The first meeting was over the phone, two weeks ago. I was speaking to Bart, a Senior Marketing Manager at a Fortune 500 consumer products company. Bart was my principal point of contact. The purpose of our call was for Bart to prep me– provide relevant context and the desired outcomes for a leadership training … Read more
The professional basketball league (NBA) is about halfway through their 82 game regular season. The #1 ranked team in the Eastern Conference is the Cleveland Cavaliers. Last season’s Eastern Conference Champions, the Cavs currently have a record of 30 wins and 11 losses. On Friday, they fired their head coach, David Blatt. Yes, you read … Read more
This past Saturday, my wife Mary and I went out for dinner with another couple (Mike and Liz) at a local Italian restaurant.After sharing an appetizer of Gorgonzola Garlic Bread, we waited for our entrees to arrive.Mary and Liz had both ordered the Beet Salad. Mike had ordered Eggplant Parmesan. I’d ordered Pan-Seared Salmon.Our waitress … Read more
It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question. Eugene Ionesco In a knowledge economy, your ability to create value is in direct proportion to your ability to ask a good question. Let’s be honest: You’re not really interested in getting more information. What you want is insight. Insight fuels your ability to make better … Read more
Every leader (and organization) has its strengths. Where do the strengths serve well? Where do they incur costs? I led the following awareness-building exercise with a team of leaders at a manufacturing organization. You can try it with alone, or with your team. Leadership Quality Awareness Exercise Think back on all the leaders you’ve ever … Read more
When was the last time you were in a meeting, and heard the presenter say: I know this next slide is an eye chart, but… And then you see something like this:Your eyes scan the page, but can’t stop moving.Your head starts to swim.You get nauseous.You want to run from the room screaming.Welcome to Death … Read more
How do your customers like working with you? Customer (in this context) can be either external or internal. External customers are what we think of as the ‘traditional’ customer.Internal customers can be anyone who is upstream or downstream in the value chain: colleagues, direct reports, managers, suppliers, contractors. We all like it when our customers are easy … Read more
obesity mcdonalds walking dead bank When I first picked up my local paper last week and read the front page of the “Cities & Towns” section, my first thought was that the three finalists for Police Chief at UMASS/Amherst had to perform together playing tiny guitars.Not quite.I’d come my erroneous conclusion by connecting … Read more
Ken is a nice guy.Everyone says so. A senior VP of strategy at a major aerospace company, Ken prides himself on being pleasant and agreeable to work with. Ken works really hard to be nice. So what’s wrong? Being nice is killing Ken’s effectiveness and efficiency at work.It’s also impacting his team, his peers, … Read more
Guess what: You’re being watched. Right now. Is your “Game Face” on? That is, are you aware of what the people you lead see under their microscope? They’re analyzing each detail of your your behavior-looking for clues on how best to respond. Don’t take it too personally, it’s not just you. As social animals, that’s … Read more
