Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the privilege to conduct as series of interviews with four amazing leaders. One woman and three men, each the senior-most executives of their respective organizations, offered honest appraisals of their lives, careers and the businesses they’ve built. Although the organizations they lead differ by industry, geography and size, […]
A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done. – Fred Allen Sure there are lots of ways to make conference calls more efficient: setting a clear agenda, sending invitations early with lots of reminders and keeping the conversation focused (see references
Pause, Paws & Faux Pas: Conference Call Etiquette Read More »
This week I had the opportunity to witness our medical system first hand, as a close family member underwent a significant life threatening procedure. Observing the coordinated effort of the care-givers was a lesson in team-centered collaboration, information sharing, process and policy adherence and yes – human relationships! Research suggests that relationships impact: Caregiver perceptions
Who’s Dragging Your Team Down? Read More »
Bye-bye lifelong employment, gold watches and pension plans. Hello to a new set of work and career rules. Our changing relationship with work is a central component in my new book. So, I’ve been doing a great deal of research trying to discover what’s in the new social contact – what exactly is expected by
The Unspoken Rules of Work: Defining the NEW Social Contract Read More »
“…And the strategy begat the tactics. And the tactics begat the objectives. That begat the tasks. That begat the people in cubicles who no longer begat children because they’re working all weekend trying to finish the *@#$- assignments they’ve been given…” -The Cluetrain Manifesto Amazon lists 349,691 books on relationships, 162,082 of which deal with
Show Up, Shut Up and Do It Our Way… Read More »
In many ways, business is simply high school on steroids, where fitting in means playing it cool. Want a seat at the cool kid’s table? Get a point-of-view that allows for the fact that you do not, cannot and never will know everything. The executive team had flown in from Europe. The meeting was a
Earning a Seat at the Cool Kid’s Table Read More »
Trust can be a vicious and manipulative weapon of control. As much as I’ve researched and studied the importance, development and maintenance of trust in great relationships, I’ve only recently started to examine trust’s less attractive aspects. Someone may grant you trust based on the belief that you will act in a certain way, even
The Dark Side of Trust… Read More »
Discovering possibilities, opportunities and potential takes the same skills as uncovering ignorance, incompetence and evasion. It’s all in how you ask the question. Executives, lawyers, salespeople and anyone that’s ever been in a relationship can benefit from a deeper understanding of questions. The topic is so important that in 2014, John C. Maxwell dedicated an
You’ll only get answers to the questions you ask… Read More »
Are you the same person when no one is looking? As one CEO put it, “to be truly successful you must be the same person on-stage as off-stage”. In the age of social media, this advice is timely and becoming more important than ever. I’ve worked with some very successful people that essentially live double
When No One is Looking… Read More »
Do you have a career strategy? Regardless how you respond, the real answer is YES. Either you are explicitly driving your career or you are implicitly letting your career drive you. Just as young people entering the workforce often view success as getting any job; mid-career professionals often view success as either keeping their current
Surviving or Thriving: Evaluating Your Career Strategy Read More »