinese proverb Fortunately or not, depending on your view, you can't "stand still". Unrelenting, often imperceptible, sometimes unimaginable change is constant reality for us all. The only question is, how much will you have to do with what is going to happen to you?

  • What We Need To Know

    Bill Matthies
    23 May 2013 | 12:00 pm
    "What is the use of growing old? You learn something of men and things but never until too late to use it." William  H. Seward US Secretary of State during Abraham Lincoln presidency Taking this literally would do a disservice to Mr. Seward.  He made this statement to President Lincoln at a particularly stressful time during the US Civil War. The real message is, understand there is much to learn about everything, and that there always will be. The younger you are when you do the better, more effective leader you will likely become.

  • Didn't You Use To Believe . . .

    Bill Matthies
    22 May 2013 | 12:00 pm
    "How many things served us but yesterday as articles of faith, which today we deem but fables?" Michel Eyquem de Montaigne  16th century French philosopher/essayist Your superiors, clients, peers, direct reports, literally everyone you work with, looks to you for consistency of thought. It's ok to change your mind. Just be sure to manage how and how often you do so.

  • What You Do, Not Reasons Why You Didn't

    Bill Matthies
    21 May 2013 | 12:00 pm
    "It's no use saying "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary." Winston Churchill 20th century British politician Excuses you give your boss explaining why something didn't get done are only that. Excuses You are paid for accomplishments.

  • Are Things Really That Bad!

    Bill Matthies
    20 May 2013 | 5:00 pm
    "Borrow trouble for yourself, if that's your nature, but don't lend it to your neighbors." Rudyard Kipling  Late 19th/early 20th century British writer Did you ever work for a manager who was unnecessarily pessimistic? Don't be that manager.
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    Mitch's Blog

  • How Do You Respond When Asked For The Impossible?

    Mitch Mitchell
    16 May 2013 | 7:13 am
    Many years ago I was in a very interesting spot. I was still a regular employee and there was a time crunch on something that was out of my control for a long time. When I finally had the opportunity to really do something I was told that I had to have the problem solved in 2 weeks. Scott Maxwell via Compfight There was no way it could be solved in 2 weeks and I told the person I reported to that very thing. He said he was getting pressure and that he was going to put the pressure on me to get it done. He said there would be no excuses, even though he knew that I had never told him something…

  • Work And Entitlement

    Mitch Mitchell
    10 May 2013 | 8:27 pm
    “I have a unique set of skills which I have acquired over many years…” Liam Neeson in Taken I am an independent consultant. Come June I’ll have been a consultant for 12 years. Most people who try to work for themselves don’t make it to 3 years, let alone 12, and even though all of those years haven’t been spectacular, I’m still here. dollie_mixtures via Compfight In every situation I’ve undertaken I’ve either been in a leadership position or in an independent position where I’ve had some authority. I haven’t been a worker, if…

  • Worth – The Discussion

    Mitch Mitchell
    30 Apr 2013 | 6:55 am
    There’s an interesting thing to think about concerning the term “worth” when you try to apply it to yourself. There’s no way to think of it in one way; if you do, you’ll most certainly fail; most people only think about it in one way. Ludovic Bertron via Compfight There’s actually three things one has to think about. The first is “self worth”, which is what you feel you’re worth as far as taking care of yourself, your happiness, etc. The second is “financial worth”, which is how much money and assets you have. The third is…

  • Assumptions Lead To Assumptions, Not Always Good Ones

    Mitch Mitchell
    27 Apr 2013 | 7:05 am
    This is going to surprise some people, but even though I’ve worked for myself for nearly 12 years, I’ve had a couple of occasions here and there to interview for a regular job. Sometimes you see an opportunity, realize that the money’s not bad and the benefits might be great and, well, if it’s local that can add to it. Thomas Shahan via Compfight Unfortunately, things haven’t gone well with either interview. Actually, that’s not quite accurate. Things went great with the first interview and not so great with the second interview. Not getting the position…

  • Keys To Leadership Points Redux

    Mitch Mitchell
    24 Apr 2013 | 6:51 am
    Back in December 2010 I wrote a post talking about my leadership series Keys To Leadership, which you see there on the left for purchase. The article talked about the live seminars and told a story about how I came to record them. KEYS TO LEADERSHIP Two years earlier I actually put the 15 total points that the series covered in a post that I thought would get some traction, but I probably should have known better. It was November 2008, just after the general election that swept President Obama into office, and I posted the 15 points and asked people to evaluate soon to be former President…
 
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    The Merrill Dubrow Blog

  • It’s Almost My Six Year Anniversary Of…

    Merrill Dubrow
    24 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    June 7, 2007 was a special day for me. The sun was shining; I was in one of my favorite cities, San Francisco, and at one of my favorite spots – a baseball stadium!  No, it wasn’t to see the Giants play (too bad because I love that stadium). It was to attend the Oakland A’s (remember S.S., A.H., J.L.) take on my beloved Boston Red Sox. Joe Blanton vs. Curt Schilling, the bloody sock guy himself! The Red Sox were winning 1-0 thanks to a David Ortiz home run as we entered the bottom of the 9th. One and two outs passed very quickly and now the place is going crazy since…

  • Why Does Research Not Get The Respect It Deserves?

    Merrill Dubrow
    22 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    Last month Ron Johnson was fired as the CEO of JC Penney after only 18 months on the job. Ron was a genius at Apple running their retail business and was brought in to turn around this struggling retailer. The interesting thing is Ron made a bunch of changes. He really tried a number of different strategies. For that he does need to be complemented, BUT everything he did was based on his gut and had nothing to do with research and what his customers wanted. He did what he thought was right for the struggling business. I don’t want to focus on what he did or didn’t do. I would…

  • Have You Used Google+ Hangouts For Interviews?

    Merrill Dubrow
    20 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    If you are like me, you interview a lot of people during the course of a week and I am sure some of those interviews are in person but many are on the phone. It’s funny because I use Google+ and have been using Hangouts more regularly for presentations and training, but I don’t do it for interviews! The other benefit and valuable resource of using Hangouts is the video option that allows you to share your meeting with other members of your team as well. For those of you who aren’t aware of Google+ or Hangouts – basically it is Skype. With hangouts you can see the…

  • I Try And _____ Every Day!

    Merrill Dubrow
    17 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    I tend to be a creature of habit. I am a little bit of a routine guy and really try to live my life that way.  Here are a number of things I try and do each and every day! I try and: Call my parents Eat oatmeal Take my vitamins Drink two soda’s and NOT more than three Get to work by 6:15am Leave work by 5:15pm Think of ways to move the business forward Since 7 is one of my favorite numbers I will stop there. Your turn: I try and ____________ every day? I look forward to reading your comments.

  • Time To Take A Quick Quiz And Let Me Know Who Is Funnier!

    Merrill Dubrow
    15 May 2013 | 6:33 am
    I must say that kids are funny! In fact, very hysterical! No matter how much I tried, I could never be funnier than my kids. Please take a quick quiz and rate how funny these statements are that were said by my kids. Click here to take the quiz. I look forward to your thoughts.
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    timmilburn.com

  • Five Online Communities To Strengthen Your Productivity Skills

    tim milburn
    19 May 2013 | 7:07 am
    This is a guest post by Lewis Jacobs, a free lance writer and social media specialist. You’ve heard the phrase “natural born leader.” But what if you aren’t a natural born leader? How do you go about acquiring the skills and tools and the confidence to become a leader in your own right? Hopefully, you are learning what it takes to be productive and to help those on your team to be productive as well. One way to increase your leadership “productivity” is to turn to social media and online communities. Where to turn though? Basecamp Project management is a skill every leader…

  • Three Benefits To Going All In

    tim milburn
    7 May 2013 | 10:11 am
    Every now and then, ESPN will air the World Series of Poker. They play Texas Hold’Em for gobs of cash and bragging rights. The most dramatic moments occur when one of the players at the table utters two words… All In. photo credit: Reza Vaziri via photopin cc Most of the time, this means the player is putting all of his or her chips on the table. It’s typically an all or nothing move. Get the winning hand and you play on. Lose the hand and you’re done for the day. You can feel the excitement and intensity rise in the room when those words are uttered. Sometimes a…

  • You Might Be A Leader…

    tim milburn
    1 May 2013 | 2:02 pm
    One question that I’m often asked is whether or not I believe every person can be a leader? My answer: yes and no. I answer “yes” because I think every person has the potential and the responsibility to lead oneself well. I believe leadership does start with you. You and I must learn, practice, and hone our ability to lead our own selves well. photo credit: theloushe via photopin cc But I also answer “no.” Not everyone is equipped or capable of leading others well. While we all have some level of influence with those around us, it takes a special person to step…

  • Six Ways To Earn The Trust Of Those Around You

    tim milburn
    29 Apr 2013 | 7:00 am
    I walked into the room full of newly elected student leaders. You could feel the excitement. You could sense that each one of them was motivated to do his or her very best. They all wore the same t-shirt. They were all on the same team. The only question that remained between their success or failure as a group was a simple one… Would they learn to trust each other? Every new year is full of excitement and anticipation. But the one big difference between the teams that overcome the obstacles and the ones who get blown apart by the barriers is found in one basic…

  • Getting The M.O.S.T. Out Of Your Student Leadership Year

    tim milburn
    25 Apr 2013 | 12:05 pm
    The life of a student can be very demanding. You are learning to balance your classes, your relationships, your workload, and your free time. On top of all that, you became a student leader. In the midst of the demands, it’s easy to begin to live from event to event…from one task to the next. When that happens, you will find yourself trying to play catch-up all year. You may miss out on what can be a great experience for you. A school year is demanding, both mentally and physically. Those intense weeks of learning, reading, and studying – coupled with your other involvements…
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    Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog

  • Executive Leadership

    John Hunter
    21 May 2013 | 6:05 am
    Senior executives must lead management improvement efforts. When senior executives only give lip service to management efforts the result is normally the same: little happens. When Dr. Deming was working with companies after the 1980′s NBC white paper, If Japan Can Why Can’t We, he wouldn’t work with companies if the CEO wasn’t attending the meetings and learning how to manage the organization better. Dr. Deming had seen far too many CEOs want improvement but wanted to delegate the effort of getting there. Dr. Deming saw when senior executives delegated improving the…

  • Management Improvement Blog Carnival #193

    John Hunter
    15 May 2013 | 8:08 am
    The Curious Cat Management Improvement Carnival is published twice each month. The posts selected for the carnival focus on the areas of management improvement I have focused on in the Curious Cat Management Improvement Guide since 1996: Deming, lean thinking, innovation, respect for people, customer focus, etc.. Dr. Deming’s “Role of a Manager of People” by Mark Graban – quoting Dr. Deming “A manager understands and conveys to his people the meaning of a system. He explains the aim of the system. He teaches his people to understand how the work of the group supports…

  • Lean Blog Podcast with John Hunter

    John Hunter
    13 May 2013 | 7:30 am
    Mark Graban interviewed me for the Lean Blog podcast series: Podcast #174 – John Hunter, “Management Matters” (listen using this link). Links to more information on what we discussed in the podcast. Madison, Wisconsin: William G. Hunter, George Box, Brian Joiner, Peter Scholtes, Joe Sensenbrener (Quality Comes to City Hall), Statistics for Experimenters, Out of the Crisis, Doing More with Less in the Public Sector: A Progress Report from Madison, Wisconsin My online efforts: Curious Cat Management Guide, Curious Cat Management Blog (where you are now), Curious Cat Investing Blog,…

  • Management Improvement Blog Carnival #192

    John Hunter
    1 May 2013 | 2:20 am
    The Curious Cat management blog carnival has been published since 2006. New posts are published twice a month. I also publish a collection management improvement articles on the Curious Cat management improvement articles site. Customer Service Andon Cord: Jeff Bezos and Customer Experience by Pete Abilla – “Lean principles have taken such a hold on Amazon and on Jeff Bezos that job titles now contain terms often used in Lean Manufacturing. For example, Jeff Bezos’ comment on ‘Customer Service Andon’ – well, it’s also a current job opening at Amazon…”…

  • 94% Belongs to the System

    John Hunter
    24 Apr 2013 | 7:24 am
    I should estimate that in my experience most troubles and most possibilities for improvement add up to the proportions something like this: 94% belongs to the system (responsibility of management), 6% special. Page 315 of Out of the Crisis by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. the system that people work in and the interaction with people may account for 90 or 95 percent of performance. Dr. Deming’s quote from the introduction to the Team Handbook I think, in looking at the total of Deming’s work, that the point he is trying to make is that looking to blame people is not a good strategy for…
 
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    Management Excellence by Art Petty

  • Art of Managing: Tackle the Big Issues by Creating Time to Think Deeply

    Art Petty
    23 May 2013 | 6:21 am
    Sometimes, you just have to call a time-out. While our tendency is to respond to the gravitational pull of our devices and the unceasing demands of the urgent and urgent-unimportant in our work lives, some issues simply require deep thought. Here are 6 ideas to support your effort to find deep-thinking time on the big issues for you and your team:

  • New Leader Tuesday-Job One is to Strengthen Others

    Art Petty
    21 May 2013 | 5:36 am
    It’s not easy to move from a self-focused professional to someone who suddenly is measured by the success and growth of his or her team members.Here are 6 ideas to support your efforts on this long, arduous and rewarding journey:

  • Leadership Caffeine-Coping with Critics in the Workplace

    Art Petty
    20 May 2013 | 6:25 am
    It takes courage of conviction and a strong dose of self-confidence to absorb the flak from the naysayers. Here are 7 ideas to help you better cope with your workplace critics:

  • It’s Your Career-7 Key Do’s and Don’ts for the Newly Minted MBA

    Art Petty
    17 May 2013 | 7:53 am
    It's graduation season again in the U.S. and for most newly minted MBA graduates, it's time for a reality check. Here are some hard-won words of wisdom on how to navigate the steps immediately following your graduation.

  • Just One Thing: How to Defuse Difficult Workplace Discussions

    Art Petty
    16 May 2013 | 6:57 am
    Almost all of us get this wrong in the professional environment at some time or another. Myself included. We find ourselves in a tense situation with someone or some group who is attempting to assert a direction or insert themselves into the area we perceive as our domain, and we react by aggressively defending our position and by challenging or attacking their position. Here are five ideas to help you defuse and improve these difficult discussions:
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    The Six Disciplines Blog

  • Why Take The Baldrige Journey?

    24 May 2013 | 5:14 am
    On the National Baldrige Performance Excellence website, there's a great article entitled Why Take The Baldrige Journey? Organizations everywhere are looking for ways to effectively and efficiently meet their missions and achieve their visions. Thousands of organizations use the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to guide their enterprises, improve performance, and get sustainable results. This proven improvement and innovation framework offers your organization an integrated approach to key management areas: Leadership Strategic planning Customer focus Measurement, analysis, and…

  • The Small Business Advantage

    17 May 2013 | 5:18 am
    Those who have worked both in small and large organizations have a much better appreciation for how fundamentally different large companies are from small ones. Each has its strengths, and the savvy small business owner understands what those are and takes advantage of them aggressively. They include: 1. Connecting People to Purpose People are creatures of emotion and reason. The best performers want to belong to an organization that’s on a mission, and they need to see how they’re contributing to that mission. Small businesses have an enormous advantage in their ability to help people…

  • The Top Challenges of Small Businesses

    10 May 2013 | 5:04 am
    Even though small businesses collectively generate $5 trillion in sales in the U.S., the biggest challenge of an individual small business is “survival.” 80% of all new business start-ups are out of business within five years. And if that doesn’t get your attention, 80% of the 20% that survive the first five years don’t survive the second five!2 That means, on the average, 960 out of 1,000 businesses that start this year will not be around in 10 years. This is proof that you’re in an elite group if you’ve just survived (let alone “thrived”)! What makes it so hard? After…

  • How the best differ from the rest PART II

    3 May 2013 | 5:13 am
    3. Disciplined Approach to Business For some people, the old-fashioned idea of being “disciplined” is a turn-off. But that’s not so for the top performers. They’re rated 114 % stronger than the lowest performers when it comes to taking a disciplined approach to business. Instead of “shooting from the hip,” top-performing small businesses take the time to plan well in advance for changes that are likely to affect their organizations. They do so because the people in the higher-performing organizations truly believe that planning is a critical factor in achieving company success, as…

  • How the best differ from the rest PART I

    26 Apr 2013 | 5:11 am
    In trying to better quantify factors that contribute to excellence, we surveyed more than 300 small businesses (each with 10 to 100 employees) that included a range of service, product and project-oriented companies. The participants, who were all owners or senior leaders in their organizations, rated their businesses on many different areas of performance. For this analysis, we evaluated organizations based on a combined factor of growth and profitability. We thoroughly analyzed the results and looked for areas where the lowest- and highest-performing organizations were the most different.
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    Survival Leadership

  • Talent Code: Post #6--Four Virtues

    23 May 2013 | 6:10 pm
    Four Virtues of Master Coachesa.    The Matrix: Many master coaches are in their 60s and 70s and possess a complex web of “task specific knowledge” that gives them the depth and power to help their protégés. b.    Perceptiveness: Coaches like John Wooden have deep perceptiveness that works on figuring out what’s going on. Such coaches act like investigative reporters; they observe, deliver information, and look for the student to react—a process designed to move the student forward.c.    The GPS Reflex: Coaches don’t mince words. They…

  • Talent Code: Post #5-Master Coaching

    21 May 2013 | 6:08 pm
    Master Coaching—The #3 BIG THING:  The great coaches at various “hotbeds of talent” were older (had been teaching/coaching for 30 years), disciplined, focused, and often were quiet and observant, prodding and adjusting only when needed. When coaching, John Wooden, famed UCLA basketball coach, often spoke in short, pithy statements like “do this,” “try that,” “look up,” etc.

  • Talent Code: Post #4--Ignition

    16 May 2013 | 6:06 pm
    Ignition—The #2 BIG THING: Deep practice isn’t easy and requires a spark to start it and fuel to keep it going. Coyle calls this stimulus “ignition.” He likens it to “emotional rocket fuel.” Sometimes it’s personal; something happens in life—a momentous occasion, like you meet the president and decide to become a politician. Or in South Korea, when Se Ri Pack won a big LPGA tournament, a whole nation’s future women golfers got ignited. Time and again, there will be a breakout of success and then a contagious fire that takes place and ignites. a.    Tiny Idea:…

  • Talent Code: Post #3--Deep Practice

    14 May 2013 | 6:04 pm
    Deep Practice—The #1 BIG THING: No pain, no gain. That’s what you might call Coyle’s “deep practice.” We learn best when we struggle and invest time and effort into developing a habit or skill. See Coyle’s exercise on p. 16 to demonstrate this finding for yourself. When we slow down, try, fail, retry and keep trying…we grow. Just watch kids starting to walk or talk. Our brain is NOT like a tape recorder, but like scaffolding—the more we build, the faster learning takes place. Three Rules of Deep Practice: a.    Chunking. Like making a movie, build a scaffold…

  • Talent Code: Post #2--Myelin

    9 May 2013 | 6:02 pm
    Myelin—The Game Changer: Every time you learn something, like swinging a golf club, a set of electrical impulses from the brain to the muscles involved gets reinforced. Simply put, the nerve fibers involved get wrapped by a fatty insulator called myelin, which acts like electrician’s tape to keep the electricity from spilling out. The result: impulses go faster and faster—like a car going from 10 mph to 100 mph. And the more times you practice (if done deeply with intention), the quicker you learn.
 
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    Learn This

  • Learning Habits and Applying Knowledge

    Mike King
    10 May 2013 | 10:09 pm
    I am often asked how I seem to absorb new content so quickly and learn new things?  I’ve thought about this a lot and I have learned a few simple steps that have helped me to learn things quickly.  I hope by outlining what works for me, it will also help you develop similar habits for learning. Learn From Experts I always want to learn from someone who has already spent many hours of hard work to uncover some of the gotchas and best practices to follow so that it can save me some time making those same mistakes.  I’m sure to make many of my own mistakes, so the more likely I am…

  • Keep Track of the Risks Involved with Adrenaline Seeking

    Mike King
    29 Mar 2013 | 4:22 pm
    I’ve got a guest post this week that covers some of the risks of what I love, extreme sports…  The author, Trevor is listed at the end of the article as well. An adrenaline junkie is a person that seeks out thrilling activities and the adrenaline rush they produce. Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands in the brain. When engaged in a particularly exciting or dangerous activity, these glands dump huge doses of the pleasure-inducing hormones into the bloodstream, which increases the heart rate and ups oxygen levels, creating an overall…

  • Managing Turnover

    Mike King
    14 Mar 2013 | 7:55 am
    The business world has a lot of factors in it that affect turnover with people switching jobs or career paths. It is something that will certainly be important to any manager who has to keep a team of people productive and effective. Depending on where your work sector is, this problem might be very common with higher yearly turnover numbers approaching or even exceeding 50% or you might be in a stable economy sector with low 10% turnover. Whatever your case, I think there are many ways to manage turnover and reduce the turnover factor in your business relative to your competition and/or the…

  • 5 Factors to Making Memorable Presentations

    Mike King
    12 Mar 2013 | 8:41 am
    Presentations are an extremely important skill in business and any leadership position as it is a way to influence others and gain support/followers toward some action.  Even presentations that are intended as training or teaching styles, still require this influence to convince the audience to believe what you present and to gain support and knowledge for that topic.  This makes presentations an important skill to learn for your career and any leadership roles you face.  Instead of covering a huge list of small things, I want to focus presentations skills on learning the most important…

  • Bodyweight Training

    Mike King
    28 Feb 2013 | 7:41 am
    In my last article, Fitness Activities and Habits, I covered some of the ways to bring more fitness into your lifestyle.  One of the things I’ve always focused on in any fitness and sport I get involved in, is to study, research, learn and visualize as much as I can with resources from friends, books, online, experts or wherever I can get it.  I enjoy the learning aspects of developing new skills, movements, and abilities for my fitness activities and so this article jumps in on one of the those, fitness training using bodyweight training.  Basically, bodyweight training involves…
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    The Student Affairs Collaborative

  • #SAChat Transcript – 5/23/13 – Work Life Balance: How do you stay involved in your local community

    nope
    24 May 2013 | 1:04 pm
    Thanks to everyone who participated in our #SAchat focused on Work Life Balance: How do you stay involved in your local community. This week’s topic produced over 404 tweets from 75 different student affairs professionals, graduate students and undergraduates interested or working in the Student Affairs field! View transcript as well as other data about the chat, click here. What are some other topics you would like to see us cover? Please let us know your ideas and feedback to keep #SAchat growing strong. Until next week, (if you haven’t already done so) please make sure to LIKE our…

  • Why Our Lack of Social Media Adoption is Cause for Concern

    nope
    22 May 2013 | 7:30 am
    On April 12, 2013, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) released results of their latest survey detailing social media use by colleges and universities. More than 1,000 institutions participated in the survey that solicited responses on several topics including, how professionals incorporate social media in their communication strategies, goals for social media, and current best practices. The survey provides several interesting responses for consideration. I encourage you to read the results if you have the time. I found the following intriguing. 84 percent of…

  • The Best of #SAchat Tweets – Week of 5/20/13

    nope
    21 May 2013 | 10:10 am
    Everyday the #sachat feed is full of great resources, professional musings, and important questions that have been posed to the community. Here is a highlight of some of the tweets from the stream during the last week. We know this list is only scratching the surface, but we hope it will encourage you to keep the conversation going. Chat on!   “You create your opportunities by asking for them.” -Patty Hansen #sachat #leanin #reslife May 15, 2013 7:30 pm via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite @StacyLOliver Stacy OliverSikorski “There is always a choice about the way you…

  • Tuesday Tally: Tragedy Response

    nope
    21 May 2013 | 7:14 am
    Please consider how your campus can support the Oklahoma community. We are all connected. #sachat #highered — SA Perks (@SAPerks) May 21, 2013

  • Why is it so hard to just go on vacation?!?!

    nope
    20 May 2013 | 7:30 am
    Woke up this morning at 6am ready to go. Bags packed, guitar restrung, out of office reply written, online check-in complete… I am fortunate to travel for my work – I go to conferences and meetings, trainings and events. Every once and a while though, when I print out that lovely boarding pass, I do it 105% for me only. When the baggage is stowed, and seats are in their upright and locked positions, and the landing gear hits pavement in a new place, I am actually and truly on vacation. As I write this I am sitting in the Portland airport waiting for my plane. I am splurging and…
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    It's Getting Hot In Here

  • Deny Climate Deniers Some Business!

    John Deans
    15 May 2013 | 2:27 pm
    Hi All, This new app is making the rounds on social media, but here’s a blog from my friend Connor Gibson at Greenpeace explaining how YOU can avoid buying products from the Koch Brothers! Avoid buying Koch Industries products with new phone app! Posted on May 15, 2013 by Connor Gibson Here’s a cool new toy. A popular article on Forbes today details a new smart phone app called “Buycott,” which is catching the attention of shoppers who want to make sure their money spent on groceries and other basic products isn’t enriching corporations with bad records on social and…

  • A Primer on TransCanada’s West-East Pipeline

    maryam adrangi
    8 Apr 2013 | 2:38 pm
    Why do old pipes fail? And did you know that over 50% of hazardous-liquid pipeline failures occur in pipes that are over 44% years old? Last week, TransCanada announced that it is moving ahead with its proposed Energy East pipeline which would carry oil from Alberta to Atlantic waters. If you are among those getting confused by all the different pipelines making headlines—Northern Gateway, Line 9, Kinder Morgan, etc.—this primer is for you! What is TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline? TransCanada wants to convert its natural gas pipeline, called the Eastern Mainline pipeline, which is…

  • Keystone XL Environmental Impact Consultant’s Cozy Relationships with Fossil Fuel Interests

    gabrielelsner
    31 Mar 2013 | 5:06 pm
    Originally posted on Checks & Balances Project. Environmental Resources Management (ERM), the consulting firm hired to perform the supplemental environmental analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline works for and has worked for fossil fuel companies with a stake in the Canadian Tar Sands. Mother Jones’ Andy Kroll exposed the conflicts of interest in an exclusive story, which included unredacted documents that show the recent work history of ERM’s consultants. It’s no surprise that ERM painted a rosy picture of Keystone XL’s environmental impact. Their business depends on…

  • At Greenpeace Action Camp, a vision of the movement we want

    John Deans
    27 Mar 2013 | 10:51 am
    Hi All, Here’s a crosspost of a blog by Dave Pomerantz at Greenpeace on last week’s Action Camp. I hope to see increasing discussion of a more collective movement! John Title: At Greenpeace Action Camp, a vision of the movement we want For a long time, corporations and governments have used the tried and true tactic of divide and conquer: they’ve tried to convince us that the immigrant rights struggle is different from the worker rights struggle, which is different from the climate justice struggle, to name just a few of the efforts to make the world a more sustainable place.

  • A National Conversation on Democracy and Climate April 17, 2013

    ntikaren
    15 Mar 2013 | 7:37 am
    Have you ever heard of the Maldive Islands? Well, neither had I, until a few months ago.  The Maldive Islands, also known as the Republic of the Maldives, or just plain Maldives, are a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of India.  Why are they important? Oh, only because they are being slowly swallowed up by the ocean thanks to sea level rise and climate change.  Did I also mention that they are the same sea level height as parts of Manhattan? Google Maps image of the Maldives The former President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, democratically elected in 2008 and…
 
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    Bird's Eye View

  • Houseguests and Conversation

    Wf360
    23 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
    When you have houseguests, do you set aside a certain time when you and your guests can just, well, talk?  About what they are doing, what you are doing, and life in general since you last got together? My houseguest right now is Isabel Bird who lives in London. Although we share the last name we're not related, but we act like it. In fact, I call her my London sister. And when she shows up here, or I show up at her fabulous home in London, we set aside a certain amount of time, sit down over a cup of tea--or, even better, a glass or two of wine, and catch up with each other's…

  • How Does David Brooks' Word Theory Apply to Oklahoma?

    Wf360
    21 May 2013 | 2:01 pm
    In a column on today's New York Times op-ed page, David Brooks talks of how much we can learn from Google's database of nearly five and a half million books. It's the words used by the authors of those books that tell a story Brooks finds of interest. By typing specific words into the database, we can learn how often those words were used and when. So it is an interesting map of word usage and thus of shifts in cultural interests and mores. The books span 48 years. And in that time, the words authors use to describe people and situations have shifted, Brooks says, from words…

  • TED: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

    Wf360
    17 May 2013 | 2:21 pm
    Last night I went to a cocktail party in New York, hosted by a couple I met at TED this year. Marvelous people, accomplished, worldly, curious. And they have a lovely New York apartment, although I understand they spend more time in other places they enjoy. They invited others they met at TED so it was a kind of reunion, though most of us did not know each other.  Many looked familiar to me and, now, thanks to this couple's hospitality, the group of people I'll know at TED next year in Vancouver will have expanded.Best of all, it was the conversation last night that was remarkable.

  • Fearless Conversations in New York

    Wf360
    16 May 2013 | 2:23 pm
    At the invitation of my new friend, marvelous Priya Parker, a gifted entrepreneur, facilitator, conversationalist, and more (she is the Founder of Thrive Labs and a TEDx Cambridge Speaker), I attended a fascinating evening last night at a place in Chelsea store called Story. Story is a store with a short attention span. And it's all good. Every six weeks or so, the store completely revamps itself and chooses a new theme around which to select the merchandise they will sell for that next season. They take out all the current merchandise (just where do they put it? Or do they give it…

  • New Yorkers are Talking in the Flatiron District

    Wf360
    15 May 2013 | 11:57 am
    A teensy little pizza slice of concrete near my office has been rendered festive with Marimekko umbrellas and surrounded by a selection of good and cheap eats from beloved New York eateries. And it has taken over the Flatiron lunch hour with a flourish. Folks can't get enough of the place and the food they're serving from the temporary foodstalls. And the beer and wine that goes along with it. They are there starting late morning and spilling out to the sidewalk, crowding out curious pedestrians long after the area offices have closed. And they're talking. Every table seems to…
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    Management Skills Blog

  • How Do You Deal with Arrogance?

    Tom Foster
    24 May 2013 | 1:01 am
    “Why the long face?” I asked. “I don’t know,” Curtis replied. “I mean, I know why I have a long face, I just don’t know what to do about it?” “Tell me more?” “I have a guy in a project manager role, that I believe is over his head. Most things, he does okay, but there are times when he falls short, and I have to come to the rescue. That’s not so bad, but he is just so arrogant when things don’t go as they should.” “What do you mean, arrogant?” I pressed. “Well, let’s say the project is…

  • How to Interview for a Bad Attitude

    Tom Foster
    23 May 2013 | 1:17 am
    “We hire people for their technical skills, but we fire them for who they are.” Russell complained. “Tell me more. What do you mean you fire them for who they are?” I asked. “Well, they may have the right experience, know how to handle the technical part of the job, but their attitude is a little out of whack. In the beginning, attitude doesn’t show up, but after a couple of months, little things appear. After six months, this strange behavior actually begins to flourish and it’s downhill from there.” “What do mean, strange behavior?” I was getting curious.

  • Why Do We Need a Supervisor?

    Tom Foster
    22 May 2013 | 1:02 am
    Marty was at a loss to explain why he was losing his most talented people. His office was upscale, roomy cubicles, good benefit package and competitive wages. I asked about his managers. Aside from the CFO and the HR person, there were two project managers running thirty technicians in the field. “So, Marty, tell me, you have managers running the projects, but who is running the technicians?” “Well, the Project Managers tell the technicians what they need and the technicians do the work.” “Marty, the Project Managers run the projects, but who is running the…

  • How Do You Interview for Teamwork?

    Tom Foster
    20 May 2013 | 3:18 am
    “There is just something about this candidate that I can’t put my finger on,” Wendy was skeptical. “Everything checks out. This person has the technical skills, the necessary experience, seems enthusiastic, but there is something. On paper, this person should be hired, but my gut is telling me otherwise.” “You have covered the bases on my list,” I replied. “But I would trust your intuition. Which is it? Capability Skill Interest, Passion (value for the work) Reasonable Behavior “Which is it?” “What do you mean, reasonable…

  • Why People Are Not Our Most Important Asset

    Tom Foster
    17 May 2013 | 1:33 am
    I had a couple of minutes in the lobby, so I was looking at all the teamwork posters on the wall. Our people are our most important asset!! I had seen this poster a hundred times, but for the first time, it struck me as odd. I was working with the management team to find a new Senior Project Manager. The last one didn’t work out so well and by the time they figured it out, they almost lost their biggest customer. I was having difficulty getting them to spend the right amount of time on the job description, defining the management skills necessary for this position. The last guy had the…
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    The Enlightened Manager Blog

  • What are you Afraid Of? Start There.

    cheri@emergenceconsulting.net (Cheri Baker)
    21 May 2013 | 12:12 pm
    You can tell when my cats are afraid of something.  When they see the vacuum cleaner, two tails become chimney dusters, four green eyes become stark black orbs, and then comes the Scooby-Do-like sound of eight clawed feet scrambling on the hardwood floor as they run like hell in the other direction.   RUN!  It is going to suck our souls!!!! With humans, spotting fear can be harder!  Heck, we have a hard time admitting our fears to ourselves!   We look at our business "vacuum cleaners" and pretend that we have a pressing meeting in the other room.

  • Your Time is Valuable. Stop Giving It Away.

    cheri@emergenceconsulting.net (Cheri Baker)
    14 May 2013 | 8:24 am
    "The Radiant Buddha said regard the fleeting world like this: like stars fading and vanishing at dawn, like bubbles on a fast moving stream, like morning dewdrops evaporating on blades of grass, like a candle flickering in a strong wind; echoes, mirages, and phantoms, hallucinations, and like a dream."             - The Eight Similes of Illusion About a week ago, I gave my first keynote speech.  Because it was an event at my graduate school, I volunteered my time.  I had a great time, and I think the…

  • Why Your Managers Keep Quitting

    cheri@emergenceconsulting.net (Cheri Baker)
    9 May 2013 | 6:09 am
    One of the pleasures of being a consultant is the way that you get to talk with a lot of talented people about their jobs, their lives, and what motivates them.  A few weeks ago I was sitting in the office of a medical director chatting about the job changes he had made in the last ten years.   He said something that really stuck with me. "My last company wasn't perfect.  There were some serious issues, but there was a lot that I loved about it too.  I left when I was no longer allowed to do the right thing as a manager." I asked what it meant to do the…

  • Thanks, but No Thanks! Lessons in Turning Customers Away

    cheri@emergenceconsulting.net (Cheri Baker)
    6 May 2013 | 8:01 am
    "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to Anyone" You've seen those signs before right?  Usually dingy with red print on a white placard, they declare that the proprietor may turn you out on the street if they find you objectionable in some way.  I've always found these signs to be a bit rude. While the message may be couched rather crudely, I have found myself pondering the message as of late.  Does it ever make sense to turn customers away?  When someone compliments you by asking for your business, does it ever make sense to say no? Author Michael…

  • Are you a Marathon Manager? (Book Giveaway)

    cheri@emergenceconsulting.net (Cheri Baker)
    3 May 2013 | 5:38 am
    Let's celebrate the end of the week with a book giveaway!  I just finished reading the book "The Fearless Front Line" by Ray Attiyah, and I really enjoyed it.   My key takeaway from the book was his Run-Improve-Grow Model.  Here is an illustration:   From The Fearless Front Line by Ray Attiyah Attiyah's point is that too many managers are stuck in the "marathon" of the day to day running of the business, instead of allocating sufficient time to improving and growing the business.  Some of the root causes of this are a lack of trust in…
 
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    Women on Business

  • Jim Nico Joins the Women on Business Contributor Team

    Susan Gunelius
    24 May 2013 | 3:44 pm
    I’m very happy to announce that Jim Nico of The Social Network Show®, and The Social Network Station® has joined the Women on Business team of contributors. Jim will write a weekly series called “Women of Innovation” where he will spotlight inspiring business women. Please join me in welcoming Jim to Women on Business. You can learn more about Jim and find links to connect with him online below. Introducing Jim Nico Jim Nico is CEO and Founder of SNI the parent company of The Social Network Show®, and The Social Network Station® which presents cutting edge, actionable…

  • Can you really Lean In?

    Leona Charles
    24 May 2013 | 9:49 am
    I just read the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg and I have to tell you, I wasn’t expecting much. I thought it would be another narrative from a privileged woman in a privileged position, telling entrepreneurs like me things we couldn’t use. What I found was a thoughtful and insightful look in to leadership and the surprising ways we female entrepreneurs stand in our own ways. Here are the best takeaways from the book (IMHO). Having it all means being smart enough to assemble a great team The traditional thought is that this extends to your business or position, but Sandberg lets us know…

  • 10 Creative Ideas for Small Business Marketing on a Shoestring Budget

    Susan Gunelius
    24 May 2013 | 5:43 am
    Sponsored by VISA Business: Contrary to popular opinion, small business marketing doesn’t have to cost a fortune. With a bit of marketing savvy, you can promote your business without dipping too deeply into your marketing budget or your small business credit line. The following 10 creative ideas for small business marketing on a shoestring budget can really work if you’re willing to invest a bit of effort and time: 1. Develop partnerships. Seek out businesses in your community that are complementary to yours and ask the owners if they’d be interested in pooling resources for a marketing…

  • How to Excel in Interviews with Recruiters for Corporate Board Seats

    Susan Gunelius
    23 May 2013 | 6:11 am
    A key step to landing a position on a corporate board is to nail your interviews with recruiters. Board Guru™ Tracy Houston of Board Resource Services, LLC has provided some great information to Women on Business today that will help professionals excel in interviews with recruiters for corporate board seats. Following is the advice a corporate board candidate shared with Tracy about a recent interview she had with a recruiter. Becoming a Director: Interviews with Recruiters by Board Guru Tracy Houston Meeting a recruiter conducting a director search is one of the most important…

  • Senator Urges SEC to Increase Diversity on Corporate Boards

    Susan Gunelius
    22 May 2013 | 9:31 am
    In a letter sent today to Mary Jo White, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) urged the SEC to take steps to address the lack of representation of women and minorities on corporate boards. In his letter, Senator Casey cited several statistics from a recent Alliance Board for Diversity report to support his message, including: Only 13% of board seats among Fortune 500 companies are held by minorities. Only 15% of board seats among Fortune 500 companies are held by women. It’s great to see politicians calling attention to the lack of diversity…
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    The Glass Hammer

  • Intrepid Woman: Silje Vallestad Discusses Her Journey from Idealist to Innovator

    No Byline
    24 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    By Michelle Clark (Keene, New Hampshire) Silje Vallestad did not major in technology, nor did she ever plan to make her mark on the tech industry as Founder and CEO of the mobile app development company, Bipper. Yet here she is, a successful entrepreneur blazing trails in an industry where women are not heavily represented in leadership positions. So far, Vallestad has developed and launched two mobile safety apps – Mobilekids and bSafe –which have experienced incredible success in the European market. Now, Vallestad is working on establishing Bipper’s headquarters in Silicon Valley…

  • Voice of Experience: Michelle Y. Lee, Northeast Regional President, Wells Fargo

    No Byline
    23 May 2013 | 10:00 am
    By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City) “We have an obligation to mentor young people in our industry,” began Michelle Y. Lee, Wells Fargo‘s Northeast Regional President. “Be very deliberate about sharing your knowledge with young people who are making their way and figuring out their career. Your legacy is defined by how many people you’ve prepared to take your place when you’re ready to move on.” Reflecting on her 29-year career in the industry, Lee says she didn’t always understand the importance of seeking out mentors early on. “I don’t think when I…

  • Why Do We Need Male Mentors and Sponsors?

    No Byline
    23 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City) By now, we know that mentors and sponsors are critical for our career advancement. We need mentors who can be our sounding boards and give us advice, and we also need sponsors who push us toward stretch opportunities and have our backs behind the scenes. Mentor and sponsor relationships with women may come more naturally than those with men, but there simply aren’t enough senior women to go around. We ask a lot of senior women. It’s time we ask senior men to do more to help level the playing field for women in the pipeline to the top.

  • Women Leaders Discuss Investment Management in Uncertain Times

    No Byline
    22 May 2013 | 10:00 am
    By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City) Last week The Glass Hammer hosted its 6th annual Top Women on the Buy-Side Breakfast. The lively discussion gave way to even livelier networking, as senior women across the investment management industry mulled over the question, “Where do we go from here?” Our panel included Jane Buchan, PhD, CAIA, Managing Director and CEO, PAAMCO; Michelle Meyer, Senior U.S. Economist, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Leah Modigliani, Senior Vice President, Investment Strategy and Risk, Neuberger Berman; Ranji Nagaswami, CFA, previously Chief Investment Advisor to…

  • Both Extroverts and Introverts are Essential to a Successful Team

    No Byline
    22 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Contributed by Beate Chelette There has been lots of talk these days about introverts and extroverts, generated by the bestselling book Quiet: The Power of the Introvert in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Herself an introvert, author Susan Cain writes that introverts are “too often denigrated and frequently overlooked in a society that’s held in thrall to an extrovert Ideal – the belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight.” The truth is, it’s not an either-or situation. Every person has many different faces, and it is all too easy to forget…
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    RoundPegg Blog

  • Worthless Culture Values #2

    RoundPegg
    17 May 2013 | 3:08 pm
    We've fallen so far as a business community that we now need to remind everyone that simple, common sense fundamentals of business are a focus of how we operate.Introduction: We talk to thousands of companies and many of them have come up with some interesting values to describe their culture.  Some values, however, aren't worth spending the $199.99 to get the die-cast cutout to hang on the lobby wall. Customer FocusedThis one is a head scratcher.  It seems so obvious, doesn't it?  After all, a business is only in business because their customers continue to purchase.

  • Counterpoint: Working with Millenials

    RoundPegg
    17 May 2013 | 7:17 am
    Intelligent minds coming out of college will have the option to make 10% more to work for an established company with horrible glass door reviews, or take the negligible pay cut to work for a company that values their employees and sets them up for success. 10% in extra in pay will never be worth happiness to these recent grads.As a counterpoint to Elise's blog from the Millennial perspective earlier this week, RoundPegg's Blake Redson offers his view of the importance of company's changing the way they do business in response.Your company might be losing a silent battle and…

  • Culture Through the Ages Part 1

    RoundPegg
    10 May 2013 | 2:23 pm
    Tracking the expectations, behaviors, attitudes, and motivations (Culture!) of each of the four clearly defined generations is a pretty simple task, but coming up with a strategy to “bridge the gap” in order to work with (or even for) each generation? That's the tricky part.Company culture is a relatively young concept. This is not to say that it hasn’t always existed, because in one way or another, it has. A company’s collection of core values, personal motivations, and central beliefs have long acted as a kind of substratum from which daily interactions and issues arise,…

  • Avoid Zombie Hires.  RoundPegg is The Wooden Stake.

    RoundPegg
    6 May 2013 | 12:02 pm
    No matter what your turnover cost is, no one wants to hire a Zombie or deal with high turnover rates. So pay more attention to culture fit and make sure the right types of people are joining your team. (Mark Lucier is RoundPegg's Director of Culture Analytics & Customer Engagement)I recently came across an entertaining infographic that one of our beloved customers, Vitamin T, published last year. Aside from digging the analogy of the Zombie associated animations, it reminded me of a previous experience I had in working for one of these creatures. Now as a member of the RoundPegg…

  • Worthless Culture Values #1

    RoundPegg
    3 May 2013 | 3:38 pm
    The prevalence of this value throughout corporate America is disappointing. 27 of the Fortune50 claim integrity as a core value. Introduction: We talk to thousands of companies and many of them have come up with some interesting values to describe their culture.  Some values, however, aren't worth spending the $199.99 to get the die-cast cutout to hang on the lobby wall.  Most of the values in this series are desired outcomes rather than explanatory values of how those outcomes are achieved...a far more useful descriptor.   Integrity It's so easy to get everyone to agree that…
 
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    First Friday Book Synopsis

  • Take Time for a Little “Catch Up” Learning

    Randy Mayeux
    24 May 2013 | 10:38 am
    high touch: Dealing with a human being instead of a computer screen or voice response system. The term was coined in the early 1980s by John Naisbitt in his best-selling book “Megatrends.” Naisbitt pointed out the fallacy of automating every business transaction without human interaction at some point. There is no substitute for “the personal […]

  • Lest we forget this Memorial Day….

    Bob Morris
    24 May 2013 | 7:25 am
    During its first 100 years of existence, more than 683,000 Americans lost their lives, with the Civil War accounting for 623,026 of that total (91.2%). Comparatively, in the next 100 years, another estimated 625,000 Americans died through two World Wars and several more regional conflicts (World War 2 representing 65% of that total). Using this […]

  • Eric Schmidt on “Disruptive technologies”

    Bob Morris
    24 May 2013 | 3:35 am
    McKinsey & Company has just launched a new series of video interview programs with high-tech experts. In the first, Eric Schmidt explores the technologies likely to have the greatest disruptive impact on economies, business models, and people. Later this month the McKinsey Global Institute will publish an assessment of the probable economic impact of disruptive […]

  • Finding Your Element: A book review by Bob Morris

    Bob Morris
    23 May 2013 | 4:35 pm
    Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life Ken Robinson Portfolio/Penguin (2013) Finding your Element is “vital to understanding who you are and what you’re capable of being and doing with your life.” According to Ken Robinson, what he characterizes as “The Element” is not a physical location but […]

  • Lego’s Core Principles for Successful Interaction With Users

    Bob Morris
    23 May 2013 | 4:50 am
    Based on its experiences working with the user community, Lego has developed a set of principles that summarize what it has learned about collaborating and interacting with knowledgeable users. Here is a brief excerpt from an article written by Yun Mi Antorini, Albert M. Muñiz, Jr. and Tormod Askildsen for the MIT Sloan Management Review. […]
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    Free Executive & Management Magazines and Downloads from alltop.tradepub.com

  • Learn How to Align, Motivate, and Drive Sales Performance

    24 May 2013 | 12:50 pm
    This short video will introduce you to Work.com, Salesforce.com solution for Sales Performance Management. Work.com (formerly Rypple) is Salesforce.com's solution for driving sales performance.Amplify winning sales behaviorsImprove performance 1:1 sales coachingFrom the maker of Salesforce CRMLearn how Salesforce Work.com helps teams drive better performance and forecast consistency through coaching, real-time feedback, and goal setting.Request Free!

  • Saving Time and Money with Savvy Use of Flash in Automated Storage Tiering

    24 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    In this white paper, IDC examines EMC's FLASH 1st strategy — which pairs Flash drives with EMC's FAST VP tiering solution and FAST Cache, effectively an extension of the DRAM Cache, in its VNX arrays. Find out how your organization can leverage and benefit from this easy to manage storage insfrastructure.Request Free!

  • Harnessing BIG DATA to Grow Revenue

    20 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    Social data is the key to more relevant marketing. Are you seizing the opportunity?90 percent of the world's big data was created in the past two years alone. Despite the volume and scope of this data, however, businesses are often at a loss when it comes to effectively using it to drive user engagement and sales.This white paper on social data discusses the following:How social data is captured, stored, and managedBest practices for collecting user dataWays social data can be used to deliver direct valueRequest Free!

