Let’s face it: as a leader and a communicator, you want to influence others.It’s hard to influence others if they don’t listen to you. Last week’s post asked Why Is Effective Communication So Difficult? The answer boils down to a lack of alignment between the three critical elements of communication:The post shared the giant mistake … Read more
Communication is critical to the success of any enterprise. Like the circulatory system of the body, it’s the connection between all the different parts of an organization. It the link between leaders and constituents, suppliers and distributors, employees and customers. In the same way that the circulatory system can become diseased (arteriosclerosis) and threaten the … Read more
Money is not dangerous, unless you buy power. Philosopher Karl Popper FIFA, the world governing body for International Football (Soccer), has had (to put it mildly) a bad week. Bribery Racketeering Graft Corruption Conspiracy Words more often associated with organized crime than with a major league sport. FIFA is embroiled in a massive scandal. The … Read more
Working with others means that you’ll eventually face conflict and disagreement. Conflict isn’t bad: we need work cultures that support differing perspectives, multiple opinions, and divergent thinking. However, how we communicate our disagreements can either help or hinder our workplace relationships and results.A new paper in the Academy of Management Review identifies four distinct categories of conflict expression: how … Read more
If leadership was easy, more people would be great leaders. Leading is smooth sailing when things are going smoothly. The real question is: How do you fare under pressure? I was flying from Hartford to Charlotte last week, on the first leg of a multi-day business trip. The flight was proceeding smoothly. As our … Read more
Last week, I was consulting with an executive team. We were discussing a leader’s competence. As a leader, the measure of your competence isn’t set by you: it’s set by the people you lead. Tom, a VP of Operations, shared a story from a professor when he was in business school that relates to a … Read more
Appreciation matters. But you knew that already. Because it matters to you. We all want to feel valued and recognized for our contributions. Appreciation is one of the most powerful accelerators of employee engagement. For example, research conducted by the O.C. Tanner Company shows that adding appreciation boosts scores at low-trust companies from 35% engaged to … Read more
You may never lead an auction in your life. But you probably do (or will) lead meetings. Last Friday night, I took my first turn as an auctioneer (and emcee) at the annual spring fundraiser for my kids’ elementary school. Now that I’ve run my first auction, it’s became obvious that there are massive parallels between auctions … Read more
Meetings.(Cue the groans and eye rolls.) Nobody loves them. Let’s face it, most people would rather be anywhere else than in a business meeting. Are meetings doomed to be inherently horrible? Or have we just settled for mediocrity because we know no better way? This subject of “meeting madness” came with two groups I worked with … Read more
OK, I have a confession to make. I finally gave in. After months of pleading with me, my 10 year old son Alexander has convinced me to let him join in the phenomenon known as Clash of Clans. In case you don’t know what that is—it’s a mobile massive online multi-player strategy video game.It’s hugely popular … Read more
