I have been meaning to write this post for a long time. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist…) A report is sitting in another opened document on my computer. It is half written and badly in need of detail and creativity. One of our clients is expecting it in two days. But as I was working on…
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Have a great day! Sounds very cliché, right? But when someone says this, they probably mean it, even if they aren’t really thinking about it – or about you – too closely. Most people who say this really do want you to have a great day. Can you imagine if someone said, “I hope you…
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My kids are twins. They’re 11. Going on 5. Or 35. Sorta depends on the day, I guess. I have a son. He’s all boy. Sports. Dirt. Sweat. I also have a daughter. She’s all girl. Clothes. Creativity. Curiosity. With twins, everything’s competitive. I laugh frequently, because my athletic son cannot draw a stick man…
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Leadership is using your influence to bring about change. Sometimes this needed change stirs things up to the point where pain and discomfort show up. Now I don’t know about you, but I am not a big fan of pain. As a matter of fact, there have been times in my past where I have…
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There are three things I know of that are growth killers for any organization. Complexity kills – How complicated is it for people to get involved and lead in your organization? The old adage “people do what makes sense to them” is definitely still true. Control kills – Does everything need to run through you,…
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It all started when I was in my mid twenties. That was when I first experienced the reality that I can’t do it all myself. Actually, I’m sure I experienced this fact much earlier in life but I was too young and arrogant to admit it. Anyway, I remember specifically feeling the need for more…
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Years ago when my daughter turned 5, she received a kit to grow your own fish. When it came time to set it up, she refused my help and was adamant about doing it herself. I decided to let her do it on her own and thought it would be a valuable lesson in learning…
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When I was very young, I had it all figured out. I was going to be an astronaut. (Am I betraying my age by sharing this?) I got busy learning about astronomy, mathematics and the physics of flight. I drank Tang (if you know what this is, you’re just as old as me!). Of course…
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Psychologists tell us that our personality doesn’t really change after we reach the age of 5 or 6. It doesn’t mean that we don’t change, just our personalities don’t. I am stuck with mine. Well, organizations have personalities too. We call this organizational personality “culture”. It is who we are. Culture seems to be a mix…
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In my last post, I wrote that sometimes, no matter what we say in response to a question, the listener can sometimes be singularly focused only on the answer they want to hear, and not on the actual reply. I think it may be because we often get too specific in how we think, talk and ask…
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