  • The Complete Guide to Social Infrastructure

    20 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    Serving as the foundation to start incorporating social into your web properties, the Complete Guide to Social Infrastructure will show you how to:Acquire more customers and information through social applications Better understand your users and identify valuable customer personas Expand the reach of your content and brand awareness Incentivize valuable site actions and build customer loyalty Turn social data and site activity into actionable insights Download The Complete Guide to Social Infrastructure and start socializing your online properties today!Request Free!

  • Forbes.com: Real ROI with Social Infrastructure

    20 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    In this case study you will discover the challenge and success of creating a full social infrastructure on Forbes.com to show real results such as boosting registrations and engagement with content.Request Free!
 
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    Hire and Retain Top Talent

  • Are You a Coach or a Tyrant?

    Barry Deutsch
    9 May 2013 | 9:48 am
    Share on Facebook Retweet this Submit this to I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to lead others and how this gets measured in the interview process. Two recent things have caused me to really ponder this issue about leading/managing/coaching a group of people. First, I am high school girls basketball coach. In my first 5-6 years of coaching at the high school level I obtained mediocre results. The last couple of years, I’ve obtained extraordinary results. The quality of the kids coming into our program is no different in the last few years that it was 5-6 years ago. So,…

  • Recognition Should Be at the Core of Keeping Your Best Employees

    Barry Deutsch
    18 Dec 2012 | 11:41 am
    Share on Facebook Retweet this Submit this to The best companies have extensive recognition programs that make it IMPOSSIBLE for their best talent to leave. Best practices in recognition include specific programs at the individual, team, department, and team level. Recognition and non-monetary rewards should be a key element of your culture, where you celebrate individual, team, and company performance. The rewards should include praise, feedback, opportunities for learning and development, and achievement awards. Do you have an extensive set of recognition and non-monetary rewards that bring…

  • How come we keep seeing the bottom 1/3 of the candidate pool?

    Barry Deutsch
    7 Nov 2012 | 3:09 pm
    Share on Facebook Retweet this Submit this to The primary method you use to attract candidates is guaranteed to bring the bottom 1/3 of the candidate pool to the table. The primary method is posting job descriptions as job advertisements on job boards. Then we wait for those “fish” floating near the surface to pop up and come forward. We rarely consider fishing in deeper waters for candidates who not aggressively waiting for the fishing hook. Here’s the typical job board posting experience: You post your ad. You receive 300 resumes. Of the 300, you cannot figure out what keyword 298 of…

  • Praise is a POWERFUL Motivator for your team

    Barry Deutsch
    25 Oct 2012 | 8:06 pm
    Share on Facebook Retweet this Submit this to Studies show that employees perform at a higher level when praised for doing a great job, or going beyond the call of duty. I don’t want to play closet psychologist, but we all know this to be true. When playing a sport in high school, we wanted to do well so that our coach would praise us in front of our peers, we would get recognition from our teachers, our parents would give us a pat on the back and a heartfelt “I’m proud of you.” Who wouldn’t want to be praised? We can look to the work done by Abraham Maslow on the Hierarchy of Needs…

  • What is Employee Engagement AND do you have it?

    Barry Deutsch
    25 Sep 2012 | 5:14 pm
    Share on Facebook Retweet this Submit this to Could you define employee engagement? Can you measure it? Do you have specific programs and initiatives in place to improve or build employee engagement? If you answered NO to any of these questions, you’re in big trouble with your workforce. I define employee engagement as employees who are excited to come to work, are learning new skills and capabilities, are intellectually stimulated through challenging work, expectations, and assignments. They get praised when they do an outstanding job, and they are recognized by their peers for going…
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    N2Growth Blog

  • Leadership Lesson: The Difference Between Google and Apple

    admin
    16 May 2013 | 6:40 pm
    By Mike Myatt, Chief Executive Officer, N2growth Google and Apple are both highly esteemed brands. Both companies share many common traits which have contributed to their success, but there is one very big difference between the two  – Google plays offense while Apple has recently settled for playing defense. Apple is struggling to maintain its position in the market, while Google is expanding its position.

  • How To Predict The Future

    admin
    29 Apr 2013 | 8:37 am
    By Mike Myatt, Chief Executive Officer, N2growth Life is just plain easier when you can see what’s ahead of you. Some leaders clearly have poor vision – their most polished skill seems to be running into brick walls. Other leaders simply possess adequate vision – they avoid the obvious speed bumps, but fail to stand out from the crowd. Then there are those leaders who possess legendary vision – the rare few who can see around corners. What you may not realize is that everyone can learn to see around corners, and it’s not as hard as you think.

  • Where J.C. Penney And Ron Johnson Went Wrong

    admin
    9 Apr 2013 | 9:26 am
    By Mike Myatt, Chief Executive Officer, N2growth It’s not hard to lead talented people with an aligned vision who fall under the umbrella of an iconic brand that has a cult-like consumer following. This describes Ron Johnson’s role as head of Apple’s retail operation prior to assuming the CEO role at J.C. Penney. Johnson was fired today by JCP as his efforts to rebrand and turnaround the struggling retailer failed to get traction. In June of 2012 I predicted Johnson’s failure as I warned of cookie cutter leadership practices in a Forbes column entitled Culture: Don’t Copy –…

  • 6 Ways To Conquer Leadership Pressure

    admin
    3 Apr 2013 | 10:29 pm
    By Mike Myatt, Chief Executive Officer, N2growth How a leader deals with pressure will tell you much about who they are as a person. Their reaction to pressure will reveal the strength of their character and conviction, what and whom they value, and whether or not they can be trusted. The reality is most people buckle under pressure. Only a few handle pressure well, and even fewer possess the qualities to be able to thrive on pressure.

  • It’s Not Impossible – It Just Hasn’t Been Done Yet

    admin
    25 Mar 2013 | 1:51 pm
    By Mike Myatt, Chief Executive Officer, N2growth How many times in your career have you witnessed someone say, “that’s impossible – it simply can’t be done.” Perhaps you’ve even been guilty of uttering such a phrase yourself. Here’s the thing – leaders don’t accept impossibility as a valid thesis. If you think I’ve lost my mind, or that my optimistic nature has crossed over into a state of irrational exuberance or delusion, I’d encourage you to read on as I challenge the logic of impossibility. The fact something has yet to be accomplished is rarely evidence of…
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    Big Red Tomato Company

  • The Ultimate Guide To Getting More Clients For Your Web Design Business

    Matthew Needham
    13 May 2013 | 5:11 am
      Growing a business takes time and effort.  It takes consistent delivery of quality work and happy clients referring more clients to you. The hardest part for growing your business is in... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • How to Grow A Business In 20 Days

    Matthew Needham
    24 Apr 2013 | 4:00 pm
    “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” - Aristotle Growing your business is like going to the gym. You don’t get results overnight. ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • How A Must Do List Will Grow Your Business

    Matthew Needham
    22 Apr 2013 | 6:02 am
      Many of the business owners I work with are stressed out busy people. They spend all day dealing with customer queries, processing sales orders and above all answering emails. All urgent... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • How to Hire A Business Coach

    Matthew Needham
    28 Mar 2013 | 10:00 pm
    Many of my future clients are now tired and frustrated. They complain that they don’t have the freedom that they thought they would when they started out in their business. They don’t get... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • What’s in a name? The Story Behind The Big Red Tomato Company

    Matthew Needham
    25 Mar 2013 | 4:00 pm
    The question I am most asked is why is The Big Red Tomato Company called The Big Red Tomato Company? After all, we aren’t big, we aren’t red and we don’t grow (or sell!) tomatoes. ... The post... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
 
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    Lead Change Group

  • Lean Blossoms: The U.S. Pioneer of Lean Spreads the Knowledge

    John Bernard
    24 May 2013 | 10:35 am
    Posted in Workplace Issueshttp://www.massingenuity.com/2013/04/23/lean-blossoms-the-u-s-pioneer-of-lean-spreads-the-knowledge/(This is the fourth in a 12-part series on the origins of Lean in the U.S. and my role as one of its pioneers.) By 1984 Omark was gaining wide recognition as one of the best companies in America. The company was featured in what I believe was the first book written in the U.S. [...]

  • Stop Second-Guessing Yourself

    Georgia Feiste
    24 May 2013 | 4:16 am
    Posted in Light Your WorldSelf LeadershipThought: Everyone makes mistakes or acts selfishly occasionally, yet by and large, you can trust someone you view as dependable – and that includes you. Thought: Your word can create the most beautiful dream, or your word can destroy everything around you. Impeccability of the word only creates beauty, love, and heaven on earth. Two [...]

  • In Collaboration We Trust

    Jon Mertz
    23 May 2013 | 10:32 am
    Posted in Team Dynamicshttp://www.thindifference.com/2013/04/24/in-collaboration-we-trust/Collaboration is the new way to work. Walls are being removed and collaboration points are being designed into workplaces. Though collaboration isn’t new, it is being revived. In a world of extreme connectedness, collaboration is rising as a strategic and practical way to gain a competitive advantage. At the core of collaboration is trust. Without [...]

  • 5 “Spring Cleaning Tips” for Business Leaders

    Piera Palazzolo
    23 May 2013 | 4:24 am
    Posted in Leadership DevelopmentWith spring well underway, many people have started their annual home spring cleaning ritual. Have you ever thought about doing a spring cleaning for your business? Spring is a great time for business leaders to examine routines, learn from past mistakes, and make improvements to create a more productive and successful company. Clean out your [...]

  • Disaster… What Will You Do?

    Page Cole
    22 May 2013 | 10:30 am
    Posted in Light Your WorldUncategorizedIt was the worst case of déjà vu ever.  A massive and fierce tornado bearing down on city of over a million people. We were here as a state, in this same city, only 14 short years ago.  Could this really be happening again? And still the tornado came to Moore, Oklahoma. In the wake [...]
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    Crucial Skills

  • Special Announcement: Influencer First Chapter Download

    Editor
    21 May 2013 | 4:25 pm
    Last week, we announced the release of the second edition of Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change. For a sneak peak of the book, download the first chapter now. This new edition includes: New subtitle Updated statistics, facts, and figures New research and case studies from organizations like KIPP, Menlo Innovations, Fundación Paraguaya, and others Skill applications gleaned from six years of Influencer Training “Act Like An Influencer” stories: twenty-five vignette examples of real influencers New focus on the three keys of influence: 1) Focus and measure, 2) Find vital…

  • Holding a Slacking Coworker Accountable

    Al Switzler
    21 May 2013 | 3:52 pm
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR Al Switzler is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer. READ MORE   Dear Crucial Skills, How do I deal with passive-aggressive behaviors like someone agreeing to do a task then “forgetting” to do it, dragging his or her feet, or deliberately doing it incorrectly so he or she won’t be asked to do it again? Tired of Passive Agreement  Dear Tired, If you live or work with or near other people, at some point other people will let you down—they’ll miss a…

  • Special Announcement: Introducing the Second Edition of our Bestselling Book, Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change

    Editor
    14 May 2013 | 4:42 pm
    What’s New in the Second Edition of Influencer? New subtitle Updated statistics, facts, and figures New research and case studies from organizations like KIPP, Menlo Innovations, Fundación Paraguaya, and others Skill applications gleaned from six years of Influencer Training “Act Like An Influencer” stories: twenty-five vignette examples of real influencers New focus on the three keys of influence: 1) Focus and measure, 2) Find vital behaviors, and 3) Engage all Six Sources of Influence Now available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book Win a copy of the new edition. Watch,…

  • Motivating Without Money

    David Maxfield
    14 May 2013 | 4:30 pm
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR David Maxfield is coauthor of two New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything and Influencer. READ MORE Dear Crucial Skills, We are looking for meaningful ways to recognize our nursing staff in our busy, stressful ICU. In our last employee satisfaction survey, we scored low in “recognition.” We know from Influencer that external rewards aren’t always the best way to motivate people. We would like to find ways that would encourage staff to grow and have internal satisfaction for doing a great job with their patients, families, and other staff. Other than…

  • Antisocial Networks?

    Joseph Grenny
    7 May 2013 | 4:09 pm
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR Joseph Grenny is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer. READ MORE Dear Crucial Skills, I’ve both blocked and been blocked by friends on social media sites after one of us has put our opinions out there on something controversial. The most painful was just before the presidential election when my cousin ripped on a candidate she opposed and I supported. I responded in a way I thought was pretty logical and reasonable. She was horrified and in her post described me as…
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    Aspire-CS

  • It’s the small things that make a leader great

    Mary Jo Asmus
    22 May 2013 | 3:55 am
      How unfortunate that our popular ideas of what a good leader should be are so often grandiose. Through current media, television, and movies, we expect perfection; a leader is strong, fearless and flawless. If we believe that myth, they should be superheroes, royalty and saviors all rolled into one. So we become disappointed when our leaders are only human after all. Could it be that we expect too much? If you consider some recent examples of leaders who’ve fallen from grace, you might find that they made very human mistakes; the kind we all make. That isn’t an excuse for…

  • When are you ready for an executive coach?

    Mary Jo Asmus
    20 May 2013 | 4:45 am
    Today is the start of International Coaching week. This is the week designated by the International Coach Federation for professional coaches worldwide to host events that promote the proven power of coaching. This post is my own tribute to the week, a shameless promotion of the profession I joined more than a decade ago. When I first started coaching, there were times that I would cringe at the promotion of my profession. At that time, a few well-known coaches had promoted our work as something mythical, magical, a cure for everything and a way to BECOME AN OVERNIGHT BILLIONAIRE! (yikes).

  • Keeping your door open

    Mary Jo Asmus
    15 May 2013 | 4:44 am
    I had the privilege of speaking to a seasoned leaders’ stakeholders recently in an effort to get their candid feedback about him. I was captivated by how many indicated that they appreciated his “open door”. As I listened to their stories and their feedback, I found they weren’t just referring to that thing that hangs on the wall between his office and whatever is outside of it. Leaders who have an open door focus on having the kind of dialog and relationships with others that make people comfortable in their presence. They recognize that they are responsible for…

  • Family and friends

    Mary Jo Asmus
    13 May 2013 | 5:23 am
      Sunday was mother’s day and father’s day is not far off. Although these holidays are meant as reminders to celebrate our own mothers and fathers, I think they are also reminders for all busy leaders for the importance of spending time with those you love.   The time was the early eighties, when women were entering the workforce in greater numbers than ever before. Many of us were struggling with the choices we made to have a career and a family even though we’d come a long way, baby and could bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan. It was a period when we…

  • Take back your power

    Mary Jo Asmus
    8 May 2013 | 4:08 am
    You might be first-line supervision or midlevel in your organization, and you might also be a high-potential or high-performing leader. You are an accomplished person who’s worked your way to get where you are by using significant talents. Yet, as gifted as you might be, sometimes you might feel powerless. The larger organization asks a lot of you. Expectations are high, and you must continually find a way to navigate the politics, bureaucracy and naysayers while staying strong and committed to your work. Does this sound like you? If so, you might not be fully aware of the times that…
 
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    All Things Workplace

  • Are You Strong Enough To Ask For Help?

    Steve Roesler
    14 May 2013 | 8:42 am
    Employee engagement, management engagement, leadership, passion in the workplace. . . These rallying cries fill books, blogs, and backroom banter. The real issue: "How can we get done what needs to get done and create a sense of "we're in this together" at the same time? It's actually quite simple: To Get Something Done, Ask for Help There is nothing that sparks the human spirit--and thus adds meaning to a task--than the satisfaction of providing help to someone who needs it. Yet my experience--at least in many western cultures--is that it is somehow viewed as  "weak" to ask for help.

  • Earn Your "Change Chips" Early

    Steve Roesler
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:53 am
    If you want to change an organization, you start by changing the patterns in which people talk together, the things they talk about, the frequency of their contact and the makeup of those who overhear them." --Art Kleiner, Who Really Matters I would add: Start doing those things before you need acceptance for a new initiative. Change Chips Are Earned Up Front Most change models start at the point where someone shares a new vision or plan, then asks for enthusiastic support. But we're all poker players (whether we know it or not). We spend time unconsciously earning or collecting chips…

  • Business or Busyness?

    Steve Roesler
    25 Apr 2013 | 2:24 pm
    Recently I met with a corporate Executive VP in New York City. I'll call him Phil. Phil said his division was struggling. But instead of leading the charge to turn things around, he was being called into meetings regularly to make lengthy, detailed, Powerpoint presentations explaining what was wrong. He was too busy doing business to be doing the business. Interestingly, one of his recommendations was for the company to get out of some of its operations because they were draining money and other resources. He explained that his people were spending too much time on things that no longer…

  • Still Doing More With Less?

    Steve Roesler
    23 Apr 2013 | 3:17 pm
    Hope you can join us on the Ken Blanchard Livecast:

  • Coaching Builds Commitment

    Steve Roesler
    16 Apr 2013 | 4:50 am
    Did you know that the majority of employees today expect their managers to coach them? At the same time, managers are concerned that they won't have all the answers. That's understandable, given the human condition's need for a sense of control and, in a manager's case, the appearance of expertise. The good news: Employees don't want advice. They want to be stretched and asked questions that allow them to sort things out and learn as a result. Here's What It Takes A productive manager-employee coaching relationship includes these elements: Self-Direction. The employee initiates areas for…
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    George Ambler - The Practice of Leadership

  • Are You Thinking Big and Aiming High?

    George Ambler
    28 Apr 2013 | 11:49 am
    Photo by h.koppdelaney “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” – Michelangelo, Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer Big, bold and compelling vision is what separates great leaders from good leaders. Great leaders set great goals. Great goals are ambitious, challenging, they stretch you and your team, taking you outside of your comfort zone. “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?” — Steve Jobs…

  • Busy is Killing Leadership

    George Ambler
    20 Apr 2013 | 7:59 am
    Photo By Vincent_AF “Never confuse movement with action.” – Ernest Hemingway Busy is killing leadership! Considering the experience and competence of leaders, their position and influence, their authority, the resources that they command, too many spend their time making the routine happen, instead of investing their time and energy into those few significant things that will create the organisation’s future. They fail to take advantage of the opportunities they have to make a real difference. One of the key reasons is that leaders find themselves distracted by busyness.

  • Leaders Are Readers

    George Ambler
    13 Apr 2013 | 10:20 am
    Photo By Jayel Aheram Reading has always been a habit of great leaders. It’s one of the most powerful sources of growth, inspiration and new ideas. Reading is a great investment in your personal development. If you want to improve your leadership you need to read. Effective reading is a habit that goes beyond just skimming or scanning. Effective reading requires you read deeply, understand and apply the ideas and lesson to the challenges of the day. Here are some habits that will help you get the most out of your reading. Leaders Read Quality. To get the most out of your reading time…

  • Email that Gets Results is Structured for Clarity

    George Ambler
    1 Apr 2013 | 6:58 am
    Photo By apdk Clarity requires that you bring structure to your writing. Your message must be clear and messages are clear when they’re well structured. Structure is important as it provides the recipient with a framework that makes it easy for the reader to follow and understand your message. Limit your email to one main topic per message. Limit your email to a single main topic per message. Do not included multiple actions in a single email as this overwhelms the reader and increases the likelihood of miss-understanding and that some actions will be missed. Structure your message into…

  • Email that Gets Results is Focused on a Single Outcome

    George Ambler
    1 Apr 2013 | 6:41 am
    Photo by Nina Matthews Photography Focus helps you get to the point quickly. People don’t want to read through a long and rambling email consisting of a collection of unrelated ideas. Focus requires that you set a single goal for your message. Your goal should be guided by one of the 3 types of email outcomes. Once you have decided on your message outcome consider the following guidelines to help you strengthen the focus of your message. Keep your message focused on a single outcome. This requires that you’re clear as to the purpose and objectives of your message. Focus strictly on a…
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    Bret L. Simmons - Positive Organizational Behavior

  • Personal Branding And Social Business: Presentation For Women In Technology Forum

    Bret L. Simmons
    9 May 2013 | 1:01 pm
    Branding Women in Technology Forum from Bret Simmons I am speaking today at the Women in Technology Forum being held at Microsoft Licensing, GP in Reno. In 50 short minutes, I hope to be able to persuade the women in my audience that because social business is the new business reality, having a good online personal brand is good for both her and the business she works for. I realize most of my audience will probably never blog and are confused by twitter, but I hope to convince everyone about the value of having a good LinkedIn profile. A professional, current photo and a complete profile is…

  • Citizenship At Work: Draft Of My Talk For TEDxReno

    Bret L. Simmons
    16 Apr 2013 | 10:06 am
    On Friday, April 26, 2013, I have the privilege of sharing my thoughts about organizational citizenship at TEDxReno. My main idea is that we are all responsible for our citizenship at work because the evidence shows our citizenship matters. This will be different from any other presentation I’ve given in my career. To deliver a good TEDx talk, you have to clearly understand the format and be extremely well prepared. For the first time in my life, I have scripted my presentation and plan to practice it dozens of times before I take the TEDxReno stage. Below is the draft of my script.

  • If You Worried More About Performing

    Bret L. Simmons
    11 Apr 2013 | 11:15 am
    You wouldn’t have to worry about making excuses for failing to achieve what you said was your goal. You wouldn’t have to blame others for failures you could have avoided. You wouldn’t have to count on others shirking their responsibility in order to give you what you think you are entitled too even though your failure to accept personal responsibility got you into this situation in the first place. Performance talks. When you engage others in talk about performance, is your purpose to learn how to improve and hold yourself to higher standards of excellence? Or is your purpose to cover…

  • The Choices Of Leadership

    Bret L. Simmons
    5 Apr 2013 | 6:51 am
    I am speaking this morning to a group of leaders at Truckee Meadows Community College. It’s not often that I get a chance to speak to colleagues in education about leadership so I am looking forward to it. These folks have been participating in leadership development and my talk will be the final session. I want to engage them in conversation about what they have learned so far and then share with them some of my thoughts about the process of leadership. Choices of leadership from Bret Simmons I’ve framed my talk as the choices we have to make if we choose to engage with others in the…

  • Effective Organizational Citizens Help, Then Challenge

    Bret L. Simmons
    24 Mar 2013 | 11:26 pm
    If we show up on time and meet the performance expectations of our assigned job responsibilities, we will be considered good employees. If we do these things and then look for ways to help our co-workers and organization, we can become effective organizational citizens rather than just good employees. The evidence shows that if we really care about being effective citizens, we also have to be willing to challenge. A 2011 study by Scott B. MacKenzie, Phillip Podsakoff, and Nathan Podsakoff (citation below) showed that the combination of both helping and challenging behaviors had a significant,…
 
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    Management Blog

  • Article round-up - Friday 24 May

    AIM Qld & NT
    23 May 2013 | 9:56 pm
    Today's Twitter speedlinks from @aimqld: Stewardship: A Leadership Concept That Stands the Test of Time (via @JenniferVMiller) http://bit.ly/16aZ8OO 11 Ways to Crush Your Team's Creativity (via @MattMonge) http://bit.ly/10NRLnJ Goals that Stretch Your Comfort Zone (via @fierce_inc) http://bit.ly/13L8qKf 10 Commitments You Must Make if You Want to Grow Your Business (via @therainmaker) http://bit.ly/16TfQ5u The Value of Fresh Eyes (via @LeadersServe) http://bit.ly/16TgEat Apology Not Accepted: The Right - and Wrong - Way to Say You're Sorry (via @recoveringleadr)…

  • Article round-up - Thursday 23 May

    AIM Qld & NT
    22 May 2013 | 8:38 pm
    Today's Twitter speedlinks from @aimqld: 10 Keys to Building a Culture Of Accountability (via @starbucker) http://bit.ly/13HFliR The Digital Footprint Of 3 Different Generations (via @Edudemic) http://bit.ly/12Vknyf 'Tweaking it' to Get More Done Each Day (via @workshifting) http://bit.ly/13KGPMU The Six-step Business Detox (via @FlyingSoloAU) http://bit.ly/10Tm2T6 6 Tips for Turning Big Data into Great Customer Experiences (via @socialmedia2day) http://bit.ly/193MUGk Authentic Leadership: Living and Leading Outside-the-Box (via Linked 2 Leadership) http://bit.ly/11bfyUv

  • Article round-up - Wednesday 22 May

    AIM Qld & NT
    22 May 2013 | 5:04 am
    Today's Twitter speedlinks from @aimqld: Coping with Critics in the Workplace (via @artpetty) http://bit.ly/12r8kYZ 3 Reasons You Don't Realize You're Getting Sidetracked When You Are (via @fastcompany) http://bit.ly/118tfxs When Are You Ready For an Executive Coach? (via @mjasmus) http://bit.ly/YWg5Hg The Difference Between a Value and a Principle (via @smartcompany) http://bit.ly/YWfLIP How to Have Better Conversations (via @inc) http://bit.ly/19ZRseN The Graduation Advice We Wish We'd Been Given (via @harvardbiz) http://bit.ly/10RCG5A Faced With Overload, a Need to Find…

  • Article round-up - Tuesday 21 May

    AIM Qld & NT
    20 May 2013 | 9:57 pm
    Today's Twitter speedlinks from @aimqld: The Art and Process of Leading Transformational Change (via @thoughtLEADERS) http://bit.ly/12oe2Lb Employee Engagement: Every Leader's Imperative (via @forbes) http://onforb.es/12odTY7 9 Leadership Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs (via @entmagazine) http://bit.ly/17SOps6 Video: A 4-step Guide to Coaching Your Employees (via @SBLeaders) http://bit.ly/13ATwX0 The Truth About Thinking Differently (via @dynamicbusiness) http://bit.ly/18bq4vb Strategic Thinking Exercises: More Than 200 Strategic Planning Questions (via @brainzooming)…

  • Article round-up - Monday 20 May

    AIM Qld & NT
    19 May 2013 | 10:07 pm
    Today's Twitter speedlinks from @aimqld: Thinkers and Feelers: Bridging the Personality Divide http://bit.ly/12FefeG From Now to How: Social, Virtual and Cross Generational Leadership (via @justcoachit) http://bit.ly/188B7VO How to Change People's Behaviour Using the 6 Sources of Influence (via @michael_dulhill) http://bit.ly/14DHO0i 8 Tips to Write a Powerful Career Objective Statement (via @Career_Ignition) http://bit.ly/YRYy33 Networking Your Way to Your First (or Next) Job (via @Culpwrit) http://bit.ly/18UlRgC Social Marketing is Relationship Selling (via @jeffkorhan)…
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    Leadership Lessons From Triathlons

  • My Second Group Ride

    18 May 2013 | 11:24 pm
    My return to group rides began on 1 May, and continued this morning. I have been riding, frequently, indoors on my trainer for many months. I was dong my rehabilitation in August-October with it. Plus, riding outside was, indeed, more risky and dangerous as there was a spate of road accidents involving cyclists; some were fatalities. I was also developing my aerobic system, as prescribed by Dr Phil Maffetone in his book 'The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing'. It was low heart-rate training on 60-180-minute sessions.Swimmers disguised as riders (photo-credit: Desmond Chow).This…

  • Consistency Breeds Results

    18 May 2013 | 8:26 am
    This morning, I did a 4-lap short swim at the lagoon with the Tanjong Beach Swim group. As the tide was receding (like Nicholas Cage's hairline), I hit sand at certain points of the swim. With three swim sessions a week, I am more controlled in the water. Every Monday, at Coach Wilson Ang's swim session, I receive stroke corrections as well as specific drills to enhance my swim efficiency. These sessions are tough, as I tend to dip into the anaerobic zone due to my wasted efforts of inefficient strokes.Sculling after my sets with Robert Chan (photo-credit: Le Giang).The 5km run that followed…

  • A Discourse On Personal Discipline

    18 May 2013 | 1:57 am
    Discipline is a necessity when rules are to be adhered to. Rules convey a sense of control and predictability. Yet, rules have been broken because discipline to follow them becomes compromised or exhausted. When we become defensive, defiant and disagreeing we express our dismay with rules (which pose a large degree of rigidity, structure and order). Rules are expressed through tradition, custom and convention.Endurance athletes, particularly, triathletes are creatures of habit. We tend to veer from the unfamiliar. The discipline is rigorous insofar as the early-morning wake-ups, to exercise…

  • Re-Tooling Your Toolkit

    18 May 2013 | 1:34 am
    Having tools in a toolkit; using them is another.Tools are useful when you need them. When a problem is to be fixed, you locate your toolbox, and select your tool of choice. You then use the tool as prescribed on the problem you've identified.Some of us have incomplete toolkits. Thus, when we need a certain tool it is not available. If we are knowledgeable, we might improvise yet these may not exactly attend to our specific problem. It may be a stop-gap measure; meaning, the problem may return at a latter date. A loose nut is a potential threat. Tighten it, or it slip loose one day - at a…

  • Subtle and Obvious Shifts

    11 May 2013 | 8:39 am
    I have made several adjustments to my lifestyle recently. Some of these initiatives were salient and significant; others were subtle and unnoticeable. Little changes and shifts in daily habits, tend to add up and become habitual and routine. Keep working at it, and the body and mind adapts and copes with the differences in activity.On Training: I have begun sleeping earlier, and at least seven hours a night. I have also introduced twice-a-day training sessions: 45-60 minutes of cycling before work, and a 10km run or 60-minute pool session. Monday has become squad night, as my coach puts me…
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    Talent Talk

  • Talent Survey (2013) | Talent Technologies

    admin
    24 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    Talent Survey for 2013 The Talent Survey results for 2013 are in. Here is a digest of what CEOs think the talent themes and challenges facing their companies are from the recent PwC and Conference Board ... Read more on the Talent Technologies website

  • Star Talent: how to attract it to your company

    admin
    23 May 2013 | 10:01 pm
    Star Talent Everybody wants star talent in their company. But wanting star talent and attracting and retaining it are two entirely different propositions. So we thought we would cover the kind of things companies can do ... Read more on the Talent Technologies website

  • Why touchpoint map?

    admin
    22 May 2013 | 10:48 pm
    Why touchpoint map? Touchpoint maps for improving the customer experience come in all shapes and forms. First, we need to be clear about why we need to touchpoint map at all? Here are some considerations you ... Read more on the Talent Technologies website

  • Problem-solving in Thailand? Have a look at this…

    admin
    22 May 2013 | 6:33 am
    Problem-solving in Thailand If you are involved in problem-solving in Thailand, then you will no doubt be familiar with some of the challenges in making progress when there are so many competing factors at play, such ... Read more on the Talent Technologies website

  • Time – infographic

    admin
    21 May 2013 | 8:01 pm
    Time infographic Here is a time infographic  that we thought is so good we just had to share it! There are some useful tips on time management in the infographic too – enjoy and share! Also, if you’re ... Read more on the Talent Technologies website
 
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    Top Executive Coaching with Tony Mayo

  • No good metaphors for the brain, yet the brain is a metaphor making machine

    tonymayo
    17 May 2013 | 8:50 am
        Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. (‘What else could it be?’) I was amused to see that Sherrington, the [...]

  • Executive Coach Helps Medical Practice Experience Dramatic Growth

    mayogenuine
    16 May 2013 | 3:15 pm
        My medical practice, Potomac Psychiatry has grown dramatically over the past 3 years. We have secured a constant supply of new patients, a growing team of clinical and office professionals, and successfully launched new specialty services. In addition to improved financial results for all of us, I also have more fun at work, [...]

  • Real Education

    tonymayo
    9 May 2013 | 6:53 pm
    A foundation distinction of executive coaching, from a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace. Share it!

  • When work arises during meditation

    tonymayo
    30 Apr 2013 | 9:32 am
        Many of my clients have noticed that among the many thoughts intruding upon their meditation are some that appear to be genuinely useful ideas and plans. My suggestion is to treat these like any other ideas that arise and use the opportunity to direct your attention back to the chosen focus of your [...]

  • Taking Responsibility for My Listening

    tonymayo
    9 Apr 2013 | 11:11 am
    Executive coach Tony Mayo shares a lesson he learned about the impact we all have on each other, with an example of how to act on that responsibility.
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    QAspire Blog by Tanmay Vora

  • In 100 Words: At the Right Place?

    Tanmay
    22 May 2013 | 9:43 pm
      A baby camel once asked the mother, “Why do we have a hump?” Mother camel replied, “We are desert animals and we need hump to store water.” Curious, the baby asked further, “Why do we have long rounded legs and long eyelashes?” The mother proudly replied, “Long legs help us walk in desert and eyelashes protect us from desert sand and wind.” The baby said, “Oh! We have everything we need to survive in a desert. Then what the hell are we doing in a zoo?” Skills, knowledge and abilities are only useful if you are at the right place. Stay Tuned: Subscribe via RSS,…

  • In 100 Words: Every End is a New Beginning

    Tanmay
    19 May 2013 | 8:09 pm
    In one of the podcasts I have, the host tells an interesting story. While sitting on an airplane next to a gardener, she asked him for one gardening tip. The gardener replied, “My #1 gardening tip is: all plants/flower are only meant to live a certain amount of time. Try to make them live any longer and it makes you a bad gardener!” All good things must come to an end, yet it is human nature to cling on to what works and stretch it till it breaks. It’s okay if it ends because every end marks a new beginning. Stay Tuned: Subscribe via RSS, Connect via Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

  • What is Heard and What is Felt

    Tanmay
    14 May 2013 | 9:07 pm
    This may sound very simple but communication is all about transferring emotion and energy. Words are simply carriers of that emotion. Yes, choice of words matter, but that is notcommunication. Consider this example. The new sales director was on boarded with a lot of frenzy. In his first address to all the team members, he delivered a well crafted introduction. He spoke about himself, his past projects and then about how he intends to take this organization to new heights. If a transcript was created out of his speech, it would be a perfectly worded one. Yet, he was not able to establish the…

  • Clearing the Fog in Communication

    Tanmay
    7 May 2013 | 9:36 pm
    Our communication at workplace needs a lot of simplification. Have you seen leaders who throw jargons and so called “hot words” that leave people more confused? When a boss says, “We need to get this done soon”, people are left to wonder what soon actually means. I once observed a senior leader who was approached by his team member for some help on an issue. After thinking aloud for a while, the leader ended up saying, “You need to somehow close this ASAP.”  For a struggling team member who needed direction, words like “somehow” and “ASAP” added ambiguity and needless…

  • In 100 Words: There is No Bad Weather

    Tanmay
    29 Apr 2013 | 9:02 pm
    A retired weatherman was once questioned by a friend, “What kind of weather is it going to be tomorrow?” “The kind of weather I am going to love,” was the instant response with a gentle smile on his wrinkled face. “How do you know that it will be the weather you will love?” the friend was curious. The weatherman went on to explain, “35 years in weather department has taught me just one thing: there is no bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. To make the most of everything that doesn’t go as planned is an attitude thing!” Stay Tuned: Subscribe via RSS, Connect…
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    churchrelevance.com

  • 7 Critical Areas for Church Security (free ebook)

    Kent Shaffer
    22 May 2013 | 4:12 am
    We hear stories of shootings, child abusers, and natural disasters, but what should we do when they come to church? ACTIVE Faith has a free ebook exploring some practical steps. We need to approach this with biblical wisdom. We cannot and should not ever underestimate the power of prayer. We must pray against opposition from both spiritual warfare and mankind’s sinfulness. I believe prayer thwarts harm more often than we realize. We agree on prayer for safety, but what is our responsibility to prepare for safety? The story of Nehemiah is one of prayer, pragmatism, and faith. In Nehemiah…

  • The Matthew Henry KJV Study Bible by Hendrickson Publishers

    Kent Shaffer
    20 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    Hendrickson Publishers has merged the King James Bible with my favorite commentary to create The Matthew Henry KJV Study Bible. Completed in 1611, the King James Version has been the translation of choice among many Christians over the past 400 years. However, today’s KJV Bibles are almost exclusively the edited text of the 1769 edition of the KJV. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the…

  • What global Church app should top developers create?

    Kent Shaffer
    17 May 2013 | 11:33 am
    On June 28-30, 2013 in Silicon Valley, the Code for the Kingdom hackathon will take place with technologists from companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, and eBay working together to create the next big tech tools for God’s Kingdom. But the questions is… If you had access to over 100 of the best technologists in the country, what Kingdom challenge would you ask them to address? You can submit your challnge via the Code for the Kingdom survey. And if you are a technologist wanting to take part, visit CodeForTheKingdom.com for more…

  • Church Website Headers & Navigation Guide + 30 Examples

    Craig Van Korlaar
    15 May 2013 | 3:45 am
    The backbone of a church website is its navigation. A poor navigation obscures the content and loses visitors, but a well-designed navigation will streamline the user experience by giving what they need when they need it. Here are the latest trends in good church website navigation and headers. Logo: Horizontal orientation. On the Left. Links to Home. Most websites place their logo in the top left corner. The center (with navigation on either side) is also a viable option, such as in the case of Terra Nova. Tips include: Link logo to home page: Even if you choose to have “Home” as…

  • Special Thanks to May’s Sponsors

    Craig Van Korlaar
    13 May 2013 | 7:16 am
    Church Relevance is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors. Each of them offers something valuable for ministry leaders, so be sure to check them out. Big Sponsors Thrive Thrive is a service offered by Axletree Media, which simplifies the creation and delivery of your messages to your members over multiple devices, platforms and mediums (website, mobile, social media, email, text, print). Sharefaith Sharefaith provides affordable church websites along with one of the largest databases of graphics (50,000+) available, plus numerous document templates, videos, and more. Shelby…
 
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    All Things Workplace

  • Are You Strong Enough To Ask For Help?

    Steve Roesler
    14 May 2013 | 8:42 am
    Employee engagement, management engagement, leadership, passion in the workplace. . . These rallying cries fill books, blogs, and backroom banter. The real issue: "How can we get done what needs to get done and create a sense of "we're in this together" at the same time? It's actually quite simple: To Get Something Done, Ask for Help There is nothing that sparks the human spirit--and thus adds meaning to a task--than the satisfaction of providing help to someone who needs it. Yet my experience--at least in many western cultures--is that it is somehow viewed as  "weak" to ask for help.

  • Earn Your "Change Chips" Early

    Steve Roesler
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:53 am
    If you want to change an organization, you start by changing the patterns in which people talk together, the things they talk about, the frequency of their contact and the makeup of those who overhear them." --Art Kleiner, Who Really Matters I would add: Start doing those things before you need acceptance for a new initiative. Change Chips Are Earned Up Front Most change models start at the point where someone shares a new vision or plan, then asks for enthusiastic support. But we're all poker players (whether we know it or not). We spend time unconsciously earning or collecting chips…

  • Business or Busyness?

    Steve Roesler
    25 Apr 2013 | 2:24 pm
    Recently I met with a corporate Executive VP in New York City. I'll call him Phil. Phil said his division was struggling. But instead of leading the charge to turn things around, he was being called into meetings regularly to make lengthy, detailed, Powerpoint presentations explaining what was wrong. He was too busy doing business to be doing the business. Interestingly, one of his recommendations was for the company to get out of some of its operations because they were draining money and other resources. He explained that his people were spending too much time on things that no longer…

  • Still Doing More With Less?

    Steve Roesler
    23 Apr 2013 | 3:17 pm
    Hope you can join us on the Ken Blanchard Livecast:

  • Coaching Builds Commitment

    Steve Roesler
    16 Apr 2013 | 4:50 am
    Did you know that the majority of employees today expect their managers to coach them? At the same time, managers are concerned that they won't have all the answers. That's understandable, given the human condition's need for a sense of control and, in a manager's case, the appearance of expertise. The good news: Employees don't want advice. They want to be stretched and asked questions that allow them to sort things out and learn as a result. Here's What It Takes A productive manager-employee coaching relationship includes these elements: Self-Direction. The employee initiates areas for…
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    Lip-Sticking

  • Feeling Lonely This Weekend? 5 Quick Tips for Fun

    Laura Smith
    24 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    By Laura Smith, Chief Groovy Chick, The Breakup Lounge Ahhh, yes, the good ol' weekend is upon us. Do you remember the days when you couldn't WAIT for Friday afternoon? The rush of the anticipated weekend plans kept you going all week? Then...you find yourself un-coupled and sometimes, when you're coping with divorce or a breakup, weekends take on a new meaning. I remember those dark days well.  My excitement was replaced by anxiety. Sooooooo...how was I going to fill my time? I mean big, huge CHUNKS of time ~ not just an extra minute or two here and there. The planless weekend seemed like…

  • Want Comfortable Shoes That Cost Less Than A Week’s Worth of Coffee?

    Scarlett De Bease
    21 May 2013 | 5:44 am
    Go here  to see what I have in my red bag of style tips for you. You won’t believe the incredibly affordable and comfortable shoes I have discovered. Between you and me, I didn’t think it was possible to find comfortable shoes at an affordable price. I was wrong. So exactly what is it I do for my cleints? Here is where you can find out. Go here to get my FREE  Guide: 5 Style Tips To Look Younger, Thinner and Taller. © Scarlett De Bease & Scarlett Image, All Rights Reserved

  • What a Wet Burrito Taught Me About Life

    Laura Smith
    17 May 2013 | 5:03 am
    by Laura Smith, Chief Groovy Chick, The Breakup Lounge I'm sure you're wondering ~ what the heck is Laura thinking?  A wet burrito? Really?  Yet, you are also perhaps intrigued by the aforementioned wet burrito so let me tell you a story. As some of you may know, I like to get out in the local community and connect with others.  One of the ways that I do this is having an exhibitor's booth at community events.  I did just that on July 26.  To set the stage, this is an outdoor event called MarketFest.  It runs from 6 to 9 p.m.  The night began gloriously.  Not a cloud in the…

  • Try ShortStack App to run your Sweepstakes and Contests on Facebook

    Donna DeClemente
    15 May 2013 | 1:31 pm
    By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk Some of the most successful ways to grow your Facebook fan base and gain insights on your customers is by running sweepstakes and contests promotions. Contests are considered the heart of social promotions today since they are a great way to create buzz, awareness and engage followers and fans. In order to run a promotion on Facebook though, you must follow Facebook’s Promotional Guidelines and run it through an application and not directly on your Facebook page. We have been working with a few preferred Facebook application partners…

  • Stop The Makeover Madness!

    Scarlett De Bease
    14 May 2013 | 8:06 am
    There are so many wardrobe styling and fashion experts on TV telling you, complete strangers, what to wear that you don’t really need my advice anymore. Or, do you? Do you know that when the wardrobe styling personalities on TV make their recommendations as to what the must haves are for the season, they typically are representing the stores that carry the merchandise they are plugging? Their job is to stimulate sales and not to make sure that you are wearing clothes which show off your best features, and hide the ones you like the least. Just think back to whenever you might have seen…
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    Biz Growth News - branding, business development and new media tips to attract more clients in less time

  • 6 Steps To Using LinkedIn To Develop Productive And Profitable Business Relationships

    Krishna De
    15 May 2013 | 6:08 pm
    If you are a professional in financial services, you may be using LinkedIn as part of your networking and business development plan. Investors are active in social media with research in the US undertaken by LinkedIn in 2013 identifying that investors  use social media  to keep up to date with financial trends and to help them financial decisions. Research in the US undertaken by LinkedIn in 2012 identified that investors  research information about their financial decisions on LinkedIn. I recently had the opportunity to deliver a workshop for women who are in the Pensions industry about…

  • How To Use Pinterest For Business – Three Tips From A Pinterest Super User

    Krishna De
    14 May 2013 | 12:49 pm
    We hear that Pinterest is a really only used by younger females – so let me introduce you to Dan Ashbach, who is a retired airline pilot, just to provide a different perspective. You might have read my article about how many boards should we have on Pinterest where I comment that Dan has just 38 boards (I wonder if that is a coincidence that he has been married for 38 years) that versus many accounts I see with well over 100 Pinterest boards. Dan recently participated in a Google Plus Hangout with PinLeague and this is a recap of some of his ideas and perspectives about Pinterest as a super…

  • Five brands embracing Star Wars Day #MayThe4thBeWithYou

    Krishna De
    5 May 2013 | 5:20 pm
    If you were active on social media on the 4 May this year you would have noticed many updates about what is now known to be ‘Star Wars Day’. In 2011, the first organised celebration of ‘Star Wars Day’ took place in Toronto, Ontario and this year Disney’s Hollywood Studios planned to celebrate the day with events. We also saw a number of brands participate through their visual marketing and these included: - Harrods who did a clever photo editing job with the shadow of their concierge sharing it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - Oreo shared a picture of blue milk and a cookie on…

  • How to turn your Pinterest boards into a PDF or JPEG image so you can refer to them off line

    Krishna De
    5 May 2013 | 4:42 pm
    If you have been using Pinterest in your content marketing  you will know how powerful a platform it is for visual content curation and discovery – both for business and personal use. But perhaps you have wondered how you could turn the images you create into a PDF that you could then print and use in your meetings perhaps with your team or with clients? This is where the content curation platform Clipzine.me just might prove efficient for you. I recently tested the platform to turn a Pinterest board I had curated after an event into a PDF and JPEG presentation and below you will find a…

  • Pinterest Visual Marketing Tip – Using Diptic To Create Instructographics

    Krishna De
    22 Mar 2013 | 8:58 am
    If you are using Pinterest you will know how important great images in your blog and web pages are to encourage sharing of your content by visitors to your site. This is sometimes a challenge for those of us who are offering services rather than beautiful products. But even if you have great visual content to share, I came across a challenge at a recent Pinterest training programme I was running where  the course delegates were in the fashion and beauty business. They post great images to their blog, mostly when on location, and often have only their smart phone which they use to create and…
 
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    LSS Academy

  • LSS Academy Podcast 2: Genchi Genbutsu – Do You Really Understand It?

    Ron Pereira
    24 May 2013 | 10:24 am
    In this podcast I revisit a topic I’ve written about before on the blog… genchi genbutsu. To play the podcast please press the play button above. During the podcast we meet a Toyota Engineer who takes “going to gemba” to an entirely new level! We also discuss why things such as surveys and focus groups simply don’t match up with going to see with our own eyes. Items Discussed in the Podcast Original Article The Toyota Way by Jeffrey Liker Jon Miller What Do You Think? What does Genchi Gebutsu mean to you? Have you ever attempted to “go to gemba” as…

  • What You Do Doesn’t Have to Define You

    Ron Pereira
    20 May 2013 | 5:30 am
    To listen to this article in podcast format please click the play button above.   What You Do Doesn’t Have to Define You My 8-year-old daughter has been playing soccer for more than 4 years.  And she’s been playing at a competitive level for over 2 years. Put another way, she’s played the beautiful game for more than half of her young life. The picture to the right was taken during her first season playing with the mighty Little Angels! She’s in the middle. I’ve chronicled many of her successes – and challenges - before on the blog. Don’t Be One of “Those” Dads…

  • How Do You Document Your Processes?

