Playing Favorites
Several of our recent employee engagement survey projects have indicated the presence of elevated levels of perceived favoritism within the surveyed population. It has occurred enough to cause us to pause and probe further for understanding. We’ve not yet wrapped our arms completely around the universal (as opposed to organization-specific) learnings, but here’s one consistent […]
Piercings, Goatees, and Tats…Oh My!
It was Q&A time after a speech I’d just made to a large audience of small business owners, in a somewhat conservative retail field. As the speech featured some tips on how to be successful engaging younger workers (hint: “Complain that they aren’t like Baby Boomers” was not one of the tips), I wasn’t too surprised by […]
Leadership is About Blood, Sweat, and Occasional Tears
In the time that I’ve served in a leadership role, in both for profit and non-profit venues, I have tried mightily to operate with a short list of simple, understandable maxims, like… Take pains to hire adults, and treat them as such Ensure that, from day one, everyone on the team understands and shares our […]
Assume Positive Intent
In April, 2008, as part of a Fortune Magazine segment in which notably successful people were queried about the best advice they had been given, Pepsico Chairman and CEO, Indra Nooyi volunteered a nugget given to her by her father: “Assume positive intent.” At its core, Mr. Nooyi’s knowing advice to his daughter capitalizes on the positive expectancy […]
Make This Your First Business Conversation in 2018
Lots of people are now deep in the process of resolving to do a few things differently over the coming New Year. Many are resolving to join the growing crowd of Americans who are quitting their jobs (about 100,000 daily) and taking their talents elsewhere. A few of them perhaps work for you. The question […]
Stop Un-Recruiting
I read with interest a recent NY Times piece about the growing Brexit-inspired labor shortage spreading throughout Britain, as foreign workers across the breadth and depth of the workspace are deciding in droves to take their services where they feel more welcome. Something similar is happening in the U.S., as borders are tightened, nationalist interests are rising, […]
You’re Fired!
Everyone who accepts a role with responsibility for providing leadership to others must accept the reality that it will eventually be their duty to tell someone, “You can’t work here anymore.” Let’s accept the notion that doing so is a solemn but necessary part of the deal, and if you can’t or won’t do it, […]
Expecting the Best: You Get What You Expect to Get
About forty years ago, before anyone had heard or even contemplated the term, “FedEx”, Federal Express marketing guru, Vince Fagan worked with the company’s ad agency to create one of the most effective brand tag-line’s in history: Absolutely, positively, overnight. In just 3 words, they focused like a laser on the very essence of what […]
There’s No Hacking Leadership
One of my new least favorite words (along with “handcrafted” and “curated”, but that’s another post altogether) is the word “hack”. Not in the old sense of a taxi driver (remember taxis?), or even the newer sense of criminals who steal our online stuff. Or the even newer meaning, as in the Russians, and the, well, you […]
For Better Leadership Communication, Put a Different Device in Your Hand
The fact that each of us has continually at hand, if not in hand, devices that practically beg to announce our every thought or emotion immediately upon conception represents one of the greater latent dangers to our reputations, if not careers. Put simply, the fact that we can emote nonstop doesn’t mean we should, particularly if we occupy a […]