Are you having a bad day … maybe a bad week … even a few bad weeks in a row? C ould you handle it if you had to slog your way through a seemingly unending storm? How Do You Achieve Victory Against Insurmountable Odds? Yesterday, November 30, Winston Churchill…
Creating goals that have meaning “It’s just a goal.” That’s a phrase I’ve heard too many times when a business leader engages in a performance review with an employee or when companies embark on a corporate planning effort. Do they mean that a goal is more like a road sign,…
Break the impasse. Reach the Summit.Too often we set these BHAGs ("Big Hairy Audacious Goals") but don't create the milestones and timelines that give us a chance of achieving them. Put these 4 Ground Rules into action to make sure you reach the summit. Today is one of those occasions when…
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 successful leaders. You might start by building on the communication matrix and making sure you’re defending the castle to get done what only you can do. Make some time so you’re thinking past today.
The week just ended is my favorite sports week of the year. Some of you will say, “Nah, you got your calendar mixed up. Baseball season opened the previous week.”
Of course, I could say, “but the home opener for the Giants was that week” and then you’d say, “OK, so you’re a big Giants fan. I get it.”
A few of you may suspect that’s not the reason. Not that I don’t love the World Champion San Francisco Giants and all … but honestly? That didn’t even occur to me as I braced for the greatest sports week of the year.
There are a lot of reasons why I love the week that just ended. (more…)
I have been working with a young CEO who recently acceded to her company’s leadership.
She was the successor to a more authoritarian regime and found herself working overtime to establish a more collaborative and less hierarchical environment.
She wanted to bring people to the table, encourage a stronger cultural bond among her employees and build a more inclusive culture that valued the contribution of each individual.
People welcomed those changes with open arms, eager to embrace a culture they much preferred.
What emerged along with a more engaging and transparent culture, however, was a cadre of executives so eager to please their new leader, and to be a part of her leadership team, that they acquiesced to every idea and plan. (more…)
Everyone makes mistakes.
We know this for a fact, don’t we? It’s pretty clear —like crystal.
So, why do so many persist in their insistence that they did no wrong?
Despite the lessons that cover the waterfront — from Watergate to the Catholic Church — the cover-up is always worse than the crime.
What appeared to be minor tributaries turned into a rushing river of a failed presidency and international scandal, yet the stream of lies and denial from those who fail to heed these lessons continues unabated in both our public and private lives.
For some reason, we persist in believing that the truth will never come out. (more…)
It lasts about 300 to 400 milliseconds. It occurs about 10 to 20 times per minute.
Over the course of a day, excluding about 8 hours of sleep, it amounts to about an hour and 20 minutes on average, a fair chunk of time in our waking day.
If you consider that the universe is about 14 billion years old, about 54,000 years would pass by during any given span of those milliseconds.
Some might argue that we can’t see anything during that period.
Yes, all that happens in the blink of an eye … about 1/3 of a second.
It ain’t much but in those small fractions, a lot can occur.
Fly to the Light!Just after obtaining his pilot’s license, a dear friend from the Midwest found himself surrounded by unexpected thunderstorms. He clambered for every streak of sunshine he could find, ultimately zigzagging his way to a safe landing:[quote]“That principle is a metaphor for my life. It seems that I…
Do You Need to Start Your Own Bonfire? Barely 500 years ago, Girolamo Savonarola was an outspoken and strident critic of the current order, angrily vilifying the worldly possessions that tempted people to become sinners. He was ultimately excommunicated from the Catholic church, condemned for heresy, stripped of his priestly garments, hanged, and his body burned in the town square in Florence, Italy, a stark and ignominious ending to a life committed to vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.