    Ron Pereira
    13 May 2013 | 7:31 am
    At Gemba Academy we’re constantly doing our best to “practice what we teach.” Now, to be honest, we’re far from perfect (who is?) but we’re always trying to find better ways to take care of our customers and develop better products and services. A Day in the Life at Gemba Academy Much of our daily work is computer based. For example, our content development team shoots and edits video using several different programs. Our website development teams uses several different systems and programs in order to do what they do. And our sales and customer service teams use many different…

  • Going to Gemba vs. Statistical Analysis

    Ron Pereira
    6 May 2013 | 5:30 am
    Early in my professional career I worked as a Process Engineer at Nokia (in their mobile phone division). I had many responsibilities but, ultimately, my most important job centered on ensuring all of the equipment was producing cell phones that worked the first time. Go to Gemba We lean practitioners often preach about the importance of going to gemba, or the place the work is done, in order to understand what’s really happening. I’m happy to report that I did a pretty good job at this as a young process engineer. You see, I had no choice; my desk was on the production line! This meant…

  • Knee Jerk Statistics

    Ron Pereira
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:30 am
    The folks over at Minitab recently wrote an excellent article about how a Six Sigma practitioner leveraged binary logistic regression analysis in order to better understand why associates at a manufacturing plant were quitting. What they learned The team discovered that the distance the employee drove to work seemed to impact how likely they were to quit. Put another way, there seemed to be strong correlation between the distance of the employees commute and how likely they were to quit. Sure, people can nitpick sample size and whether there truly is causation… but, really, the analysis…
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    | Elements of Leadership Blog

  • Half-Life of a Strategic Plan

    Gary Cohen
    24 May 2013 | 8:47 am
    by Gary Cohen  A dear friend of mine came over a few months ago for a glass of wine and asked me, “What’s the half-life of a strategic plan?” She’d just completed one with her team. Everyone voted to implement it immediately, and yet one executive began to stray from it within a couple of days! “Half-life” brought me back to physics class and studying the periodic table. My recollection was that half-life had something to do with how many years it takes for a radioactive element to become inert. That’s true, I learned (again), but half-life is also more…

  • Tilting at Windmills

    Gary Cohen
    20 May 2013 | 5:25 am
    by Gary Cohen Tilting at Windmills Many of our “enemies” are illusions–specters of past traumas or the product of misguided beliefs. We allow old narratives to play out again and again, unquestioned. We simply draw our swords and start swinging, just as Don Quixote does in Miguel de Cervantes’ novel. That’s where the term “tilting at windmills” originated. Don Quixote goes into battle with windmills that he imagines to be giants: “When they came in sight of  thirty to forty windmills that rose from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote…

  • Motorcycle Leadership: What you S.E.E. is what you get

    Gary Cohen
    17 May 2013 | 5:20 am
    by Gary CohenYour leadership and management skills can be dramatically improved by taking a page out of the motorcycling playbook. This past weekend I took a training course in how to drive a motorcycle from Rider Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota. To say I stretched myself would be an understatement. I was left fatigued at the end of each 9 hour day. Riding a motorcycle is such an intellectual and physical activity; I now better appreciate the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. You must be continually mindful of yourself, the machine, and the environment you’re riding…

  • Leaders Ask Questions

    Gary Cohen
    15 May 2013 | 12:55 pm
    by Gary CohenFew Employees Want to Be Told What to Do Only six percent of employees wish to be told what to do by their boss, according to a survey by CO2 Partners.  The overwhelming majority, 94%, prefer to be asked questions by their supervisor.  The directive workplace has been in decline since the 1970s.  Today it’s not about following orders, but about dialogue and effective leadership.  People have grown to expect a supportive work environment where everyone is encouraged to contribute.  Moreover, at a time when senior management is so focused on talent management there is no…

  • Culture Model

    Calvin Guyer
    9 May 2013 | 5:08 am
    by Calvin Guyer  In the diagram above, Robert Quinn and John Rohrbaugh put culture on a two-dimensional plane. The vertical axis represents Structure (control vs. flexibility) and the horizontal axis represents Focus (internal vs. external). Control organizations value standardization and a well-defined, decision-making process. They focus inwardly on their people and processes. Collaborate  organizations are more familial and are comfortable with flexibility. Compete organizations differ from their counterpart (Control) by focusing externally. They want great products that can be…
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    frame of reference

  • The Associate – Part 19

    Chris Fillebrown
    19 May 2013 | 2:13 am
    Frame of Reference presents: The Associate – Part 19 – The Conspiracy Unfolds by Chris Fillebrown

  • The Associate – Part 18

    Chris Fillebrown
    12 May 2013 | 2:24 am
    Frame of Reference presents: The Associate – Part 18 – Ricky and Joan Argue by Chris Fillebrown

  • The Associate – Part 17

    Chris Fillebrown
    5 May 2013 | 4:43 am
    Frame of Reference presents: The Associate – Part 17 – The Story of Ricky and Joan by Chris Fillebrown
 
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    The Management Blog

  • Download the Spring 2013 issue of Professional Manager magazine

    Rebecca Kearley
    21 May 2013 | 8:08 am
    Bigger, Bolder, Better: In the expanded magazine read new columns on Fashion, Dining and Technology You are not watching this post, click to start watchingread more

  • Make sure you can be recognised from your LinkedIn profile photograph

    Graham Wilson
    20 May 2013 | 12:18 pm
    There's really no doubt that you need a photograph to accompany your profile on LinkedIn. Not having one simply means that people will at best consider you're a newbie on LI (and, by extrapolation, IT generally). At worst, they will think you have something to hide. You are not watching this post, click to start watchingread more

  • Nine out of ten people don't follow-up

    Graham Wilson
    20 May 2013 | 12:13 pm
    Speaking at a networking event the other day, I did a quick straw poll to test out one of my theories about why so many people find such events a pointless exercise despite feeling compelled to go along. Not surprisingly, out of a group of nearly 40 people, only 2 claimed to have a systematic approach to following up after the meeting. You are not watching this post, click to start watchingread more

  • Turning around companies

    Raja Raja Kamarudin
    17 Apr 2013 | 6:20 pm
    In my more than thirty years in senior management, I have time and again been called upon and tasked to turn around many companies, small and large, private and public listed companies as well. This article or blog will explain the steps I take in implementing my turnaround strategy. I always follow certain steps and procedures, to ensure that the turnaround process is systematic and easily understood by the owners, managers and employees of the company. These steps are relatively simple and have been developed by me through decades of experience and through observing and analysing the…

  • I’ve been out of work for so long – I’ve just not been that lucky

    Graham Wilson
    12 Apr 2013 | 8:03 am
    This is a very familiar plea. Sadly, a lot of the people who come to me have been trying for quite a while to find a new role, haven't succeeded, and now their spouse is beginning to lose patience. You are not watching this post, click to start watchingread more
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    The Complete Innovator

  • The Myth of the Millennial Social Movement

    Boris Pluskowski
    7 May 2013 | 11:36 am
    Hardly a day goes by without me hearing a senior executive at some major company cite the growing influence of the upcoming “Millennial Generation” as the reason for their foray into the enterprise social world.  But I wonder if they’re missing a trick here – look at almost any study of who actually uses Social Media in the modern world – and you’ll see that the major users are not those born in 2000+ (who are yet to get into the workforce) – but rather you see an almost even split between those in the 25-34 age and those in the 35-44 range.  Compare that then with the average…

  • Are you listening? The return of Employee Engagement

    Boris Pluskowski
    23 Jan 2013 | 9:17 am
    “Employee Engagement” used to be a term reserved for the hollow halls of HR departments across the land. You’d hear a client say that was their main goal, and you knew a program was doomed to fail – usually because it was code word for “I haven’t got a clue what to do with this type of social application”.  My eyes would roll, my sleeves would get rolled up, and I’d get down to work teaching them the need to rethink the requirement for innovation goals that would drive focused value and strategic change through their organization. But that was 10 years ago – and today, as I…

  • Gamification in Innovation

    Boris Pluskowski
    23 May 2012 | 3:02 pm
    A few months ago I wrote a post on the promise of Gamification in the Enterprise. You can read the whole piece but as a recap, here are some of the more salient points: 1) Gamification in the enterprise is not about trivializing business processes or activities, but rather about embracing a design methodology that taps into an inherent “addiction” inside all of us to the engagement mechanics and format of  “good games” 2) Games surround us everywhere, if we choose to see them as such. Just because we don’t envision the business (and other) systems around us as games; just because…

  • Should we be starting single sex Innovation Labs?

    Boris Pluskowski
    10 Apr 2012 | 5:00 am
    Stephen Dubner of “Freaknomics” fame recently tackled an interesting aspect of innovation on the NPR show “Marketplace” . In the show he pointed to a patent gap – namely the gender gap in patent applications. Apparently women are only responsible for 7.5% of all patents filed and Jenny Hunt, an economist at Rutgers University reckoned that closing that male to female patent gap in science and engineering could have a dramatic effect on the economy – raising it by up to 2.7% – a pretty sizeable gain. There are multiple reasons for this gap existing…

  • Getting Inside the Game – The promise of Gamification in the Enterprise

    Boris Pluskowski
    15 Mar 2012 | 10:24 am
    You’ve probably started hearing the terms “Gamification” or “Game Mechanics” in increasing frequency in your corporate hallways of late. This is especially so if I’ve been working with you, as Gamification theory and practice (not to be confused with the Economics based “Game Theory”) is quickly becoming a cornerstone of the next generation of highly engaging collaborative Innovation programs. I probably get asked about Gamification (aka the application of Game Mechanics/Game Design to a particular system, process, or program) at least once a day now – Spigit has quite the…
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    Leadership and Management / Turning Adversity to Advantage

  • Not Fast Enough

    brucelynn
    25 May 2013 | 12:44 am
       “If everything seems under control, then you are not going fast enough.” – Mario Andretti The inverse corollary to Andretti’s adage above is “If everything seems out of control, then you are going too fast.” That is my first instruction to coxes. Coxwains are the leaders of any rowing boat competition. They are not cheerleaders, they are not helmsmen (though they do steer the boat and shout at the rowers). They are Leader/Managers. And the Leader increases the rating (ie. strokes per minutes) when ‘everything seems under control’ and the Manager decreases it…

  • Turning the Tide of Adversity

    brucelynn
    24 May 2013 | 3:39 am
      Today UK schools from around the country converge on Pierpont rowing lake in Nottingham for the annual National Schools Rowing Championship including our very own Sir William Borlase (aka ‘Team Borlase’). Many of the talented Borlase squads will go far today, but others will be invariably disappointed. Such shortfalls can pay dividends as GB Rowing’s team psychologist Chris Shamrock outlines in his piece titled ‘Turning the Tide’. He overviews 5 key pieces of advice for being more resilient… Look for the positives. Take a holistic view. Move on quickly. Be clear about what…

  • Embracing the Failure of Normal

    brucelynn
    21 May 2013 | 12:15 am
      The ultimate diversity is not about external attributes, but internal ones. Many people can get around one’s look and background, but it is the different perspectives and attitudes that really cause the conflicts. Today’s UN sponsored “World Day for Cultural Diversity” captures that spirit with ‘Culture” planted right in the heart of it. In the spirit of embracing the failure to conform, I’ve written a number of posts extolling the world of weird. Michael Lazerow elaborates articulately with a number of further perspectives of the wonder of weirdness in his own post…

  • Badasssss Dreams

    brucelynn
    19 May 2013 | 9:18 am
       The unfinished novel or film script is one of the classic dream bubbles. Many of those converging on Cannes this week will be the hopeful carting their inflated aspirations in folios and CDs. Perhaps few as fervently and messianically as Melvin Van Peebbles (played by his son Mario Van Pebbles in the 2003 production “Badassss”) did with his 1971 film “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song”. The 1971 script was about breakthrough ambitions for African Americans. And the 2003 script doubled down on this dream by charting the 1971 filmmaker’s odyssey to bring this story…

  • Requiem for a Dream

    brucelynn
    18 May 2013 | 11:12 am
      The Cannes Film Festival continues with its parade of lesser known gems. Like ‘Requiem for a Dream” which premiered there in 2000. The title screams out ‘Death of Dreams’ and the film itself doesn’t disappoint. It explores a range of dreams from starting a being successful, being famous, and being loved. Unfortunately, its perspective is through the artifice that preys on vulnerable dreams and turns them into empty bubbles..drugs. Sara Goldfarb’s speech in the later part of the movie, played superbly by Ellen Burstyn, captures much of the dream downtrodden desperation…
 
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    Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

  • Be More Like Southwest Airlines - Where All Employees Own The Culture

    21 May 2013 | 4:27 pm
    If you've flown Southwest Airlines you know they're tops in airline customer service, driven by a leadership style that creates a company-wide culture where all employees own that culture.According to SWA Chairman, President and CEO Gary Kelly, as reported in the company's in-flight magazine, "every company has a culture, whether that culture is supportive or stifling, active or passive, fun or discouraging.""One way we do culture differently is by making Southwest's culture everyone's responsibility. In fact, we ask everyone to 'own it,'" says Kelly.Here are some of the ways that SWA keeps…

  • Brian Tracy On Motivation

    18 May 2013 | 1:43 pm
    All you need is one hour to read Brian Tracy's newest, pocket-sized guide for managers, Motivation."You cannot motivate other people," explains Tracy, "but you can remove the obstacles that stop them from motivating themselves.  All motivation is self-motivation.  As a manager, you can create an environment where this potential for self-motivation is released naturally and spontaneously."In the book, Tracy presents chapter-by-chapter his 21 most reliable and powerful methods for increasing the effectiveness of any individual or group.Each chapter includes a couple different action…

  • Job Descriptions Should All Fit Together Logically And Strategically

    18 May 2013 | 1:29 pm
    Whether you have one or many employees, be sure each has a current and accurate job description.A job description is a written document that should include the:employee's dutiesemployee's responsibilitiesoutcomes needed from that position. It should also include the required qualifications and reporting relationship.If your employee has a poorly written job description, or one that is out-of-date, it will lead to confusion and misunderstandings.Once you have a job description for each employee, you'll be able to ensure the descriptions all fit together logically and leave no holes in the…

  • 5 Leadership Quotes For Today

    17 May 2013 | 5:05 am
    Some of my favorite quotes for leaders are:A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit -- Arnold H. GlasgowI praise loudly, I blame softly -- Catherine II of RussiaHonest disagreement is often a good sign of progress -- Mohandas GandhiA long dispute means that both parties are wrong -- VoltaireThe least questioned assumptions are often the most questionable -- Paul BrocaThese and many more compelling quotes can be found in Susan H. Shearouse's book, Conflict 101.

  • Consider Honest Feedback As Generous, Not Critical

    16 May 2013 | 5:15 am
    Negative feedback is part of growing as a leader -- both delivering that feedback and sometimes receiving that type of feedback.Keith Ferrazzi, CEO of Ferazzi Greenlight, a research-based consulting and training company, suggests practicing "caring criticism," as he explained it in a past issue of the Harvard Business Review."Negative feedback can hurt, but usually it's a gift aimed at helping the recipient improve performance or avoid mistakes.  We should deliver and receive it that way," says Ferrazzi."Use phrases like 'I might suggest' and 'Think about this'" when giving…
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    Kevin Eikenberry on Leadership & Learning

  • What Better Results? Start Here

    Kevin Eikenberry
    24 May 2013 | 5:54 am
    I saw this quotation this morning and it stopped me in my tracks. It is so true – I have seen it in myself, my team, and others over and over. Read these two words, ask the questions, and take action – in other words, take the advice of the quotation itself. “Nourish beginnings.” - [...]

  • When is a Webinar a Good Learning Option?

    Kevin Eikenberry
    22 May 2013 | 6:40 am
    First, let me say that when I say “webinar”, I am thinking broadly to things that might or might not include video (video-conference), views of slides (the typical webinar), and a teleseminar (typically audio only). I decided to write about this because I get asked about this type of learning experience often, and I find [...]

  • Leadership Lessons at 10,000 Feet

    Kevin Eikenberry
    20 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    If you have flown anytime in the last several years you have heard some version of this announcement: At this time, we request that all mobile phones, pagers, radios, and remote controlled toys be turned off for the full duration of the flight, as these items might interfere with the navigational and communication equipment on [...]

  • The Effective Executive: The Defining Guide to Getting the Right Things Done

    Kevin Eikenberry
    19 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    By Peter Drucker Here are two good clues that a book is worth reading. It has been copyrighted more than once (this book, 1967, 1985, 1996, 2002, and 2006) It is written by Peter Drucker. Put that together with the fact that it is written about a topic we all care about – being more [...]

  • The Secret to Persuasion

    Kevin Eikenberry
    17 May 2013 | 7:55 am
    Today’s quotation is short and to the point. It is completely true and too often forgotten in practice. “One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears – by listening to them.” - Dean Rusk, U.S. Secretary of State Questions to Ponder - What is my first inclination when persuading someone – to [...]
 
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    LDRLB | Leadership, Innovation & Strategy

  • 2013 Best Summer Reads

    David Burkus
    22 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    Summer is fast upon us. For many people, work life might just slow down enough to let summer reading pick up. Perhaps this year you’ve been extra busy, and need to catch up on some of 2013’s good new releases. Or maybe you’re looking out to what books are on the horizon. In either case, here are some of our picks for the best summer reading in leadership, innovation, and strategy. Leadership Managers as Mentors: Building Partnerships for Learning by Chip Bell and Marshall Goldsmith. Bell’s book on how leaders must take charge of their people’s development is a great read. So good,…

  • In Praise of Middle Managers

    David Burkus
    20 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    Middle managers don’t get a lot of attention or respect. Most business literature focuses on the actions of companies’ senior leaders. Most reorganization efforts try to squeeze the role out through “flattening” or “right-sizing.” Even most business satires are targeted squarely at middle managers, think Michael Scott or Bill Lumberg. But leadership happens at all levels. In most organizations, the impact of middle managers is just as important as that of senior leadership. In a recent study, that impact quantified and researchers found that a good middle manager was worth almost…

  • 0410 | Alexander Osterwalder

    David Burkus
    17 May 2013 | 7:15 am
    Alexander Osterwalder is an entrepreneur, speaker, and business model innovator. In their book, Business Model Generation, he and Professor Yves Pigneur revealed the Business Model Canvas, a practical tool to visualize, challenge and re-invent business models. In this interview, we talk about the need for visual business tools, business model strategy, and why good leaders build a portfolio of business models in their organizations. Business Model Canvas Strategyzer Listen below or subscribe via iTunes. This podcast is supported by Audible.com. Get a free audiobook just for trying it…

  • Would You Pay $30,000 for a Gold Star?

    David Burkus
    15 May 2013 | 4:55 am
    Motivation is a big industry. From incentive and recognition trade shows to compensation consultants, there are a host of industry experts ready to carefully craft the perfect program that keeps employees working happily and productively. Most of these experts adhere to the economic principle of agency theory, which says that individuals work for their own self-interest. To best leverage this principle, these experts offer just the right trinket, or they design an elegant incentive compensation solution tailored to your needs. All of these offers assume that simply having financial incentives…

  • Is A Commanding Leadership Right Style For You?”

    Guest
    13 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    [Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins are co-founders of Isis Associates, an executive coaching and leadership consulting firm.  They are also co-authors of Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence.]   Think of a leader you know who has a commanding leadership style. Who comes to mind? Is it someone who drives to results, is decisive, and has a keen sense of urgency? Or is it someone who gets the job done but not without using his sharp elbows in the process? When it comes to those with a commanding style,…
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    Linked 2 Leadership: The Leadership Collaboratory

  • It’s Lonely at the Top – 4 Ways to Help Employees Make the Step Change to Leader

    Sandy
    23 May 2013 | 12:00 pm
    In a recent National Post article Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, where shown riding the subway with the caption “Prince Charles shows he’s just a regular bloke.” Although the article didn’t convince me that the Prince is a regular bloke (I don’t think that regular blokes only take the subway once every 25 […]

  • Leadership Perspective: To Ride the Wave, or Lead the Wave

    Alexsys Thompson
    22 May 2013 | 12:00 pm
    Let’s venture into a world where plans constantly change. In this place, nothing goes the way it should. Every potential obstacle becomes a reality, and almost every decision must be made in the moment. Okay, so, maybe this world isn’t so different from the one you’re in now; however, your reaction to this chaos might be. A […]

  • The 5 Admired Female Business Leaders of the Past Year

    Robert Cordray
    21 May 2013 | 10:43 am
    As gender equality becomes more of a priority in world society, more women are becoming prominent business leaders. Women prove their savvy, leadership and humanity in major organizations across the globe. 5 Admired Female Business Leaders of 2012 Here are five women who have led their businesses to success in 2012. Melinda Gates, Bill & […]

  • Authentic Leadership: Living and Leading Outside-the-Box

    Michael R Stanford
    19 May 2013 | 12:00 pm
    I have worked for a long time only to find too many people with little passion for change. They simply want to “stay inside their box.” There are also too many leaders and managers that look at their way being the correct one. Very rarely do these types want to listen to new ideas or […]

  • L2L Book Review: Leaders Open Doors

    Tom Schulte
    16 May 2013 | 11:00 am
    Using his own personal experience, author and veteran consultant Bill Treasurer wrote “Leaders Open Doors” to encourage leaders to accept responsibility for noticing, identifying, and creating opportunities for the benefit of people, organizations, and society as a whole.  He believes strongly in opening doors for others and providing assistance to the next generation of leaders. […]
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    Blanchard LeaderChat

  • The High Price of Perceived Unfairness—a mini case study

    themotivationguy
    23 May 2013 | 6:38 am
    Alexa has been with a global telecommunications company for 15 years, most recently as an upper mid-level leader in the company’s consumer products division. Alexa took her current post in 2010.  That year she led her group to earn Best Retail Operation for the region, going from worst-to-first in a single year.  Along with a public award, Alexa received a “Far Exceeds” rating on her annual performance appraisal. Unfortunately, at the time of her next review, Alexa’s group was slightly below its Key Performance Indicators (KPI) targets and so her boss rated her…

  • What business are you REALLY in?

    Ann Phillips
    16 May 2013 | 5:09 am
    When clients ask me to help them with customer service issues, they are often surprised (and a little annoyed) when I ask them a question about what business are they really in. Now I’m not trying to be difficult, I’m just trying to help them identify—at an emotional level—the specific need they are satisfying with their product or service. Because once you identify what business you are really in, you will automatically know the core promise your brand is making to your customers. You’d think this little question would be easy to answer, but I can tell you from experience—it’s…

  • Redirection Redefined – 5 Steps to Stay on Track

    Cathy Huett
    11 May 2013 | 7:23 am
    For many, the word redirection translates to, “Uh oh—big trouble.” For some, the idea of a redirection can seem the equivalent of a dismissal, separation, or firing. That’s a limiting perception. The job of managing people includes managing roles, goals, and day-to-day performance. Redirection is a part of that process. In some ways it’s like flying airplanes where flight plans are set and frequent corrections in the air keep the airplane on course. The goal is a smooth flight that will arrive at the desired destination safely. But a surprise bout of turbulence may force the plane…

  • Preparing for a Challenging Conversation

    John Hester
    9 May 2013 | 5:52 am
    Think back to the last challenging conversation you had. Were you prepared? If not, how well did it go? Chances are it didn’t go as well as you hoped it would. Most challenging conversations are more effective when we take the time to prepare for them. I’d like to suggest five things you can do to be better prepared to guide your next challenging conversation to a successful outcome. Gather the relevant information. First of all, collect the relevant information pertaining to the topic of the conversation—the who, what, and why. Ask yourself: Who do I need to talk to? What is the…

  • The High Price of Money (a five-question happiness quiz)

    Susan Fowler
    6 May 2013 | 5:30 am
    Consider these five statements. True or False? Money cannot buy you happiness. Money may not buy happiness, but it will buy things that make you happy. The more money you have, the happier you are. Seeking wealth, status, or image undermines interpersonal relationships and connectedness to others. Pursuing money or other materialistic values results in feeling pressured and controlled. Did you answer True to #1? Most of us have held a programmed value since childhood that money doesn’t buy us happiness. If it did, we reason, we wouldn’t see rich people with substance abuse issues,…
 
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    The Executive Roundtable

  • Dude: Have you seen my passion?

    Glain
    8 May 2013 | 3:36 am
    I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently about the quest many of us have to “find our passion” or the “work we love”.  There’s a video that’s been making the internet rounds recently that suggests we should all do what we love and not worry about the money.  Overtime – it suggests – if we are pursuing our passion, the money will come.  I actually think that’s great advice for anyone in their twenties who doesn’t have a partner, a mortgage and all the other trappings that we can fall in to that tie us by golden handcuffs to work we don’t “love”.  But what…

  • Managing Up: How to effectively influence the executive level

    Glain
    29 Apr 2013 | 3:10 am
    Think that managing your boss feels too manipulative or like you’re sucking up?  Think again my friends.  Managing up is a complex and, in today’s fully matrixed organizations, crucial ability that leaders need in order to thrive (and possibly survive).  During our April PowerRoundtable, we benefited from the wisdom and experience of three dynamic leaders: Stacey Allerton, VP HR of Ford Canada; Sharon Wood, CEO, Kids Help Phone; and, Dave Baran, VP/GM National Strategic Accounts, Workopolis who shared their strategies (buying their bosses’ “treats” wasn’t…

  • Lunching with the Enemy: why building alliances with detractors is a smart move

    Frank
    26 Apr 2013 | 9:03 am
    I suspect many people were glued to their television sets watching the results of the United States presidential election last year and followed their favourite newscasters as they speculated on what President Obama needed to do during his second term in office. I particularly like CNN, specifically, David Gergen, senior political analyst and past advisor to four US presidents. Mr. Gergen was asked a specific question on what he thought Obama needed to accomplish in his next term as US president. Mr Gerber stated that without a doubt, this time around President Obama needed to build…

  • SendGrid: a lost leadership opportunity

    Karen Schulman Dupuis
    27 Mar 2013 | 7:20 am
    What we've got here is failure to communicate. – Cool Hand Luke Last week, the internet showed it's very real, very ugly side. You may have heard of Adria Richards, Donglegate, and the tweet that started a firestorm, which ended with her and another person losing their jobs. For those of you that haven't, here's a very high level breakdown: At a developer conference, a female developer relationship manager (Adria Richards) who worked for a company called SendGrid overheard two other male conference attendees make a bad joke, in poor taste. Rather than confront them directly, or…

  • Leveraging Intuition to Make Smart Decisions

    Rebecca Heaslip
    26 Mar 2013 | 6:26 am
    Researchers and neuroscientists believe that intuitive insights occur in a split second as the brain recognizes patterns that resonate with knowledge, experience and wisdom stored in the sub-conscious. Intuition by this definition is involuntary and immediate and appears to come out of nowhere. Sometimes we question it but at other times we just ‘know’ it is right and don’t feel the need to rationalize it. This can present a challenge in most workplaces where evidence-based decisions are the rule rather than the exception. So how do you balance and integrate rational, fact-based ideas…
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    J. T. Pedersen

  • Why Making Mistakes is Good for Your Leadership

    JT
    14 May 2013 | 9:01 am
    We all start somewhere. We evolve. One. Step. At. A. Time. And, like a baby learning to walk, we fall down, get up, try again. Without failure there is nothing to learn from, no improvement. Eventually the baby walks. The same thing awaits us as we evolve into Leaders. It certainly has been true.  From the first time I took the reigns, I made mistakes You may give people a day off, when you shouldn’t have; You may not realize your bad day is reflected by your team; You are slow realizing, you, have become they. These are just a few mistakes I’ve made, or things I would have liked…

  • It IS Big News: What Adobe’s Up To

    JT
    7 May 2013 | 3:17 am
    May, 2013, Adobe made a bold announcement. Beyond Creative Suite 6.0 (it’s current, flagship product), it will no longer provide packaged versions of software. In short, you will not be able to buy a shrink-wrapped boxed Adobe product off the shelf. This is big news coming from one of the Top-10 software vendors in the world. Launched a year ago, Adobe will now drive it’s software business through the subscription-based service, called Adobe Creative Cloud (ACC, About).  Creative Cloud, or simply CC, is to become Adobe’s central hub for all-things-Adobe in your life.  You…

  • Michigan Covered Bridge Tour

    JT
    2 May 2013 | 7:41 pm
    Covered bridges, for many people, are curiosities of a past era.  For those old enough, they represent nostalgia from their youth.  Others, see them merely as antiquated historic artifacts.  One thing is for sure, many people are not aware of these treasures in their own backyard. The riding season upon us, you’ll be seeing a few more motorcycling-related stories in coming months. When discussing ‘covered bridges’ there are two camps.  The first camp simply appreciates covered bridges, old or young, more modern or not.  A number of newer covered bridges are essentially…

  • How Much Email Do You Store?

    JT
    25 Apr 2013 | 10:53 am
    Marty Koenig pointed a number of us toward a short article, "Stop Organizing Emails. Start Living."  Simple post, quick to read. Short scoop, author has 30,000 email and feels there’s no need to manage an inbox. Just use Search to find what you need. I agree with the general sentiment: Time spent achieving a zero-mail inbox can be better spent elsewhere.  Of course, one very obvious caveat is, with 30,000 email in your inbox, it’s awfully easy to miss ones you need be responding to (like that one from your boss).  Search doesn’t come with a…

  • More Important: Strategy or Execution?

    JT
    19 Apr 2013 | 8:34 am
    So, which is it? Which is more important than the other?  Want to know the real answer? In recent months I have seen this debate popping up all over the place in leadership-minded discussions.  The debates, sometimes arguments, continue for extended periods. A lot like asking motorcyclists which oil is best (get some coffee, it’ll be a long debate<g>) The reality is they’re tied to each other.  One cannot exist without the other. If you spend time in Corporate America you will see many, many strategies promoted over time.  They used to come in large, black, 3-ring…
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    Survive Your Promotion!

  • Are you stuck in a sheep cyclone?

    Katy
    16 May 2013 | 8:44 am
    This is what teamwork and collaboration looks like at its best: This is what it looks like at it’s worst: Here are three signs you are stuck in a collaboration sheep cyclone: You have a recurring meeting and the agenda items haven’t changed in over a month You propose a ridiculous idea as a joke and at least 1 person says “great idea” Your results don’t change even though everyone is “working hard” What do you do to break out of the cycle?  Here are some things to try – I’d love to hear what works for you! Cancel Meetings – The…

  • Top 10 Tools and Resources for New Managers

    Katy
    8 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Starting a new job with management responsibilities?  It can be overwhelming.  The good news is there are plenty of tools to help you be successful in your new management role.  Here are a few of my favorites: The American Management Association – The AMA is a great source for leadership and management training and development.  They have seminars and events as well as books and podcasts that cover every imaginable topic. The Dale Carnegie Institute – One of the original and still most respected management training organizations, the Dale Carnegie Institute offers training…

  • Book Review – The Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace by Cy Wakeman

    Katy
    6 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Last week Cy Wakeman released her new book The Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace. I want to start by applauding Cy for pulling no punches as she delivers her perspective on how to be successful at work. It comes down to one thing and really only one thing – taking accountability for your own behavior. How many times have you participated in a “huddle and whisper” session after a meeting? How many times have you blamed your situation on your boss, your company, too many goals, the phase of the moon, or really anything except your own behavior? If you’re honest, the…

  • Happier Employees in 1 Simple Step

    Katy
    1 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    Last Friday I attended a presentation by Charles Jacobs, author of Management Rewired.  It was a fantastic talk about how our brains work, and particularly how motivation works (or doesn’t) in the workplace.  I walked away with a brand new understanding about management that’s incredibly simple and important to the happiness of employees. Let’s talk about motivation for a minute and think about the conventional wisdom on how to improve employee performance.  If you manage by the old-school “command and control” model, the answer is “tell people what to…

  • Book Review: Give and Take by Adam Grant

    Katy
    29 Apr 2013 | 4:00 am
    It took me a long time to read Give and Take although not for the reason you might think.  While I did find that Adam Grant has a tendency to repeat himself from time to time, overall I found the book to be thought provoking.  I often put it down to consider a point and observe my colleagues and myself in action to see if I observed the same things the author saw in his research.  So this review has been a bit delayed, but not because the book was not interesting or compelling, but rather because it was so applicable and observationally accurate in my day to day life. The premise of the…
 
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    Leader's Beacon

  • What’s Your Last Lap Of Commitment?

    timsanders
    21 May 2013 | 5:30 am
    About nine months ago, two synergistic things happened: I decided to get in shape and we got a new dog.  And he’s a miniture poodle pup named Banksy that needs to be walked…a lot. So each day, I walk him up and down the Hollywood Hills.  Some days, I’ve got a lot on my plate, [...]

  • The Power of Listening

    Doug Dickerson
    18 May 2013 | 11:45 am
      Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. – Winston Churchill The story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. [...]

  • Does Change Have to be Painful?

    jjacoby
    14 May 2013 | 6:24 am
    A corporate leader’s job is hardly easy.  He or she must efficiently manage employees, account for outside competition, note any changes in the industry landscape and if necessary, profoundly modify the operational model a business should employ.   Ironically, most leaders shrug in defiance at such duties due to their seemingly complex nature.  However, there are [...]

  • When To Rehearse and When To Shoot From the Heart

    timsanders
    14 May 2013 | 5:30 am
    Recently, I gave a talk on Relationship Power at a big conference that required quite a bit of research prior hand and nuance during delivery.  I needed to create a one-of-a-kind talk to specifically help two groups come together, develop empathy for each other and collaborate.  As an outsider, you can’t wing this, or you’ll [...]

  • Know When To Let Go

    Doug Dickerson
    11 May 2013 | 3:00 pm
    When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it’s best to let him go. – Abraham Lincoln A well-known story in some sectors of coastal communities such as where I live is that of the crab mentality. It is used to describe selfish or short-sighted people [...]
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    Samuel Bacharach Blog

  • This Week’s 10 Best Leadership Links [May 6-10]

    Samuel B. Bacharach
    10 May 2013 | 9:04 am
    Here are this week’s 10 best leadership links–hot off the presses: 1. A well made slideshow describing why some people get stuck and advice on how to get unstuck. 2. Title says it all: 7 employees you should fire now. 3. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has retired this week. Here are his 7 secrets for CEOs. 4. Don’t bore your employees. Keep it short and entertaining. 5. A few alternatives to PowerPoint worth looking into. 6. Interview gaffs you really shouldn’t be making. 7. 13 “timeless” lessons from David Ogilvy, the father of advertising.

  • Why Companies–Even Yours–Resist Change

    Samuel B. Bacharach
    7 May 2013 | 6:16 am
    There are five reasons organizations get stuck and refuse to change. If you work within an organization some of these may sound familiar to you. Read my full article on Inc.com.

  • This Week’s 10 Best Leadership Links [April 22-26]

    Admin
    26 Apr 2013 | 8:09 am
    This week learn what type of boss you really are and discover the creative energy one can gain from mongoose ownership. Without further ado here are this week’s 10 best leadership links: 1. Do you talk about TV too much? Perhaps it’s time to curb your TV musings while in the office…or when hiring new employees. 2. Prospect magazine polled over 10,000 people to find out who the biggest intellectuals of 2013 were. Leaders should be familiar with the results. 3. The 6 types of bosses. Which are you? 5. A list of weird habits from literary greats. Leaders take note:…

  • 5 Leadership Lessons From a Hollywood Pope

    Samuel B. Bacharach
    26 Apr 2013 | 7:05 am
    In an age of hubris, ego-driven entrepreneurs, and self-absorbed CEOs, two popes provide five lessons. Read  more in my Inc. column here.

  • 4 Reasons Your Employees Resist Change–And How to Overcome Them

    Samuel B. Bacharach
    17 Apr 2013 | 2:35 pm
    Entrepreneurs often want change–but sometimes certain staff members don’t want to budge. In my Inc. column I discuss four ways to get reluctant employees on board.
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    Enclaria: Change Starts Here

  • Four Tips for Getting Other People to Lead

    Heather Stagl
    14 May 2013 | 9:18 am
    Last week, I attended the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast, a day-long event with speakers such as John Maxwell, Coach K, Jack Welch, Condoleeza Rice and others. The event was held live in Atlanta and broadcast to 120,000 viewers gathered at hundreds of locations in North America. The location I attended had a photo booth with the Chick-Fil-A cows. It had been a while since I had immersed myself in an event solely focused on leadership (and not organizational change). Leadership used to be a big deal to me. In fact, before anyone had heard of Enclaria, my fledgling company was called Enclaria…

  • What I Am Really Up To at Enclaria

    Heather Stagl
    7 May 2013 | 7:34 am
    Earlier this year, Daryl Conner of Conner Partners asked a question of change practitioners in his blog post, A Serious Question for Serious Practitioners:  Is there something beyond the obvious you are hoping to achieve through your work? or in other words, What are you really up to? Besides personal ambition and helping clients achieve results, what underlying motives do we have for doing the work we do? While I invite you to answer the question for yourself, I thought I would take this opportunity to let you know what I’m really up to here at Enclaria. The Enclaria tagline says,…

  • The Surprising Thing Not to Do When People Resist Change

    Heather Stagl
    2 May 2013 | 6:44 am
    It can be frustrating when people resist the change you are implementing. When the people who need to change the way they work are pushing back, procrastinating or otherwise halting progress, the knee-jerk reaction may be to get their boss involved. After all, it’s easier to use the authority that’s already in place to get people to go along with change than it is to influence when you don’t have authority. But, getting the boss involved should not be your default way of handling resistance. The following are three reasons not to escalate the issue up to the boss when people resist…

  • Interview: Building a Remarkable Culture

    Heather Stagl
    23 Apr 2013 | 8:34 am
    This month on The Change Agent’s Dilemma, guest Tim Kuppler and I discuss building a remarkable culture. Tim is former President of Denison Consulting and founder of The Culture Advantage. In this episode, you’ll hear the hallmarks of a remarkable culture and learn the steps you can take to build a remarkable culture in your organization. Listen in to hear how to measure culture and what it means to build “culture muscle.” You can download his free e-book at www.The-Culture-Advantage.com. Listen to the show here (30 minutes): Be sure to visit the radio show page to…

  • Implement Change with More Influence, Confidence and Impact

    Heather Stagl
    17 Apr 2013 | 8:29 am
    Does your project seem like pushing a boulder uphill? Would you like to implement change with more influence, confidence and impact? If your job is to implement change in your organization, I’m guessing at least one and probably more of the following statements is true: Despite your efforts to get everyone on board and doing what they need to do, it’s not happening as quickly or as smoothly as you’d like (or as others expect). When it comes to your initiative, there is a lack of follow through by others in the organization. Colleagues make it clear they have other priorities that crowd…
 
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    Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School

  • Negotiate Conditions – And Bring Value to the Deal

    PON_Staff
    24 May 2013 | 5:31 pm
    Like a contingency, a condition to a deal is a related though far less common deal-structuring technique. A condition is an ‘if’ statement like a contingency, but, whereas a contingency depends on unknown future events, a condition is entirely within the control of the parties involved. Propose Conditions to Entering Talks Recently a couple was interested in buying a vacation house on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts. They found their ideal retreat and submitted a bid, only to learn that the seller had just received another offer. The seller…

  • Win-Win Negotiations: Managing Your Counterpart’s Satisfaction

    PON_Staff
    23 May 2013 | 12:12 pm
    As the following points will demonstrate, ensuring that your counterpart is satisfied with a particular deal requires you to manage several aspects of the negotiation process, including his outcome expectations, his perceptions of your outcome, the comparisons he makes with others, and his overall negotiation experience itself. 1. Outcome Expectations Prior to and during a negotiation, people develop expectations about the type of deal they will receive. Work by business school professors Richard Oliver and Bruce Barry of Vanderbilt University and Sundar Balakrishnan of the University of…

  • Negotiation Design Dimensions: A Checklist

    Keith Lutz
    21 May 2013 | 7:15 am
    Here the Program on Negotiation offers a checklist of negotiation design categories. Whether your overall negotiation design is decide-announce-defend (DAD) or full-consensus (FC), or a hybrid of both, raising these issues is usually preferable to falling into a set of important decisions by default. Design Choices: Explicit or Implicit? When planning upcoming talks, should you and the other parties discuss the range of design choices explicitly or let them unfold on the fly? Clarity is usually preferable, because discussion can spur efficiency and commitment to head off misunderstandings…

  • Plant a Trust Land Mine

    Keith Lutz
    20 May 2013 | 1:32 pm
    Establishing trust between yourself and your counterpart can be difficult in any negotiation – especially if you have little to no history with one another. Find some tips on how to build trust in your next negotiation. In any negotiation, you’re likely to have information about the other party or about the deal (industry facts, economic health, new products, and so on) that the other party might not know you have. To gain some measure of your counterpart’s trustworthiness, plant a “trust land mine”: • Ask some questions to which you already know the answers. • If someone…

  • Chad Carr

    Keith Lutz
    17 May 2013 | 11:38 am
    Chad Carr is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and a Clinical Instructor in the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program. He supervises students on client projects related to dispute resolution and teaches negotiation and dispute systems design. Chad has taught negotiation as a visiting professor at the University of Oregon Law School, an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, and a lecturer at Vermont Law School. Chad spent two years at Ropes & Gray, LLP in Boston, assisting large corporations with major transactions including debt financing,…
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    Utpal Vaishnav

  • On Taking a Bank Loan

    Utpal Vaishnav
    17 May 2013 | 10:42 pm
    Are you not getting a lot of phone calls from almost every Bank out there offering you different sort of loans? Have you ever thought why? You think taking a Bank Loan is an opportunity for you but in reality, opposite is true. You’re an opportunity to the Bank offering you the loan. It’s their business, baby! Every day, you’ve invested in yourself and made some choices. Your choices are reflected in the Bank accounts you have or the credit cards you use. You’re the product of your choices, active or passive. Does the Bank offering you the loan deserve that product?

  • Weekend Trip to Diu

    Utpal Vaishnav
    5 May 2013 | 12:07 am
    Why do people from Gujarat often love to visit Diu? So they can enjoy the hard drinks that they officially cannot in the dry state, right? Wrong. That’s not the only reason. People go to Diu to find a beautiful blend of sea, sand and sun with an interesting history. Now a Union Territory, separated from Goa in 1987, it was a Portuguese colony until 1961. Find more info here. Last week, three friends and I went for a weekend trip to Diu to spend some quality time together. Three of them came directly from Rajkot. I reached directly from Ahmedabad. We reached early morning. Our booking at…

  • Satirical Illustrations by Pawel Kuczynski

    Utpal Vaishnav
    21 Apr 2013 | 8:46 am
    Such as: and more here.   The post Satirical Illustrations by Pawel Kuczynski appeared first on Utpal Vaishnav.

  • Scrap That Beautiful Design

    Utpal Vaishnav
    18 Apr 2013 | 11:49 am
    Got an email from a friend that took me to visit his web site. Got surprised to see the same old site that was developed in 2005. That site was pretty beautiful but the design was outdated. Eight years and no change. It was not responsive. Not looking good in iPad and mobile devices. Some text content was written as images. Its user experience was less than average at its best. So, I couldn’t resist calling him. “I can’t change that design!” He objected He said it was a great design. It was. He said he personally invested several months to develop it. He did. But in 2013 his…

  • Stop Calling Yourself an Innovative Company

    Utpal Vaishnav
    17 Apr 2013 | 1:15 pm
    Do you call your company an innovative company? Like most companies, you too want to claim to be innovative, isn’t it? The truth is: most companies are, well, not at all innovative. And, that’s okay. If you develop an average product or provide an average service consistently, chances are, you will make good profits. Those profits might be in millions and still you may not be an innovative company. If you really are, don’t say it. Let people take a note of it. Prove it with the output you produce. Best kind of innovation is: when people make a note of it because it is…
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    It's Worth Noting | By Levi Smith

  • Mark McClain interview – “It’s a competitive advantage”

    Levi Smith
    2 May 2013 | 3:05 pm
      Mark McClain is a friend, dedicated family man and experienced leader and entrepreneur in the Austin, Texas tech scene. Mark serves as CEO of his latest co-founded venture, SailPoint Technologies, a leading enterprise identity and access management application. During our time together, Mark shared how lessons learned as a father and leader in other organizations that were less attentive to culture have shaped his leadership philosophy. Today, Mark and his co-founder at SailPoint are committed to maintaining a healthy culture – a competitive advantage in the marketplace for…

  • Forget sitting or standing meetings. Start walking.

    Levi Smith
    18 Apr 2013 | 2:06 pm
      What if the following could be said of your team meetings? They help us focus They help us get exercise They help us think more clearly None of these benefits could be said of a typical meeting around a desk or table, or even standing. If you want to improve your one-on-one and small team meetings overnight, insist that they take place while going for a walk. Walking meetings are obviously impractical for larger groups or if there is no way to avoid needing to look at a computer screen or document. Setting those two situations aside, here is how walking meetings can make a big impact:…

  • Ken Schiller interview – “Because of Me”

    Levi Smith
    5 Apr 2013 | 9:13 am
    Quick order and fast food restaurants are not typically known for amazing service. For a variety of reasons, including inexperienced workers, high turnover, quick pace and low profit margin, it is very difficult to operate one of these restaurants in a way that consistently puts a smile on both customers’ and employees’ faces. Ken Schiller, along with his co-founder and co-owner Brian Nolen, have set their restaurants apart by emphasizing culture and creating an exceptional customer and employee experience. After 18 years in the business, their team is continuing to grow, innovate…

  • Where would you invest?

    Levi Smith
    28 Mar 2013 | 10:18 am
      Let’s say there are two companies you are considering investing in and that besides the differences described below they are identical: Company X: exceptional products, marketing and execution unhealthy company culture, which is failing to attract and retain exceptional talent (employees) Company Y: average products, marketing and execution exceptional company culture, which is attracting and retaining exceptional talent I would put my money on Company Y. Subpar products, marketing and execution can be corrected if the company is attracting and retaining exceptional talent.

  • Donavon Roberson interview – “We believe in people and their dreams”

    Levi Smith
    13 Mar 2013 | 4:40 pm
      How would your employees respond if you told them you were going to help them achieve their personal dreams? How would you respond if fulfilling a dream pulled a good employee away from your organization? In this podcast interview with Donavon Roberson, Dream Manager at Infusionsoft (a CRM provider for small businesses), we discuss what it looks like to get behind employees’ dreams and the impact on employees, customers and the bottom-line. During the interview, Donavon references a couple of books and resources, all of which are linked to below for your convenience. Enjoy!
 
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    Eblin Group

  • Mindful Mondays: What Songs Are On Your Mindfulness Playlist?

    Scott
    20 May 2013 | 5:43 am
    Music can have a powerful impact on mindfulness. Certain songs or genres can be totally distracting or annoying while others set you up to remember why you do what you do as a leader. Likewise, there are distracting and annoying things about smartphones and there are also very useful things about the devices. One of those is the capacity they give you to carry around a mindfulness playlist in your pocket. Having one can be very useful when you need some help in refocusing on a more mindful approach to leadership and life. As an example, there are three songs on my mindfulness playlist that I…

  • Seven Tips for Taming Your Calendar

    Scott
    16 May 2013 | 5:09 am
    A couple of years ago, I wrote a post called Five Ways to Get Your Calendar Under Control. Since then, I’ve used it as the starting point for a conversation among high potential leaders in our Next Level Leadership® group coaching program. As the inflow becomes heavier and the expectations become higher, taming the calendar beast is a common challenge for leaders. Here are seven of the best ideas I’ve heard lately from leaders who are figuring out how to leverage their time to get important stuff done: Click headline to continue...

