Can we develop an incentive plan to drive superior performance? You can be pretty sure that's the question someone was trying to address when your key incentive program was created. At the time, the answer may have been yes. Since then? The chances are that question has never been asked…
This week, two North Bay organizations deserve a round of applause!Amy's Kitchen opens an on-site health care clinicFirst, congratulations to Amy's kitchen for its innovative approach to employee health care. They recently opened a primary health care clinic at their Santa Rosa production facility.[pullquote]From time to time, we offer a round…
How to Keep Smart People from Killing Each Other
This phrase is powerful in so many ways.
Smart people can often be prima donnas – I’ve heard those accusations myself … the first part, of course, not the second (and typically disguised in less elegant terms) … but the brilliance of some people is often more blinding than enlightening.
Fortune magazine recently asked Dr. Mehmet Oz about the best leadership advice he had ever received.
As a Chief Resident associated with Columbia University, Dr. Oz’ mentor told him that the hardest part of being a leader was “keeping smart people from killing each other.” (more…)
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So, why not jump into the deep end right now by reading Business Finance is about much more than finance
I’ve said before that leaders don’t have the luxury of confining their interests to just a few things
Do you think you could distill a lifetime of experiences into a handful of sentences … so that when your grown children read them, they would hold them as dearly as they once held their teddy bears?
I’ve recently published several lists of “life lessons”, for lack of a better term, that keep coming my way from a variety of sources. These lists, scratched on the back of an envelope found in a plane crash, or tucked in a wallet for 50 years, are treasures because they’re personal … and each person believed he or she had captured the unique nature of their humanity.
[pullquote]Can you capture your life lessons on a 3×5 card?[/pullquote]
So, now come the Guideposts of business philosophy taken from the book, Marriott — The J. Willard Marriott Story by Robert O’Brien. It’s longer than most … not a note card but still a single sheet of paper … maybe Willard did more than most? Some may seem old-fashioned, others a little harsh for the more indulgent company cultures of the 21st century … but most of them are rooted in sound business practices. Work your way past some of the pedestrian entries to uncover a few nuggets and valid reminders that you can add to your own list.
How many times have we been told to write down our goals so we can keep them in focus ... and make sure we tell everyone around us so they can support us and cheer us on. Derek Sivers strongly disagrees and shares what he's learned from psychologists going back…
I've often used this line as a metaphor for the process of accountability and follow up that makes a real difference in executive performance.Just being there ... letting people know you really meant it when you asked for something to be done ... or that it remains important even though…
Urban Meyer is returning as the football coach at the University of Florida, much to the delight of Florida fans everywhere. He has a remarkable track record wherever he’s been and with him, Florida won two national championships in 2006 and 2008. His winning record of .842 is the highest among active coaches with at least 5 years experience (at a Football Bowl subdivision).
So what, you say? Well, Urban Meyer is the poster child for the out of balance work life that earned him an ambulance trip to the hospital last December.
The good news? (more…)
In an article entitled Five Ways Pixar Makes Better Decisions, Tom Davenport, a Babson College professor, refers to what I call “after action reviews” as a critical element of the creative decision-making used at Pixar.
In my earlier post, Powerful After Action Reviews, you can learn more about this concept, built and nurtured by the US Army.
For Pixar, Davenport reminds us how movie makers use “dailies” to review their work in progress, showing movies to other filmmakers every few month to solicit critical insights that often make the movies better.
Nothing we couldn’t accomplish with a Daily Huddle, right? (more…)