Vol. 60: Don’t be a Victim

Creating a culture where people take responsibility

“The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.”– Lou Holtz

Last time, we discussed how to create a culture of accountability. In our discussion of this subject, we’ve ranged from the baseline of personal accountability to a broader [...]

Vol. 59: Creating a Culture of Accountability

Creating a Culture of Accountability

“Nine-tenths of life’s serious controversies come from  misunderstanding.”– Louis Brandeis

“When is it no longer my responsibility to get people to complete their assignments … and where does their responsibility to perform begin?” a North Bay CEO asked me recently.
“Your responsibility never ends … and neither does theirs,” I said. “Your [...]

The Value of Checklists

Checklists? Those lists I prepare each day and don’t help me get everything done – don’t really need to know more about them … or do you mean those checklists that airline pilots use to keep me from getting killed? Now, those I like.
Some of you will remember an earlier post in the GTD context [...]

Vol 57: Think Strategically!

Building a Business: Thinking strategically more than just tactical details

“The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong questions.”– Peter Drucker

I have been working recently with a young CEO-in-waiting who is eager to move into the top spot. He recognizes, however, [...]

Vol. 56: Get a Grip on the New Year

Building a Business: Make 2010 the year you get control of you

With all the economic noise, its critical to get control of your agenda
“God grant me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference.” – Reinhold Nieburh

The Power of [...]

Looking for a few brilliant ideas?

Seth Godin, blogger extraordinaire, has compiled an interesting and FREE PDF download from 70 diverse thinkers in which each person provides ONE WORD to identify an important concept for 2010 … and then writes a single page to describe why they chose that word. From GENEROSITY to DIGNITY to POKER to RIPPLE, there are provocative [...]

Remember the song, Mr. In-Between?

Usually, when we remember this song, we think of someone “straddling the fence”, trying to be all things to all people, teetering on the edge of indecision and inaction … or someone who always takes the “middle of the road” and commits to nothing.
Gill Corkendale writes in the HBR blog that leaders tend to be [...]

Give your employees $2,000 to spend!

What would happen if we gave each of our employees up to $2,000 to invest in a customer’s experience on any particular occasion … not an annual stipend … but for any given situation?
Most of us are aware of the extraordinary attention to service that is the hallmark of luxury hotels … but few of [...]

CEOs: Be a General … and a Scout

I have mentioned on many occasions the Corner Office series in the Sunday NY Times which features an interview by Adam Bryant with a prominent CEO. The questions are consistent but invariably reveal an important reminder of  key elements of leadership.
In a recent interview with Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, Rogers explained how important [...]

Get Things Done – SIMPLY

Finding ways to get things done more simply is an elusive target for most of us. Forbes magazine recently carried an article in which Ron Ahskenas, a managing partner at Robert H. Schaffer & Associates, a Stamford, Ct. management consulting firm, talked about three key ways to get more done by “SIMPLIFYING” your business.
While implementing [...]