  • Mindful Mondays – Breathe to Relax

    Scott
    13 May 2013 | 4:47 am
    If you’ve been following Mindful Mondays, you know that I’m a big fan of stretching and breathing. As I mentioned in this video, combining the two can be a quick and effective way to take a break that pushes the reset button on your brain. Of course, you may want to take a quick break by focusing on one or the other. If I had to pick one to start with, it would be breathing. Obviously, we all do it and, because we do, it’s always available as a resource for slowing things down enough to step back, relax and reset your perspective. Click headline to continue...

  • Why Leaders Need to Be Indifferent

    Scott
    9 May 2013 | 5:23 am
    A couple of months ago, I was talking with an executive leader I’ve known for a few years. One of the things I’ve noticed about him in that time is that his confidence has grown in a very appropriate and admirable way. I mentioned this to him and, in reply, he laughed softly and said, “It’s a fine line between confidence and indifference.” Click headline to continue...

  • Mindful Mondays – Choose Your Word for the Week

    Scott
    6 May 2013 | 6:07 am
    The ancient Greeks had a word called praxis which is the root of our modern day English words, practical and practice. Aristotle described the end goal of praxis as action. When he wrote about praxis, one of his points was that if you want to be a certain way, start acting that way. Click headline to continue...
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    StrategyDriven

  • Recommended Resources – The Strategist

    StrategyDriven
    23 May 2013 | 4:14 am
    The Strategist: Be the Leader Your Business Needs by Cynthia Montgomery About the Book The Strategist by Cynthia Montgomery challenges readers to ask “Am I a strategist?” and goes on to provide illustrated examples and insights into the skills and sensibilities all senior leaders must possess in order to guide their organization to ongoing growth and success. Cynthia presents the lessons learned from leading executives while teaching at the Harvard Business School. Within her book, Cynthia covers topics including: Strategy & Leadership Are you a strategist? The Myth of the…

  • Organizational Performance Measures Best Practice 23 – RACI Matrix

    Nathan Ives
    21 May 2013 | 4:53 am
    Performance measurement systems monitor the behaviors and results of the organization’s workgroups and, in some cases, individuals; providing periodic reinforcement of the achievement of desired outcomes. This reinforcement can only occur when an individual understands his/her role as associated with a metric and receives and understands the associated performance information. Such role designation and communication is fostered through development of a RACI matrix specifically associated with each performance measure within the system. The text above is only a small portion of this article.

  • People don’t know what they have. It’s better than money.

    Jeffrey Gitomer
    20 May 2013 | 4:15 am
    I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “Count your blessings.” I wonder how you interpret that. I wonder how you count them. I wonder how you take advantage of them. My biggest wonder is how grateful are you for your blessings. HERE’S AN IDEA: Re-look at your blessings from a different perspective. Are they blessings or are they assets? Are they blessings or are they attributes? Are they blessings or are they gifts that you can share with others? GOOD NEWS: There are no right answers to those questions. BETTER NEWS: You have to determine the answers for yourself. BEST…

  • Complimentary Resource – Look Forward with Predictive Sales Analytics

    StrategyDriven
    19 May 2013 | 4:11 am
    Look Forward with Predictive Sales Analytics by Birst, Inc. Unlock greater value from Sales Force automation with advanced sales analytics. Amongst the most widely deployed business applications today, Sales Force Automation (SFA) offers a goldmine of operational sales data, yet built-in reporting and analytics are oftentimes inadequate to answer meaningful questions. Hindered by simplistic analytics and siloed data, analysis is further limited to a ‘rearview mirror’ perspective of what’s happened. What does it take for organizations to tap into this wealth of information to…

  • Recommended Resources – The 4 Disciplines of Execution

    StrategyDriven
    16 May 2013 | 4:54 am
    The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals by Jerry Weissman About the Book The 4 Disciplines of Execution provides the steps needed to repeatably translate one’s business strategy into the day-to-day activities instrumental to realizing organizational goals. These disciplines include: Focus on the Wildly Important – Give your best effort to those few goals that really matter instead of giving mediocre effort to dozens of goals. Act on the Lead Measures – Carefully track the lead measures and let the lag measures take care of themselves. Keep a…
 
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    Management is a Journey

  • May Management Journey Blog Carnival

    Robert Tanner
    20 May 2013 | 11:59 pm
    May has arrived pretty quickly and summer is around the corner! It’s also time for the Management Journey Blog Carnival. This month I have 12 selections. Topics this month include communication, social media, marketing, generations in the workplace, sales, career management, entrepreneurship,  leadership development, emotional intelligence, and other topics. The featured article that starts us [...]

  • Saturday’s Quote – Virginia Satir on Emotional Intelligence

    Robert Tanner
    18 May 2013 | 12:21 pm
    Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you deal with it is what makes the difference. — Virginia Satir

  • We Don’t Need Leaders or Managers! We Need Both!!

    Robert Tanner
    13 May 2013 | 9:38 am
    OK, let me warn you, this post is a bit of a rant! I believe it’s a necessary rant, however, as I need to get a few things off my chest. I  get bothered sometimes by what I read in business circles. It’s this perpetual discussion of what is most important to business: management or [...]

  • Saturday’s Quote – Ralph Ellison on Self Awareness

    Robert Tanner
    11 May 2013 | 10:31 am
    When I Discover Who I Am, I’ll Be Free —  Ralph Ellison

  • The Carnival of HR – Early May Edition

    Robert Tanner
    8 May 2013 | 10:28 am
    This month I am happy to be the guest host for Shauna Moerke’s Carnival of HR. The Carnival of HR is a long running blog carnival that focuses on human resources and has active participation from bloggers around the world. For this edition, I had no special theme. I just wanted to collect the wisdom [...]
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    Leadership by us

  • Unleashing the Power of your Story : The Larger Context – Ideas and Meaning by Steven Ober

    Steven Ober
    6 May 2013 | 9:30 am
    “There is nothing so practical as a good theory”                                                                                                                                                                      Kurt Lewin This post is my fourth in a series on what I call Leadership Story Work, which is a way leaders and others can dramatically increase their effectiveness and authenticity through working with their deep personal stories. In this post I will summarize core ideas reflected in story work. …

  • Mirror, Mirror on the Wall… by Carol Mase

    Carol Mase
    25 Apr 2013 | 6:42 am
      For any CxO or company seeking to adopt or scale Agile for their software development groups – get ready for some organizational soul searching!  The mindset and processes of Agile reflect back your culture, your enacted (not espoused) Theory of Management, and the structural inefficiencies of your org chart…and these are just the beginning! Culture Clash Culture is the oxygen of your organization.  You are swimming in it, nurtured by it, yet it remains invisible.  Ask any new employee to describe Culture and you will get a sense of the constraints it places on the…

  • Embedding the Ethos of Community: Moonshot #2 by Carol Mase

    Carol Mase
    19 Mar 2013 | 10:21 am
    I admit, this took some research!  Let’s start by defining what we are trying to do, Wikipedia to the rescue. Ethos: Greek, meaning character, used to describe guiding beliefs, ideals, and the spirit which motivates them. Community: a group whose intention, beliefs, resources preferences, needs and risks affect and shape its identity.  This captures how organizational culture emerges from our work together and our ethos. The leadership challenge is to understand how to embed these so that we can use them to influence our company’s success (sustained competitiveness and customer…

  • Mending the Soul by Carol Mase

    Carol Mase
    19 Feb 2013 | 11:57 am
    Moonshot #1: Management That Serves a Higher Purpose (1) As more companies embrace and begin adopting the frameworks of our intersection (see January 7, 2013 blog post), the role of managers, supervisors, and bosses is changing.  With the rise of self-organizing and self-managing teams, one could ask: What is the Purpose of Management, period?  To look for the higher purpose of management, let’s examine it from each perspective in the intersection. Systems Thinking: All frameworks in the intersection recognize the individual as the source of organizational knowledge and learning.  Peter…

  • Intersectional Thinking Requires a Different Mindset by Carol Mase

    Carol Mase
    22 Jan 2013 | 1:35 pm
    If an Agile Enterprise is an intersection of five big ideas that can, and will, change the way we experience work (see January 7, 2013 blog on this topic), how do we begin the process? Many accomplished thinkers are addressing this question.  For an ongoing review see The Drucker Society European Blog or Steve Denning.  To join the conversation, the Stoos Network is having a global online event this week.  If you are still on the sidelines and want to see how things unfold, consider this. What is required, is a change in mindset for most leaders, managers, and employees.  This is not…
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    The Leadership Advisor

  • Is Your Leadership Engaging?

    William Powell
    21 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    A couple of weeks ago, I posted a tweet and it seemed to gather a bit of interest. A good friend of mine, and all around HR superstar Steve Browne, made the suggestion that I write a blog post about it. I respect Steve and so this one’s dedicated to you my friend. Thanks for the encouragement! As a leader, we definitely want those on our team or in our organization to have the highest levels of engagement. We encourage them, explain how important things are, and sometimes we even try and bribe people with things and put a reward sticker on it so we can check off an HR box. The big…

  • The Impact Of External Engagement

    William Powell
    14 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Recently I was having a discussion with a client company CEO who wanted to improve and be more purposeful in the development and perpetuation of the atmosphere within their organization. We talked about their goals, what he thought was going well, why he thought it was going well and what he thought could/should be improved. In the course this discussion he said, “Our people are very engaged. They are professionals who take great pride in their work.” On the surface, this is great news. I mean, who wouldn’t want “very engaged professionals who take great pride in their…

  • Behavior, Leadership And Engagement

    William Powell
    7 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    In my work I have begun to notice a slight disconnect within organizations. There is leadership. There is HR. Then there is this abstract idea of employee engagement. Often times leadership sees the need for more engagement, so a conversation is had with HR. Then HR does some proverbial leg-work and a bit later leadership is brought back into the picture in a very prescriptive manner in hopes of facilitating engagement. It all sounds quite disjointed and, as a matter of fact, it is. The reality is, engagement and leadership are much closer together than most leaders imagine. There is a…

  • Building The Contextual Revolution

    William Powell
    30 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    Thankfully, the importance of culture has gained a well-deserved place on the organizational stage. Its influence on the various aspects within a company is far-reaching and is a key element for success. Culture is also paramount in developing a competitive advantage for any organization. Companies already have a bead on the key component to developing culture, and that’s leadership. Where many fall short, is in understanding the nature of the relationship between leadership and culture. The most prevalent elements of leadership which drive culture – all by example, of course…

  • Culture, Engagement & Emotions

    William Powell
    23 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    For the sake of making solid business decisions, there has been much effort to weed emotion out of the business world. It has developed emotionless phrases like, “Nothing personal, it’s just business” or “Don’t let emotions make decisions for you”. These phrases have validity and value, but only when placed in the proper context. This idea is not, and should not become, a vanilla paint that gets slathered on every aspect of life within an organization. Most executives understand the value in having a quality organizational culture. Thanks to Peter…
 
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    Sword Tips

  • Productivity Video | How to Build a Powerful One-Page Executive Dashboard

    Lary Kirchenbauer
    15 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    For years, I have used a 1 page Mind Map as a summary of all of the activities that have my attention at any given time. There’s something uniquely appealing, isn’t there, about being able to grab a single sheet of paper and know we won’t get off track if we just pay attention to what’s on it? It is absolutely the solution the keep from feeling buried all the time and to maximize your Personal Productivity. Just One Piece of Paper Even in our busiest times, most of us can focus on one piece of paper to make sure we don’t overlook something important, can’t…

  • Productivity: The most comfortable ways to use your iPad … and more

    Lary Kirchenbauer
    1 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    I’ve been traveling more than ever lately, and wanted to share with you several products that really make a difference in how I use my iPad, in different environments, to consume the wide range of materials I read and watch. Keep reading for some other ideas, too. Twelve South HoverBar | © 2013 Twelve South LLC. All Rights Reserved. The HoverBar from Twelve South is a simple device that attaches to a computer stand, e.g., to the base of an iMac … or to a different workstation … or to a tabletop, kitchen counter, bookshelf or another surface. It uses a padded clamp that is…

  • Leadership | Why You Should Listen to the Most Beautiful Woman in the World

    Lary Kirchenbauer
    30 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    “Do you ever pay attention to what’s written on the Internet about you?” “Nope. I know what my intention is. People’s opinions of me who don’t know me and have never met me, that’s none of my business. That’s a projection of theirs, and it has nothing to do with me.” Earlier, my wife put the most recent copy of People magazine on my reading table, not for me to read but just to set it down somewhere while she did something else. Do you see the difference? To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. ~ Elbert Hubbard Of course, when I saw the headline that it was…

  • Leadership Insights | The 8 Principles of Effective Delegation

    Lary Kirchenbauer
    17 Apr 2013 | 4:00 am
    What’s Your Delegation Score? Delegation isn’t just a handoff so you can walk away and do something else. It is a critical leadership skill that you must master if you want to expand your reach, take control of your time and achieve the work-life harmony you’re seeking. Learn the 8 Principles of Effective Delegation.   How often have you failed with delegation? How often have you wondered why a project went wrong, or why someone never finished the task you were counting on them to finish? How many times have you complained about projects that you’re managing ……

  • Leadership Lessons: Wild & Crazy Guys or Masters of our Domain?

    Lary Kirchenbauer
    15 Apr 2013 | 8:28 am
    What Does It Take to be a Great Leader? Nothing in life travels in a neat formation accompanied by bugles and cavalry. A lot of it shows up filthy and unkempt, prominent in the mess we’ve made around our foxhole. These lessons are typically the offspring of hubris, naivete and ignorance … or from overlooking the land mines hidden beneath our feet. We’re sharing valuable and practical leadership tips and tools to help you BECOME a better leader. First, you must start BEING a better leader  … implementing NOW the changes necessary to adopt the proven strategies of…
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    The Practical Leader

  • Monkey Management: Creating Empowerment and Growth

    Jim Clemmer
    22 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    My last blog (“How Many Monkeys Are on Your Back ?“) outlined the all-too-common problems that come from the vicious Manager-Employee Dependence Spin Cycle. In their excellent book, The Extraordinary Coach: How the Best Leaders Help Others Grow, Jack Zenger and Kathleen Stinnett outline this virtuous Empowerment and Growth Cycle: This cycle reverses the downward spiral of Monkey Madness and creates an upward spiral to extraordinary performance. In Chapter Two, “Empty Cup, New Tea,” Jack and Kathleen suggest leaders reflect on these questions to examine their underlying…

  • How Many Monkeys Are On Your Back?

    Jim Clemmer
    20 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    My last blog (Breaking the Manager-Employee Dependence Spin Cycle) discussed how Dave, a recent participant in The Extraordinary Coach workshop, realized he’d locked himself into an ever increasing cycle of taking on more and more of his employees problems. He was getting busier and busier while his employees were getting ever more frustrated waiting for him to solve their problems. This all too familiar problem was identified decades ago in a Harvard Business Review article by William Oncken Jr. and Donald L. Wass entitled, “Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?”…

  • Breaking the Manager-Employee Dependence Spin Cycle

    Jim Clemmer
    15 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    During last week’s first public workshop (these sessions are usually run in-house) of The Extraordinary Coach in Calgary, the lights came on for a manager from a technology company.  Like many managers — and especially those in very technical organizations – Dave viewed coaching as directing, advising, and training his direct reports. Since he was promoted because of his deep technical expertise, he defined his role as the top technical problem solver in his team. That commonly held view — by both him and his team members — put Dave into this spin cycle: Dave…

  • A Common Misconception Hampering Leadership Skill Development

    Jim Clemmer
    13 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    In recent keynote presentations and workshops with HR and leadership development professionals, more and more participants have been embracing the approach of building on strengths. When presented with the powerful evidence and logic of strengths-based leadership development, most people are convinced. But it’s tough to let go of deeply ingrained practices and “conventional wisdom.” One participant recently sent me an e-mail after a session with this comment: “There is certainly value to building on strengths. However, I rarely notice mention of key competencies…

  • Six Essentials to Creating an Extraordinary Culture

    Jim Clemmer
    8 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    How would you describe the organizational culture of your dreams? What are its essential elements? How would people treat each other? What core values would shine brightly every day? If you could eavesdrop on members of your team describing their workplace at a family gathering or social event, what would you hope they’d say? We often lead exercises like this during executive planning retreats. We’ll then gather all the descriptions together and cluster them for key themes. This collage becomes “snapshots of our preferred future” and provides an ongoing and energizing…
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    Author Chris Brady's Blog

  • Trout Fisherman in Hell

    Chris Brady
    20 May 2013 | 8:02 am
    (Below is an excerpt from my next book, being crafted with love and blood even as you read this!) There is a hackneyed old story about a fisherman who believes he has died and gone to Heaven as he... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • An Audience of One

    Chris Brady
    1 May 2013 | 7:44 pm
    She knocks on the door to my office and waits until I motion her in. Politely she asks with expectant eyes if I'd like to visit her "gum store." For once making the right choice (trying to remember... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • AND (The Art of the Both)

    Chris Brady
    30 Apr 2013 | 7:14 am
    The word "the" is the most common in the English langauge. Hot on its heels in terms of amount of usage is the word "and." "And" is also a very important word when it comes to high achievement. We... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Don't Ever Let the Bozos Get You Down!

    Chris Brady
    12 Apr 2013 | 6:21 am
    If you are new to the pursuit of excellence, or are just launching upon your dream chase, or are just now responding to a calling on your life, you may need to be warned about something (or someone):... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Leadershift Happening Now

    Chris Brady
    5 Apr 2013 | 8:03 am
    Orrin Woodward and Oliver DeMille Launch a Leadershift My good friends Orrin Woodward and Oliver DeMille are set to release their groundbreaking book Leadershift in just a couple of weeks. If you are... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
 
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    The Forum Corporation

  • How to Lead in a Culture of ‘C’

    Kate Venier
    21 May 2013 | 6:28 am
    “Change is the only constant in life.”  – Heraclitus My friends, we are in a time of robust change.  That horse is out of the barn.  That train has left the station.  That ship has sailed.  You can’t escape change.  What you can do is learn to embrace it and help those around you to do the same.  Most people naturally react to change first in terms of how it affects the self – how change impacts their status quo.  Some are able to step out of this self-centered focus, understand the broader impacts, and recognize opportunities to guide others in finding clarity,…
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    Stop Workplace Drama

  • How to Stop Taking On Other People’s Problems

    Stop Workplace Drama
    24 May 2013 | 6:19 am
    When you stop taking on other people's issues, your energy is clear, your focus laser sharp, and your productivity and personal effectiveness will be off the charts.

  • It’s Not My Job: Attitudes that Inhibit Teamwork and Effectiveness

    Stop Workplace Drama
    20 May 2013 | 4:59 am
    I’m known to say, “It’s not about the [...]

  • When Safety Doesn’t Matter

    Stop Workplace Drama
    13 May 2013 | 3:22 am
    There are times when safety doesn't matter. I'm talking about personal safety, public safety, and workplace safety. Safety doesn't matter until it does. When tragedy strikes, safety matters. When safety is threatened by terrorists, safety matters.

  • Master Your Language Before Leading Others

    Stop Workplace Drama
    4 May 2013 | 1:42 pm
    How can I teach this stuff and STILL make these same mistakes? Instead of asking for what I wanted, I complained! Instead of seeking clarity, I made an assumption! One disappointment easy to handle. Two is my breaking point? Really????

  • Gaining Cooperation Through Course-Correction

    Stop Workplace Drama
    1 May 2013 | 9:49 am
    The negative or elitist attitude of the star performer trickles down but no one says anything. There is a difficult conversation that needed to be initiated, but the situation wasn't bad enough to merit an uncomfortable conversation. This is an example of resistance in the form of denial or procrastination that preceded the need for massive change.
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    Jesse Lyn Stoner ~ Seapoint Center

  • Stewardship Is an Alternative to Leadership

    Jesse Lyn Stoner
    20 May 2013 | 4:10 am
    Stewardship is about choosing service over self-interest. It begins with a willingness to be deeply accountable for a body larger than yourself -  for a team, an organization, a community. Imagine how strong your organization would be if everyone were deeply committed and accountable for its success. These are not new ideas. The evidence and research results are in, and we know for a fact that partnership and participation are the management strategies that create high-performance workplaces. Words like empowerment, collaboration and partnership have been tossed around for years. So how…

  • Simplify Leadership and Focus on What’s Essential

    Jesse Lyn Stoner
    13 May 2013 | 4:10 am
    Guest Post by Bill Treasurer Leadership: It’s amazing how complicated leadership “experts” have made the topic. I know because I am one of them. I am a senior ranking officer in what can only be called the Legion of Leadership Complexifiers (the LLC). We members of the LLC make our livelihood plumbing, parsing, and peddling leadership concepts. We use fancy words and nitpick the life out of the subject. Sure, most of us are well-intentioned, but by complicating leadership, we have created an unrealistic and largely unattainable standard for people to live up to. We set impossible…

  • Go For the Gold! 8 Tips to Create The Future You Desire

    Jesse Lyn Stoner
    7 May 2013 | 3:50 am
    Positive thinking can do wonders for your attitude. But it’s not enough to get you where you want to go. Instead of thinking positively about being great, imagine what great looks like. Visualize a picture of the end-result. Create a picture in your mind of the future you desire. Close your eyes and see it happening right now. If you’re concerned about giving a speech, it helps to imagine giving the speech successfully. But the real power is in visualizing the end result— see yourself getting a standing ovation at the end of your speech, or if you’re an athlete, see…

  • The Space Between Supervising Closely and Delegating

    Jesse Lyn Stoner
    30 Apr 2013 | 3:50 am
              Most of us know what Supervising Closely looks like. It’s doing things like: Setting goals. Telling what needs to be done. Explaining how to do it. Setting timelines. Checking progress. Providing frequent feedback. And most of us know what Delegating looks like: You leave them alone and let them do their job. If you want to be an effective leader, you need to be able to hang out in the space in the middle. It doesn’t work when you try to jump over that space. When you jump from Closely Supervising to Delegating. Nancy decided to delegate her calendar to…

  • Introverts: 6 Ways to Maximize Your Natural Strengths

    Jesse Lyn Stoner
    22 Apr 2013 | 3:50 am
      Guest Post by Jennifer B. Kahnweiler I am delighted to host this guest post by my colleague Jennifer Kahnweiller in celebration of the launch of her excellent new book Quiet Influence: The Introvert”s Guide to Making a Difference.  Jennifer is recognized world-wide as the “go-to” expert on the power of introverts following the success of her first book The Introverted Leader.   Who gets their voice heard in the office? Now more than ever, it’s not the ones shouting to make themselves known.  It’s the highly effective quiet influencers:  introverts…
 
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    Braithwaite Innovation Group

  • Lead Yourself First

    Jane Perdue
    14 May 2013 | 7:34 am
    Today’s guest author is Bill Treasurer, Chief Encouragement Officer of Giant Leap Consulting. His latest book is Leaders Open Doors. Bill is also the author of the bestselling book Courage Goes to Work along with the training kit Courageous Leadership: A Program for Using Courage to Transform the Workplace. Bill has led courage-building workshops for [...]The post Lead Yourself First appeared first on Braithwaite Innovation Group.

  • Motivation and Change: Raising the Bar

    Sharon Becker
    8 May 2013 | 7:06 am
    Sharon Becker, LISW, ACSW, today’s guest author, is a licensed private practice therapist with over 25 years of counseling experience. How to motivate others, whether it is your child, employee, colleague or friend, is never simple. It requires the delicate balance of constructive feedback, sensitivity to the recipient and inspiration. You must meet the person [...]The post Motivation and Change: Raising the Bar appeared first on Braithwaite Innovation Group.

  • Emotional Bank Account – Currency Matters

    Amy Diederich
    30 Apr 2013 | 6:17 am
    Sally is a controller for a large privately-held company. After fourteen years of service and completion of every assignment and development activity she was offered, she was passed over for a long-desired promotion to CFO. She was considered for the position, yet ultimately an outside candidate was selected. The CEO of the company offered her [...]The post Emotional Bank Account – Currency Matters appeared first on Braithwaite Innovation Group.

  • Personal Branding: A Road to Self-Confidence

    Shauna Heathman
    25 Apr 2013 | 5:59 am
    Shauna Mackenzie Heathman is the owner and founder of Mackenzie Image Consulting, South Carolina’s only full-service image consulting firm, and the new Mark’d – Personal Branding Studio. Shauna is certified by both the Association of Image Consultants International and the International Institute of Image Communications. Put yourself out there It’s a scary, frightening concept to [...]The post Personal Branding: A Road to Self-Confidence appeared first on Braithwaite Innovation Group.

  • LeadBIG is on the fritz

    Jane Perdue
    9 Apr 2013 | 5:15 am
    4.22.13 Update:  What a grand exercise in patience the last two weeks have been! It’s taken a village of fix-it people to get LeadBIG back on track…and we’re nearly there, just a few more days ’til all is right again…woohoo! Thank you for hanging in here with me…so appreciated! ——————————————————————- Oh my, oh my! Two weeks [...]The post LeadBIG is on the fritz appeared first on Braithwaite Innovation Group.
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    Fun Team Building Events and Public Speaking Classes from The Leaders Institute

  • Frito-Lay Pepsico Build A Bike Dallas Texas

    Abigail-Orru
    23 May 2013 | 7:33 am
    Frito-Lay North America is the division of PepsiCo, hosted the Build-A-Bike team building event for a group of leaders coming in from around U.S. Frito-Lay North America is the division of PepsiCo that manufactures markets and sells corn chips, potato chips and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavored snacks, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips, Lay’s potato chips, Rold Gold pretzels, Ruffles chips. It was arranged for the event to be held at The Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife…

  • Celanese Camaraderie Quest Dallas Texas

    Abigail-Orru
    20 May 2013 | 6:56 am
    Celanese in Las Colinas an upscale, developed area in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas decided to have the Camaraderie Quest in the Las Colinas Canal area. Based in Dallas, Texas and with an employee base of approximately 7,600 worldwide, we serve our customers through operations located primarily in North America, Europe and Asia with 27 production facilities and an additional 9 strategic affiliate production facilities.  Celanese is a global technology and specialty materials company that engineers and manufactures a wide variety of products essential to everyday living. As a recognized…

  • Informatica Austin Texas Build-A-Bike

    Abigail-Orru
    7 May 2013 | 9:49 am
    Informatica of Austin Texas hosted the Build-A-Bike program for twenty of their sales team. Marlo Banks the Human Resources Director organized this event for the team so they could have fun while learning about working together more efficiently as a team. Informatica provides data integration software and services that enable organizations to gain a competitive advantage in today’s global information economy by empowering them with timely, relevant and trustworthy data for their top business imperatives. The Build-A-Bike event teaches teamwork skills through a series of challenges which the…

  • CSM Bakery Products Houston Texas Build-A-Bike

    Abigail-Orru
    1 May 2013 | 9:49 am
    In Houston Texas CSM Bakery Products brought their plant managers from all over the United States for an operations meeting. Scott Chaney, the plant Manager of Houston decided to end the day with the Build-A-Bike program to benefit some kids in their community. CSM Bakery Products is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amsterdam-based CSM, the global leader in the bakery products and natural food preservation/green chemicals arenas. CSM operates in 60 locations with over 9,500 employees worldwide. The North American division, Bakery Supplies North America (BSNA), is active in the U.S., Canada, and…

  • Sabre Holdings Build-A-Bike Fort Worth Texas

    Abigail-Orru
    1 May 2013 | 9:47 am
    The Sabre Holdings group gathered at the Embassy Suites in Fort Worth Texas for the Build-A-Bike team building event. Sabre is a global technology company, our innovative technology is used by more than a billion people around the world to plan, book and get to their destination at a time and price that’s right for them. We work behind the scenes to make the world a better place, one journey at a time. The Build-A-Bike program was a segue for a week long session on the importance of communication in the workplace. Build-A-Bike uses a series of challenges and activities to encourage team…
 
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    Baldrige.com

  • How Can We Perform Better?

    Joseph A. De Feo
    20 May 2013 | 10:13 am
    In the current economic downturn, a lot of organizations are doing more with less. Fewer people. Less money. Same ambitious goals. Businesses have been slow to hire because of the higher productivity of the people they’ve retained. If you’ve seen your organization’s strategic plan, you have a good idea what its goals are and some ideas about how you can help achieve them. At the same time, you’re probably busy enough not to be looking for more work. So how do you make your job more interesting and your role in the organization more valuable without burning yourself out with the…

  • The Architect of Quality & Statistical Quality Control

    Joseph A. De Feo
    14 May 2013 | 8:53 am
    Section 4.2 of the Baldrige criteria ask applicants how their organization manages and grows its knowledge assets and learns. The processes behind the assurance of quality and availability of data, information, software, and hardware needed by the workforce, suppliers, partners, collaborators, and, of course, customers, are outlined. Applicants are expected to describe how they acquire their data, how they know it’s good data, and how they use it. In Dr. Joseph M. Juran’s 2004 book, Architect of Quality, he describes the birth of Statistical Quality Control at AT&T’s Hawthorne plant…

  • Buzzword: Baldrige?

    Joseph A. De Feo
    25 Apr 2013 | 8:31 am
    Spreading the word about Baldrige is one of the biggest challenges faced by the Baldrige community. The principles of the Criteria are simple, logical, and brilliantly successful when implemented correctly, yet sometimes it seems as though only a small segment of organizational leaders seem to know about them. Those that are in the loop are fanatics, but I think many of us struggle to understand why the rest of the world hasn’t caught on yet. At the Quest Conference earlier this month, a new session was added to the lineup that this author thinks was on the cusp of something great, which…

  • Conducting Collaborative Assessments

    Er Ralston
    4 Apr 2013 | 6:35 am
    As the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program celebrates its 25th year, it continues to evolve to meet the needs of key stakeholders. Recently, the program announced that it will offer Collaborative Assessments as a new service. The announcement states that this assessment against the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence will provide timely, actionable feedback to be used immediately to improve organizational performance. While not explicitly stated, the service seems to be targeting organizations that may be new to the Baldrige Criteria. So you may be wondering, “What is a…

  • Baldrige Fits In Everywhere!

    Joseph A. De Feo
    19 Mar 2013 | 8:10 am
    A recent FastCompany article entitled “How the Most Successful Brands Take a Peek into the Future” wound itself around a handful of facets that a successful futures-insights company should embrace. The author, Mark McNeilly, wrote about organizations having the ability to take advantage of the future by listening to their customers, competitors, and comparables. Perhaps inadvertently, he has summarized a number of Baldrige criteria questions, and in doing so gave yet another example of how Baldrige can be applied in any organization, regardless of size or industry. Real-time marketing…
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    Leadership Learning Community blogs

  • #CreatingSpace2013 Tweet Chat Transcript & Resource Links

    Eleanor Cooney
    1 May 2013 | 12:20 pm
    #CreatingSpace2013 Tweet ChatTranscript & Resource Links: We want to thank you for joining the #CreatingSpace2013 Tweet Chat on Wednesday, May 1st 2013! We also extend a warm thanks to our catalysts for Creating Space: June Holley, Network Weaver,  Caroline McAndrews of the Building Movement Project, Odin Zackman of DIG IN and Deborah Meehan of the Leadership Learning Community for their participation.Check out the resources that were shared during the chat and the transcript for complete coverage of the discussion.If you weren't able to join, or are new to Twitter- we want to…

  • Not the Usual Suspects in Leadership Development

    Lauren Rodriguez
    30 Apr 2013 | 12:29 pm
    Over the last year that I have been working at LLC, I have been learning a lot about what leadership development looks like, how it is defined in different contexts, and how it’s applied. As I am learning more about development of individuals, within the culture of their communities, I have observed programs and organizations that build up leadership capacity as a process; a process of learning, growth, and personal strength development. And many times these transformative leadership opportunities take place outside the of traditional leadership development programs. Whether it’s bringing…

  • LLC MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Rahsaan Harris of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy

    Deborah Meehan
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:52 pm
    I met Rahsaan Harris, the Executive Director of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy, at the Independent Sector meeting in San Francisco last April.  I knew instantly that Rahsaan was a kindred spirit as we joined a round table conversation about the IS initiative on Leadership Talent in the sector.  I was excited by conversations with Rahsaan and his colleague Kate Seely about network leadership and the contributions of next generation leadership.  After the meeting I had additional conversations with Rahsaan and Kate about how to be intentional about our partnership and…

  • Guest Blog Post: Breaking New Ground to Scale Social Innovation and Impact: What Will It Take?

    LLC Staff
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:45 pm
    By Odin Zackman, DIG IN In early May, 130 passionate practitioners committed to transformative leadership development for social change will gather in Baltimore for Creating Space X. These gatherings are unlike any that I have attended, serving as a crucible for connection and learning to enhance leadership development practice. I am always buoyed by the combination of experience and dedication to making a difference that participants share. The hope—particularly with this year’s theme of “Breaking New Ground”—is to provide inspiration and new perspectives to fuel…

  • The Mountaintop: The Sacrificial Lamb at the Top

    Miriam Persley
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:32 pm
    Earlier this month, I attended the last Bay Area showing of Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop,[1]” a fictional play inspired by the last moments of Dr. Martin Luther King’s life. It takes place on his last day on earth, as he is battling with the public’s blame and guilt over the death of Larry Payne,[2] a 16-year old boy who died when a march lead by Dr. King turned violent the week before.  Here Dr. King is portrayed as a real person, who is not only reflecting on his life but also battling with his own demons and eventually accepts his own impending death. In this play, Martin…
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    Taking Smart Risks

  • Trust Me, It’s Possible

    Doug Sundheim
    24 May 2013 | 8:38 am
    Your big idea.  In the beginning it feels impossible.  On one hand, you know that can’t be true.  Very few ideas are actually impossible.  But on the other hand it doesn’t really seem possible either.  It seems so unclear.  So far away.  So hard.  So foreign.  It can paralyze you. I’ve been there.  It’s a ... Read More

  • An Open Letter to Retail Stores – You Need to Serve People to Survive

    Doug Sundheim
    13 May 2013 | 9:34 am
    Dear Retailers, Where are all the sales people who actually serve people? Where are all the people who look beyond the value of a single transaction—and instead make it their job to become experts and build relationships?  That’s what hooks a buyer, has them believe in you, has them buy from you, has them come ... Read More

  • You Go First: How Corporate Culture Really Changes

    Doug Sundheim
    22 Apr 2013 | 8:04 pm
    Most efforts to change corporate cultures are an utter waste of time, energy and money.  There’s always a clever framework full of boxes and lines along with a sharp person who can expertly explain how they all connect.  Data is gathered for each, and plans for change are created.  It all sounds undeniably smart. Then it ... Read More

  • Leadership Training is an Oxymoron

    Doug Sundheim
    4 Apr 2013 | 8:25 pm
    You can’t train someone to be a leader. You can provide a context in which they can learn to be leaders.  That’s everywhere, every day.  People learn to lead when their butt is on the line.  They learn to lead when they clarify a vision with others and then, through trial and error, make it ... Read More

  • “I F**ked Up”

    Doug Sundheim
    29 Mar 2013 | 9:05 am
    Let’s face it, if you’re trying to do anything complex or difficult (which we all are), you’re going to screw up.  You’re going to leave out a basic step in a simple process and look like an idiot.  You’re going to send a “benign” email that pisses people off.  You’re going to waste time on ... Read More
 
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    Leadershipwatch - Aad Boot

  • Leading Change: How Focus Creates Sustainable Change

    Leadershipwatch - Aad Boot
    16 May 2013 | 7:38 am
    Photo: Giovanna Faustini/Flickr (Creative Commons) You hear and read about it everywhere: if you want to create successful and sustained change in your company, it is important to be focused and to transfer that focus to your people and teams. In the turbulence of the daily business reality where situations change rapidly, in which you are easily swamped by different and changing demands, objectives, and challenges, it is not easy to create focus. Leaders who are able to create and maintain a good and shared focus are far more successful than those who aren’t! But what is a good focus?

  • The People Alignment Compass – Part 3

    Leadershipwatch - Aad Boot
    25 Apr 2013 | 8:09 am
    How People Perceive Authority Across Cultures A leaders’ guide to mastering the Essence of People Alignment in today’s business reality. Welcome!  The People Alignment Compass (PAC) is a new initiative on Leadershipwatch. It gives business leaders concrete tips and insights on how to increase their company’s success by creating a culture of alignment. The checklists are hands-on and based on real life situations that we encountered over the many years we have been working with leaders in a variety of organizations and within a range of different cultures. If there is one fundamental…

  • 6 Contrarian Reasons Why You’re Lucky to Be a Leader Today

    Leadershipwatch - Aad Boot
    28 Mar 2013 | 7:43 am
    Our Guest Post on Switch & Shift: Nobody ever said that being a leader is simple. Certainly not in today’s world where changes seem to happen at the speed of light; where communication and collaboration are heavily impacted by new technologies; where management techniques from the past no longer appear to provide an adequate answer to the challenges of the future. Being a 21st century leader is a role not to be envied! Or is it? Let’s look at it from a different angle. Today’s business reality offers leaders a number of interesting advantages. In fact, if people look to you for…

  • Leiding geven aan interculturele teams: Begrijp je de cultuurverschillen binnen jouw team?

    Leadershipwatch - Aad Boot
    21 Mar 2013 | 8:12 am
    ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————— This is a Dutch translation of a previously published Leadershipwatch article on how to deal with cross-cultural differences within your team. Click to read original article.

  • Sustainable Change: Know How to Handle Complexity Across Cultures

    Leadershipwatch - Aad Boot
    8 Mar 2013 | 3:57 am
    Photo: Alan Cleaver/Flickr (Creative Commons) Business leaders of today face a high level of complexity. Globalization, technological evolutions, market shifts, an increased pace of change. These have changed the business landscape. Business environments are more cross-cultural now than ever before. Cultural differences are changing working relationships and are impacting business success. How do 21st century leaders deal with this complexity in a sustainable way? How do they align cultural differences when dealing with complexity? Let’s pick out one important element! Cultural differences…
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    Thinking is Hard Work

  • What Women do to themselves: Training is not Development

    Colleen Sharen
    20 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Women are over-educated and under-developed. Yup. We think that going to a training class is the solution to our “development needs”.  Thus, more than 50% of both undergraduate and master’s degrees are now granted to women. But women still aren’t … Continue reading →

  • #Leadership: Too much of a good thing?

    Colleen Sharen
    13 May 2013 | 5:05 am
    My mom told me this over forty years ago, but somehow it took until 2010 for management researchers to find out that too much of a good thing, isn’t a good thing – known as the TMGT effect. These researchers … Continue reading →

  • Singing and #Leadership

    Colleen Sharen
    6 May 2013 | 5:47 am
    Strong leaders possess higher levels of three personality attributes: openness to experience, extraversion and conscientiousness and lower levels of agreeableness and neuroticism.  In other words, leaders like to try new things, are out-going, and are careful to ensure that tasks … Continue reading →

  • To Aspiring Leaders: Get Your Shit Together

    Colleen Sharen
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:06 am
    I’ve been posting recently about work ethic and professionalism for leaders and aspiring leaders. Here is why: Professor Scott Galloway (Stern School of Business, NYU) received this email: Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 7:15:11 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: … Continue reading →

  • It’s Only 5 Minutes. Wrong.

    Colleen Sharen
    22 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    It’s only five minutes.  That’s what we say to ourselves when we’re running late for an appointment or meeting. Five minutes really isn’t that much time in the grand scheme of things, right? Wrong. Five minutes is a lot of … Continue reading →
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    Minding Gaps

  • The Problem With Engagement Surveys in the Workplace

    Minding Gaps
    15 May 2013 | 12:50 pm
    By Thomas J. Lee   You're familiar, I presume, with those two old chestnuts of workplace wisdom: "What gets measured is what gets done" and "You can't manage what you can't measure."   Both pay tribute to the importance of measuring what we value in our work. And for the most part both have more than a faint ring of truth.   The trouble is that measuring some things is not as simple and straightforward as it sounds. You need a clear conceptual foundation: an understanding and consensus as to what exactly you're measuring. Then you need a gauge or scale or metric that applies sensibly to…

  • The Birthplace of Cynicism Is an Iceberg

    Minding Gaps
    1 May 2013 | 4:12 pm
    By Thomas J. Lee Companies and other large organizations—agencies or administrations of government, universities, non-profits, hospitals, museums, and the like—typically go to great lengths to craft their formal strategic messages.   These organizations appreciate the importance of carefully defining their mission and regularly communicating with key stakeholders like customers, employees, investors, and others who want to be kept abreast of their progress. That's what the formal voice is for.   It can veer off course, however, and sometimes it does. Leaders may neglect or ignore…

  • Leadership Is for Introverts (and Ambiverts), Too

    Minding Gaps
    30 Apr 2013 | 7:04 am
    By Thomas J. Lee Are you an introvert? Or are you, perhaps, somewhat more introverted than most people think you are? Or are you—don't laugh, the term is well-established—an ambivert, someone in the middle between an introvert and an extrovert? If you are any of these, and if your job or your aspiration calls on you to lead people to a better and brighter tomorrow, don't fall into the trap of denying yourself the opportunity to lead simply because of your quiet nature. Leadership is for you, too. In fact, some of history's greatest leaders have been introverts: Lincoln, Gandhi, and…

  • What Leaders Can Learn from the Best TV Commercial Ever

    Minding Gaps
    20 Apr 2013 | 5:45 pm
    By Thomas J. Lee You may be too young to remember the best TV commercial ever. If you’re not, don’t blame me for reminding you of the fact. As far as we’re concerned, the best TV commercial isn’t necessarily the cutest or the funniest. It isn’t necessarily titillating or provocative. It doesn’t necessarily have terrific cinematic or artistic qualities. It didn't necessarily run during a Super Bowl. It’s the best TV commercial ever simply because it makes its point so well. As proof of that, just about any American old enough to remember it can, almost 25 years after it first…

  • Trust Is Foundational to People Engagement

    Minding Gaps
    14 Apr 2013 | 5:54 am
    By Thomas J. Lee Lest any corporate executive, department head, plant manager, team leader, or any other administrator believe they can do whatever they damn well please with no adverse consequences on the engagement of people, consider some stunning correlations turned up by a St. Louis market research firm: Among people with strong trust in the management where they work, 63 percent would be happy to spend the remainder of their careers with that organization; among employees with weak trust, only 7 percent would. Among people with strong trust in management, 51 percent would invest their…
 
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    Performance and Talent Management Blog | Halogen Software

  • The history of employee engagement

    David Zinger
    24 May 2013 | 10:55 am
    When did you first hear the phrase employee engagement? What did you think those two words mean to you? What is your current experience with employee engagement? In our race for solutions to quarterly problems we often fail to gain perspective on where we have been, where we are, and where we are headed. This post will outline the evolution of employee engagement, examine the current state of employee engagement, and offer suggestions for authentic and healthy employee engagement into the future. This post is not an historical treatise on engagement. Rather it offers the opportunity to stand…

  • How leaders can impact organizational cultures with their actions and behaviors

    Lizz Pellet
    21 May 2013 | 10:13 am
    The actions and behaviors of leaders used to be hard to observe if the leadership wasn’t transparent or connected with their employees. Not so anymore with the advent of social media. It’s no longer that serious of a challenge for leaders to have a wider sphere of communication with the social tools that are available. Leaders can’t hide behind the “I don’t have time to travel around and talk with employees” party line anymore. It lands on a sour note to the people that matter the most, the ones that desire to be in the know and have some contact with their leaders. The old…

  • Does total rewards need gamification?

    David Creelman
    14 May 2013 | 10:25 am
    Do you roll your eyes when you see the word “gamification” or are you intrigued? I hope a bit of both. Skepticism may not be a competency on your job description but it is an important part of HR’s mental toolkit. At the same time anyone not open to new ideas shouldn’t be in management. Gamification really does hold promise for reward, however it can also go wrong. First, we need to understand what gamification—at its best—really is. Gamification is primarily the science of motivation in the online world. There are two words I want you to underline: “science” and…

  • Using Halogen Job Description Builder to create effective job descriptions

    Wendy Lowe
    9 May 2013 | 6:03 am
    In this post Jenny Hamilton, a Certified Human Capital Strategist and an Implementation Consultant for Halogen, shares how organizations can use Halogen Job Description Builder to create best-practice job descriptions. Jenny also shares how to leverage your job descriptions to support your other talent processes. Job descriptions are not only incredibly important for attracting and retaining top talent. They’re a critical tool that, when done well, create a foundation to support all talent management programs across your organization. But it’s easy to dismiss them as irrelevant when not…

  • Using talent management to support your organization’s corporate social responsibility

    Melany Gallant
    3 May 2013 | 7:53 am
    Today’s post comes from Neil Shah, implementation consultant and product sales specialist for Halogen Software. In this article Neil discusses how organizations can use their talent management programs to support corporate social responsibility activities, and how this can lead to great employee engagement and organizational alignment. Every business has an impact on the community and environment through its everyday operations (including products, supply chain, employment and energy use). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is about a company recognizing a responsibility for its impacts…
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    frame of reference

  • The Associate – Part 19

    Chris Fillebrown
    19 May 2013 | 2:13 am
    Frame of Reference presents: The Associate – Part 19 – The Conspiracy Unfolds by Chris Fillebrown

  • The Associate – Part 18

    Chris Fillebrown
    12 May 2013 | 2:24 am
    Frame of Reference presents: The Associate – Part 18 – Ricky and Joan Argue by Chris Fillebrown

  • The Associate – Part 17

    Chris Fillebrown
    5 May 2013 | 4:43 am
    Frame of Reference presents: The Associate – Part 17 – The Story of Ricky and Joan by Chris Fillebrown
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    mgmtideas.com - Latest Content

  • Idea from the Vault: Secret for Hiring Self-starters: Try Before You Buy

    24 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    Prudential's recruiting method, called the Career Development Program, allows people to stay in their current jobs throughout six months of training -- mostly online, and at the candidates' own pace -- to earn the professional designations required to become a certified life insurance agent and financial advisor. Prudential launched the CDP in 2009 as a small-scale experiment, but it's worked so well that it's now the only way the company hires new financial professionals, some 3,400 of whom have done the training so far. "Our managers like this approach a lot better, because it shows them…
 
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    mgmtquotes.com - Latest Content

  • Thomas Mannarelli

    24 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    Traditional analytical models of decision-making, while appropriate for evaluating choices for which there are ample historical data, can often kill off creative ideas that might be extremely valuable. when creative people are performing a task, if the extrinsic reasons for engaging in the task are more important than the intrinsic reasons, they will tend to perform less creatively. Outside factors encourage people to focus purely on the accuracy and consistency of the outcome; while the task may be accomplished, creativity is blocked and interest in the activity stifled. This is not to say…
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    Peter Barron Stark Companies

  • Bridging the Gap in Multigenerational Communication

    Jane Flaherty
    21 May 2013 | 8:50 am
    Our accountant pointed out an interesting bit of data related to our recent company phone bill: the youngest team member spent approximately 22 minutes on calls, and texted 1285 times, while the oldest team member spent approximately 366 minutes on phone calls, and texted only 18 times. Age wise, the employees in the middle had about a 50/50 mix of phone calls and text messages. We concluded that our phone bill proved that we’re probably a great example of the changes going on in how we communicate today. What’s exciting is that, although older generations think the younger generations…

  • Leading in a Crisis

    Peter Barron Stark
    20 May 2013 | 8:58 am
    There’s no better time to emerge as the leader than in the middle of a crisis. Whether the crisis is the loss of a major customer, the main server failing, 9/11, or the most recent Boston Marathon bombings, what’s needed is a leader. On March 31st, 2013, Kevin Ware was leading the University of Louisville in a NCAA Midwest Regional final game against Duke on their way to a National Championship. In an anticipated moment of the game, Ware leapt into the air to block a shot and landed off balance and ended up with a compound fracture of his lower leg. What was amazing was the reaction of…

  • How to Thrill Your Customers

    Peter Barron Stark
    13 May 2013 | 9:19 am
    The term customer satisfaction is used often. But do you really want to just satisfy your customers? It’s true, satisfied customers are often repeat customers, but thrilled customers are also repeat customers; except they bring their friends with them next time. While it may be your employees who are delivering the service, it is you, the leader who sets the bar for the standard of service. It is important that you have a clearly defined service standard, and that you walk the talk at all times. Remember, you are the role model. Each day, make sure your actions are what you want your…

  • Attitude is King in Conflict Resolution

    Peter Barron Stark
    29 Apr 2013 | 9:01 am
    Conflict is a natural part of life and can’t always be avoided. Sometime conflict has positive outcomes, other times conflict has negative outcomes. When it comes to conflict, a lot depends on your attitude. An unwillingness to resolve conflict creates tension, frustration, worry, anxiety and usually, a lack of positive, constructive communication. But what is most important to managers to recognize is that unresolved conflict undermines your ability to effectively lead. When you fail to resolve a conflict on your team, the individuals involved in the conflict, as well as others who observe…

  • Is Your Work Environment Toxic?

    Peter Barron Stark
    23 Apr 2013 | 3:15 pm
    Although I’ve been blessed with loving parents and a loving family, I have a friend who has a relationship with his parents and siblings that could be termed toxic. In fact, I would describe his parents and siblings as mean and abusive. If they were his employees rather than his family members, the easy solution would be to fire them and remove their negative energy from his life. That’s, emotionally, much more difficult, since they’re blood relatives with a lot of history. Working relationships and corporate cultures can also be toxic. In one study, 94 percent of the participants…
 
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    Encob Blog

  • Lean Questions: Gemba Efficace

    Dragan Bosnjak
    23 May 2013 | 11:30 pm
    Eccoci di nuovo nella rubrica Lean Questions, che ogni venerdì risponde alle vostre domande poste attraverso i soliti canali: Facebook, Google+ e Contatti. Oggi la rubrica è dedicata a Alessandro, che mi chiede il seguente: Ciao, da circa sei mesi mi sono ritrovato ad occuparmi di lean. Volevo chiederti, come deve essere svolto il gemba nei reparti di produzione perché sia efficace? Grazie Solo due consigli: Circolo di Ohno per capire, sentire, udire il lavoro di tutti i giorni e per individuare gli sprechi Sapere ciò che dovrebbe essere fatto, ciò che viene effettivamente fatto,…

  • Quanto lean è la lean startup?

    Dragan Bosnjak
    22 May 2013 | 11:30 pm
    Da The Lean Edge arriva una nuova domanda: “Quanto lean è la Lean Startup?” Il movimento della Lean Startup sta crescendo velocemente, adesso è stato addirittura evidenziato anche da HBR (Harward Business Review, ndr.), ma nessuno sembra commentare o connettere ad esso nel movimento lean “tradizionale”. Cosa ne pensi riguardo le lean startup? Cosa possiamo imparare da esso? Per la verità, io ero uno dei primi ad averlo letto e ad aver scritto qualche articolo su di esso. Primo tra essi è The Lean Startup dove vi introduco al libro e al movimento che stava per creare.

  • Tutto è uno sperimento

    Dragan Bosnjak
    21 May 2013 | 11:30 pm
    Provate un pò a pensare a tutte le cose che fate nell’arco di una giornata lavorativa. E anche a tutte le cose che accadono nella vostra azienda. Scommetto che tutti i giorni succede di tutto, dai cicli produttivi, dall’inserimento degli ordini, dalla creazione delle offerte, dalla gestione del magazzino, ecc. Insomma, di tutto e di più. Adesso provate a pensare a ognuna di queste cose come ad uno sperimento. Cosa succede, succede quello che mi aspettavo che succedesse, perché succede? Provate a pensare cosa sarebbe la vostra azienda se ognuno si prendesse briga di riflettere…

  • Il bastone e la carota

    Dragan Bosnjak
    20 May 2013 | 11:30 pm
    Il bastone e la carota è la solita vecchia analogia che spiega come funzionano gli aspetti motivazionali nelle nostre aziende. Il bastone rappresenta la punizione come metodo di motivazione. Fate qualcosa di sbagliato e sarete irrimediabilmente puniti. Fate il vostro dovere e la punizione non ci sarà. Funziona così in praticamente tutte le nostre aziende. Qualche volta si utilizza il bastone anche per motivare un cambiamento: se non cambiate qualcosa, vi arriverà la punizione. Chiaramente, il bastone non funziona molto bene. La gente dopo un pò si stufa di essere bastonata e vi è il…

  • Quali sono i problemi della produzione a grandi lotti?

    Dragan Bosnjak
    19 May 2013 | 11:30 pm
    Quando parliamo di SMED, diciamo sempre che esso serve per diminuire il tempo di cambio da un prodotto all’altro, in quanto avere tempi di setup lunghi non permette di raggiungere il flusso di un pezzo alla volta. Quindi produciamo in lotti grandi semplicemente perché i tempi di setup lunghi rendono troppo costoso il fatto di cambiare prodotti frequentemente. Ma quali sono i svantaggi di grandi lotti? spreco dell’inventario: tenere a magazzino quello che non è venduto ci costa molto denaro e lega le risorse dell’azienda senza aggiungere alcun valore al prodotto ritardi: i…
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    The Modern Servant Leader

  • No Hype. Social Media’s Just Helping Change the World

    Ben
    22 May 2013 | 8:42 am
    A lot of social media consultants say they’re “no hype”. This resonates with hiring leaders because they’re tired of hearing what they don’t believe. Namely, that social media is the unbelievable phenomenon that is going to change the world all on it’s own. I agree, that’s ridiculous. However, social media is helping to change the world. About a year ago, in a leadership presentation on social media, I said, “You can change the world with social media”. I took some flack for that. Some critics said I exaggerated or over-hyped the…

  • Passion with Prudence

    Ben
    17 May 2013 | 7:19 am
    Passion is exciting. People follow passionate leaders faster than somber managers. In “It’s Not About the Coffee,” former Starbucks president, Howard Behar explains he left the last company he worked for before Starbucks, because the CEO sought to restrain his passion. At Starbucks, Behar explains, his passion was an asset, not a liability. Obviously, passion worked well for Behar and Starbucks. Yet, the CEO seeking to restrain passion is a common theme in business. So how can we balance that prudence with the strength of  passion? Prudence Dictionary.com defines prudence…

  • Paul Gillin Interview: When Customers Attack on Social Media

    Ben
    7 May 2013 | 2:37 am
    As a leader, you need to understand how social media crises occur, how to minimize your chances of an attack and what to do in the case of a customer attack. Paul Gillin recently wrote Attack of the Customers: Why Critics Assault Brands Online and How to Avoid Becoming a Victim. I spoke with Paul about his new book, these questions and more. Questions Answered in the Interview 1. What should leaders do to minimize the chances of a social media crisis? 2. What is the first thing leaders should do in a customer attack or social media crisis? 3. What is the one thing leaders should never do…

  • Bad Boss vs. Good Leader Image

    Ben
    3 May 2013 | 2:20 am
    This simple graphic depicts the difference between  a Bad Boss and a Good Leader. I love it, because it highlights  some key attributes, including: 1. Role of the Team: The Bad Boss expects the team to serve them. The Good Leader serves the team. 2. Command vs. Participate: Bad Bosses command others to do what they are no longer willing to do themselves. Good Leaders never ask from the team, what they are unwilling to do themselves. 3. Role of the Mission: Bad Bosses sit on top of the mission. They use the mission to promote themselves. In contrast, Good Leaders focus on the mission for the…

  • Are You Creating Enemies or Traitors?

    Ben
    30 Apr 2013 | 2:27 am
    You have a bad guy. The villain. The antagonist. This bad guy is either inside your company or outside. As a leader, you can influence where he is. Outside it better, but if you don’t point him out to your team, they’ll create the bad guy inside your company walls. Enemies The bad guy is whatever you fight. In for-profit companies, this should be your toughest competitor. In a non-profit, the enemy should be the injustice you seek to eliminate: hunger, poverty or disease. In religion, your enemy is obvious: Satan. The problem is, when you don’t constantly point out these bad…
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    lisapetrilli.com

  • The Art of Following Starts with the Heart

    Lisa Petrilli
    29 Apr 2013 | 2:34 am
    Dancing the Tango with my Instructor and Partner Nick at the Cross-Country Dance Championships in Las Vegas I walked into a Fred Astaire dance studio a year ago with the sole desire of learning to Tango. It was something I had always wanted to do, and I was following my heart. The deeper truth is that I was woefully in need of expanding my feminine energy…the energy we all have, regardless of gender, which fuels the feeler within us. It’s the energy that we are immersed in when we teach, nurture, create, innovate, dream big, receive graciously from others, guide, and mentor.

  • Top Five Secrets of Great Coaching in Leadership

    Lisa Petrilli
    11 Apr 2013 | 2:34 am
    True leaders know it’s never about them. Leadership is a gift; you are entrusted with the responsibility of fulfilling the higher purpose of the organization, creating a vision of the world when that higher purpose is finally attained and executing clear strategies to bring the vision to life. Truly great leaders know that to do this in a long-term, sustainable way their number one priority must be the growth and development of their people. It’s easy when focused on short-term goals, particularly as CEO with expectations of your Board, shareholders and “the street” to…

  • Ten Things Educators Should Know About Introverted Students

    Lisa Petrilli
    25 Mar 2013 | 2:34 am
    I’ve been doing more interviews on introversion this year as a result of the success of my eBook, “The Introvert’s Guide to Success in Business and Leadership” and my Harvard Business Review Blog Post. A recent trend in these interviews has been a discussion about how our introversion affects us in our formative years, and at what point we start to feel the impact of our introversion, but perhaps not understand it. As a parent I see it affecting my daughters in middle and high school, both in their approach to their schoolwork and how they are perceived by their…
 
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    ELCircle

  • Does your team know your history?

    Jim Canterucci
    9 May 2013 | 5:53 am
    My friend Chip Lutz posted this truism that got me thinking. Don’t require of others what you don’t require of yourself. There is a timing issue here. Many times as a leader you have in fact required of yourself what you’re asking of others, or even much more. You just may have done it awhile ago and the current team doesn’t have that in their experience bank. How do we solve this problem? Stories (war stories) are key. Each of these stories should teach a lesson. They should be interesting. They should help people better accomplish their job. And importantly they…

  • We’re all Emerging Leaders, right?

    Jim Canterucci
    2 May 2013 | 5:56 am
    When does the learning stop? Hopefully never. We’re in really big trouble when we think we know enough. The EL in ELCircle stands for Emerging Leadership. What do those words mean to you? An up and comer? A beginning manager? The next person to be promoted? The person on the high potential list? Yes, these are all good definitions from a human resources perspective. But, let’s go further. An emerging leader is everyone from the soon to be minted first time supervisor all the way up the ladder to the person vying for the CEO role. We are all emerging leaders. We all need to grow.

  • The Secret Leadership Key

    Jim Canterucci
    19 Apr 2013 | 9:25 am
    Fundamental to all of our teaching here at ELCircle is an equation: 90/10 to 60/40 Here is a quick definition. See the video below for more info. 90/10 is the typical ratio of attention spent by a leader. 90% of the leader’s time, thoughts, and actions are focused on their department. 10% is spent on leading the company overall. Some leaders admit that the ratio is more like 99/1. We strive to shift this ratio to 60/40. Think for a moment about what a massive change this represents. If a full 40% of your being is focused on leading the company overall this is a big change. Just some of…

  • Do you need a leadership refresher?

    Jim Canterucci
    15 Apr 2013 | 6:08 am
    Even masters, at the top of their game, practice. Why would we think that because we are good leaders that we somehow own it and don’t need to continue to develop? My dog Frankie is extremely good and we walk off leash. She obeys every command as if she has a leash. In total control. Today was a bit different. She came upon a puppy up ahead that she just needed to go see. She ignored what she knows and didn’t listen. I realized that because she consistently exhibits such great behavior we haven’t been focusing on the fundamentals as much. That will change. By the way she…

  • It depends when it comes to leadership advice

    Jim Canterucci
    29 Mar 2013 | 12:03 pm
    I give leadership advice every day. And I have to be very careful. You see, leadership is an art (a classic book by Max DePree) layered upon a science of techniques. Leadership is situational. We must treat everyone uniquely. Every situation requires its own attention. Our LinkedIn Group The Emerging Leader is very inspirational to me as we have leaders discussing ideas around practical leadership scenarios. We’re providing advice to each other given specific situations and questions. When answering a query, it’s necessary to declare an opinion or approach. Someone however always…
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    The trU Group

  • Beware of MORE Leadership

    Scott
    23 May 2013 | 5:05 am
    I was once asked during start-up of my own business what my sales plan was.  I thought for a second about my business plan, the problems that I wanted to solve, the clients I wanted to help – - and then, after a deep breath, I said “MORE”.  MORE is a great start-up word and a great growth word.  I have seen it uttered by 10 month old companies and 25 year old companies.  The last great recession we faced, MORE became a very important word as companies scrambled for cash. The truth is – At some point, MORE is not enough. 1.  It is not enough when you are faced…

  • Helping Talent Emerge

    Scott
    15 May 2013 | 4:38 am
    I have spent the last year leading a mid/late career transition program – which puts me in a room with 25-40 individuals that are committed to returning to work after being off between 6 month and 7 years.  I am inspired and learn something new every day.  Here are a few lessons. Add a little confidence, and talent emerges Add a little focus, and talent becomes a pretty compelling story Add a community that give support, encouragement, and feedback and the talent and story just get better Add a chance to actually work and use their talents for 60-80 hours , and the pride and passion…

  • Our Actions Follow Our Hearts: A story and a challenge

    Scott
    6 May 2013 | 7:19 am
    I had a conversation with a teacher that I also consider a friend, and during that conversation I shared the news that someone we both knew was heading off to college with an initial goal of becoming a special education teacher.  The basic response I received was:  a) that was a dumb idea,  b) teaching had changed for the worse, and c) retiring was the their #1 goal right now.  This went on for about five minutes (I condensed the response a little for your benefit).  In the final part of the conversation they circled back to the comment “The kids are still the reason I…

  • Leaders – How are your people feeling? 3 Tips for starting this conversation

    Scott
    18 Apr 2013 | 7:17 am
    In a career transition program I facilitate in Michigan, our second day starts and ends with the question How do you feel?.  It is a critical and strategic because it challenges people to put one word around where they are at that moment, and as facilitators we can use that word to know where we need to spend more time to circle back for some one on one conversations.  It is not about fixing someone’s answer, but more about giving a voice to knowing when there is a potential barrier to learning/doing the work.  This is one of those keeping the pulse strategies, that allows a group…

  • New word for your leadership toolbox – Capacity

    Scott
    8 Apr 2013 | 6:10 am
    In a recent conversation I was sharing a story with a mentor and friend about how I handled a difficult moment in a facilitation.  As I reflected back on how I reacted to the individual causing the problem in the session, the outcomes, and how some of my facilitation work in the past year prepared me she shared with me a reflection of her own:  Scott, you have increased your capacity to manage a space filled with many different perspectives and voices. That word caught me off guard.  I started my career in a capacity planning role worried about the output of a steel mill and then 80+…
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    Organization Development : Team Building : Leadership : Create-Learning

  • Our Team Meetings Suck. Here is how we SOLVED

    mike
    24 May 2013 | 5:45 am
    Consulting and coaching a marketing team of young, competent, successful, fun people I kept wondering why they told me how much their meetings suck. In the 1 on 1 coaching meetings and even as I saw them interact with each other, there was energy, enthusiasm and discussions… Image Credit Until I attended their meeting It had all the necessary components needed for a good meeting: Competent Manager The right people in attendance A clear agenda A purpose List of what decisions had to get made and how they will get made etc… I watched these young, bright, energized people turn into meeting…

  • Managerial-Leadership Development Belongs to the Manager of the Person Being Developed NOT Human Resources!

    mike
    22 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    As a manager, developing staff is your job. It cannot be delegated off to Human Resources, Organization Development or someone else. You are the manager. Your primary accountability is to add value to the team and staff.   image credit Too often managers and executive teams delegate or task off any and all training and development to the Human Resources staff. Then they are disappointed when their staff goes to a training and does nothing different. The ownness for developing staff, especially managers that report to managing-directors, executives and other managers, belongs to the…

  • Solution Finding Stimulus. 0–10 Where are you? How do you Know?

    mike
    21 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    In reference to the problem your team / you are looking to solve; On a scale of 0 – 10 with 0 being you have some idea what to do; and 10 being you know exactly what to do – where are you on this scale? How do you know? When your team and you are stuck a stimulus will get you moving again! What do you think? Share your responses and practice being Solution-Focused. michael cardus is create-learning

  • Quality Team and Leadership Development

    mike
    20 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    Quality Leadership Development from Michael Cardus   I’ve delivered variations of this workshop and talk at conferences and to teams in many places. Highlighting that systems-drive-behavior, there is no special ‘leadership personality’ … Within any team when someone is great at their role people see them as a leader. Competence = Comfort = Observed Leadership Behaviors   There is some good and useful content in the slides. Many are too wordy and I need to edit and condense, but sharing the slides on my blog you can read them. Usually in the workshop we only get about 1/3…

  • Are you a Scientist or an Engineer? Things to think about.

    mike
    17 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    There are three lines from recent reading and research I’m doing that keep haunting me and have made me explore my frame of thinking and consulting. How do I approach team building; as a scientist? as a engineer? In what ways might I serve to create a bridge for teams and managers to understand their view and use that to achieve results? When working one on one coaching a manager through successes, challenges and workable goals, how would I illustrate humbleness while being arrogant to have the conviction to develop the needed knowledge? How might I work with a team and people to be…
 
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    Horeb International

  • Seeing the world as we are

    Olaojo Aiyegbayo
    20 May 2013 | 2:04 pm
    Image Source: the russians are here I have done a number of posts on perception in the past. This is because I am fascinated with how we perceive the world. I believe that we don’t see the world as it is but as we are. We see the world in a subjective way rather than an objective way. The way we see the world determines how we respond or react to it. I saw a ‘Google talks’ video by Jeff Johnson (User Interface designer) and he talked about the three things that influence the way we see the world around us. These three things are the past, the present and the future. (1) The past is…

  • Smart Devices; Secondary Brains

    Olaojo Aiyegbayo
    13 May 2013 | 2:33 pm
    Image Source: gailjadehamilton I am currently doing a project at work looking at how academics use iPads for teaching, research and administrative tasks. The project is 6 months old and there are some exciting preliminary findings. There is one specific finding that will be of interest to the readers of this blog. I believe that even if you don’t have a tablet device; you are likely to own a smartphone. Most of us can barely function without them. It is interesting that making phone calls is now one of the least used functions of the typical smartphone. Most of the time on the smartphone…

  • Creative Mash-up

    Olaojo Aiyegbayo
    6 May 2013 | 12:26 pm
    Image source: Wikimedia Have you seen the movie – Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter? I saw it a few months ago and I enjoyed it. I loved the movie’s CGI gory action effects and its plot. What intrigued me most about the movie was the creative concept behind it. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (ALVH) started out as a novel before it became a movie. I discovered a transcript of an interview with the author, Seth Grahame-Smith, on how he got the creative spark that became ALVH. Seth Grahame-Smith was in a bookstore a few years ago during the lead-up to the bicentennial of Abraham…

  • Architects and Directors

    Olaojo Aiyegbayo
    29 Apr 2013 | 3:11 pm
    Image source: Ze Carlos Barretta There are two professions which I find fascinating: architecture and film-making (particularly directing). My admiration for both occupations is based on their leadership and creative features. I grew up with the desire to become an architect like my dad but I realised in my latter years at secondary (high) school that desire was not enough hence I moved into Social Sciences where I was best suited. I recently came across an interesting Metro newspaper quote by Fernando Meirelles (Brazilian movie director) which showcased the leadership similarities between…

  • Clay Feet Leaders

    Olaojo Aiyegbayo
    22 Apr 2013 | 1:28 pm
    Image source: Lee Edwin Coursey Margaret Thatcher is one leader who divides opinions in the UK. Some think she was despicable and others think she was respectable. Her death was celebrated by some as good riddance and mourned by others as a great loss. I find the whole thing amusing. I didn’t live in the UK during the Thatcher years so I can’t say whether she was a bad leader. But I have lived under bad leadership and would readily trade Nigeria’s former dictators (especially Babangida and Abacha) for a Margaret Thatcher any given day. I can assure non- Nigerian readers that these…
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    Leadership and...

  • Leadership and The Price is Wrong, Bob...

    Pete Blank
    6 May 2013 | 7:43 am
    Baseball analogy, real-world applicability...David Price is a fantastic pitcher for my favorite baseball team, the Tampa Bay Rays. Last year, David went 20-5 with an ERA of 2.56 (that's good!)  He also won the AL Cy Young Award for best pitcher in the American League in 2012.This year, he has started 7 games.  He has begun the year with a record of 1-3, and an ERA of 6.25. (That's not so good...)What has happened?  And what should his leader (Joe Madden) do?Try to relate this to one of your star performers. You may have someone in your organization who was a star…

  • Leadership and Men's Room or Ladies Room or other?

    Pete Blank
    15 Apr 2013 | 3:14 pm
    Leaders need to be forward thinking...So I've got a good one for you.It does not matter if you work in HR (Human Resources) or not.  This is one that will soon affect all of us.I recently read an article regarding a transgendered person using a public restroom at a grocery store in Idaho (read the full article here). This issue appeals to me because...1.  I have a family member who is transgendered.  They encountered the same issue during their transition period.2.  I live in Alabama.  There used to be discussions like this 50 years ago regarding white and black…

  • Leadership and Your Monday does not really stink as bad as you think...

    Pete Blank
    8 Apr 2013 | 1:55 pm
    I want to give a shout-out to my college buddy and great friend, Sean Carpenter, for sharing this topic with me today.Jack Hoffman is a seven-year old boy who loves the Nebraska Cornhuskers.He is also in the middle of a 60-week treatment for brain cancer.This past weekend, during the University of Nebraska Spring football game, he was allowed to forget about chemo for a while and just focus on being a little boy.The video is below.  As a leader, make sure you are cherishing every moment of YOUR life. Leaders need to see the glass as half-full every day! Your Monday can't stink all that…

  • Leadership and Now You Know the Rest of the Story...

    Pete Blank
    4 Mar 2013 | 8:18 am
    Paul Harvey was famous for his stories on radio that always ended with a twist ending.  He always followed up his reports with his famous catchphrase:  "...and now you know the REST of the story." My team member Ayla has her own catchphrase that I have learned over the past year.  She states: "You never know what is going on behind the scenes of each persons life. Everyone can put on a front,  but you never know what is happening behind the scenes." As a leader, this came true for me today.  I began this morning in a great mood.  The sun was out, the air was…

  • Leadership and Employee Engagement: Lessons from the Mouse House

    Pete Blank
    11 Feb 2013 | 9:44 am
    Hello "Leadership and..." readers. I am proud to say that my first book is finally in print! Employee Engagement - Lessons from the Mouse House allows me to share the great lessons I learned from my 13+ years at The Walt Disney Company.  It's a great read for front line supervisors, HR managers, or anyone who wants to create an engaged workforce. There are multiple ways to get the book.  You can purchase the paperback version or the Kindle version by clicking HERE. The Kindle version is $8.99 and the paperback is $16.95. If the hyperlink does not work, just search by title at…
 
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    The Six Disciplines Blog

  • Why Take The Baldrige Journey?

    24 May 2013 | 5:14 am
    On the National Baldrige Performance Excellence website, there's a great article entitled Why Take The Baldrige Journey? Organizations everywhere are looking for ways to effectively and efficiently meet their missions and achieve their visions. Thousands of organizations use the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to guide their enterprises, improve performance, and get sustainable results. This proven improvement and innovation framework offers your organization an integrated approach to key management areas: Leadership Strategic planning Customer focus Measurement, analysis, and…

  • The Small Business Advantage

    17 May 2013 | 5:18 am
    Those who have worked both in small and large organizations have a much better appreciation for how fundamentally different large companies are from small ones. Each has its strengths, and the savvy small business owner understands what those are and takes advantage of them aggressively. They include: 1. Connecting People to Purpose People are creatures of emotion and reason. The best performers want to belong to an organization that’s on a mission, and they need to see how they’re contributing to that mission. Small businesses have an enormous advantage in their ability to help people…

  • The Top Challenges of Small Businesses

    10 May 2013 | 5:04 am
    Even though small businesses collectively generate $5 trillion in sales in the U.S., the biggest challenge of an individual small business is “survival.” 80% of all new business start-ups are out of business within five years. And if that doesn’t get your attention, 80% of the 20% that survive the first five years don’t survive the second five!2 That means, on the average, 960 out of 1,000 businesses that start this year will not be around in 10 years. This is proof that you’re in an elite group if you’ve just survived (let alone “thrived”)! What makes it so hard? After…

  • How the best differ from the rest PART II

    3 May 2013 | 5:13 am
    3. Disciplined Approach to Business For some people, the old-fashioned idea of being “disciplined” is a turn-off. But that’s not so for the top performers. They’re rated 114 % stronger than the lowest performers when it comes to taking a disciplined approach to business. Instead of “shooting from the hip,” top-performing small businesses take the time to plan well in advance for changes that are likely to affect their organizations. They do so because the people in the higher-performing organizations truly believe that planning is a critical factor in achieving company success, as…

  • How the best differ from the rest PART I

    26 Apr 2013 | 5:11 am
    In trying to better quantify factors that contribute to excellence, we surveyed more than 300 small businesses (each with 10 to 100 employees) that included a range of service, product and project-oriented companies. The participants, who were all owners or senior leaders in their organizations, rated their businesses on many different areas of performance. For this analysis, we evaluated organizations based on a combined factor of growth and profitability. We thoroughly analyzed the results and looked for areas where the lowest- and highest-performing organizations were the most different.
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    360 Feedback: A Leadership Blog

  • Finding the Balance between Optimism and Pessimism

    Jeremy Unruh
    21 May 2013 | 8:30 am
    As a manager, you’re required to display some level of positive thinking. You serve as the ‘cheerleader’ for your team, assigning work while at the same time making sure that your employees are engaged and satisfied with the company.Optimists are popular people because, generally speaking, they are pleasant to be around and their enthusiasm can be contagious. In fact, according to research from the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania, optimistic managers may do a better job of helping employees reach goals and be more productive.In a…

  • Why you Should Add Humor to your Leadership Toolbox

    Jeremy Unruh
    14 May 2013 | 8:32 am
    You could say humor is a funny thing (pun intended). It’s subjective, for instance you might be a huge fan of “The Hangover” films while your significant other finds them as humor-less as a congressional hearing. Still, the one thing everyone can agree on is they like to laugh from time to time but, unfortunately, many workplaces operate in a laugh-free zone.While direct reports might have a laid-back relationship and share plenty of laughs at the water cooler, it’s typically a different relationship with their boss. It’s hard to tell where the boundaries are and in our politically…

  • Leadership vision a little cloudy? Time to get some glasses.

    Jeremy Unruh
    8 May 2013 | 8:59 am
    Why not? Those two words hold a lot of power. For example, why not earn a master’s degree? Why not get married? Why not cook with olive oil?So when was the last time you asked yourself, “why not” when it comes to defining your leadership vision? In case you need a refresher, one’s leadership vision is widely considered as the cornerstone of leadership. Leaders must generate ideas to improve processes or products that keep the organization competitive. They must be able to articulate their vision in concrete terms in order to explain it to others and obtain their cooperation and…

  • Can you be a boss and a friend?

    Jeremy Unruh
    25 Apr 2013 | 8:31 am
    Whether you started the company at the same time, or just happen to have clicked during a company happy hour, most people end up making friends with some of their coworkers. It’s natural to do so since human beings are programmed to want to develop close and supportive relationships with others. Some of the best friendships have been developed due to working together, however, that all can come to a screeching halt the day one friend is promoted over the other.While it’s a common workplace struggle to effectively transition an individual performer to a leader role, it’s perhaps most…

  • Mad Men’s recent business lesson in loyalty

    Jeremy Unruh
    18 Apr 2013 | 8:51 am
    If you’re a fan of the AMC hit series, seeing ‘Mad Men’ and ‘loyalty’ put together might seem confusing. After all, protagonist Don Draper is about as un-loyal as one can get as a husband. But, lucky for Don, this isn’t a relationship blog as we’re purely focused on leadership and management, and despite his many flaws, there are lessons that can be learned from this fictional character.Take for instance, Season 6, Episode 3: “The Collaborators.” In the episode, one of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s major clients, Heinz Beans, sets up a meeting between the agency and Heinz…
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    i360 Insight

  • The Magic Pill That Enables World Class Innovation

    admin
    24 May 2013 | 1:20 am
    Google, Apple, GE, 3M, Nokia, Proctor & Gamble … some of the most recognizable innovative companies in the world. Everyone wants to know, how can they be so innovative? What’s their secret to success, and how can I become as innovative and successful as them?   Well, good news! There is a magic pill that will make everyone in your organization creative geniuses, enable your leaders to see into the future, and provide years of innovations that make you a market leader. It’s not magic because it makes things happen instantly, or easily, or inexpensively. It’s magic because it…

  • Beyond Capital: How Khalifa Fund Enables Economic and Social Change Through Entrepreneurship

    admin
    24 May 2013 | 1:16 am
    Three years ago, the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development opened its doors in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Its mission was not unlike other agencies in the region, set up to aid SME (Small-to-Medium Enterprises) and enable regional economic gains by encouraging entrepreneurship among UAE nationals. Today, Khalifa Fund is the source of an enormous amount of startup capital in Abu Dhabi. Although initially funded by the Abu Dhabi government, after only three years the fund now procures financial backing for startups – a major accomplishment for the young organization, especially given the recent…

  • 5 Reasons Middle East Companies Miss Disruptive Innovation

    admin
    23 May 2013 | 1:15 am
    What do cell phones and Amazon.com have in common? Both are popular technology in wide use today – but it wasn’t always that way. When cell phones and Amazon.com were introduced, they served the needs of a few people who were eager to try them, even though they had a few shortcomings. In the case of cell phones, users had to tolerate lower voice quality in exchange for the ability to call anyone from any place. In Amazon’s case, not everyone was ready to browse a store online and send their credit card information over the Internet. Today online stores like Amazon.com are extremely…

  • Assessing Your Company’s Open Innovation Capabilities

    admin
    23 May 2013 | 1:15 am
    Open innovation is an approach to developing new products, services, processes and innovation capabilities by leveraging input, ideas and expertise from outside the organization as well as from within. Open innovation can provide a company with many advantages including: • Accelerating time-to-market • Reducing risk in the innovation process • Lowering R&D and operating costs • Supplementing internal R&D capabilities Even though open innovation has permanently changed the innovation landscape, in NineSigma’s 2009 benchmark study on open innovation practices, we discovered…

  • Understanding Resistance to Change

    admin
    23 May 2013 | 1:12 am
    Organizational change comes in all flavors. From a localized project that modifies a key process for a workgroup, to enterprise wide initiatives, such as rolling out a new IT system or deploying Performance Excellence. Yet, one thing that’s consistent across all change efforts, big or small, is the likelihood of resistance – and, in this case, resistance is not futile. In fact, if it isn’t identified and countered in time, resistance can lower morale, delay progress or even derail the change effort. People oppose change for many different reasons. Some like the status quo and don’t…
 
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    Thank God It's Monday!® Blog

  • Unplug the Day Shredder

    Roxanne Emmerich
    19 May 2013 | 9:41 am
    Lose an hour in the morning, and you will be all day hunting for it. Richard Whately, Archbishop of Dublin (1787-1863) This pearl of wisdom was said 150 years before the invention of the worst hour-loser ever invented—email. Email is the shredder of your workday, and you MUST keep it under control or it will cut your productivity to ribbons. If your email program is set up to ding whenever a message comes in, it’s hard to keep working. You just have to stop for a second and see what came in, right? And it might be ages before you get back to the original project, if you ever do. By…

  • Normalize the Impossible

    Roxanne Emmerich
    12 May 2013 | 10:47 am
    In the early 1950s, one sports barrier seemed completely unbreakable—running a mile in under four minutes. Both the scientific and athletic communities had deemed it impossible. But on May 6th, 1954, Roger Bannister proved the world wrong, running a mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds, Bannister broke the four-minute mile, crushing a world record that had stood for nine years! That’s a spectacular feat, of course, made possible by Bannister’s unwillingness to accept that it couldn’t be done. But even more stunning is what happened next. Less than two months later, a runner named John Landy…

  • Hold Better Meetings

    Roxanne Emmerich
    5 May 2013 | 11:27 am
    Have you ever had a meeting that went on twice as long as you wanted and STILL left you feeling more confused about the project than you did coming in? You know what they say—“time is money.” So do you really have the time to meet with your team for an hour without any clear outcome? I don’t think so. So, how do you make sure your next meeting accomplishes its goal? Just follow the system. First, start on time no matter what. Everyone should be in the room at least 2 minutes before the meeting is scheduled to start. And if they aren’t, you’ve GOT to call it tight, on the spot, or…

  • What if You HAD to Chillax?

    Roxanne Emmerich
    28 Apr 2013 | 8:09 am
    Imagine that your doctor told you that your life depends on cutting your work time and effort in half. But you know you can’t afford to be any less productive. How would you do it? This isn’t some wild hypothetical. Many people find themselves in this exact situation when a commitment to success results in high blood pressure, cardiovascular stress, and other serious physical side effects of working too much of the time in too high a gear. It can cut years off your life. But when the physician sits these folks down, looks them in the eye and says, “You’ve GOT to cut back on your…

  • Be Coachable

    Roxanne Emmerich
    21 Apr 2013 | 12:35 pm
    Think of the superstar high performers you’ve seen over the years in your business. How many have you seen dance the Big Dance for a while, then suddenly self-destruct? I’ve seen far too many myself. Once I started paying attention to this pattern, I started noticing what made the difference between those who would do well and then crash, and those who would do well…and then do better and better. The ones who crashed were not able to accept advice and coaching. The ones who persisted and thrived were. Period. Being perfect is overrated. I don’t need to know that someone who works for…
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    Career Advancement Blog

  • Five Ways to Reward Your Employees

    joelgarfinkle
    20 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    “What every genuine philosopher (every genuine man, in fact) craves most is praise — although the philosophers generally call it ‘recognition’!” ~ William James ~ Hey managers, do you remember way back when in the distant past (about five years ago) when the economy was steamrolling along. Those were good times weren’t they? Or were they? Business was booming, but at the same time, it seemed like employees were in a continuous cycle of moving from one job to the next. Unless you were some sort of managerial superstar, you likely found it difficult to hang…

  • What’s the Difference Between a Life Coach, A Personal Coach and an Executive Coach?

    joelgarfinkle
    13 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    “I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities.” ~Bob Nardelli, former CEO, Home Depot.~ Elizabeth asks: How can I tell if I need a life coach, a personal coach, or an executive coach?  Is there a difference? Joel answers:   The kind of coach you need depends on the area in your life you want to focus on.  As I explain the differences between life, personal and executive coaches, you’ll see what I mean. Executive coaching focuses on helping the person achieve more at work.  It may deal with peer relationships or communication.

  • When Your Job is “Not Good Enough” How Can You Reach Your Executive Leadership Goal?

    joelgarfinkle
    6 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    “Leaders aren’t born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.” ~ Vince Lombardi ~ Geoffrey’s been totally focused on doing the best job he can.  He’s been very intent on making sure his job gets done, and done right.  He felt sure this would help him advance his career more quickly. But when his boss didn’t seem to value Geoffrey’s contributions, he got concerned. What did his boss really want?  Why wasn’t doing his job,…

  • Have to Let Someone Go? Follow These Tips to Make it as Painless as Possible

    joelgarfinkle
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    “Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell ~ Letting an employee go is not a task to be taken lightly. If done in the wrong way, there can be unpleasant and long-lasting complications. This can include everything from expressions of unhappiness and stress from remaining employees to dealing with a negative reputation for the company, and even legal ramifications. Don’t Be the Villain In today’s world, disgruntled employees and former employees can easily spread the word about a company and…

  • Stuck in a rut at work? How to Escape From Desperation Swamp

    joelgarfinkle
    22 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” ~ Henry David Thoreau ~ Client Kevin Asks:  I am so stuck in my present job—it feels like walking through quicksand. I know what the next step is, the promotion to the job I want but I’m so busy doing what the current job demands that I have no time to even plan a strategy for moving ahead. How can I get out of this swamp? Coach Joel Answers:  Unfortunately, many companies easily overlook the people who labor in silence, who do what it takes to get the job done, but never manage to…
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    Unfolding Leadership

  • Do You Know What Your Leadership Journey Is?

    Dan Oestreich
    22 May 2013 | 9:29 am
    Phrases like “leadership journey” and “leadership path” frequently are thrown around. We may have an intuitive sense of what they mean as code for the story of our own personal growth. But if someone asked you directly, what is that story for you, could you be articulate? There is so much jargon, so many “round words” — as a friend once called them — that it is not necessarily easy to express the meaning of the personal “journey” at all. Should you go back to Joseph Campbell and compare your life to the hero’s journey? Words…

  • A Drop of Water

    Dan Oestreich
    6 May 2013 | 2:03 pm
    In a world fraught with conflicts and problems of all kinds, I must see and think for myself. The Buddhist view is that if a person reflects in just this thorough way, he or she will discover at bottom that no such personal self exists…a moment of Enlightenment. Well, I am in no place to speak of such things, but I do know this — that when I really look right into the fires of the world around me and into the fires of my own life, and do so unflinchingly, what I see does cause me to turn away for awhile in deep reflection. The raging needs of our times, my times, leave me in awe.

  • Achievement and Trust Are Not the Same

    Dan Oestreich
    29 Apr 2013 | 11:50 am
    It is said that there are a number of kinds of trust in business settings. There’s trust in another’s competence, for example, and trust in another’s fundamental reliability, integrity or consistency. In business settings seeing how these different kinds of trust interact is vital. But none of these forms is more important or complicated than fundamental interpersonal trust — a complex, authentic, and mutually nurturing state characterized by honesty and an emotional bond of care for the well-being of one another. Honesty in the relationship refers to both my…

  • The Future of Generative Organizations

    Dan Oestreich
    19 Apr 2013 | 4:31 pm
    It’s often said that organizations of the future will be flatter and less hierarchical, organized as networks and according to the principles of self-management. But that can’t happen without a fundamental shift in perspective even more basic — from competitive to generative organizations. Competitive organizations are ones that define their edge strategically over other organizations, competing for customers in the same market niche and hoping to out-maneuver if not simply kill off other workplaces. Generative companies focus on the value of what they produce far more than…

  • A Speculum of Fire

    Dan Oestreich
    29 Mar 2013 | 10:48 am
    In a fast paced world, it’s easy to forget that developing your leadership is a long-term journey, not a short-term project. Organizations still do want to put people through programs that demonstrate immediate, measurable, most often short-term results. But the inner story of a person’s growth is not a one-pager, or even a short-story, it’s a novel that runs the full course of a person’s life. It is closely linked to the person’s destiny and being able, as Carl Jung said, to affirm that personal destiny. That isn’t a light undertaking. The search for…
 
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    yourthoughtpartner.com

  • In Case You Missed It: Best Leadership Posts of the Week

    David Grossman
    24 May 2013 | 8:24 am
    Welcome to my weekly round-up of top leadership and communication blog posts. Each week I read and tweet several great articles and on Fridays pull some of the best together here on my blog. So in case you’ve missed them, here is this week’s round-up of top posts. They’ll provide you with tips, strategies and thought-starters from many of the smart folks in my network. So whether you’re a new leader or an industry veteran there’ll be something here for you. 9 Tips for Mentoring Next-Generation LeadersBy: Bruna Martinuzzi via Open Forum BlogA study of next-generation…

  • 21st Century Communication – Everyone is a Leader

    David Grossman
    23 May 2013 | 8:08 am
    “Who’s in charge here?” It’s a phrase many of us have heard in any number of situations and scenarios throughout life – in movies, at work, at home (those with kids know this question might even be posed internally). In successful organizations, being a leader isn’t just about people who manage others.  Leadership is something in which everyone participates. Growing up in Wisconsin, and living in Chicago for most of my life, I’m always drawn to the annual scene of geese flying south for the winter (even if it does mean freezing temperatures and mountains of snow are in…

  • The Jury’s In - Put an End to Email “Reply-All”

    David Grossman
    21 May 2013 | 7:47 am
    It’s no secret; reply-all is one of the most infamous and often detested e-mail developments to come out of the computer age.  It has triggered embarrassment, confusion, annoyance, and now for one company, a lawsuit.  When I read this story I couldn’t help but think, are we not learning anything?  Reply all’s day in court is long overdue. Especially since its trail of infamy has been inked (or typed) across headlines for years.  In this latest story, an HR Director at a Canadian healthcare company accidently hit reply-all on an email to the company’s legal team…

  • In Case You Missed It: On Leadership and Must Dos for Workplace Success, Best Posts of the Week

    David Grossman
    17 May 2013 | 8:17 am
    Welcome to my weekly round-up of top leadership and communication blog posts. Each week I read and tweet several great articles and on Fridays pull some of the best together here on my blog. So in case you’ve missed them, here is this week’s round-up of top posts. They’ll provide you with tips, strategies and thought-starters from many of the smart folks in my network. So whether you’re a new leader or an industry veteran there’ll be something here for you. 5 Things You Must Do to Reach Your Full PotentialBy: JJ Ramberg via Open Forum Blog, MSNBCWe probably all have different ideas…

  • Starting thought - Define the Outcome to Communicate Effectively

    David Grossman
    15 May 2013 | 8:21 am
    We spend a fair amount of time talking with our clients and the leaders we work with about “desired outcomes” -- the first step in planning any kind of communication. When we ask, “What’s the outcome you seek?” we often get a communications goal (that’s helpful to know but communications should never be an outcome; it’s a means to achieving a business outcome).  When we follow-up: “What’s the business outcome you seek?” we often get puzzled looks from some. That said, I thought it would be valuable to define the concept of an outcome given its…
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    Bob Mason

  • What To Do When the Change Really Was Wrong

    rlm@planleadexcel.com
    22 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    What To Do When the Change Really Was Wrong I thought it was a brilliant idea, I’d weighed all the options, considered possible consequences, and examined the impact the change would have on the organization. Everything looked good. So I implemented the change and sat back to watch the amazing, positive transformation that would follow. It didn’t. So, I naturally set about finding the people who were blocking the way so I could convince them that this really was a brilliant idea and just needed a little time to work. I was wrong. What seemed brilliant in concept turned out to be…

  • 7 Tips For Leading Effective Meetings

    rlm@planleadexcel.com
    20 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    7 Tips For Leading Effective Meetings There is little in the working world as distasteful as unproductive, poorly led meetings. It’s ironic that many of the most distasteful and unproductive meetings are led by the ones who complain the most about other’s meetings. Meetings that people don’t find terribly onerous or wasteful are possible. Here are seven tips to start you on your journey to the meeting chair hall of fame. 1. Plan for the meeting and write an actual agenda. That seems simple enough, but is far too uncommon. 2. Once you have the agenda, publicize it. Let…

  • 8 Tips for Better Leadership

    rlm@planleadexcel.com
    17 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    8 Tips for Better Leadership Some random thoughts on leadership and how to be a better leader. Never confuse the words “leadership” and “good leadership.” We often say that someone isn’t a leader when we really mean he or she isn’t a good leader. Bad leaders are still leading. Don’t lie. When you lie you have to remember to whom you lied, when, and in what context. It’s much easier to tell the truth. (This was for people who had to be told not to lie in the first place) The higher you go, the less you know. That’s right, people tell you…

  • Dealing With Naysayers While Implementing Change

    rlm@planleadexcel.com
    15 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Dealing With Naysayers While Implementing Change One of the hardest parts of the change process is dealing with naysayers. No matter how logical an idea might seem to you the leader, someone will not agree and may actively work against you. How do you deal with that? Like so many other parts of the leadership equation, much rests on the preliminary work. There are two steps you can take to minimize the problem. First establish an atmosphere of open communication so that all your people will know that their thoughts and opinions are welcome and appreciated. Second, don’t make all the…

  • Turn The Ship Around – A Review

    rlm@planleadexcel.com
    13 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Turn The Ship Around – A Review The military is a terrific leadership development environment. I firmly believe that our armed forces produce the best leaders of any organization anywhere. That doesn’t mean all military units are blessed with outstanding leadership and unfortunately, the military has its share of leadership failures as well. The beauty of the military system is that even when someone in the leadership chain fails, someone else usually picks up the slack and the mission continues. Turn the Ship Around is the story of one leader who not only picked up the slack, but…
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    Blog by John Brubaker | Coach Bru - Success Strategies For Performance

  • Virtual Assistants: The Real Deal

    CoachBru
    19 May 2013 | 11:52 am
    The following is a guest post by Kathrine Farris, Owner of Strategic Office Support a virtual assisting company. What is a Virtual Assistant? Virtual Assistants (VAs) have been around since the 1990’s, providing off-site administrative support to busy entrepreneurs. They work from essentially anywhere in the world, using the latest technology to communicate and assist their clients with a variety of functions. Recently the popularity of VAs has increased due to an economy that has not fostered confidence for hiring, increased government regulations on employment, as well as, an increase in…

  • This Is Guaranteed To Increase Your Wealth

    CoachBru
    17 Mar 2013 | 9:24 pm
    If you've either heard me speak, read my books or subscribed to my eNews for any length of time, you've heard me say this phrase "Your time is your wealth". Well, if you want to become wealthier you need to take better control of your time. Time management is really behavior management. You are managing your energy and the choices you make which are both types of behaviors. You can choose to be efficient just as easily as you can choose to be disorganized. You can choose to focus and concentrate on W.I.N. (What's Important Now) or you can waste your time on activities that do not add value to…

  • Maximizing Your Most Precious Resource

    CoachBru
    17 Mar 2013 | 9:02 pm
    Last year I spoke at a state conference for educators and administrators. The topic was work-life balance. When I asked how many of them had a time management system two people in the audience raised their hands. (Technically, neither of them was actually "in" the audience. One was the videographer and the other was the event planner.) So really, out of 150 educators, none of them had a time management system. While not uncommon, it is tragic because your time is your wealth. We all get the same amount of time in a day, 86,400 seconds, and this fact levels the playing field for you regardless…

  • Are You Banking On Consistency?

    CoachBru
    17 Mar 2013 | 8:50 pm
    On February 18, 2010 the Boston Celtics edged out the L.A. Lakers 87-86 in a tightly contested road game. Celtics coach Doc Rivers called a team meeting in the locker room immediately after the game. At the meeting he demanded $100 from each member of the team's 26 member traveling party (players, coaches, and support staff). Rivers stuffed the $2600. in an envelope and then stashed the envelope in the ceiling tiles in the visitor's locker room of the Staples Center. He told his team they could get the money back, the next time they play the Lakers inside the Staples Center. Here's the hook,…

  • The Most Dangerous Time of Year

    CoachBru
    17 Feb 2013 | 8:26 pm
      A client reached out to me this past week for assistance with his sales team. He was frustrated with their February numbers to date. He explained that they finished 2012 strong, got 2013 off to a fantastic start in January but for some inexplicable reason have been below budget to date for February. My client is a former Division I basketball player so I put it in terms he could easily relate to. The college basketball season and being in business are both a lot like running a race. February is the most dangerous time of the year. Every year during the month of February, there are a…
 
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    Manage Fearlessly Feed

  • Getting Your First Business Loan

    Cindy Flanders
    21 May 2013 | 12:00 pm
    I’ve been fortunate enough to teach a couple of classes at Walter Reed through the 100 Entrepreneurs Project.  The program provides valuable information and visits from real business owners to wounded veterans who want to start their own business.  Needless to say, financing is often top of mind.   read more

  • The Real Art to the Sales Pitch

    Cindy Flanders
    16 May 2013 | 7:13 am
    If I had a dime for every boring power point presentation I’ve had to sit through I’d have retired a long time ago.  Bankers are in love with “decks” and love to show their prospects and customers how special they are through the use of the written word (or charts and graphs).   read more

  • The Importance of Checking References

    Cindy Flanders
    9 May 2013 | 2:53 pm
    Every year, I have at least 3 or 4 people call to ask if I’ll be a reference.  Only about a third of the people actually call me.  And when they do, they don’t ask very insightful questions.  A recent  Globe & Mail  article does a great job of phrasing questions in such a way that you're really going to get at what your candidate was really like. read more

  • 4 Tips to Landing Your First Management Role

    Cindy Flanders
    30 Apr 2013 | 9:27 am
    QUESTION: My manager announced she’s retiring this fall and feels I’m ready to step into her job. She encouraged me to apply for her job. So far, the initial interviewing process has gone well.  I have a second round of interviews coming up and I anticipate that one of their concerns may be that I’ve never managed people before.     read more

  • 7 Steps to Hiring Your First Employee

    Cindy Flanders
    23 Apr 2013 | 4:03 am
    For a lot of solopreneurs like myself, one of the hardest decisions you make is when and how to hire your first employee. From an economic perspective, the right time is when you either can’t outsource the work you need done or the cost of outsourcing now exceeds the cost of hiring.   read more
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    The Leadership Connexion

  • The Leadership Dilemma: Should You Set Short- or Long-Term Objectives? [Guest Post]

    Stephan De Villiers
    10 May 2013 | 10:23 am
    About the author Greg Dorban is a Demand Generation Professional helping global companies to create more opportunities in their marketing and sales programmes.  He is Head of Inbound Marketing with strategic consultation on search, social, web, conversion and content at Ledger Bennett, a specialist B2B agency. When you are in a leadership role, a large part [...]The post The Leadership Dilemma: Should You Set Short- or Long-Term Objectives? [Guest Post] appeared first on The Leadership Connexion. Related posts: 9 Reasons a Leader Should Use Groups in Decision Making [Guest Post] Net Effect…

  • 9 Warning Signs Your Leadership is Failing

    Stephan De Villiers
    3 May 2013 | 5:47 am
    I have failed. Not to long ago I had a very difficult conversation with a talented supervisor in my business, explaining to him the reasons why we have to downsize our business and his job was one of the jobs we have to cut.  We made some mistakes in our decisions, which turned out to cost our business dearly.  I [...]The post 9 Warning Signs Your Leadership is Failing appeared first on The Leadership Connexion. Related posts: How to Become a Good Listener 9 Reasons a Leader Should Use Groups in Decision Making [Guest Post] 6 Benefits for a Leader of One-on-One Employee Conversations…

  • How To Develop Your Leadership Skills For Career Success

    Stephan De Villiers
    10 Apr 2013 | 11:53 am
     ”Geniuses are born but leaders are made.” If this saying is true, its good news for aspiring leaders.  It means, even if you are not born with strong leadership traits, you can still develop into an excellent leader.  Leadership skills are important for career advancement and it is therefore important to develop your leadership skills [...]The post How To Develop Your Leadership Skills For Career Success appeared first on The Leadership Connexion. Related posts: 6 Leadership Skills a Good Leader Should Have [Guest Post 9 Reasons a Leader Should Use Groups in Decision Making…

  • 9 Reasons a Leader Should Use Groups in Decision Making [Guest Post]

    Stephan De Villiers
    11 Mar 2013 | 11:00 pm
    This guest post by Shaun Rosenberg highlights the importance for a leader of involving the team or group in the decision-making process, thereby helping them to grow as well.  He is the author of the Shaun Rosenberg Blog.  His blog is for everyone looking to change for the better.  He writes about personal growth and motivation. As a leader you make decisions [...]The post 9 Reasons a Leader Should Use Groups in Decision Making [Guest Post] appeared first on The Leadership Connexion. Related posts: 6 Leadership Skills a Good Leader Should Have [Guest Post 6 Benefits for a Leader of…

  • The Top 20 Leadership Blogs You Should Read

    Stephan De Villiers
    7 Mar 2013 | 3:00 am
    “Leaders are readers” I’m sure you’ve heard this saying before.  I for one believe it, although maybe a bit clichéd, to be true.  I created this resource list of the top 20 business and  leadership blogs specifically based on this “cliché”.   I believe the business and leadership writers featured in this list will provide you with a [...]The post The Top 20 Leadership Blogs You Should Read appeared first on The Leadership Connexion. Related posts: Colin Powell’s 15 Rules of Leadership 9 Reasons a Leader Should Use Groups in Decision Making…
 
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    Professional Manager

  • Nissan swerves around bad publicity over recalls

    Will Edwards
    24 May 2013 | 8:04 am
    Handling a crisis is never an easy task for a company, particularly when it concerns widely used consumer products. This week, carmaker Nissan announced plans to recall 841,000 of its vehicles worldwide due to faulty steering wheels across its Cube and Micra models

  • Olive oil fiasco highlights power of the outcry

    Dave Fawbert
    24 May 2013 | 3:49 am
    UKIP supporters claimed the high ground for their anti-European stance with yesterday’s scrapping of a bizarre EU food directive. An obscure set of agricultural management rulings had included a ban on the use of olive oil jugs in restaurants – specifically, ordering

  • How to find the right business bank

    Iain Hollingshead
    23 May 2013 | 8:32 am
    If you thought it was difficult trying to find a good personal bank account – one, say, that doesn’t charge you astronomical sums every time you go 50p overdrawn and doesn’t savagely cut the interest rate on your ISA – try finding an easy home for your business

  • Are Apple and Google making their own rules on tax?

    Dave Fawbert
    23 May 2013 | 3:27 am
    It has fallen to the most successful company of modern times to show how powerless our political leaders are to control large corporations. With ruthless cunning, Apple boss Tim Cook flexed the technology firm’s bargaining muscles this week by

  • Swivelgate: how green shoots hope was quashed by grassroots wrath

    Jon Bennett
    22 May 2013 | 7:27 am
    Amid the pomp and ceremony of the Queen’s Speech, TV cameras caught a glimpse of Ed Miliband and David Cameron sharing a joke in the corridors of Westminster. The mood was convivial, and people who don't recognise
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    In the CEO Afterlife

  • Why Uncontrollable Factors are Norm to Great CEOs

    John
    22 May 2013 | 11:44 am
    Every day we see or read about superb acts of leadership. The ones that occupy an indelible place in our minds are often characterized by unexpected high-pressure, traumatic conditions and courageous acts taken within a very limited amount of time – a cabbie delivering a baby, a mayor calming a city after one of the worst terrorist attack in the history of mankind, a pilot making the call to land a powerless 65 ton piece of steel on a river in the middle of a major metropolis, a primary school teacher shielding her little ones from a gun-wielding madman. With the exception of tampered…

  • Marissa Mayer’s Big Play for Good Reason

    John
    5 Mar 2013 | 5:24 pm
    At the risk of adding to my reputation as yesterday’s man, I’m fully supporting Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s ban on working from home. Frankly, there aren’t many of us out there applauding this controversial big play. Several journalists, tech pundits, and business leaders have called her gambit regressive, old-school thinking, anti-family, and a giant step backward. However, none of the naysayers seem to realize that she is faced with a turnaround situation. Ms. Mayer was hired away from Google to reverse 4 years of eroding revenue. Radical change is required. To fulfill any turnaround…

  • The Beer formerly known as Albino Rhino

    John
    25 Feb 2013 | 12:56 pm
    Last week I wrote about a complaint to the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal by a person with albinism – Is Political Correctness Coming to a Brand Near You? This person was offended by the brand name of a whimsical beer marketed by the Earls Restaurants chain. The powerful tribunal ruled in favor of the complainant, and after several months of dealing with the aggravation, Earls finally threw in the towel, accepting responsibility for their insensitivity and agreeing to change the name of the 25 year old beer brand, Albino Rhino. Political correctness had run amok. The story made…

  • Is Political Correctness Coming to a Brand near You?

    John
    17 Feb 2013 | 9:07 pm
    Earls Restaurants is a very popular casual dining chain with 64 outlets in Canada, Arizona, Washington and Colorado. Twenty-five years ago, they launched a whimsical brand of beer called Albino Rhino. I don’t know why they chose that name – maybe it had something to do with the white rhino’s keen sense of smell or the fact that the species is endangered. One thing’s for sure; Earls didn’t intend to demean or humiliate people with albinism. Yet, someone with albinism launched a human-rights complaint. Now Earl’s is pulling the Albino Rhino brand and considering a new name.

  • Blonde Joke on Starbucks

    John
    4 Feb 2013 | 8:32 am
    Last week I slammed Kellogg’s for maligning the good reputation of their Special K brand. Special K has always stood for a nutritious breakfast. This brand name is now on a new flatbread sandwich of egg, cheese and sausage that contains fewer calories than fast food restaurant versions. The entry isn’t my idea of a nutritious breakfast. Today, I’m roasting Starbucks for the same mistake. Starbucks recently launched a milder blend of coffee, called Starbucks BLONDE. This entry came as a shock to me. More than 20 years ago I spent the better part of a day with Starbucks CEO, Howard…
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    MyStrategicPlan | Strategy Development & Execution Software

  • How the Boy Scouts are using Member Feedback to Make Decisions | M3 in the News

    Kristin Larsen
    23 May 2013 | 3:16 pm
    May 21, 2013 — Reno, Nev. — Three years ago, the Boy Scouts of America approached our technology development company M3 Planning with a request: help us with measuring the experiences that Scouts, parents and volunteers are having with our program and make it a part of the way we do business. With insight obtained through providing existing strategic planning services to the organization, M3 Planning then structured and guided the system development for a “Voice of the Scout” program that would be robust enough to scale across the nation and functional enough to allow 286 councils to…

  • Six Strategic Vision Validators to Lead Organizations

    Kristin Larsen
    16 May 2013 | 2:28 pm
    Trying to fold a strategic vision into the way people work can be a challenge. Finding ways to help everyone “see” the vision is what grants some organizations the mastery to direct their future as opposed to those that are always reacting to the world around them. We’ll share some of the key takeaways on leadership and strategic vision that M3 Planning Chief Operating Officer Erica Olsen covered during her pre-summit presentations for the World Business of Leadership Summit (WBOLS). Video: Overview of the Strategic Planning Process For executive and management leaders, there is…

  • Strategic Objectives

    Todd Ballowe
    15 May 2013 | 10:00 am
    Org-Wide Goals and Measures — Once you have formulated your strategic objectives, you should translate them into goals and measures that can be clearly communicated to your planning team (team leaders and/or team members). You want to set goals that convert the strategic objectives into specific performance targets. Effective goals clearly state what, when, how, and who, and they are specifically measurable. They should address what you need to do in the short-term (think 1-3 years) to achieve your strategic objectives. Long-Term Strategic Objectives–You will find the four key…

  • Adapting Your Strategic Plan As Necessary

    shannon
    7 May 2013 | 11:30 am
    Never lose sight of the fact that strategic plans are guidelines, not rules.  Deviating from your plan is okay, but you need to understand why you make a course correction.  The figure below gives a visual decision map to help you determine whether you need to adapt your plan. Every three months or so, evaluate the plan implementation by asking these key questions: Will the goals be achieved within the time frame of the plan?  If not, why? Should the deadlines be modified?  (Before you modify deadlines, figure out why you’re behind schedule.) Do we need to renegotiate when folks…

  • What is included in a strategic planning template?

    shannon
    6 May 2013 | 1:10 pm
    There are key elements of a strategic planning template that are essential in a strategic plan. The plan is used as a guiding tool over the next three to five years by everyone involved in the organization.  This ensures everyone is on the same page and understands what is expected of them. Below is a list of the key components for such a template. Mission Statement: A statement of purpose and reason why your organization exists. It should be clear and concise and be able to fit on a t-shirt. Vision Statement:  This is an explanation of where your organization is heading and aspiring to…
 
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    Fulcrum Associates | Micro Leadership Macro Results

  • Don’t Forget the “Why” in Your Mission Statement

    Ian Cook
    6 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    A colleague of mine, Gwen Kinsey, led a crisp, interactive presentation at a recent leadership breakfast event. The topic was about how mission statements engage (or not) your employees. Gwen’s session drove home a point for me and I’d like to share it here. She put us in small groups and handed out two mission statements, one to half the groups, the other to the other half. Our task was to read the mission we were given and find connections between it and what we value highly. It turned out that one statement (from Whole Foods) was a lot easier to connect with personally than…

  • Another Angle on Employee Motivation

    Ian Cook
    22 Apr 2013 | 4:00 am
    It’s the end of regulation time in a soccer game and the score is tied. It’s time for the shoot out to determine the victor. You are the coach. How should you advise your five shooters, each of whom will get one shot at close range? “I want you all to concentrate on our scoring at least three times”, OR “I want you to concentrate on our not missing more than two times.” You first reaction is probably like mine, the first option, of course! It’s a positive message, a positive objective, not fear based. “Not necessarily so,” say Heidi Grant…

  • Developing Gen Y Leaders

    Ian Cook
    10 Apr 2013 | 3:00 am
    What leadership competencies do newly minted Millenial employees need to develop, from the get go? And what strengths do they, as a cohort, bring to the workplace? We hear so much “gen Y bashing” these days. We hear the stereotypes: unfocused, texting obsessed, ADHD prone, the world owes me recognition and, BTW, I’m pretty well ready for the C-suite…now! The Center for Creative Leadership set out to learn more. They conducted a study of about 500 managers and reported the results last year in Developing Next-Generation Leaders. What they found was informative and,…

  • They Feel Entitled. How about Engaged Too?

    Ian Cook
    1 Apr 2013 | 4:00 am
    They’re either disengaged or under engaged in their work but they very much intend to stay with their current employer for a long time. This is what a new study by Modern Survey revealed. For government workers, 80% were less than engaged but 60% plan to stay. Not like the private sector, you say? Well, how about 66% not engaged and 56% hanging around? Furthermore, the percentage of employees, public and private, who felt their total compensation package is competitive is in the mid fifties. Not bad, overall. Of course, unemployment is high and equally good jobs are not exactly dropping…

  • Teleworkers Perform But Do They Rise?

    Ian Cook
    18 Mar 2013 | 4:00 am
    The typical teleworker in the US is a 49 years old, university educated, salaried individual in a management or professional role, says the Telework Research Network. Some of these just love the opportunity to indulge themselves through the satisfaction of doing knowledge or creative work that both engages them and challenges them. But many of them also want career advancement. They want to get ahead. This is where an interesting article from Talent Management Magazine enters the picture. It reports on a Stanford University study of a massive Chinese travel agency where call center…
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    Great Leaders Serve

  • Today’s Challenge: Skill Gaps

    mark
    24 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Each week, I attempt to answer a question from a leader somewhere in the world. Today, I’ll speak to a question that great leaders ask a lot. Unfortunately, many leaders don’t ask it often enough: How do I identify and close skill gaps? First, anytime I think about skills, I delineate two different types of skills – individual and team skills. Both are critical, but they are fundamentally different. You can work on individual skills alone; it takes a team to master team skills. I’ll offer a few thoughts today on both. Individual Skills I think three questions are particularly…

  • Take Back Your Life

    mark
    22 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    I seem to be busier than ever before – how about you? I’ve always been busy, but I’ve got a check in my spirit that tells me I’ve slipped from busy into hurry. Busy, hurry, what’s the difference? Busy is about your calendar, hurry is about your heart. When we’re in a hurry we… Don’t fully appreciate the people around us. Miss opportunities to serve. Set unrealistic expectations for ourselves and others. Fail to see the contributions of others. Don’t honor the people around us. Are unable to see beauty in the world. Do not lead at our full potential. How does this happen? I…

  • The Value of Fresh Eyes

    mark
    20 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    If you gave a man who had lived in a Chinese village his entire life a million dollars to design and build a house, what are the chances the new house would be French Colonial? Zero. We create from what we know. This Chinese village syndrome is lethal in organizations. That’s why I’ve always valued outside perspective. An outside view can stem from multiple sources – study, benchmarking, job rotations within an organization, or my favorite… outside consultants. I know in many circles, consultants have a bad reputation. It’s been said that a consultant borrows your watch to tell you…

  • Today’s Challenge: Do You Want to Write a Book?

    mark
    17 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    If you’re a regular visitor to this site, you know that each Friday, I answer a question from a leader somewhere in the world. Today, I’ll take a shot at answering a question that, admittedly, may only speak to a small percentage of you. However, it is a question I get often… What advice do you have for an aspiring author? This is a fun and strange question for a guy who sells chicken for a living. I’m no expert on writing books. However, with three published titles and a fourth in the pipeline, I do have a few ideas for you to consider. Follow your passion. I’ve had scores of…

  • Leading Across Generations

    mark
    15 May 2013 | 3:10 am
    Last week, I had the privilege to spend the day with Tammy Erickson. Tammy has been recognized as one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world. It was a real treat to be with her! Although her expertise is deep and wide, we spent the day talking about the generations. I know this topic is of interest to many of you – How to Lead Millennials is among the most popular posts I’ve written since starting this site. Spending a full day with someone of Tammy’s expertise created a learning frenzy. I took pages and pages of notes! I’ll  recap here a few of the characteristics of each…
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    Frank Sonnenberg Online

  • There’s More to Friendship Than Friending

    Frank Sonnenberg
    21 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    When I was young, my friend let me borrow the red crayon from his new box. So I let him ride my bike. When we got older, my friend defended me in a snowball fight and sat with me at lunch so I wouldn’t have to eat alone. Years later, when we were in high school, and I had forgotten my book, my friend “saved my life” by lending me his book so I could do my homework. What would I do without true friends? Your definition of friendship may change during your lifetime, but its value won’t. True friends have fun together, even when they’re doing nothing special. They communicate without…

  • A New Day

    Frank Sonnenberg
    9 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    Each day is a gift for you to carefully unwrap. What happens next is up to you. You can cherish every second that you’re given or let time slip between your fingers. You can live every day with gusto and make every moment matter or you can be fearful and worry about what tomorrow will bring. You can reach out and make a difference in someone’s life or focus on more ways to better your own. You can pursue new ways to grow as a person or wait to see if the world stops changing. You can reach for things that’ll make you happy or you can be content with what you already have. You can drift…

  • A New Day (Poster)

    Frank Sonnenberg
    7 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    A New Day The average person lives approximately 25,000 days. How will you spend yours? . . . It’s a New Day. If you like this poster, subscribe to our blog so that you don’t miss a single post. Get future posts by RSS feed, email or Facebook. It’s FREE. Click your favorite option (top right). The post A New Day (Poster) appeared first on Frank Sonnenberg Online.

  • ACTIONS Speak Louder Than Words

    Frank Sonnenberg
    23 Apr 2013 | 4:00 am
    The car with a religious bumper sticker just cut me off. The parent makes the rules and then routinely breaks them. The leader just asked everyone to scale back and then spends like there’s no tomorrow. The politician says, “Trust me,” but we quickly learn that his promises are empty. The truth is, talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. Why do people say one thing and do another? Why do they make promises one second only to break them minutes later? Why do people say they care when it’s so obvious they couldn’t care less? Can’t they see the potential damage to…

  • Our Family Values

    Frank Sonnenberg
    9 Apr 2013 | 4:00 am
    Our Family Values What are your family values? If you like this poster, subscribe to our blog so that you don’t miss a single post. Get future posts by RSS feed, email or Facebook. It’s FREE. Click your favorite option (top right). The post Our Family Values appeared first on Frank Sonnenberg Online.
 
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    The Resiliency Group

  • Single Mom. No support. Leg blown off at Boston Marathon

    Eileen
    23 May 2013 | 6:35 am
    Dramatic headline. My friend and colleague, Bonnie St. John–herself an amputee –traveled back to Boston to see how she could help. Here is the letter she just sent me. Perhaps you might help. Dear Eileen, I’m writing to enlist your help for Mery Daniel, one of the survivors of the horrible attack in Boston. The moment I heard about the tragedy at the marathon, I was struck by the volume of amputations as a result of the bombing and I knew I had to help.  I reached out to my contact network, and the response was overwhelming.  Within a week, I was invited to visit both Mass…

  • Anatolian Festival Offers a Break and an Education

    Eileen
    20 May 2013 | 11:50 am
    So every now and then, for the sake of resiliency, it’s good to shut down the computer, take your best friend (my husband) and head out for an adventure. This past weekend, Asia Minor (now Turkey) beckoned—and we didn’t need our passports. For the fourth year at the Orange County Fairgrounds, one could step back in time and experience the amazing history and diversity of a land bordered by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean to the south, and the Aegean Sea to the West. We entered the festival area through the “Civilizations Path”, which consists of 14 gates each…

  • Lean In Advice from Jenna Lombardo, Former Marine

    Eileen
    17 May 2013 | 12:29 pm
    Women can have it all, but first YOU need to figure out what “IT” is that you want!  Just remember, allow your goals to change over time. You will change and your priorities and ambitions will change and sometimes plans don’t always work out as we intend.  Being flexible will help you stay on track and understand that sometimes, you are going to fail. Failure is a part of growth.  It allows you to learn from your mistakes and makes you stronger as you face difficult challenges. What we need to understand as women is that there will be many obstacles to achieving your goals. Our…

  • Stand Your Ground Against Sexual Harassment

    Eileen
    15 May 2013 | 12:14 pm
    NOTE:  Jenna Lombardo wrote this to her sisters in the military.  However, her advice is solid for men and women in all work environments: So often, the military small unit leadership has turned a blind eye to sexual harassment and sexual assaults.  It is only until recently that action is being taken due to the high-ranking incidents that have occurred.  Each branch of service has come out with its own method of prevention training. In my opinion, this training is senseless if the leaders who instruct these courses and the students within do not have respect for their female…

  • Female Combat Marine Leans In for Women

    Eileen
    13 May 2013 | 12:13 pm
    Talk about “leaning in”. Imagine doing two combat tours in Iraq, being promoted because of “meritorious combat service”, being nominated three times as “Enlisted Woman of the Year” and then facing sexual harassment from a senior enlisted advisor. I encountered Jenna Lombardo through her story posted on Sheryl Sandberg’s LEAN IN site. Given the current details of increased sexual harassment and assaults on women within the military, I wanted to find out more about this amazing woman. Over coffee at a local Pain du Monde, this gorgeous woman spoke about how she realized there…
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    Anecdote

  • Writing oral stories

    24 May 2013 | 10:11 pm
    When you see a poem you know it's a poem. When you see a screenplay you know it's a screenplay. Most people, however, have never seen an oral story written down. Probably because it's an oxymoron. Yet there are times when it's useful to write an oral story down. For example, when you're helping a company create the story of their strategy. Let’s look at the difference between oral and written stories and then I'll describe a significant problem that can happen when you write down an oral story for a company. First and foremost we talk quite differently to how we write and read. For example,…

  • Dynamic tension and team success

    22 May 2013 | 2:34 am
    Earlier this week Shawn sent me an email. "You must see Steve Jobs: The Lost interview. It's available on iTunes" (its the movie, not the radio show). So, naturally I downloaded it and am halfway through it. It's riveting. Jobs answers nearly every question with a story. When the interviewer talks about developing the first Macintosh, he asks "what is the secret of building a great product?", Steve tells him that the secret of a great product is understanding that having a great idea is only 10% of the battle. The other 90% is getting a great team together who focus on content rather than…

  • Don't send your strategic story to sea on the Titanic

    30 Apr 2013 | 3:32 pm
    We help lots of organisations turn their strategies into memorable and concrete strategic stories. In doing so, a key factor is ensuring its not a 'Pollyanna' story'. You know the ones…everything is upbeat, previous successes are emphasised, failures are not mentioned. Theses stories might be politically correct but risk being viewed as inauthentic or not believable. I recently watched this Steve Denning video of his TEDx talk in late 2011 on the topic of 'Leadership storytelling'. In it, Steve describes exactly the same concept in a very succinct way. He calls them 'Titanic Stories'…"700…

  • The world's best business story practitioners

    29 Apr 2013 | 5:32 pm
    Over the years I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with some terrific business story practitioners. And because we love to know who are the really great story folk in our region, I thought I'd share who I think are the best story practitioners who are great to work with in the world today and where they are located. Would love to hear who YOU would add to the list. Just add a comment below. Mary Alice Arthur - New Zealand - http://www.getsoaring.com/ Madelyn Blair - USA http://www.pelerei.com/about-pelerei/madelyn-blair.php David Boje - USA http://peaceaware.com/vita/ Sean Buvala…

  • Pulling the strategy together with a story

    25 Apr 2013 | 2:25 am
    Last week I flew to Vienna to help a pharmaceutical company develop their strategy. It was a two day event. We used the first day to explore their current situation and past by, among other things, creating a massive visual history across one wall. We delved into the important events that have shaped them and the lessons they've learned so far. We looked at the challenges they faced and told stories of how these challenges were really impacting their work. For me this is the foundation for any strategy. The executives need to know and share the problems and opportunities they want to tackle.
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    Chris Walker's Daily (VIP) From Motivation to Inspiration Blog

  • Keep the Big Picture in Your Mind

    23 May 2013 | 6:05 pm
    Every one has been made for some particular work and the desire for that work has been put in every heart – Rumi

  • Time is Life

    22 May 2013 | 4:02 pm
    Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.M. Scott Peck

  • Relax

    20 May 2013 | 7:00 pm
    What do we think? Is sadness an end to something? Is happiness a cause for direction? One must be cautioned that sadness is not a bad experience and happiness is not a reason to do something. Both produce addictions and the addictions are dopamine. It's really not the foundation you seek for a good life.Relax, sit quietly alone in nature and you will hear your heart beat. Only when you can hear your own heartbeat can you say "I know my direction" - The best relaxation is nature. But one can still worry in nature. You might worry about how fast you run, or how much weight you…

  • What is in your heart today

    20 May 2013 | 6:37 pm
    "I have love but you resist. I have compassion and yet it confuses you for weakness. I have generosity of heart and yet you think it is my lost independence" From Sacred Love the book.....We must be careful. Sometimes the most beautiful vision comes to you softly, in kindness. So easy to say there is no future without struggle and therefore what comes with love is too easy. Relax yourself, don't worry, it is here already. Just welcome it in the form nature created for you. The Soul of Simplicity is the Path of true heart. Have the courage to trust and worry will go and life and…

  • Your Heart is Content With What You Have

    19 May 2013 | 5:16 pm
    "Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." -- Lao Tzu
 
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    Managers Are Heroes

  • What to do when weak performers drag everyone down

    Mike Brown
    21 May 2013 | 6:25 pm
    Problem had to be fixed, now everyone feels penalized Managers can spend a lot of time dealing with the problems created by the less-talented employees. And sometimes solutions impact their best employees in a negative way. When manager Melissa Burn’s solution for fixing a problem applied to her whole department, two of her best employees felt they were being penalized for others’ mistakes. Two serious errors in a week “You really stirred up the hornets this time.” assistant manager Bill Bates said. “Stirred up the hornets?” What are you talking about?

  • When casual Friday gets too close for comfort

    Mike Brown
    15 May 2013 | 6:28 pm
    One person’s clothing is making everyone uncomfortable Most employees appreciate the chance to dress down on Fridays. But sometimes people can take that casual Friday freedom just a step too far. That’s the situation Erin Gallagher found herself in when one employee got a little too casual. “It’s raunchy!” “This job should have come with an explicit content warning,” Brooke Dixon said. “Explicit content?” Erin looked up from her paperwork. “What’s explicit about this office?” “You haven’t noticed?”…

  • Managing Employees from Hell: Keys to Dealing with the Evil Ones

    Mike Brown
    8 May 2013 | 5:21 am
    Every manager has at least one difficult employee – the one who crushes the morale of all who cross their path. There’s no silver bullet for dealing with these employees from hell – but there are proven ways to minimize their negative impact. Here are 4 common varieties from “The Underworld” – and how to handle them: 1) Gabby Gossip: Gabby is great at staying on top of other people’s business and personal info. She loves to share ideas – especially with inappropriate people. Do not underestimate this demon – and she has no loyalties and…

  • Top performer doesn’t play by the rules – and co-workers are grumbling

    Mike Brown
    2 May 2013 | 5:06 am
    The Scenario “Being a manager would be a lot easier without employees,” sighed supervisor Ford Swick, dropping into that chair across from HR director Stu Capper’s desk. “True, but the pay probably wouldn’t be as good.” said Stu. “Something you want to talk about?” “It’s Mike Sands,” said Ford. “My most productive employee – and the guy who doesn’t think the rules apply to him.” Why should top performer be penalized? “What’s going on?” asked Stu. “Well, he often comes in…

  • Are you crushing employee engagement – without even knowing it?

    Mike Brown
    23 Apr 2013 | 6:44 pm
    Employee engagement is a little like the weather. Everyone talks about it, but changing it’s another matter. You know that in the 2013 workplace, as employee engagement goes, so goes productivity. The front-line warriors in the employee engagement battle are The Manager! Well-meaning, but dangerous Can you think of any manager who actually sets out to kill employee engagement? Probably not. Many times, it’s a lack of awareness. Other times, managers let short-term productivity pressures interfere with the right decisions – and end up paying for it down the road. A lot of the…
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    The New Laws of Leadership

  • Do This When The Ball Gets Dropped–And Prevent Repeats

    Christine Comaford
    16 May 2013 | 3:43 pm
    Most of us dislike confrontation. And having a frank discussion with an employee who has broken a commitment is no exception. One, it’s uncomfortable. Two, if you do it incorrectly, you can create even more problems. Yet ignoring accountability issues is always a mistake. A well-orchestrated team depends on everyone doing their job, at the time they are supposed to do it, yielding the results they are supposed to yield. This is why we need consequences–they remind us that not keeping our commitments will carry repercussions. Not all consequences are created equal. While it’s true…

  • Do You Rule With Claws and Teeth? Try Leading With Engagement Instead

    Christine Comaford
    26 Apr 2013 | 1:20 am
    Image Credit: lionguardians.wildlifedirect.org We all know that influencing by authority—by command & control—is out. Influencing by engaging and enrolling is in. Yet too many leaders still rule with claws and teeth, rather than cropping grass alongside their herd and nudging them in the right direction. What about you? Are you helping employees envision an exciting future—or are you sending their innovative brains scurrying for cover? Influence—the kind great leaders possess—isn’t about how many people you can tell what to do, it’s about how many people you can understand,…

  • Yes You CAN Buy Happiness–And It’s Cheaper Than You Think

    Christine Comaford
    12 Apr 2013 | 5:56 pm
    Happiness can indeed be bought. But there’s no storefront, no web site, no vendors or purchase orders required. And the wealth isn’t wired—but it is transferred. If you want happiness for an hour—take a nap. If you want happiness for a day—go fishing. If you want happiness for a month—get married. If you want happiness for a year—inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime—help others. – Chinese proverb Here’s how to get both rich and happy, guaranteed. Find a cause that feeds your soul. You’ll know it when you find it, because you’ll feel excited and…

  • The 3 Things All Humans Crave–And How To Motivate Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere

    Christine Comaford
    13 Mar 2013 | 5:47 am
    Maslow was right. As you probably know, once we have food and shelter, but before we can seek self-actualization—the Smart State—we must feel safety, belonging and mattering. Without these three essential keys a person cannot get in their Smart State—they cannot perform, innovate, feel emotionally engaged, agree, move forward. Image Credit: Christine Comaford Associates LLC 2013 What You Crave Safety, belonging, and mattering are essential to your brain and your ability to perform at work, at home, and in life overall. The greater the feeling of safety, both emotional and physical so we…

  • Rev Up Your Ho-Hum Employees: Use Neuroscience to Win the Talent War

    Christine Comaford
    5 Mar 2013 | 5:00 pm
    Image Credit: logoquizanswers.biz A new survey by the American Management Association (AMA) suggests today’s leaders have little confidence that their employees have the skills to excel in a global economy. Wow. AMA’s announcement read: “Executives admit that the majority of their workforce is average—or below average—in communication skills (62 percent), creativity (61 percent), collaboration (52 percent), and critical thinking (49 percent).” In other words, we have an epidemic of ho-hum employees. And ho-hum won’t hack it in a global marketplace. But wait–there are two…
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    JMLalonde.com

  • Change Your Life By Creating Mental Triggers

    Joseph Lalonde
    24 May 2013 | 2:30 am
    There have been many times in my life when I’ve wanted to implement change but lacked the secret sauce to create the change. But now, I think I’ve found the secret to making lasting change in my life. Image by Laszlo Ilyes Every day we do simple things that could remind us to take the step towards change. I like to call these actions a mental trigger. What Is A Mental Trigger? Mental triggers are anything you use to signal your brain to take action. Anything you do on a frequent enough basis that could help you form a habit. Personally, I have a couple of mental triggers…

  • The Enemy Of Leadership

    Joseph Lalonde
    22 May 2013 | 2:30 am
    Great stories require 5 elements. A inciting incident. Conflict. Resolution. Protagonist. And an Antagonist. The antagonist is usually an enemy. The Joker to Batman. The Taliban to the US army. The resistance to your creativity. Image by Niles Geylen As you lead, you tell a story. You face an unseen enemy in your leadership. It raises it’s ugly head and tries to tell you it’s okay. That things shouldn’t be this hard. You should have it easy. One of the enemies of leadership is convenience. Why It’s An Enemy Convenience becomes an enemy because it creeps in and tells…

  • 5 Keys To Building A Loyal Blog Following

    Joseph Lalonde
    20 May 2013 | 2:30 am
    Blogging has been a great experience for me. I’ve been able to share leadership ideas and more with you, my readers. It’s been a fun but bumpy ride. Through trial and error, I’m learning what works and what doesn’t. Today, I’d like to share the keys to building a loyal blog following with you. Image via Creative Commons Why You Should Build A Loyal Blog Following If you’re serious about blogging, I believe you should be serious about building a loyal following. Why? Because you’re writing for someone and that someone should be listening. While writing…
 
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    John Maxwell: A Minute With Maxwell

  • RESURRECTION: A Minute With John Maxwell, Free Coaching Video

    johnmaxwell
    24 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    http://johnmaxwellteam.com - Words are an essential part of communication and leadership. Subscribe to John Maxwell’s “A Minute With Maxwell” video podcast to gain insight on a different word every single day, add value and make a difference in your life. John Maxwell is an author, coach, speaker, teacher and leadership communication expert. To learn more, subscribe via email, tell a friend or to suggest your very own word visit: http://johnmaxwellteam.com.

  • WEALTH: A Minute With John Maxwell, Free Coaching Video

    johnmaxwell
    23 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    http://johnmaxwellteam.com - Words are an essential part of communication and leadership. Subscribe to John Maxwell’s “A Minute With Maxwell” video podcast to gain insight on a different word every single day, add value and make a difference in your life. John Maxwell is an author, coach, speaker, teacher and leadership communication expert. To learn more, subscribe via email, tell a friend or to suggest your very own word visit: http://johnmaxwellteam.com.

  • FUTURE: A Minute With John Maxwell, Free Coaching Video

    johnmaxwell
    22 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    http://johnmaxwellteam.com - Words are an essential part of communication and leadership. Subscribe to John Maxwell’s “A Minute With Maxwell” video podcast to gain insight on a different word every single day, add value and make a difference in your life. John Maxwell is an author, coach, speaker, teacher and leadership communication expert. To learn more, subscribe via email, tell a friend or to suggest your very own word visit: http://johnmaxwellteam.com.

  • ENVISION: From the John Maxwell Live Training Event

    johnmaxwell
    21 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    http://JohnMaxwellTeam.com is where you can subscribe to receive free daily leadership coaching videos from John C. Maxwell such as this one.  To learn more about how to partner with the John Maxwell Team as a speaker, coach, teacher, leader in the certification program, go to http://JohnMaxwellTeam.com/Join-Us.

  • REDEMPTION: A Minute With John Maxwell, Free Coaching Video

    johnmaxwell
    20 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    http://johnmaxwellteam.com - Words are an essential part of communication and leadership. Subscribe to John Maxwell’s “A Minute With Maxwell” video podcast to gain insight on a different word every single day, add value and make a difference in your life. John Maxwell is an author, coach, speaker, teacher and leadership communication expert. To learn more, subscribe via email, tell a friend or to suggest your very own word visit: http://johnmaxwellteam.com.
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    How to Do Marketing with Ease & Integrity | Radical Entrepreneurship

  • Communicating with Customers & Clients: The Secret to Selling More of EVERYTHING

    Keep It Real!
    20 May 2013 | 5:32 pm
    Don’t be bashful with your customers! Remember when you had a crush in middle school and you wanted the person to know, but you’d rather die than tell them yourself? So…month after month you fawned over your crush in total anonymity. Eventually it fades, or they get scooped up by someone else, and forever more you can only wonder what would have happened if you had just told them. Too bad you were too chicken. Last week, I met a room full of business owners engaging (or failing to engage) with their customers much like you did your middle school crush. I found it deeply…

  • The One “Inner Issue” You Must Conquer To Succeed In Business

    Keep It Real!
    13 May 2013 | 6:17 pm
    When I first launched my healthcare marketing firm I made a lot of mistakes. I’m grateful for what they taught me, but I’ve also had to choose not to let those mistakes keep me from reaching my maximum potential as an entrepreneur. Because if I had listened to my mind, I’d never have made it this far. They say a mind is a terrible thing to waste. I say it’s a terrible thing to listen to. Here’s why: you are not your mind. I’m not sure who said this first, but this popular mindset principle is drowning in truth. And it’s one you need to embrace. But first, let’s identify your…

  • How to Create A Unique Selling Proposition Others Can’t Compete Against

    Keep It Real!
    7 May 2013 | 8:55 am
    Me and My “Spin” Doctor This is my spin instructor, Israel. And yes, that is me (a hot mess) not looking at the camera. I would have asked him to take another picture, but this was the third time I made him take one. I couldn’t keep punishing him for my photogenic lack. I LOVE Israel’s spin class. I’ve taken spin classes with every instructor at my gym, and in my opinion, Israel’s class is the best. In fact, I LOVE Israel’s class so much, I rearrange my schedule to take it. Most days Israel’s class is at 8:30 am, which is not a convenient work out time for me, but…

  • Marketing Your Small Business: The First Step To Marketing Success

    Keep It Real!
    30 Apr 2013 | 5:19 am
    Let me ask you something. Do you really want your business to succeed? I’m serious. Are you really willing to do what it takes to reach the people you’re meant to serve with your gifts, experience, and expertise? You might think you are, but do your actions reflect your desires? Are you avoiding networking because you “just don’t have time”? Are you ignoring SEO because that is “techy stuff” you can’t be bothered with? Are you substituting social media marketing for all other marketing tactics because it’s easy? If you find yourself doing those things, you need to ask…

  • FREE TRAINING: 3 Keys to Creating a Magnetic Marketing Message

    Keep It Real!
    22 Apr 2013 | 9:35 pm
    You know what? I get bored easily. I’m all for consistency, reliability, stability, and focus, but sometimes I just need to shake things up. Sometimes I need to look at my life, my business, and the world around me from a bird’s eye view and take inventory of what I see. I think it’s dangerous to live life on autopilot, racing through routines. So, I make time to stop and just think…about everything. Oftentimes, those times of reflection serve as catalysts for shaking things up. So, I’m making a few other changes around the office, not my actual office, my…
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    Management Meditations

  • On-line Training Partnership with Liker Leadership Institute

    Larry Miller
    19 May 2013 | 9:58 am
    Jeffrey K. Liker, the author of The Toyota Way, Lean Culture and Lean Leadership has developed an online training program in Lean Leadership. I have agreed to serve as a coach to those taking the Lean Leadership course. The course is self-paced and online. There are two levels of the course, one leading to a Yellow Belt Certificate and the other leading to a Green Belt Certificate in lean leadership. This is a good way to engage a large number of managers who may not have the time to attend on-site training and who can progress through the course on their own time. The post On-line Training…

  • Transformational Change vs. Continuous Improvement

    Larry Miller
    15 May 2013 | 6:17 am
    It may sound like sacrilege to hear someone say that continuous improvement may not always be the right answer. Of course, it is the core process of lean management. But, there are times when more significant and more rapid change is required – sometimes revolution rather than evolution is called for.The post Transformational Change vs. Continuous Improvement appeared first on Management Meditations.

  • “Respect for People” and “The Design of the System”

    Larry Miller
    10 May 2013 | 7:48 am
    Michel Baudin, a fellow blogger and author, posted a video link of a panel discussion that included Jeffrey Liker (The Toyota Way, Toyota Leadership) in which British consultant John Seddon makes the comment that "This respect for people stuff is horse shit." Seddon argues that what leads to improvement is the system and not an intervention to respect or deal better with the people. Respect for people is the result, not only of personal patterns of communication, but also the result of the nature of the system. The post “Respect for People” and “The Design of the…

  • Transformational Change Management

    Larry Miller
    8 May 2013 | 8:07 am
    Getting to Lean - Transformational Change Management is now available on Amazon. There is continuous improvement, and then there is transformational change. Transformational change involves rethinking the whole-system of the organization, creating alignment to the external environment and among the internal subsystems of the organization.The post Transformational Change Management appeared first on Management Meditations.

  • Creative Destruction and Transformational Change

    Larry Miller
    25 Apr 2013 | 8:47 am
    This is about lean management and organizational change. It is about adaptation to disruptive technology and markets. The ability to adapt your organization's capabilities to changing technology and markets is, in itself, a core competence required of every organization today. And, continuous improvement will not get you there. Disruptive technologies and markets require transformational change, revolutionary rather than evolutionary, not simple problem solving or continuous improvement. The lean management process or Toyota Production System is founded on continuous improvement. But that…
 
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    Skip Prichard | Leadership Insights

  • What’s the Future of Business?

    Skip Prichard
    23 May 2013 | 3:36 pm
    If you can’t see this video in your RSS reader or email, then click here. Brian Solis is an author, analyst, and a principal at Altimeter Group, a firm focused on disruptive technology. He’s one of the world’s premier thought leaders in new media. His blog is one of the world’s top resources for business strategy and marketing. What I most enjoy about Brian is that he has the ability to take complex subjects and break them down so you can understand them. His latest book, What’s the Future of Business? accomplishes that in a very different way than his previous…

  • An Exciting Leadership Challenge

    Skip Prichard
    16 May 2013 | 10:13 am
    This last year, I have had the privilege of exploring many opportunities and consulting with different organizations.  I’ve enjoyed the chance to study various teams and learn from a variety of leaders.  At the same time, I most enjoy operational roles where I’m responsible for driving results. In June, I will be joining OCLC as President-elect and I will be named President & CEO on July 1.  Based in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC is a nonprofit computer library service and research organization.  Its goals include furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs.

  • Working for Good

    Skip Prichard
    13 May 2013 | 2:12 am
    Jeff Klein is the CEO of Working For Good and trustee and executive team member of Conscious Capitalism Inc., an organization cofounded by John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods.  He’s written two thoughtful books Working for Good: Making a Difference While Making a Living and It’s Just Good Business: The Emergence of Conscious Capitalism & The Practice of Working For Good. What is “Working for Good” ? Working for Good is the name of my book and business. It is a brand. And it is an approach to work, business and life that orients around service, sustainability, learning, growth and…

  • 5 Customer Service Lessons from the Department of Motor Vehicles

    Skip Prichard
    8 May 2013 | 2:02 am
      You can learn from every situation.  Whether it was an incredible service experience that makes you a raving fan or whether it is one where you’re left shaking your head. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to celebrate a milestone with my daughter.  It was time for her to obtain her driver’s permit.  She had finished a weeklong driver’s education course, passed the written test, obtained all of the paperwork, and we had dutifully filled out the forms. Everything was ready. Now it was time for us to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), get her picture taken, and…

  • Finding the Next Steve Jobs

    Skip Prichard
    4 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    Photo courtesy of istockphoto/TABoomerNolan Bushnell founded groundbreaking companies such as Atari and Chuck E. Cheese.  In his first book, Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Hire, Retain and Nurture Creative Talent, he outlines a plan for helping companies bring more creativity into their organization and make it their competitive advantage.  (Nolan hired Steve Jobs in 1972, two years after founding Atari.)  The book is a must read for all creatives and especially anyone who aspires to manage creatives. My good friend, best-selling author and speaker Tim Sanders of Net Minds, is…
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    Kaufman Global

  • How Engagement and Value are Intimately Linked

    Jerry Timpson
    8 May 2013 | 9:50 am
    The following is an excerpt from Kaufman Global’s latest white paper, “Engage the Organization and a Performance Culture Will Follow,” written by Principal and President Jerry Timpson. The white paper examines the reasons why leaders fail to pursue engagement, even while it’s proven to be fundamental to success. Content stems from research completed amongst a large group of top leaders and known change agents with diverse industry backgrounds. Engagement is about working together, being involved, two-way communication and, most of all, the ability to have input, make decisions, and…

  • Kaufman Global to join 80,000 others at OTC 2013

    Media Alert
    30 Apr 2013 | 5:51 am
    INDIANAPOLIS — Kaufman Global’s Vice President of Business Development Michael Plageman will be one of more than 80,000 attendees, from over 110 countries, at the 2013 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) being held next week at the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas. OTC is the world’s foremost event for the development of offshore resources in the fields of drilling, exploration, production and environmental protection. Companies from around the world, including 2,500 exhibitors, will come together to access leading-edge technical information, the industry’s largest equipment…

  • Lean and Team: A Crucial Pairing for Continuous Improvement

    Jeremy Ecenbarger
    18 Mar 2013 | 8:11 am
    The likelihood of sustainable change is directly related to the degree to which that change is valued and supported by leadership, practiced by the organization, and consistently reviewed for improvement potential. Yet, how do you reach that level of cohesiveness — where everyone is fully engaged to eliminate waste, improve quality and drive innovation? The simple truth is that implementing Lean is more than the adoption of a set of tools. Rather, success lies in developing new skills, new habits and, ultimately, a new culture. It’s a transition from a “traditional,”…

  • KeyNotes E-Newsletter: Collaboration

    Sean Wright
    4 Mar 2013 | 8:11 am
    This issue of KeyNotes focuses on collaboration ― providing news, methods and evidence to celebrate the power of people working together. From the boardroom to field techs, from the factory floor to the finance office staff, collaboration has in its core two consistent ingredients for success ― people and process. Collaboration success most often lies with effectively linking the initiative with its work teams by providing a structure within which the goals are visible, the objectives shared, the progress unambiguous, and, tools are consistently applied. Structure drives collaboration,…

  • Kaufman Global Names Amy Howard Newest Principal

    Media Alert
    25 Feb 2013 | 10:36 am
    INDIANAPOLIS — Kaufman Global announced today the promotion of Amy Howard to principal. Based out of Indianapolis, Howard is now one of the owners of the firm. “This event marks a significant milestone for both Amy and Kaufman Global,” said Jerry Timpson, president and principal of Kaufman Global. “Amy’s experience, affinity for people and thoughtful willingness to express her point-of-view has had a consistent, positive influence on our market presence and worldwide service delivery. These same characteristics are anticipated to remain solid assets of her and our…
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    The Purposeful Culture GroupThe Purposeful Culture Group | A division of Edmonds Training & Consulting LLC

  • #GreatBosses Ensure Accountability

    S. Chris Edmonds
    20 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Today’s post is the fourth in my five-part series examining the best practices of GREAT bosses. Are you a great boss to your employees? A great boss is a person who creates and maintains a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • #GreatBosses Inspire Excellence

    S. Chris Edmonds
    13 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Today’s post is the third in my five-part series that examines the best practices of GREAT bosses. Are you a great boss to your employees? A great boss is a person who creates and maintains a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • #GreatBosses Honor Relationships

    S. Chris Edmonds
    6 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Today’s post is the second in my five-part series that examines the best practices of GREAT bosses. Are you a great boss to your employees? A great boss is a person who creates and maintains a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • #GreatBosses Inspire Growth

    S. Chris Edmonds
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    Are you a great boss to your employees? A great boss is a person who creates and maintains a safe, inspiring work environment where talented, engaged employees THRIVE. Great bosses create clear... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Get Traction on Your Desired Culture

    S. Chris Edmonds
    22 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    Spring storms are a “feature” of mountain living, especially here in the Front Range of Colorado. This year is no exception. The state needs the moisture but local residents (including... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
 
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    Switch and Shift

  • Recognizing Generational Differences – THAT is the Problem

    Samuel Hershberger
    24 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    We’ve all seen myriad blog posts and articles discussing how to manage/engage/lead/*insert buzzword here* Gen Y. We’ve discussed generational entitlement in Twitter chats, and there are seemingly entire sections of the Internet dedicated to these very topics. Today, I offer my two cents on this seemingly ever-so-pressing issue and how it may be managed effectively—not solely for Generation Y, but for all generations in the workplace. First, let’s think about the main goal of identifying generations within the workplace. As managers and leaders, we want to know how to most effectively…

  • Activating the Hidden Face of Diversity in Your Leadership Culture

    Dana Theus
    23 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    If you write a leadership blog, you know the challenge of dredging the stock photo sites for perfectly politically correct photos of happy business women and men sporting every hue of skin color from creamy white to chocolate brown. If you actually run a business, you know the photo-dredgers have it easy when it comes to filling the executive suite with such variety. Building a diverse workforce isn’t so hard given the growing numbers of minorities in the U.S. population, but grooming them into leadership is another matter entirely. The proof? Female board members at Fortune 500s have…

  • Millennials! Think you’re not Leadership Material? Think Again!

    Elizabeth Dexter-Wilson
    22 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    When I was 4 or 5 years old, I remember sitting at the top of the curly slide waiting for my big sister to slide down with me. I really wanted to go by myself but was too afraid. Then, one day I decided I was done sliding as a duo. I was going to overcome my fear and slide down by myself. I can recall that day vividly. I climbed up the ladder, sun blinding me. It seemed to take forever to get to the top. I walked to the landing, sat down and placed my legs over the edge. I could feel my heart pounding. To buy a bit more time, I let a few kids slide down before me. Then it was my turn. This…

  • Offering Our Youngest Leaders a Seat at the Table

    Angela Maiers
    22 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Many American journalists and politicians point proudly to the great innovations that routinely spring forth from America’s businesses, large and small. These same people also rail about the need to improve the performance of America’s students on standardized assessment tests. Why do they celebrate innovation and ingenuity in America’s businesses, and then demand that our students – the business leaders of tomorrow – perform well on standardized tests? Schools can’t measure what matters, so they measure what they can. As I wrote earlier this year, even in the rare instances…

  • It’s Business… And It Better Be Personal

    Michelle Pokorny
    21 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Times are changing. If you are reading this, you probably sense it. And business has to change, we need to “Switch and Shift.” To effectively lead, engage and create loyalty we have to connect with employees as… people. Knowing how and where to start, however, can seem daunting for an organization. In Shawn Murphy’s recent blog post, I mentioned findings from a study conducted by Maritz Motivation Solutions to help companies better understand employees. We found valuable insights on what is meaningful and motivating to employees. A key finding: Only 45.3% of employees felt they were…
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    Jimenez Weerden

  • Make notes, don’t blame

    Jimenez
    23 May 2013 | 2:49 am
    Part of life is getting screwed. Now what really matters is not what happens to you, but how you deal with what happens to you. Here’s how I deal with the bad stuff: Make notes, don’t blame. Fixing the wrong do-ers From a broken heart to betrayal and from racism to the loss of money. We all know what it’s like to been done wrong because we have all been a victim of something or someone in our lives with negative impact. Unfortunately, this is part of life. So no matter how hard you prepare and try, some people –for whatever reasons- just will do you wrong. Sorry. Now there are 2…

  • Good is not good enough anymore

    Jimenez
    14 May 2013 | 1:30 pm
    Being good at what you do will not get you to the top anymore. You must be willing to be the BEST. Rare grades I used to play an online MMORPG game. And in that online game you could upgrade your weapons and armor to several rare grades in order to be a stronger player. The rare grades were ranged from -2 to 7 and were named the following: Rare -2 (Damaged) Rare -1 (Low Level) Rare 0 (Normal) Rare 1 (Useful) Rare 2 (Good) Rare 3 (High Quality) Rare 4 (Excellent) Rare 5 (Ancient) Rare 6 (Mysterious) Rare 7 (Legendary) When the game was just new and still in open beta, you could easily use Rare…

  • Why I think school SUCKS

    Jimenez
    27 Apr 2013 | 2:29 pm
    I think school sucks. Not only because it’s boring, but also because it poisons ambitions and dreams and does not encourage people to go out of their comfort zone; and to go for their dreams. Here’s why I think school sucks: School is a production factory We go to school with the idea to become educated, but instead we get programmed. Programmed to fit in. Programmed to obey and follow orders. Programmed to settle for far less than what we are capable of. We make tests and based upon the answers we give on those tests we are defined as “stupid” or “smart”. We are taught how to…

  • Good news and bad news (GIGO)

    Jimenez
    14 Apr 2013 | 3:03 am
    I have some good news and I have some bad news. The bad news I’ll start with the bad news and the bad news is GIGO. GIGO, in computer science, stands for: Garbage In, Garbage Out and the same thing applies to your mind and life. If you feed your mind with garbage, it will produce garbage. Garbage in reasoning, garbage in decision making, finances and garbage in almost everything you can think of, which will result in a life full of: Garbage! But that is ONLY if you put garbage in… And the good news The good news is what I like to call: GIGO², because the same thing applies to the…

  • Ehm .. Why are all women in the cosmetics or fasion business?

    Jimenez
    3 Apr 2013 | 2:21 am
    Ok. Don’t get me wrong here, because I’m a big fan of female entrepreneurs, but why are they almost ALL in the cosmetics or fashion business? (except for Oprah) Let’s take for example this article: http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/10-women-entrepreneurs1.htm You see what I mean? We must encourage women to tackle more social and technical problems instead of fashion and make up problems. I love the female entrepreneurs, but the world needs more problem solvers and not more new designs of high heels and handbags! Common ladies!
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    POSSIBILITY, TRANSFORMATION & LEADERSHIP

  • David Foster Wallace: The Powerful Truth of Human Life?

    Maz Iqbal
    20 May 2013 | 2:18 am
    One of the most insightful talks on the human condition is a speech “This is Water” given by David Foster Wallace in 2005.  Having read and listened to it, it occurs to me that David Foster Wallace got life in a way that few of us do.  And as such I share this short video of his talk with you. Here is an adaptation of the speech that he gave courtesy of Shane Parrish: A huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded. Here’s one example of the utter wrongness of something I tend to be automatically sure of:…

  • Relationship and Connection: Does Every One of Us Needs A Champion?

    Maz Iqbal
    12 May 2013 | 2:38 am
    Rita Pierson is present to the awesome power of relationship, connection, and looking through the lens of possibility.  She sums it up by saying that every kid needs a champion. I say, that every one of us, adult and child, needs a champion.  What kind of champion? Rita provides the answers in her inspiring talk, which I wish to share with you today. Here are some quotes that speak to me, perhaps they will speak to you as well. “You know that kids don’t learn from people that they don’t like!” “Throw in a few simple things like seeking first to understand as…

  • Planting The Seeds of Kindness

    Maz Iqbal
    6 May 2013 | 2:23 am
    “There is too much anger, and distrust, and fear out there. I’d like the world to be a better place..” Thomas Weller Sometimes one person who takes action is more inspiring than thousands of sermons or a library of books.  With that in mind I wish to share this short video with you. Filed under: Being/Experience, Possibility + Stand, Practices, Relationships, Stories Tagged: making a difference, making the world a better place, putting kindness into the world, Seeds of Kindness, Thomas Weller

  • “You are absolutely correct!”

    Maz Iqbal
    29 Apr 2013 | 4:27 am
    We go about living as if life is simple.  We assume that life is black and white. We assume that reality and truth is one dimensional, and not multi-dimensional.  We assume that we can access ultimate reality and truth.  We asume that the way that we see it and speak it, is that way that it is. And we are oblivious to these assumptions.  As such, we show up in the world and operate from these assumptions.  In doing so we generate conflict, we fracture relationships, and we hinder our ability to be effective in the world as it is. Is there an alternative?  Yes, there is and it starts…

  • ‘Whole-Complete-Perfect’: Is This The Most Fundamental and Powerful Choice?

    Maz Iqbal
    21 Apr 2013 | 3:25 am
    When you and I came forth from this world we came forth naked.  Totally naked: without any and all labels.  No name, no gender, no nationality, no religion, no politics… So how did you and I end up with such a strong identity?  An identity that grips us.  An identity that permeates us.  More accurately, identity that is us.  It simply happened didn’t it as we travelled through the years with people, from one place to another?  Would it be correct to say that the foundations of my identity, your identity, our identity was solidly in place before you and I were in a place to…
 
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    Management is a Journey

  • May Management Journey Blog Carnival

    Robert Tanner
    20 May 2013 | 11:59 pm
    May has arrived pretty quickly and summer is around the corner! It’s also time for the Management Journey Blog Carnival. This month I have 12 selections. Topics this month include communication, social media, marketing, generations in the workplace, sales, career management, entrepreneurship,  leadership development, emotional intelligence, and other topics. The featured article that starts us [...]

  • Saturday’s Quote – Virginia Satir on Emotional Intelligence

    Robert Tanner
    18 May 2013 | 12:21 pm
    Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you deal with it is what makes the difference. — Virginia Satir

  • We Don’t Need Leaders or Managers! We Need Both!!

    Robert Tanner
    13 May 2013 | 9:38 am
    OK, let me warn you, this post is a bit of a rant! I believe it’s a necessary rant, however, as I need to get a few things off my chest. I  get bothered sometimes by what I read in business circles. It’s this perpetual discussion of what is most important to business: management or [...]

  • Saturday’s Quote – Ralph Ellison on Self Awareness

    Robert Tanner
    11 May 2013 | 10:31 am
    When I Discover Who I Am, I’ll Be Free —  Ralph Ellison

  • The Carnival of HR – Early May Edition

    Robert Tanner
    8 May 2013 | 10:28 am
    This month I am happy to be the guest host for Shauna Moerke’s Carnival of HR. The Carnival of HR is a long running blog carnival that focuses on human resources and has active participation from bloggers around the world. For this edition, I had no special theme. I just wanted to collect the wisdom [...]
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    EcSELL Institute™ Sales Coaching Blog

  • Sales Managers - the "soft" stuff is the hard stuff

    15 May 2013 | 11:51 am
    If an acquaintance asked you to help them move this weekend would you willingly raise your hand or might you quickly come up with a reason to opt yourself out? Likewise, if one of your good friends asked you to help them move would you willingly accept because it would make you feel good to lend a helping hand to a friend in need?   Truth be told, I would like to opt out of both situations. I hate moving furniture, but I know that I would help a friend in need and we would somehow find a way to make it an enjoyable experience. It is not rocket science as to why I would help my friend and…

  • Developing Top Salespeople: Can Nurture Overcome Nature?

    9 May 2013 | 6:40 am
    An individual’s personality – how they think, how they feel, how they respond to situations – develops early on in their life.  Those of us that are parents definitely know this.  Oftentimes, a parent will say certain aspects of their child’s personality were apparent even as an infant.  And because so much development occurs in our first five years of life, children start to develop the predictable patterns of behavior that they will demonstrate throughout their lives.  Indeed, most psychologists agree that a person’s personality is pretty well set by the time…

  • Three Reasons Why 360 Reviews Stink

    1 May 2013 | 5:19 am
    I despise 360 reviews.  Didn’t like them when they were done on me, didn’t like to do them on others, don’t like them when our members do them, and refuse to do them at the EcSELL Institute.  I’ve never visited with anyone following a 360 that was pleased with their end result, and for a tool that is supposed to be a "growth instrument" I’ve had to council too many execs off the ledge.  Only recently have I been able to articulate my thoughts in a logical fashion. Below are the Three Reasons Why 360 Reviews Stink. Reason #1—Most 360’s aren’t reviewing what is…

  • Connecting is the First Step to Coaching: Why Personal Relationships are Essential to Professional Success

    17 Apr 2013 | 10:41 am
    Last week was one of my favorite times of the year here at EcSELL Institute.  We hosted nearly 100 of our members at our annual spring coaching summit.  This year we gathered at the beautiful Dove Mountain Resort in Tucson, Arizona.  Whenever we have a summit, I always enjoy the powerful presentations from our speakers, the good food, and the great surroundings.  But what makes summits really special is the interaction with our members. As the group got to know each other better over our three days in Tucson, I saw business cards being exchanged and ideas being…

  • Focusing on the mental game

    4 Apr 2013 | 6:13 pm
      I am writing this week’s blog with a great deal of humility, some embarrassment, a little shame, and a lot of new found joy. For the better part of the last decade I have been battling chronic right foot and ankle pain that seemed to get worse and worse with each passing day. At times the pain got so severe that getting from the bed to the bathroom was an excruciating challenge. Although I hate to admit it, the pain had gotten so unbearable that it was affecting my personal life, my professional life, and my mental state – at times it brought me to tears. Naturally, having played…
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    Doug Smith Live

  • Learning to Lead Podcast: Winning with People

    DougSmith
    22 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    Learning to Lead May 2013: Winning with People: In this episode, my goal is to help you become better at connecting and relating with people. I hope this lesson adds value to your life and your relationships. To subscribe to this podcast in iTunes, click here. Notes: Three books you need to get: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, Winning with People by John Maxwell, and 25 Ways to Win with People by John Maxwell The most important single ingredient in the formula for success is knowing how to get along with people. ~Theodore Roosevelt I will pay more for the ability…

  • Going All In With God

    DougSmith
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. -Matthew 6:33 I talk a lot about going all in with God. Recently, I got a message from someone asking me, “What does it mean to go all in with God? What does that look like?” That’s a great question! I thought I’d share my thoughts here: Don’t Worry About All of Your Junk – You don’t have to quit doing anything to go after God. The church won’t burn down when you walk in. Your only job is to be open and to pursue God. When you pursue…

  • You Choose

    DougSmith
    20 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    I recently finished listening to one of the best series I’ve heard in a while by Keith Moore called, “You Choose”. You can listen to it here. The series was based off of this scripture: 15 “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. 16 For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. 17 “But if your…

  • How Great Achievement Always Start

    DougSmith
    17 May 2013 | 3:04 am
     ”The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” -John Bingham Do you ever wonder how people who achieve great things actually do them? Think about it, everyone has goals and dreams of who they would like to become or what they would like to accomplish, but not everyone achieves what they set out to achieve. So, what separates the achievers from the dreamers?  I have found that achievers dream, decide their going to do something, and take the first step. Dreamers just…dream. Most people never become who they’d like to…

  • The Wise, The Fool, and the Evil

    DougSmith
    16 May 2013 | 3:19 am
    “If you don’t start where you are, you stay where you are” -Keith Moore The older I get, the more I value teachability. One of the determining factors of whether not you are teachable is how you respond to this questions: How do you respond when you are presented the truth?  How do you respond when you face reality?  What do you do when someone tells you an area that you need to grow in? What do you do when you realize you’re not as far along in life as you thought? How do you respond to constructive criticism? How do you respond when you have to face issues that…
 
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    Empower the Leader in You

  • Resilience: Why the 3 Women Captives in Cleveland Will Rebound

    LaRae Quy
    20 May 2013 | 8:57 am
    Although few of us will ever experience the level of abuse and horror of the three women held captive for ten years in Cleveland, we can all expect to encounter a major traumatic event at least once in our lifetime. The way in which we respond to risk, uncertainty, and adversity is called resilience, and it varies widely from person to person. Experts cannot agree on one specific definition of resilience because everyone’s definition of risk, uncertainty, and adversity is different. What is certain, however, is that we all recognize Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight will need…

  • Live Your Story

    LaRae Quy
    13 May 2013 | 8:30 am
    Fantasy movies and novels are very popular for a good reason: we like to imagine we’re in someone else’s skin and living their story. The stories of others can sound more fun and adventurous than our own. The stories of others provide an escape from the routine we face everyday, and they offer us glimpses of what it’s like to be the hero that confronts obstacles and overcomes adversity. It’s not just movies and novels that keep us from being fully present to our own life. We also distract ourselves with television, shopping, online social networks, video games, cell phones, etc.

  • Best of Lead With Giants April, 2013

    LaRae Quy
    10 May 2013 | 1:17 pm
    This month’s Best of Lead With Giants is being hosted by Dan Forbes on his blog LeadWithGiants.com.  Jump on over there now to see the best leadership blog posts published this month from the Lead With Giants Community. Here’s the link: The Best of Lead With Giants May 2013  

  • Silver Linings: A Leader’s Playbook for Positive Thinking

    LaRae Quy
    6 May 2013 | 10:00 am
    Like the characters in the movie Silver Linings Playbook, it’s possible for leaders to change focus in life by maintaining an upbeat attitude. In the movie, Bradley Cooper plays a man with bipolar disorder who takes on a personal motto, excelsior—Latin for “ever upward.” As he tells his therapist, “This is what I believe to be true: You have to do everything you can, and if you stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining.” This is probably not a surprise to anyone who already has the habit of looking on the bright side, but there is actually ample evidence to suggest that…

  • 4 Ways Leaders Can Focus on the Opportunity, Not the Obstacle

    LaRae Quy
    29 Apr 2013 | 8:13 am
    This article first appeared in Consulting Business Buzz on January 14, 2013. I grew up on a cattle ranch in a remote part of Wyoming and Dad made sure I learned how to ride a horse by the time I was six-years-old. So no one was more surprised than me when Dad brought home a couple of four-wheel ATVs a few years ago and used them, instead of horses, to check on the cattle. The ATV looked much easier to ride than a horse when I first saw it and I was anxious to try it out! Dad took off first and I followed. The terrain on our ranch is mountainous, however, so I soon found myself sideways on a…
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    Deep Imprints Coaching

  • The Message is Simple, the Application is Amazing.

    Kim
    8 May 2013 | 8:19 am
    Sometimes your kids amaze you. Everyone of my kids has already surpassed me in some way.  Today I want to show you something my oldest daughter created – it will inspire you. I’ve been reading Jeremiah. I keep asking myself – what gods am I serving other than God? What do the golden calves of today  look...Read More »

  • You can declutter!

    Kim
    29 Apr 2013 | 4:21 am
    Are you buried in stuff? Life is messy, and when we are under stress, we seem to stop culling our stuff, and start storing it. Six month (or six years) later, we are buried by so many things we lose energy. We stop paying attention to our surroundings, and just focus on surviving. So, three...Read More »

  • Great books for coaches

    Kim
    25 Apr 2013 | 4:00 am
    Recently, I’ve reviewed two books thanks to generous publishers and authors. I highly recommend both books:   Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan and Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work Decisive and Sidetracked present almost identical information, but from completely different approaches. Decisive is in...Read More »

  • What are you holding on to?

    Kim
    24 Apr 2013 | 4:54 am
    My house cleaning is, at best, done in spits and spurts. For years I transitioned the house from one phase to the next as the kids grew – every six months I went through all the clothes and stuff to make sure we were still using them. The rest of the year, I just hoped that...Read More »

  • The God of Angel Armies

    Kim
    16 Apr 2013 | 8:34 am
    Today I am simply sharing something God showed me in my quiet time – I hope it blesses you as well. Several times in Isaiah 44-48, God says (I was reading the Message) – don’t these people notice that they find a great tree, wait for it to get big and strong, then they cut...Read More »
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    Latest blog entries

  • 25 Funny Questions to Get to Know Your Team

    18 May 2013 | 7:23 am
    If you want to get to know your team better, the first thing you need to do is ask them about their past, their passions, and their purpose for being there. But while that conversation will help you understand why they are on the team and what they plan to contribute, it will likely not provide details about their personality or about their unique preferences and perspectives. For deeper connections, and to paint a more accurate picture of the people you are working with and what makes them laugh, what makes them cry, and what rings their bell, you need to have a list of funny questions to…

  • The Leadership Book Your Team Hopes You Will Read

    2 May 2013 | 3:06 pm
    It was my pleasure to read and share with you my review of Bill Treasurer’s most recent book, Leaders Open Doors. This is a radically simple read with profoundly practical ideas. From his initial story that shares how a five-year-old helped to clarify the main lesson of the book (and its title), to the many ideas that each chapter provided for reflection and suggested applications, I thoroughly enjoyed the well-organized stories and tips that he packed into less than 100 pages of text. Leaders Open Doors provides a number of powerful and real-life examples of how you, as a leader, can…

  • 5 Reasons You Should Subscribe to Sean’s Team Building Newsletter

    24 Apr 2013 | 4:08 pm
    Everyone is part of a team. Whether you are in a family, attend a church, work in an office environment, are part of a project group, or participate in athletics, you are likely always looking for ideas and tips on how your team can become more productive. Sean’s Great Results Teambuilding Newsletter is a FREE bi-weekly report delivered straight to your inbox full of fun and useful content. As a leader or as a teammate, you will benefit from the tips and resources that it provides. But just in case you were curious about why you should sign up and subscribe to receive one more email –…

  • 35 Fun and Easy Team Appreciation Ideas

    27 Mar 2013 | 2:24 pm
      Effective leaders are likely always seeking fun anr easy ideas that can show appreciation for their team. Everyone craves recognition, and perhaps the most impactful way to motivate your team to perform better is to reward the behaviors that you want to see repeated. This article was shared as a guest post on The Linked2Leadership Blog. Thanks to @tomschulte for sharing it with the L2L audience... You can read the entire list of 35 ideas to show appreciation for your team by clicking here to visit his blog site! I encourage you try try a few of the ideas with your team - you can never…

  • In April, Ask Your Team to Reach Even Higher

    9 Mar 2013 | 1:08 pm
    Take a few moments to humor me. Hold your right hand up in the air, and then reach as high as you can. Now notice where your right hand is. I bet you can reach higher. Don’t believe me – just try it.  Extend just a little further.  Stretch yourself. See? According to Hallmark, April 14th is national “Reach as High as You Can” day. But “reach as high as you can” day is only one of dozens of little known official national “days” that have gained a spot on the calendar for various reasons. And April has a number of those days that are particularly interesting…
 
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    Coaching Excellence

  • Coaching Skill: Imagine The Possibilities!

    ipeccoaching
    23 May 2013 | 8:57 am
    I have two young children who bring me inexpressible joy. Like any parent, I could give a long, itemized list of all the “how’s” and “why’s” they make my heart soar. One trait I notice, when observing them and their friends, is their sheer power of imagination. I’m fascinated at how my son rides his rocking horse and really believes he is galloping atop of Secretariat. And, when my daughter plays “school,” I’d swear the other kids in the class were really there as she teaches the day’s lesson. What is even cooler is how adults get…

  • Leadership: If They Take Away Your Title…

    ipeccoaching
    21 May 2013 | 11:43 am
    Having been around many successful leaders in the military, in business, and being one myself, I am often asked by people how they can lead successfully. This triggers a rather lively discussion with questions such as, “Is it a particular leadership style?” or “Is it a particular skill set?” In my experience, I’ve noticed successful leaders can vary dramatically. Some were authoritative, command and control types. Others were focused on collaborating with those they lead. Some had a high level of knowledge or expertise that helped them become successful. Others didn’t have a…

  • Building Networks of Trust

    ipeccoaching
    9 May 2013 | 2:24 pm
    We’re happy to have Paul Garro, Executive Director of City Year San Antonio, as our guest blogger. A featured speaker for iPEC’s “Dialogue Among Thought Leaders” series, Paul has been successfully serving the educational community for 20+ years.  In addition, he’s been a national consultant for “Teaching the Hard to Reach,” and has authored the first of a series of books entitled, “Classrooms of Inspiration.” So, what builds trust? For starters, a strong foundation for trust develops when you expose your limitations, own your actions, and admit that you can’t get…

  • The Power of “Why”

    ipeccoaching
    8 May 2013 | 6:09 am
    ‘Why’ – one simple word that contains a powerful question within it. There’s been a lot of focus on the power of “why,” in terms of understanding one’s motivation and what truly drives individuals to go after whatever it is they’re seeking. I’d like to take a different look at ‘why’ in terms of understanding, well…anything! To do this, let’s be clear about what we want from ‘why.’ (Say that 10x fast!) We don’t want to use ‘why’ to make people justify themselves.  Someone shouldn’t be left…

  • Let’s Be Better…Everyday

    ipeccoaching
    25 Apr 2013 | 10:06 am
    The past several days have been quite eye opening. I was rapt watching the coverage on TV recently, reporting on the manhunt in Boston for “Suspect #2.”  Flipping through the channels on my remote, I was trying to see if any station had markedly different coverage than the other, but the information being reported was basically the same. While contemplating what happened, and analyzing my thoughts, I found myself trying to comprehend the “why” of it all. What leads people to their actions?  What’s the energy or motivating factor behind it all? I wish, like everyone…
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    Blog entries

  • Have you ever lied or deceived by omission?

    23 May 2013 | 10:48 am
    Last night I watched Senator Orrin Hatch grill the Acting Director of the IRS, Steven Miller. During the testimony Senator Hatch claimed that Miller had “lied by omission.” This was in reference to how Miller had left out critical and pertinent information that would have helped clarify what actually happened inside the IRS. Miller insisted he had not lied, but Hatch pushed back and articulated why he thought Miller had lied by omitting information.This got me wondering if I had ever lied or...

  • Using Deviant Behavior to Change Outcomes

    15 May 2013 | 9:14 am
    Several years ago I heard a speech I still think about, so it must have been a good one. I thought about it again recently when I had a discussion with someone about “benchmarking” – which is when an organization changes its practices to better mirror those of top performers. As the discussion progressed, I asked them if they had ever heard of “positive deviance.” They hadn’t. So I told them this story.NH Charitable Foundation and Jerry Sternin. Five or six years ago when I attended the an...

  • The Masters – Watch-out for Leaders Who Pursue Perfection

    6 May 2013 | 6:23 am
    I recently attended the Masters Golf tournament for the first time – it was on my bucket list. The Masters is played every year at the same course - Augusta National, which is in Georgia. AugustaNational and The Masters is for golfers what Jerusalem is for Christians, Jews, and Muslims – a holy place. And, like Jerusalem, it is a place where humans have sought perfection at the expense of others. I wondered as I walked around those hallowed grounds whether it was right for me to admire a pla...

  • When Helpers Are Leaders – Three Lessons from the Boston Marathon and UNH

    24 Apr 2013 | 2:56 pm
    If you are from the greater Boston area, you won’t forget the Boston Marathon massacre for the rest of your life. We all know people who were there and many of us know people who were killed or injured. As I look back on this time, there are three management and leadership lessons I will remember.Lesson 1 – Importance of Planning. Before I write about leadership, a quick note about planning, which is primarily a management rather than leadership activity. I think the response to the Boylston...

  • How to Lead with Attitude – Part 2

    15 Apr 2013 | 8:53 am
    I think that a positive attitude comes when we are happy, when we are having fun, and when we laugh at ourselves and the situations we find ourselves in. As Jimmy Buffet reminds us,“It’s these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes Nothing remains quite the same With all of our running and all of our cunning If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.”In Part I of this Blog post I wrote about the importance of positive attitude and how to recognize the symptoms of negative attitude. L...
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    strategy+business: STRATEGY & LEADERSHIP

  • Organizing for Advantage

    19 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    This article is based on Booz & Company's long-standing work on organizational DNA. It describes how to select the right mix of organizational design elements--both formal structures and informal aspects of organizational culture--to advance your company's strategy.    

  • Changing Structures and Behaviors at Walgreens

    19 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    When your strategy shifts, you may need to redesign your organization as well. That's what this 112-year-old retail pharmacy discovered, in a story told by two of its leading executives.    

  • Can Best Buy Thwart the Grim Reaper?

    12 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    As Best Buy takes a pounding in the financial markets, its leaders need to look beyond conventional solutions and reach for true strategic innovation. But is the once-dominant big box retailer up to the challenge of seeking solutions from outside its comfort zone and, indeed, from outside its own industry? Doing so may be its last hope for survival.    

  • The Agility Factor

    14 Apr 2013 | 10:00 pm
    A few large companies in every industry show consistently superior profitability relative to their peers. And they all have one thing in common: a highly developed capacity to adapt their business to change. With the right level of agility, companies such as ExxonMobil and Harley-Davidson have become steady outperformers.    

  • We're from Corporate and We're Here to Help

    7 Apr 2013 | 10:00 pm
    The one true measure of a company's corporate strategy is the profitability of its corporate center. That's right, we're talking about "corporate," that "dead weight" of administrative functionaries most business unit leaders love to loathe. In strict accounting terms, corporate headquarters is a cost center because it has no revenues, but it can and should be profitable. In fact, a profitable corporate center is both literally and figuratively at the center of corporate profit itself.    
 
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    Leadership Development

  • 5 Reasons to Go The Extra Mile and Live Your Best Life

    Christina Lattimer
    23 May 2013 | 4:02 am
    I couldn’t resist taking my most topical theme of the whole month and writing about it today! Yes, I am really proud and excited to announce that our monthly E-zine Launches today, and to celebrate I wanted to share with you, the reasons I think it’s imperative to go the extra mile. Going the extra mile, is a brilliant ambition, not only at work, but in life too. When I was thinking about the title of the E-zine, some brilliant friends in my LinkedIn Group suggested MILE, and various other great titles. Very soon MILE turned into “The Extra MILE”, and it was perfect, because the…

  • The 5 Deadly Temptations of Specialness Great Leaders Avoid

    Christina Lattimer
    16 May 2013 | 3:16 am
    Being a great leader is paradoxical. Leaders have to be pretty special people to be great, although in order to be great they fundamentally understand that everyone is the same. We are either all special or all ordinary.In group work, I invariably ask people to give me an example of a great leader. This isn’t always easy. Quite often people quote some of the greats in history, like Lincoln, Churchill, or perhaps Ghandi, Mandela or even Luther King Jr. Sometimes they will tell about one of their parents or even a great friend. Not many are able to easily bring examples of great leaders…

  • Take Another Look : How Your Perception Is Changing Your World

    Christina Lattimer
    9 May 2013 | 3:26 am
      I’ve wanted to write an article on perception for a long time, and for a while, until today, the words haven’t come. Today I had a big personal breakthrough when I was able to see something I had long viewed in a certain way, differently. I feel differently and I know that my experience, has, and will change. The reason we need to understand the way our perception shapes our world is because if we want to experience something different, the change must come from within. Some time ago a friend of mine, in mid-life, lost her job. She didn’t even see it coming. One day…

  • Go The Extra Mile and Have a Laugh!

    Christina Lattimer
    5 May 2013 | 4:06 am
    Sign up for free monthly Ezine and get a free copy of our NEW E-book! Don’t Just Smile Laugh! http://goo.gl/UMEqs 

  • The 5 Step Blueprint Of Successful Organisational Change

    Christina Lattimer
    2 May 2013 | 3:59 am
    In my capacity as a Leadership and HR Consultant, I am mostly called in when a problem has been encountered or a change is needed.    Consultancy is of course about understanding the problem, so a solution can be found.  Because I understand that organisations have a personality just like people, the problem is always unique to that particular organisation.   And so of course it follows, the solution is unique. Over the years, I have developed a paradoxically, simple approach, to what can be perceived as complex organisational change.   Using my expertise in Neuro Linguistic…
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    Managerial Mayhem

  • White Collar Workout: 12 ways to build fitness into your insanely busy routine

    Aaron Cargas
    19 May 2013 | 4:02 pm
    A white collar job is great exercise for your brain, but shoveling your way out of a pile of emails doesn’t burn many calories and a marathon meeting isn’t really a marathon. In the age of the busy information worker it takes extra effort and planning to rally your tired brain and get that workout in. But I believe it’s critical to your mental and physical well being. I inherited a love of exercise from my Dad. He’s 66 and he just passed an amazing milestone. He has exercised every single day for the past 10 years. That includes every day he was traveling for work,…

  • Everybody Sells: 12 tips to help you sell anything to anyone

    Aaron Cargas
    12 May 2013 | 3:50 pm
    The sooner you realize you are in sales, the better. No matter what job you have, you should strive to be a sales ninja. Why? Because even if you aren’t a salesperson, at a minimum you are selling your ideas to coworkers. At a maximum you are an executive representing your brand. Having been in hundreds of actual sales meetings as a sales engineer with ornery prospects all up in my grill asking hard questions, I thought I might create a new sales training course called Heeeeeyaaaaaaa: Sales Ninja. It would be replete with intense role playing, mock negotiations, and five letter acronyms.

  • Troubled Water: 6 leadership tactics to help you through tough times

    Aaron Cargas
    5 May 2013 | 3:15 pm
    When things are sailing along, you are keeping the customer satisfied, growth is a steady five percent, employees know their jobs, and your market is stable, leadership may seem like a fun hood ornament attached to the top of your business, like steer horns on your Cadillac. When times are tough, revenue is uncertain, markets are in turmoil, employees are saying bye bye love, and your operations manager, Cecilia, is launching verbal jabs at you like a boxer, leadership becomes the engine that keeps that aging cadillac on the road. In those times, leadership takes on a different tone and you…

  • Motivational Maestro: 12 ways to orchestrate a motivational workplace

    Aaron Cargas
    28 Apr 2013 | 3:26 pm
    If I were a motivational speaker I would have a gold lamé jacket, a platinum pompadour, and teeth so white they look like Chiclets. I would talk for hours about the power of the mind and then I would crush a gas can with just my intense mental focus. I would top off the show by levitating over a flaming koi pond. The problem is I don’t own a gold lamé jacket, and I’m not sure theatrics have any lasting motivational effect. So let’s stop talking about motivation as something you DO to others. You motivate a horse to giddyup by smacking it with a buggy whip, but I believe people are…

  • Brain Changer: Disrupt stress by changing your scenery

    Aaron Cargas
    21 Apr 2013 | 4:02 pm
    During an intense period of self reflection in which I was observing my patterns to try to reduce recurring stress, I came to the unsettling conclusion that I can’t prove I’m not a robot. I’m not saying I’m some high tech robot designed in a futuristic lab. It’s more like I’m a shoddily built robot designed by a 70’s era hobbyist who programmed a few loops and then lost interest, leaving me with several severe flaws in my operating system. What makes me think this? Mainly that I keep doing the same things over and over again. Then when something comes along that disrupts that…
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    learn.eaglesflight.com

  • Are you a Processional Caterpillar?

    Rick Willis
    22 May 2013 | 11:28 am
    In case you are not convinced from my previous two blogs, that being busy is not productive; let me tell you about a very busy little creature, the processional caterpillar. The processionary caterpillar is found in pine woods in central and southern Europe. Pioneering entomologist Jean Henri Fabre conducted a famous study on the caterpillar where a group of them were attached nose-to-tail in a circle with pine needles, their favorite food, just outside the circle. They continued marching in the circle for a week until they died of starvation. Zig Ziglar, the great motivational speaker,…

  • Why Leaders Must Fight Gravity

    Phil Geldart
    14 May 2013 | 6:38 am
    Imagine a tall, rugged mountain. So large in fact that it could be sectioned into four horizontal segments of equal width, as follows: 1. The top section is labeled: RATIONALE2. The section beneath that one is labeled: DESIRED OUTCOME3. The next one down is labeled: APPLICATION4. The bottom section is labeled: STUFF TO BE DONE Now, picture a leader or leadership team confronting a significant challenge in the business: for example the size and mix of a marketing budget. The mountain represents the issue being discussed, whether it’s a challenge, opportunity, problem, or issue. The sections…

  • Three Steps to Being Un-busy

    Rick Willis
    9 May 2013 | 6:49 am
    In my last blog, I railed about “Lemmings in Suits-Why you Should Become Un-Busy”, and our obsession with being “busy”. The result is that we limit our ability as leaders to build relationships, coach others, and plan for the future. We also neglect to do what Stephen Covey calls “sharpen the saw”. Being “un-busy” is not about being lazy or slothful. Quite the opposite. It requires hard work to become master of your time, and to invest in the often difficult relationship issues, creative problem solving and long range strategic thinking. Most days, it is far easier to just…

  • What is Inspiring Leadership?

    Phil Geldart
    7 May 2013 | 7:05 am
    And…is it Really That Important? I was at a conference of business leaders recently and they were asked what one thing was the most important upon which to focus, if the goal was to create a winning spirit in your team. The list looked like this: 1. Put the customer at the core of everything we do 2. Share customer success stories 3. Build shared vision and aligned plans 4. Ensure clear roles and responsibilities 5. Provide inspirational leadership 6. Maintain relentless focus on execution 7. Provide open, honest, immediate feedback 8. Recognize and celebrate examples of winning…

  • Lemmings in Suits: Why you Should Become Un-busy

    Rick Willis
    1 May 2013 | 6:33 am
    Lemmings are a misunderstood animal.  As a small member of the rodent family, they migrate in large groups. Sometimes they choose to swim across a large body of water in search of a new place to live. If they did not plan well, many may drown on their journey. This odd behavior has become known as lemming "suicide", and it is a frequently used metaphor in reference to people who go along unquestioningly with popular opinion. Poor little guys. What an unfair way to be so widely known. Even with this clarity, I still can’t resist using the catchy, if inaccurate, analogy of “Lemmings in…
 
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    Social Leadership Development Blog

  • How To Work Most Effectively With The Promoter Personality Type

    Paul
    6 May 2013 | 6:35 pm
    Now that you understand the Promoter leadership personality type, we move on to how to work most effectively with the Promoter. Working Most Effectively with the Promoter Personality Type To work most effectively with Promoters, support their ideas and intentions. Take time to relate with them and for socializing. Look for their opinions and things [...]The post How To Work Most Effectively With The Promoter Personality Type appeared first on Social Leadership Development Blog.

  • How To Work Most Effectively With The Controller Personality Type

    Paul
    5 May 2013 | 2:02 pm
    Now that you understand the Controller leadership personality type, we move on to how to work most effectively with the Controller. Working Most Effectively with the Controller Personality Type To work most effectively with the Controller, be prepared to show how you ideas can get the results that he or she is looking for. Discover [...]The post How To Work Most Effectively With The Controller Personality Type appeared first on Social Leadership Development Blog.

  • The 4 Personality Types: Understanding The Supporter

    Paul
    4 May 2013 | 1:46 am
    Of the four basic leadership personality types, the Supporter is the most relationship and people orientated. Mentality of the Supporter Personality Type The Supporter works with and through other people in achieving results or influence, as opposed to directing things to happen. Their friendships and their close relationships are the highest priority. Supporters tend to [...]The post The 4 Personality Types: Understanding The Supporter appeared first on Social Leadership Development Blog.

  • The 4 Personality Types: Understanding The Analyst

    Paul
    2 May 2013 | 10:02 pm
    Of the 4 leadership personality types, Analysts tend to be very detail oriented relying on reason and logic in much of their decision-making. Analysts also tend to judge others based upon their own frame of reference: the need for perfection in their work. Mentality of the Analyst Personality Type A person of this style tends to [...]The post The 4 Personality Types: Understanding The Analyst appeared first on Social Leadership Development Blog.

  • The 4 Personality Types: Understanding The Promoter

    Paul
    1 May 2013 | 7:21 pm
    Of the 4 personality types, Promoters tend to be warm and approach people in an outgoing and animated way. Mentality of the Promoter Personality Type Promoters will involve you and other people in their thinking and their feelings and in their decision-making. They like to work with groups of people and tend to be fast, [...]The post The 4 Personality Types: Understanding The Promoter appeared first on Social Leadership Development Blog.
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    Trailblaze

  • Why Your Employee Survey Is a Waste of Time

    David M. Dye
    21 May 2013 | 7:10 am
    Imagine Their Surprise “The whole department has quietly agreed never to mark anything but good scores on the damn thing!” I was talking with Joan, an employee of a large medical service provider and this…this was her ultimate response to the last round of employee surveys designed to improve morale and motivation. What’s worse, her management and executive leaders were clueless that their attempts have done exactly the opposite of what they intended. I regularly write about how to motivate your employees, but this was a disaster: This team’s morale was far worse and their effort…

  • 9 Ways to Motivate Employees When You Don’t Set the Goals

    David M. Dye
    7 May 2013 | 1:07 pm
    What Now? Julia slammed her laptop shut and slumped over her desk. “Ugh! What are they thinking? My team’s gonna hate this!” We had just sat down to discuss her goals when the email arrived from her regional manager. The email listed sales goals she and her team were expected to meet…goals from headquarters that neither she nor her team had any input into. What Would You Do? Julia’s situation is not unique. Whether you’re a team leader, a mid-manager, or even the President, CEO, or Executive Director there will be times in your career where you are asked to…

  • Effective Leadership Interview – Richard Bryan

    David M. Dye
    29 Apr 2013 | 2:27 am
    Can you imagine being 28 years old and being placed in charge of a business that was losing $3.5 million annually? This week I had the privilege of spending a few minutes interviewing Richard Bryan – who found himself in exactly that position when his father became ill and he had take over the family business. In this interview Richard answers critical leadership questions including: What is the most critical thing you can do to practice effective leadership? What is the most vital attribute to look for when hiring team members? How do you move forward when you don’t have all the…

  • The Minimalist Guide to Motivate Your Employees

    David M. Dye
    22 Apr 2013 | 2:30 am
    Make It Stop! I could almost hear his anguish… A young supervisor had gone to Twitter in desperation: “How can I ever motivate my team? Please help!!!” His fatigue and frustration were palpable, but they were also causing him immense problems and his credibility and influence with his team had suffered badly. The Consequence of Failing to Motivate Your Employees This young man did understand one thing: his disengaged team would cost his company money and time and it would ultimately result in him working harder and harder to pick up the slack… Or else he would lose his…

  • Why Don’t We Lead Better? (It’s Not Your Fault!)

    David M. Dye
    18 Apr 2013 | 7:33 am
    Good Intentions Janet sipped her coffee, gathered herself, then looked up. “I wanted to be a good leader…you know – influence based, focused on people, serving my team…” She took a breath and continued, “But then, we didn’t meet our sales goals and I…I turned into a monster.” She set down her mug, looked at her feet, and muttered, “What happened?” After All This Time Despite the huge amount of information available to aspiring leaders, we continue to see a regularstream of statistics that suggest we have a long way to go. Why, with all the training and information…
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    Eugenia Bieto's Blog

  • Talent has no gender

    Eugenia Bieto
    23 May 2013 | 12:35 am
    I recently went on Silvia Coppulo’s radio programme to talk about women in leadership with psychologist Sara Berbel and headhunter Ignasi Rafel (first and second from the left in the photo). The topic of discussion was “What’s behind every businesswoman who has reached the top of the corporate ladder?” Food for thought. With this topic, like many others, you run the risk of oversimplification. Work experiences are different for everyone – no two are ever the same. That said, I believe there’s one thing all women who have made it to the top have in common: a passion for…

  • A key Board for strategic guidance

    Eugenia Bieto
    21 May 2013 | 9:32 am
    Many factors and people have contributed to ESADE’s milestones: our Board of Trustees, our faculty, our donors, our students, our alumni, our researchers, our management team and our staff. The members of our International Advisory Board (pictured above) are at the very top of this list. Last week, we met with them again at ESADE’s Sant Cugat campus to discuss strategic goals for the coming years. The IAB’s annual meetings are always crucial for us because they bring together bright minds with multidisciplinary approaches, which proves extremely useful for broadening perspectives and…

  • Inside an MBA’s mind

    Eugenia Bieto
    15 May 2013 | 9:41 am
    One of our ESADE MBA students, James Doherty, has been putting his business school knowledge into practice blogging for the Financial Times for the last two months. He is one of the 27 MBAs from business schools around the globe, chosen by the FT to blog on their experience of studying for an MBA. The business students all have sharp writing skills, and seem very committed to this project. The FT MBA blog is bursting with activity, with a new story – sometimes even two – getting published practically every day. Some of the topics these MBA bloggers choose to write about are quite…

  • An innovative thinker

    Eugenia Bieto
    29 Mar 2013 | 5:10 am
    This is a special photo – it brings back many memories from the past. The person sitting next to me is Adolf Vilanova, who recently returned to ESADE for a special occasion: We wanted to see him again to thank him personally for his invaluable contribution to our institution over so many years. Adolf Vilanova joined ESADE in the early seventies. He was a very generous and dedicated professor, and also a very innovative thinker. I’m sure his teachings inspired many of our students in the classroom during his more than 30 years at ESADE. Adolf set the basis of an innovative family business…

  • Cradle of entrepreneurs

    Eugenia Bieto
    25 Mar 2013 | 8:07 am
    Great businesses like Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Google started out from a humble garage. We wanted to create something at ESADE that would resemble this space to encourage our students to become entrepreneurs; and so we founded EGarage a year ago. This month, we’re celebrating its 1st anniversary with good news. The space is bursting with activity – we’ve organised over 250 sessions, workshops and classes throughout the year, which have been attended by more than 6,600 participants. We also invited many of our alumni who have become successful entrepreneurs, because we wanted them to…
 
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    Leaders to Leader

  • The Cruelest April Fool’s Joke Ever

    Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.
    16 May 2013 | 12:26 pm
    I would like to explain to my regular subscribers why I haven’t posted on my blog since the beginning of April. I do apologize. I had been suffering what I supposed was a cold since late January. It all came to a head over Easter weekend, and I was admitted into the hospital on April 1, when I was diagnosed with cancer.

  • Be Smart Enough to Surround Yourself With Good People

    Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.
    27 Mar 2013 | 8:00 am
    How great leaders approached identifying and hiring the right employees was as varied as their individual personalities. Ross Perot (EDS) noted, “Over my years in business, I have had a saying when it comes to hiring: Hire character and train skills. Everything worth doing is done on a foundation of integrity and honor.”

  • Without Trust, Change is Difficult If Not Impossible to Achieve

    Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.
    26 Mar 2013 | 8:47 am
    When individuals do not keep agreements or remain true to their word, and do not share information or trust another employee’s judgment or competence, trust is breached. Employees develop feelings of betrayal that lead to a chain of unresolved conflicts. These unresolved conflicts build a strong sense of mistrust and disloyalty that is extremely difficult to counteract.

  • Self-Belief Fuels a Strong Sense of Optimism

    Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.
    25 Mar 2013 | 8:29 am
    Self-belief fuels a strong sense of optimism. Jeff Bezos (Amazon) observed: “Optimism is essential when trying to do anything difficult because difficult things often take a long time. That optimism can carry you through the various stages as the long term unfolds. And it’s the long term that matters.”

  • Effective Problem Solving Requires A Systematic Approach

    Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.
    22 Mar 2013 | 8:01 am
    Effective problem solving requires that managers use a systematic approach rather than their intuitive judgment alone. Studies have shown that managers make more accurate judgments when they use such an approach for resolving problems and making critical decisions.
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    Random Acts Of Leadership™

  • Are You an Input Junkie?

    Susan Mazza
    16 May 2013 | 12:32 am
    As of 2012 the average attention span in 2012 was 8 seconds according to the Associated Press.  That is 3 seconds less than reported in 2000 – a 25% decline. It is now official that our attention span is LESS than the attention span of a goldfish! I heard this statistic while listening to Sally Hogshead talk about the subject of Fascination and how we can capture that limited attention span.  While as a business owner I continue to work hard to learn how to capture people’s attention so I have the opportunity to actually make a difference with them, I couldn’t help but…

  • What Legacy Will You Leave?

    Susan Mazza
    7 May 2013 | 4:37 pm
    Have you ever been touched deeply by someone you barely knew? On May 1, 2013 a man named Wally Collins passed away.  A few short years ago I sang at his wedding as he married one of the people I hold most dear, Mary McClean.  They shared a brief, but beautiful love.  It was moving to witness.  Wally fought hard to stay on this earth to be with Mary and his family as long as possible.  He defied the odds over and over right until the end. As I sat down on Sunday to prepare the songs his family had asked me to sing at his funeral, a very rare thing happened.  You see long ago I played in…

  • It Sounds Great In Theory…

    Susan Mazza
    24 Apr 2013 | 11:30 pm
    There are a lot of things that “sound great in theory”.  Yet knowing the theory doesn’t always tell you how to implement the theory in real life. Why does there so often seem to be such a big gap between theory and action? I’ll suggest it is because to apply the theory we have to first change the way we think.  Just because a concept makes sense to us intellectually, doesn’t mean we have embraced the new thinking or beliefs and integrated them into our mindset. Your thoughts, which are always based on your personal context, mental models, beliefs, etc., are the…

  • A Lesson from A Dark Room

    Susan Mazza
    18 Apr 2013 | 5:27 am
    If I were to put you in a completely dark room and you had no idea where the door was, how would you find the door? You would have to take a step, and adjust for your next step given the “feedback”, wouldn’t you?  You would probably bump into things.You may even get a few bruises.You might feel uncomfortable or scared and perhaps get frustrated, too. It is likely you would have to change course a few times just to find your way to a wall, let alone the door. Of course, eventually, with enough trial, error, and discovery you would find your way to that door. Learning to lead or…

  • How To Get Past Conversational Smoke And Mirrors

    Susan Mazza
    11 Apr 2013 | 5:20 pm
    Have you ever been frustrated by a conversation (or a series of them!) that seems to go nowhere no matter how hard you try? Progress can be illusive at best when two or more people are in a conversation in which they are not committed to the same outcome.  Yet even when you are seemingly on the same page about the purpose of a conversation, it can still be difficult when you encounter someone who is like a magician making clarity, focus and progress evaporate in an instant. These conversational magicians are masterful with the communication equivalent of smoke and mirrors in creating the…
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    Step Up Leader with Susan Freeman

  • Leaders who Label May Harm their Effectiveness

    Susan
    22 May 2013 | 4:10 am
    Yesterday I heard something in a yoga class that shouted out to me as a valuable leadership lesson: The idea of putting a label on an experience. Think about how many times a day you get caught up in labeling.  We endlessly label our experiences (and sometimes those of others), we label our feelings, moods and thoughts as positive/negative, good/bad, strong/weak, etc.    Our brains benefit from our ability to categorize and label; it is a way of accessing the huge amounts of data stored there.  A label can help the brain find a “similar” file drawer quickly and efficiently. …

  • Are You “Checking The Boxes” as a Leader?

    Susan
    15 May 2013 | 4:34 am
    May brought the holiday of Mother’s Day.   I was fortunate to have had one of the most memorable in my life.  I spent it at a beautiful nearby beach during Florida’s glorious spring weather.  While on a long Mother’s Day morning walk along the shore, I observed many families; lots of mothers and daughters, fewer mothers and sons, young couples with pregnant “mother’s to be.”  Then something caught my eye. It was a family of four with two young adolescent boys.  The father was taking a photo of the mother and sons.  As soon as the photo was captured, the boys sauntered off…

  • Leadership: It May Not Be What You Think…

    Susan
    8 May 2013 | 9:11 am
    Today brought an incredible real-life example to illustrate the simple, yet powerful message I aim to teach; that leadership and influence are first and foremost an inner game.  Only when we are clear and fully present internally can we create and experience joy, fulfillment and results externally. The point was illustrated beautifully by a client who brought a leadership challenge to our call today.  She explained that she was feeling worn out by the never-ending problems and demands of her team.  She thought she was missing out on the “real” responsibilities of leadership.  She went…

  • Are You Leading From Who You Are, or Who You Are Not?

    Susan
    1 May 2013 | 9:15 am
    “Are you leading from who you are vs who you are not” is not the riddle of the Sphinx, but a serious probe into your state of awareness around work, relationships, and your life as it is. Consider these shocking workplace realities: 51% of “A” players are actively looking for another job 80% of people never use their greatest gifts at work Worker engagement is at an all-time low; 30% in the US and 11% worldwide. 75% of ALL illness is stress-related What might these numbers be telling us if we are engaged enough to listen? I believe the data is an indication that we are…

  • Leaders, Step Back So You Can See More Closely

    Susan
    24 Apr 2013 | 4:07 am
    I was visiting an art museum last weekend when I had a realization that applies to leadership.  The epiphany occurred when viewing the watercolors of the artist John Singer Sargent, a 20th century painter whose sparse brushstrokes yielded masterful and dramatic portraits and landscapes.    When viewing his work up close, I saw the way he used limited strikes with the brush to create effect.  The strokes seemed abstract and difficult to imagine as a “figure.” It wasn’t until I stepped back and got distance that my eye filled in the missing pieces. As I shifted my own perspective,…
 
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    Karen Catlin

  • Persistence alone is not enough

    karencatlin
    23 May 2013 | 10:07 am
    Lately, I’ve been pretty frustrated with my son’s elbows, especially when they appear on the dinner table every night. He’s a teenager, and I’ve been reminding him to keep his elbows off the table since he was a toddler. It’s gotten to the point that all I have to do is say his name, glance […]

  • Personal Branding: Why Wait for a Job Search?

    karencatlin
    16 May 2013 | 8:14 am
    I often have ideas for articles about career development, usually based on questions I’m asked when I speak at events. Because “Use Your Inside Voice” is focused the intersection of leadership and parenting, I don’t want to publish general career advice here. Instead, I reach out to other blogs, offering to write a guest post […]

  • Going extreme with questions

    karencatlin
    14 May 2013 | 7:56 am
    Occasionally, I come across parenting advice in a leadership book. When this happens, I smile and do a little cheer under my breath. It’s validating to see someone else writing about the intersection of parenting and leadership.  One such example is in the book “Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter” by Liz Wiseman, […]

  • Setting aside time to think

    karencatlin
    7 May 2013 | 7:46 am
    When I led a team of program managers at a software company, I’d ask new employees to set aside time every week to step back from their to-do lists. I’d encourage them to reflect on what went well, as well as what they might be forgetting to do, what contingencies they should plan for, and […]

  • More thoughts on making yourself unforgettable

    karencatlin
    1 May 2013 | 10:35 am
    After posting Make yourself unforgettable, I read an article on Forbes: Volunteering: How Helping Out Helps You Stand Out In the Workplace. It emphasized the importance of volunteerism and proudly listing this experience on your resume and LinkedIn profile: “Companies today are looking for well-rounded candidates…. In fact, one in every five hiring managers in the […]
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    Leading in Context

  • 200th Blog Post – Learning at the Speed of Life

    Linda Fisher Thornton
    22 May 2013 | 5:48 am
    By Linda Fisher Thornton In my 150th Blog Post, I wrote about starting a blog and being new to the process of Learning Out Loud. To celebrate my 200th post, I want to reflect on what it's been like to learn new things faster than I ever thought possible. It seems especially clear to me now that we all have capabilities we're not using in our day to day lives. But imagine what could happen if we believed we could make a difference, lurched toward that goal unsteadily, and then just held on for the ride.

  • 10 Favorite Quotes From the Leading in Context Blog

    Linda Fisher Thornton
    15 May 2013 | 5:26 am
    This week, I'm sharing 10 of my favorite quotes from the Leading in Context Blog. Clicking on each quote takes you to the full post that includes the quote.

  • Leading Ethically and The Control Trap

    Linda Fisher Thornton
    8 May 2013 | 5:15 am
    By Linda Fisher Thornton Why is controlling leadership so harmful in organizations? There are a number of powerful reasons that have ethical implications:

  • Responsibility and Respect (The 4th and 5th R’s)

    Linda Fisher Thornton
    30 Apr 2013 | 5:34 am
    Children Need to Learn Responsibility and Respect Two key principles (in addition to the 3 R's) that children need to learn in order to to live a successful life are responsibility and respect. As we teach knowledge and information, these areas need to be taught through an ethical frame of reference.

  • 15 Ways to Encourage Moral Growth in Leadership

    Linda Fisher Thornton
    24 Apr 2013 | 5:45 am
    By Linda Fisher Thornton Moral Growth Is a Lifelong Pursuit Moral education needs to start early, and it also needs to continue throughout our professional careers. Unlocking Moral Awareness How can we help leaders develop the moral thinking and awareness that they need to make good leadership choices? What specific conversations and experiences will support moral development?
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    kate{mats}

  • 10 Minutes a Day to Your Dream Job

    kate
    23 May 2013 | 9:11 am
    Pursuing your dreams is a big undertaking. Well, it’s a big undertaking in theory. Actually, accomplishing any major goal is really just accomplishing a series of small goals that all lead in the same direction. One of the best organization and time-management skills I ever learned was to break big projects into little ones.  “I can’t build this whole feature; I don’t even know where to start,” I used to think when I got a huge assignment early on in my career. I would get discouraged by how impossible the task ahead of me seemed and put off doing any work at all until the last…

  • Networking: The Secrets to Being Charming and Persuasive

    kate
    8 May 2013 | 10:49 pm
    (image source)I am pretty good at faking it. People that don’t know me well are often shocked when I admit I am an introvert.  I am pretty good at pretending to be an extrovert.  However, I still have a ton of social anxiety. I have a hard time with silence so I will talk too much to keep from sitting there quietly. Even though I have a genuine interest in people, I struggle to find good questions to ask. I get tongue-tied when someone asks me a hard question I am not sure how to answer. Social situations and meetings take a lot out of me. However, a key part of business and life is…

  • People are lazy. Here’s how I get shit done.

    kate
    2 May 2013 | 9:24 pm
      I am lazy.  If there is a shortcut I will take it.  I love feeling accomplished, but I don’t always love the hard work it takes to get there.  And my inertia used to be a big hurdle, but over the years I transformed into a high bandwidth, entrepreneur (aka doing the work of a whole team of people) and this article describes my process.   What my life was like…..   When I started working out of college it was a rough transition.  Every task was brand new and the fear of the unknown paralyzed me.  Each day I would head into the office gung-ho about all the work I was going…

  • Better One on Ones and a Request for Help!

    kate
    24 Apr 2013 | 10:24 am
    Hello!  I have 2 orders of business. Better One on Ones If you haven’t checked it out yet, we released a new (free) tool to help you with one on one meetings.It is very simple – each week it emails you (the team lead) and your team 2 questions to use in your meeting. I created this service because a few years ago I drafted a list of a few hundred questions I *should* be asking in my one on one meetings.  I would use this list to make the context switch from tactical work, to focusing on my teammate in my office.  I had a hard time with this transition so these questions were a…

  • A 3-Step Guide to Reaching Your Dreams (and my offer to help you get there)

    kate
    16 Apr 2013 | 7:30 pm
    You are amazing. But you don’t have to take my word for it. In fact, eventually, you are going to have to believe it with every fiber of your being. Why?  Because it is true. You have a superpower, and it is possible you have even more than one.  The trick is to hone in on those strengths and bring your art to the world and those around you. We are all capable of art.  As Seth Godin wrote in his most recent book, The Icarus Deception,“The question isn’t whether you are capable of godlike work. (you are.) The question is: Are you willing?” Let me prove it to you.   Try answering…
 
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    Dave Bratcher - Leadership: ENGAGED

  • Graduate Leader Mashup

    Dave
    22 May 2013 | 4:43 am
    BLOG ONLY Exclusive Content – Follow up to today’s Jackson Sun article entitled, “Congrats, You Graduated!  Now What?” Do you remember your high school graduation? If you are anything like me the answer is, “Yes.”  At the time it did not seem like that big of a deal.  It was what I expected to do, and not doing so was never a thought. The picture above, depicts what Paul Harvey would call “The rest of the story.” Laying next to the mortar board, tassel, and diploma, you see a key.  This is what the diploma gives you.  It gives you a key to…

  • 3 Reasons Vision is Important and How to Create One

    Dave
    20 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Have you ever seen the roof added to a house prior to the foundation? Of course you cannot put on the roof prior to many steps being completed first.  The ground must be leveled and cinder blocks laid before any wood is applied to the home. This is not just an article about business, mission statements, or goals. Reason #1 – Clarity – Do you often feel like you have way to much going on?  What about the feeling that you have all of these segments of life with the only seemingly related component to them all is YOU?  Because we all have different segments of life, we need…

  • SUCCESS = Friends + Clarity

    Dave
    15 May 2013 | 5:49 am
    Sign up below for updates! Your email:  What kind of relationships do you have?  Do you clearly know where you are going, why you’re going there, and what you hope to accomplish? Read my article in today’s edition of The Jackson Sun to learn more about relationships and clarity here.

  • Lesson on Trust from Coach K and How to Apply It

    Dave
    13 May 2013 | 4:55 am
    Disclosure:  I’m not a Duke fan, but I am a Coach K fan. I wrote about trust through the eyes of a child last year.  Read it here. At the beginning of any leadership training experience, trust is something which is the focus of many activities.  This is also something built into all branches of military training, and you don’t have to think much about why.  If you were in battle, the last thing you would need in the back of your mind is, “Does he/she have my back?”  In marriage, the relationship between a husband and wife is held together only because of trust.

  • FEAR is your Enemy (and how to deal with it)

    Dave
    8 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    What are you fearful of?  What fears are those around you dealing with? REMINDER – Live chat TONIGHT @ 8pm.  Connect at www.jacksonsun.com/livechat As I wrote in today’s Jackson Sun article, titled What’s Feat Got to do with It?, which you can read here, our son was trying to see how fast he could run into the ocean… until fear entered the equation.  This was during our vacation last week to Watercolor Resort at Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Fear is something which paralyzes each and everyone of us in one way or another.  Maybe we are afraid of the dark, heights,…
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    The Art Of Small Improvements

  • How To Cope With Information Overload

    Andy Phillips
    22 May 2013 | 5:35 pm
    When I started work there was no internet. I had four lever-arch files which I put the infrequently produced documents into. There were three television channels and at the local library we were allowed a maximum of four books each (and that was frowned on!). Information was limited.  Now information is everywhere and immediate. From blogs to tweets to emails to web sites to posts on facebook - information (most of it not useful) is taking over.  So what are the most common ways we handle information overload? Here are the most common: Ignore it. Great until you miss something…

  • How Procrastinating Can Help Reduce Stress

    Andy Phillips
    12 May 2013 | 8:02 am
    Normally, procrastinating is a bad idea. Things generally aren't easier to do tomorrow and you certainly won't have more time. In most cases, the standard advice is true: don't put things off, do difficult things when you have the most energy, write lists and focus on completion of them every day. However, recently I have noticed an exception to this rule: Some things are best left.  Strangely, these are often the things that worry you most. You are convinced if you don't do something (anything!) then something awful will happen. These stress you out the most because you can't think what…

  • The Only Staff Metrics That Count

    Andy Phillips
    11 May 2013 | 7:20 am
    Many organizations run staff surveys to understand how much engagement their staff have. They measure all manner of things from job satisfaction to attitudes to pay to confidence in leadership to their understanding of the organizational strategy.  What usually follows is some focus groups on the low scoring areas and action plans to tackle the points raised. Sometimes these are acted on, but often they get filed away and forgotten about as normal work takes over. Then it is time for the next staff survey and the whole cycle begins again. The problem with staff surveys like this is that…

  • How To Give A Performance Review That Actually Improves Performance

    Andy Phillips
    4 May 2013 | 7:41 am
    For many organizations this time of year is when managers have to complete the performance reviews of their teams. Unfortunately, so many of these performance reviews can become unintentionally destructive. There seems to be a tendency in managers to focus on weaknesses, what is not right, what can be improved. This is natural as it easy to see what is missing rather than what is there. Many performance reviews have a paragraph or two of bland descriptions of positive achievements then list areas of improvement. And the discussions aren't better: ultimately the focus is on what is not right.

  • How To Say No To Your Manager

    Andy Phillips
    1 May 2013 | 9:01 am
    This is I think one of the hardest things to do and yet not being able to say no to your manager can result in job-loading and unnecessary stress, not to mention failure to deliver. The most common advice on this subject is that you should set up a formal meeting to discuss your workload where you: Express your appreciation of your manager's confidence in you Show excitement about your work and the work of the organization and department Give your reasons why you can't take on the new work Offer to take some aspect of the work or make a small contribution to the project Thank them for their…
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    Simply Understanding Blog by Giana Consulting

  • What goes down, will go up again!

    Chery
    24 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    “Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”  Dorothy We are definitely not in Kansas!  We are across the ocean in a dry and dusty land that we asked not to move to.  After months of planning and more months of being apart we have had one month in the same place.  We are convinced that we are here for a reason and determined to turn that unwanted change into an adventure!  This is an update on our expat journey: My hubby works long hours. I keep busy meeting people, and attending nearly every event I am offered. The Internet is testing our patience.

  • Willing To Exchange Our Lives For YOUR Freedom

    Chery
    17 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    “A Veteran, whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The United States of America, for an amount up to and including his or her own life.”  Unknown This Saturday is Armed Forces Day.  In honor of the men and women that have written a blank check for their lives in exchange for our freedom I asked several friends to help us understand their choice…  Adonis Phillips, Joseph Pullen, David Groce and LaDine Roth Cravotta are Veterans, Cathy Herring is a mother of a Veteran. When I…

  • Throw Yourself!

    Chery
    13 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    I discovered this quote this morning… “The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself!” ― C. JoyBell C. It beautifully emphasizes the heart of a message I shared in the Lead Change Blog last week….   “I recently spoke with a friend that has an extraordinary gift, and an opportunity to use that gift at a much higher…

  • The Impact of a Mother ~ From a Variety of Perspectives

    Chery
    11 May 2013 | 4:15 am
    I am not a mother.  However, as Mother’s Day approached this year, I thought of multiple conversations I’ve had with mothers over the past few years. Conversations with new mothers that are in the midst of raising little children and have no time for themselves. Conversations with stay at home mothers that feel like they are frequently treated as if they are less intelligent, less creative, or have less to contribute to our world because they don’t have a full-time job outside of the home. Conversations with mothers in blended families, as they work to be peacemakers that are…

  • How to End the “Blame Game” ~ A Dream For Change

    Chery
    7 May 2013 | 4:01 am
    Honored to have another post featured on SmartBlog for Leadership!  This one was written after 20 years of experiences and a very thought-provoking blog written by Jesse Lyn Stoner.  Below are a few highlights from that post: Have you ever been frustrated by name-calling, finger-pointing and the blame game? Or watched how harsh judgments can divide people, divide organizations and result in inefficiency and ineffectiveness? If we dare to speak truth to each other but we veil it in judgment, how can anyone hear us? And if we can’t hear each other, how can we change our world? And if we…
 
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    Get Real Leadership | It's About the People | Nicki Roth

  • REDIRECT TRAFFIC: DON’T GET CAUGHT IN A JAM

    nickiroth
    20 May 2013 | 9:14 am
    When I was in charge of HR lots of people found their way to my door to plead their cases. By “plead their case” I mean tell me how bad someone else was and how the world would be right if only….  I listened thoughtfully and sometimes found myself quite convinced of the wrongdoings being […]

  • LEADERS CAN BE INSECURE…JUST LIKE THE REST OF US

    nickiroth
    13 May 2013 | 8:59 am
    With rare exception, every time a leader oversteps or makes a wacky decision or behaves poorly there is a predictable choral response that follows. “S/he is just so insecure.” No emotion. No judgment. Just statement of fact. I’ve been hearing this reaction for decades…especially when it comes to working for a particularly difficult boss. You […]

  • WHAT WOMEN BRING TO THE EXECUTIVE TABLE: EMPATHY

    nickiroth
    6 May 2013 | 9:05 am
    As I have written previously, the issue is not “how to make women execs act more like men” but rather to have exec teams embrace the unique attributes that women bring to the conversation. These teams are still so male dominated not just in composition but also in tone and style. Women are forced to […]

  • EXECUTIVE TEAMS: MOVING IN FOR THE HUG

    nickiroth
    29 Apr 2013 | 8:39 am
    Imagine my surprise…and delight…to hear about 2 executive teams planning off sites to “get to know each other”. I heard about this over the course of 2 days of work. And these are large corporations with members who have been together for some time. I came back to my desk and culled through my files […]

  • ARTICLE FOR BRIDGESPAN PUBLICATION

    nickiroth
    24 Apr 2013 | 6:33 am
    Here is the link to a piece I wrote about leaders self awareness and capacity to change their own behaviors. http://www.bridgespan.org/Publications-and-Tools/Leadership-Effectiveness/Lead-and-Manage-Well/When-the-Change-Needs-to-Be-You.aspx#.UXfdpRmt6Ac Filed under: Leading, Self/other awareness
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    Serve to Lead® | James Strock

  • Robert Louis Stevenson | Kindness is Essence of Love

    James Strock
    24 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Robert Louis Stevenson | Kindness is Essence of Love The post Robert Louis Stevenson | Kindness is Essence of Love appeared first on Serve to Lead® | James Strock. This is a summary. Please visit servetolead.org for complete post.

  • Nice is Not Enough

    James Strock
    23 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    There’s a burst of discussion lately on the value of being “nice.” A fine new book by social media expert Peter Shankman, for example, is entitled: Nice Companies Finish First.... This is a summary. Please visit servetolead.org for complete post.

  • Condoms and Violence Against Women

    James Strock
    16 May 2013 | 11:01 am
    Triple Pundit has published an interesting post, proposing that condom companies seek to create value by dedicating resources to a global initiative to prevent or report violence against women. This... This is a summary. Please visit servetolead.org for complete post.

  • May 10 1940 | One Day, One Man

    James Strock
    9 May 2013 | 6:00 pm
    On Friday, May 10, 1940, at 5:35 a.m., the beautiful spring dawn of northwestern Europe was sundered by the unanticipated, unmistakable, ominous, thunderous rumble of heavy artillery fire. Adolf... This is a summary. Please visit servetolead.org for complete post.

  • Steven Snyder | Leadership and the Art of Struggle

    James Strock
    8 May 2013 | 9:16 am
    Corporate consultant Steven Snyder has written a compelling book, Leadership and the Art of Struggle.   Snyder sets out to illuminate “how great leaders grow through challenge and... This is a summary. Please visit servetolead.org for complete post.
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    kate{mats}

  • 10 Minutes a Day to Your Dream Job

    kate
    23 May 2013 | 9:11 am
    Pursuing your dreams is a big undertaking. Well, it’s a big undertaking in theory. Actually, accomplishing any major goal is really just accomplishing a series of small goals that all lead in the same direction. One of the best organization and time-management skills I ever learned was to break big projects into little ones.  “I can’t build this whole feature; I don’t even know where to start,” I used to think when I got a huge assignment early on in my career. I would get discouraged by how impossible the task ahead of me seemed and put off doing any work at all until the last…

  • Networking: The Secrets to Being Charming and Persuasive

    kate
    8 May 2013 | 10:49 pm
    (image source)I am pretty good at faking it. People that don’t know me well are often shocked when I admit I am an introvert.  I am pretty good at pretending to be an extrovert.  However, I still have a ton of social anxiety. I have a hard time with silence so I will talk too much to keep from sitting there quietly. Even though I have a genuine interest in people, I struggle to find good questions to ask. I get tongue-tied when someone asks me a hard question I am not sure how to answer. Social situations and meetings take a lot out of me. However, a key part of business and life is…

  • People are lazy. Here’s how I get shit done.

    kate
    2 May 2013 | 9:24 pm
      I am lazy.  If there is a shortcut I will take it.  I love feeling accomplished, but I don’t always love the hard work it takes to get there.  And my inertia used to be a big hurdle, but over the years I transformed into a high bandwidth, entrepreneur (aka doing the work of a whole team of people) and this article describes my process.   What my life was like…..   When I started working out of college it was a rough transition.  Every task was brand new and the fear of the unknown paralyzed me.  Each day I would head into the office gung-ho about all the work I was going…

  • Better One on Ones and a Request for Help!

    kate
    24 Apr 2013 | 10:24 am
    Hello!  I have 2 orders of business. Better One on Ones If you haven’t checked it out yet, we released a new (free) tool to help you with one on one meetings.It is very simple – each week it emails you (the team lead) and your team 2 questions to use in your meeting. I created this service because a few years ago I drafted a list of a few hundred questions I *should* be asking in my one on one meetings.  I would use this list to make the context switch from tactical work, to focusing on my teammate in my office.  I had a hard time with this transition so these questions were a…

  • A 3-Step Guide to Reaching Your Dreams (and my offer to help you get there)

    kate
    16 Apr 2013 | 7:30 pm
    You are amazing. But you don’t have to take my word for it. In fact, eventually, you are going to have to believe it with every fiber of your being. Why?  Because it is true. You have a superpower, and it is possible you have even more than one.  The trick is to hone in on those strengths and bring your art to the world and those around you. We are all capable of art.  As Seth Godin wrote in his most recent book, The Icarus Deception,“The question isn’t whether you are capable of godlike work. (you are.) The question is: Are you willing?” Let me prove it to you.   Try answering…
 
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    iLearn2

  • How to Run an Effective Meeting

    Seth Smith
    8 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    An efficient meeting can quickly and effectively keep every employee on the map about how your projects are going, but poor meetings only dampen morale and mood.  If you are wondering how to run an effective meeting in order to make sure that your employees are happy and productive, getting the most out of your time together is one of the most important practices that a business can improve on. How to Run an Effective Meeting For any meetings, you want the right balance of quality and quantity.  Too many meetings over the span of weeks or months, even if they are effective, will act as an…

  • The Benefits of a Corporate Team Building Scavenger Hunt

    Seth Smith
    7 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    It is no coincidence that businesses that utilize enthusiastic practices and promotions generate more revenue than the companies that offer little to their employees.  If you are looking for a way to boost your bottom line and make your workforce more productive, activities like a corporate team building scavenger hunt can be the key to getting your business back on track. Benefits of Corporate Team Building There are some people that are better at giving and taking instructions than other people.  Being able to improve the quality and quantity of communication throughout your organization…

  • Useful Employee Engagement Ideas for Any Business

    Seth Smith
    6 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    Since your employees are a valuable part of your business, it is important to come up with improved employee engagement ideas regularly to boost your company productivity. These people that work under you serve as a major asset or liability to your growing business. Here are ways that you can motivate them and improve their output. Outline Their Roles Show your team how they affect your business. They should know how they contribute to the grand scheme of things. This will make them aware of their purpose in the company. Update Your Goals Regularly Make sure you have regular meetings that…

  • Increase Sales with Communication Skills Training

    Seth Smith
    5 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    Companies that are able to communicate between levels of management, employees, customers, clients, and partners are companies that are able to compete more effectively in their market.  Communicating, however, does not always come easily to every person, meaning that communication skills training for sales can be a great boon to a business that suffers from mediocre numbers.  What would be the advantage of choosing skills training for your sales workforce? Importance of Communication Skills Training for Sales Team Being able to quickly and effectively explain a company’s product to a…

  • Essential Customer Retention Strategies

    Seth Smith
    4 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    Any business that wants to remain competitive in today’s challenging business environment must have essential customer retention strategies. Every customer is valuable and it is essential to keep them active so that they continue to buy from you and not from your competition. A strategy to maintain active customers helps businesses so that there is no customer disloyalty or abandonment. There are specific techniques to retention marketing that are expedient and essential and can boost clientele base while also galvanizing increased revenue and profit. Delivering on Promises to Customers…
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    Break The Frame

  • Are You a Leader that Pushes Creative Limits?

    Alli Polin
    24 May 2013 | 2:45 am
    Imagine, you’re doing your job day in, day out, and after a while you get a little bored (shocker) and decide to shake things up.  You want to know what happens when you change your process flow.  You start to brainstorm with your peers to understand their best practices too and one day you have a big ah-ha.  You see a path that could make a huge difference to your team’s ability to deliver quality to the client and you decide to bring it to the Director. If your imagination is anything like many organizations, you’ll be told to get back to work because you’re not paid to think. …

  • Is Your Life Overfilled with Tasks and To-Dos?

    Alli Polin
    21 May 2013 | 2:48 am
    I admit it, I rarely enjoy the checkout experience at the grocery store despite the fact that I’ve met some  funny, kind and engaging people while waiting in line.  It’s the bagging of my purchases that makes my blood pressure rise.  Part of me thinks that there is an unofficial contest between cashiers to see who can get the most products in the smallest number of bags.  My cashier may win, but I always seem to lose, as I struggle to move the bulging bags even a few feet. Yesterday, I brought six bags with me, more than enough to keep them a reasonable weight and make them easy for…

  • Mind the (Expectations) Gap

    Alli Polin
    17 May 2013 | 2:40 am
    When I was in college, I studied for the summer in London.  It was a fabulous summer filled with great books, tons of theatre, travel and adventures with friends.  Our flat was right down the street from the Tube, which made getting around incredibly easy.  Every day I’d hear the voice and see a million signs reminding me to “Mind the Gap.”  I would always be sure to take a quick big step from the platform into the waiting car and on the way back out too.  I didn’t want to be the one to fall into the gap and get hurt. The lesson from the Tube applies in our lives too.  Each one…

  • How to Make People Quit & Get Rid of the Competition

    Alli Polin
    14 May 2013 | 2:57 am
    I have to say, once or twice, I’ve worked for people who must have tried to get me to quit.  Unfortunately for them, I’m dedicated, a hard worker and am not one to easily give up.  Still, maybe others are easier to push aside or have their egos shattered.  Clearly, the people who pushed me around have done it for many years.  How do I know?  Their reputation preceded them. I shouldn’t judge these people or their tactics too harshly, after all, they worked; for many, it’s led to promotion after promotion.  Who knows, maybe you’re ready to build a reputation of your own…

  • Are You a Negativity Carrier or the Antidote?

    Alli Polin
    10 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Imagine: You’ve just started your day and are feeling good about what’s possible.  Your coffee tastes perfect, the sun is shining and you look up with a smile on your face when you hear the knock on your door.  In breezes in Ann Oying who immediately starts to engage you with today’s latest headache. Apparently, customers are bound to start complaining any moment about the less than perfect job the team is doing.  Scope creep is about to make everyone’s head explode but how can we deliver anything less than “wow?” Oh, and did you know that the cafeteria is going to be closing…
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    David P. Mariano

  • Trust and Trustworthiness

    David
    23 May 2013 | 3:56 am
    Every relationship is based on trust. The leadership relationship is no different. I’m lucky to work for some people today who trust me immensely. They have always given me plenty of rope, especially lately. I’m very thankful for this. But trust is a tricky thing because some people require others to earn it, while other people give it freely. Then there is your posture with respect to how you view your trustworthiness. Think about that for a moment: Do you require people to earn your trust or do you give it freely? When you want to be seen as trustworthy, do you assume you have…

  • #041 The Venerable, Vulnerable Leader [Leadership Success Podcast]

    David
    19 May 2013 | 8:57 pm
    I used this episode as a practice run for a speech I’m giving this week – it’s about vulnerability and leadership. You’ll have to listen to hear it, but it’s only 8 minutes short. I’m going to have to trim a minute for the real thing. Enjoy! Episode Resources Podcast: How To Extinguish Burnout Podcast: Creativity Is Everybody’s Business Podcast: You Are A Leader, So Start Acting Like One Video: Brene Brown – The Power of Vulnerability Article: Dan Gilbert’s Great Leadership Example Article: Greatness Requires Support Executive Coaching…

  • Copycats

    David
    16 May 2013 | 3:54 am
    As a leader, the question is not, will they mimic you? It is, are they mimicking good or bad? We teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are I’m not sure who said those words first (I’ve seen it attributed to John Maxwell, Winston Churchill and an old proverb) but I know they are true. So if you want honest, humble, trustworthy, hard-working, generous, creative and energetic people … … tell the truth, even when it hurts … humbly admit mistakes and faults … be transparent and vulnerable … work hard on worthwhile, difficult things … give, give, give … create…

  • #040 How To Extinguish Burnout, with Ben Fanning – The Burnout Specialist [Leadership Success Podcast]

    David
    12 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    Happy Mother’s Day! In today’s always-on, performance-driven, no-failure culture, workplace burnout is more prevalent and likely than ever. Take a listen to this conversation I had with Ben Fanning, The Burnout Specialist, for ways to identify, reverse and even prevent burnout. You can also connect with Ben on Twitter and LinkedIn. Here are some highlights from my conversation with Ben: how you can identify burnout in yourself (because you may not event see it) burnout and shame work-life balance and the connection to burnout your boss probably isn’t to blame (yes, even…

  • Financial Gain Comes From …

    David
    8 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    Businesses need to make a profit because without profits, businesses go away and can no longer serve the people they were formerly serving. How you make this happen is entirely up to you. Customers You could squeeze another $1,000 out of a customer here and there. You could cut corners and scale back the value you’re delivering. There are endless ways to make a little extra today. Or, you could deliver so much value to your customer that, not only is she delighted to pay your premium price because she believes it was a bargain, but she also tells three, five or even seven of her…
 
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    Leadership & Communication

  • The art of the apology: Will JCPenney’s strategy work?

    Kellie Cummings
    7 May 2013 | 5:33 pm
    Apologies are a delicate matter, and the success of an apology can depend more on the type of error than the nature of the confession. People tend to be forgiving of errors caused by lack of experience or inability to perform in a challenging environment. U.C. Davis professors Kimberly Elsbach and Steven Currall say these [...]The post The art of the apology: Will JCPenney’s strategy work? appeared first on Leadership & Communication.

  • Culture gone awry: How global finance lost its footing

    Kellie Cummings
    23 Apr 2013 | 6:16 pm
    When an event as catastrophic as the financial crisis occurs, it is our responsibility to understand what went wrong. Apart from the process of ascribing blame is the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake: to understand, to learn, and to grow as a society. The day after Lehman Brothers shuttered its doors, on September [...]The post Culture gone awry: How global finance lost its footing appeared first on Leadership & Communication.

  • What happened to the hubris of market rallies?

    Kellie Cummings
    12 Mar 2013 | 7:51 am
    Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) set a new record high, closing the day at 14,253.77. Only four years ago this March, the market hit bottom during the financial crisis, closing at 6,547.05. It was the market’s lowest level in twelve years, and those forfeited market gains became known as the lost decade [...]The post What happened to the hubris of market rallies? appeared first on Leadership & Communication.

  • The power of micro-messages and micro-inequities

    Kellie Cummings
    5 Mar 2013 | 4:59 am
    As a communication professional who worked in financial services during the crisis, I reflect more on the things we did not say to customers in those dark days than what we did say. While the market fell in 2008, remarkably few voices in the financial industry offered caring and compassionate advice to traumatized investors. In [...]The post The power of micro-messages and micro-inequities appeared first on Leadership & Communication.

  • Return on community & the clothesline paradox

    Kellie Cummings
    25 Feb 2013 | 5:25 am
    Return on community (ROC) is the brainchild of Tony Hsieh [pronounced “Shay”], the CEO of Zappos, and author of Delivering Happiness. When Mr. Hsieh and his team decided to establish a corporate campus to house the company’s three buildings and provide room to grow, he selected an urban setting instead of an isolated corporate campus. [...]The post Return on community & the clothesline paradox appeared first on Leadership & Communication.
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    Refresh Leadership

  • Pushing through Adversity

    James C. Price
    24 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    Life is full of positive and negative events all affecting who we become and how we interact with others. Adversity is an element of life everyone faces. What differentiates proactive leaders and reactive imitators is a muscle that‘s flexed when destructive events occur: perseverance. This is the age-old act of pursuing accomplishments and achievement with resiliency and determination through trials and tribulation. It is to be steadfast. “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted…

  • Don’t Let These 4 Myths Block Your Path to Leadership

    Jared Brox
    23 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    If you asked 10 leaders what makes them a leader, you’ll no doubt receive 10 different answers. It’s not an exact science and no two paths to leadership look exactly alike. However, no matter whose advice you follow to reach the top, there are a few common myths about leadership many people have to learn the hard way. Myth: Only the boss can lead. While final decisions on projects, strategies, and tactics often come down from someone in a decision-making position, there are plenty of opportunities for employees at every level of the hierarchy to lead. Whether it’s setting an example…

  • Help Us Fight Hunger on June 8

    Refresh Leadership
    22 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    On Saturday, June 8, Express Employment Professionals offices from the U.S. and Canada will join together at local food banks and pantries across North America to help fight hunger – a growing epidemic that affects millions every day. We Need Your Help! For more information about Brand It Blue Day or how you and your organization can help, visit www.expresspros.com/branditblue.  

  • The Best (and Worst) Times to Go Social [Infographic]

    Refresh Leadership
    21 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    It’s no secret social media is becoming a vital component to adequately market and brand your company. And while there are many benefits to building a strong social presence, managing all the different outlets can become overwhelming. To help better plan your online social activity and ensure the biggest bang for your buck, check out this infographic from Social Caffeine for a little insight into the best and worst times of the day to engage in the various social media outlets. What time of day do you most often engage with your social media audience? Let us know in the comments section…

  • Is Analysis Paralysis Killing Your Productivity?

    Jared Brox
    17 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    The short 19th century poem The Centipede’s Dilemma, most commonly attributed to Katherine Craster (1841-74), illustrates a common occurrence that has likely affected everyone at one point or another. A centipede was happy – quite! Until a toad in fun Said, “Pray, which leg moves after which?” This raised her doubts to such a pitch, She fell exhausted in the ditch Not knowing how to run. Do you suffer from analysis paralysis? Analysis paralysis occurs when we over-analyze a situation to the point where a logical decision can’t be made, eventually causing everything to fall apart.
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    Strategies Coaching & Training Blog

  • When trusted employees steal

    Neil Ducoff
    20 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    A coaching client just informed us of their discovery that a trusted employee has been stealing from the company by manipulating and creating false transactions in the company’s business software. Luckily, another employee saw something questionable and informed the owners. After hours of examining and comparing transaction logs, it was clear who the culprit was, how it was done, and for how long it’s been happening. Damn…isn’t running a business difficult enough without having your own employees stealing from you – especially one from your trusted inner circle? The…

  • Leading is about believing in people

    Neil Ducoff
    13 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    Being the leader of a business is perhaps one of the most complex, rewarding, and often brutally frustrating professions. Leaders are constantly held accountable, subjected to relentless demands, and must always be at the top of their game. A true leader works tirelessly to drive the Four Business Outcomes: productivity, profitability, staff retention, and customer loyalty. But when you peel away all of the trappings of leadership, what it really comes down to is believing in people – and that’s where things start to get interesting. A leader’s job is to achieve results…

  • Six strategies to find more time

    Neil Ducoff
    6 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    Our lives are consumed with deadlines, “to do” lists, emails, deleting spam, meetings, interruptions, urgent problems, family … and that spectacular bucket list of things you want to check off before you check out. We all know that time is precious. It simply ticks by and cannot be recaptured. Nothing drives this reality home better than remembering that our time in this world is finite – not infinite. It’s virtually impossible for leaders to be immune from time management challenges. Stuff happens and you need to lead in the moment. The world around you relentlessly…

  • Taking responsibility for your actions

    Neil Ducoff
    29 Apr 2013 | 12:00 am
    A coaching client asked me for advice regarding an issue with a team leader that had been using the company credit card for personal expenses. By the time the abuse of the card was discovered, the charge totals were quite sizable. There were repeated warnings when minor personal charges continued to show up on the monthly statements. The company has a “three strikes, you’re out” rule, and this team leader had used them all. My client said, “This leader is really good at aspects of the job, is valued, and an asset to the company overall. What would you do if you were…

  • Six strategies to create a culture of accountability

    Neil Ducoff
    22 Apr 2013 | 12:00 am
    This Monday Morning Wake-Up is for everyone – not just leaders. In its simplest form, accountability means taking ownership. You take ownership as a leader to grow your company, create opportunities for others, and ensure fiscal health. You take ownership of projects, situations, and outcomes. You take ownership in your behavior and the behavior of others. You take ownership when the wrong outcomes occur – even if not directly involved – because it happened on your watch. Accountability is about getting the right stuff done when it needs to get done. No blame. No excuses.
 
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    ManageElite Blog

  • Steal these retailing tactics to boost morale

    Rich Henson
    23 May 2013 | 8:32 am
    Big retailers and grocery chains are meccas of mass marketing, a warehouse of opportunity for advertising gurus to entice us to spend, spend, spend. And we do. We’re at their mercy, whether we want to admit it or not. Now, what if managers could borrow these tactics and put them to work on their staff [...]The post Steal these retailing tactics to boost morale appeared first on ManageElite Blog.

  • 4 steps to tame the workplace control freak

    Rich Henson
    22 May 2013 | 12:54 pm
    “Knock, knock.” “Who’s there?” “Control freak. Now you say, ‘Control freak, who?’” Ha ha ha! Control freaks. You KNOW you hate them. Control freaks just don’t have a burning need to tell you how to do everything, like opening a door, they also tend to pick the most inopportune times to do it, like when [...]The post 4 steps to tame the workplace control freak appeared first on ManageElite Blog.

  • 5 dumb ways managers kill loyalty every time

    Rich Henson
    21 May 2013 | 12:10 pm
    If loyalty means being faithful to a goal, then let’s just stipulate right now that today’s workplace is a den of infidelity. Careerbuilder.com said its survey showed 76% of full-time workers, while not actively looking for a new job, would leave their current workplace if the right opportunity came along. MetLife’s  survey of workplace loyalty [...]The post 5 dumb ways managers kill loyalty every time appeared first on ManageElite Blog.

  • 5 warning signs your humility needs a tune up

    Rich Henson
    16 May 2013 | 7:15 am
    Some days you can’t get away from this humility stuff. Especially humility at work. Consider this actual  job description for a  Senior VP for Corporate Communications/Global.  (We’ll leave the firm anonymous.) The super-human skill sets outlined in the four-page posting were other worldly, 24/7, across all abilities, levels, platforms and aspects of social and business [...]The post 5 warning signs your humility needs a tune up appeared first on ManageElite Blog.

  • Communication lessons from the Land of Oz

    Rich Henson
    14 May 2013 | 9:05 am
    You’re searching for the perfect movie when you come across this blurb: Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets, then teams up with three strangers to kill again. Ugh, you think, “am I really up for another heart-stopping, crime-thriller about a murderous millennial?” No? Good, because this is  [...]The post Communication lessons from the Land of Oz appeared first on ManageElite Blog.
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    Todd Nielsen

  • Leadership – Put Out or Shut Up

    Todd Nielsen
    22 May 2013 | 7:18 am
    I usually refrain from posting articles about lessons learned from disasters, just out of respect for the events. This week though, a valuable leadership lesson was displayed to me and the words “put-out or shut-up” is what cycles through my mind. Business owners, and individuals the world over have offered help in various forms to [...]

  • I’m a Failure, and Damn Proud of It!

    Todd Nielsen
    31 Mar 2013 | 6:15 am
    Wow – What an amazing and awesome month. The goal of the 2nd Annual International Blogathon was to give the world a gift of greater leadership acumen from an international stand-point. Learning leadership views from across the globe helps increase our leadership wisdom by giving us differing perspectives. It certainly has met that goal for [...]

  • The Power of Small Stories

    Richard Andrews
    30 Mar 2013 | 12:30 pm
    Small Stories are flying round every organization every minute of every day. Like mosquitoes over a lake in summer they get everywhere: in the corridors, the restrooms, the stockroom and the kitchen. They hover around the photocopier and the water cooler, they get under the door and through the smallest gap in the window. They [...]

  • On Leadership and the Knucklehearted Leader

    Tom Schulte
    30 Mar 2013 | 12:30 am
    In the fast and furious pace of business and life today, motivated people are constantly looking for betters ways to get things done. People are looking for solutions in technology, in personal and professional training, and in seeking shortcuts to help get more done in less time. So what is driving results? Getting Stuff Done For anyone who is [...]

  • The Top 4 Attributes Every Leader Should Embody

    Paul Jolicoeur
    29 Mar 2013 | 12:30 am
    Sometimes leaders get to stand in the lime light, marching forward in a triumphant pursuit of excellence and performance. Sometimes leadership requires standing in the shadows to support those closest to you. Leadership is about influence and accomplishing tasks while utilizing the gifts of those you lead. This should look in part, as if the [...]
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