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Helping or Harping? Is Laziness a Powerful Motivator? Interesting Things Google Does re Its People
 

Do We Stop Growing after Schooling?

I ran across a recent posting from the Gallup Management Journal that made a point have I never thought about before: “Raised through a childhood in which each new year brought novel opportunities, playing at ever more difficult levels of sports, growing physically, educated in a system of cleanly delineated grades — freshman, sophomore, junior, [...]

Helping or Harping?

Helping or Harping?

When front line supervisors and managers are asked to share some of the characteristics of the best manager or supervisor they had ever worked for,  they will include “supportive” on that list. One participant was even more emphatic – his best boss was focused on “helping” not “harping”. A boss who is constantly critical and [...]

Is Laziness a Powerful Motivator?

Is Laziness a Powerful Motivator?

Could laziness be the most powerful motivator of all? And if it is, how can you use this to your advantage? As a people watcher have you ever noticed that the majority of people gravitate to the easiest way of accomplishing a task? Instead of being aggravated as a manager or supervisor, perhaps you should [...]

Interesting Things Google Does re Its People

Interesting Things Google Does re Its People

I recently attended a presentation by Shannon Deegan, Google’s Director of People. Now, a lot has been written about this company and how it is up there in the stratosphere of “best places to work,” as decreed by Fortune magazine and others. Not surprisingly, Google received around 2 million resumés last year and filled 5000 [...]

Distractions and Reactions

28 January 2012

By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination. – Christopher Columbus There is a story that I came across involving Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at the time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. [...]

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Develop Your Leadership Competence Asynchronously

23 January 2012

It being New Year’s time again, Bill George recently blogged about “Five Resolutions for Aspiring Leaders.” He talked about things you can do to develop yourself, beyond what you do in your direct job: such as finding a mentor, setting up a mastermind type group with other emerging and aspiring leaders,volunteering in the community in [...]

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What is Your Philosophy on Leadership?

21 January 2012

phi·los·o·phy   [fi-los-uh-fee noun, plural -phies. -The rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct. The setting is taken from the 2009 hit movie Invictus starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. Freeman plays the role of South African President Nelson Mandela. Damon plays the role of Francois Pienaar, the captain of the [...]

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Talent Magnets

19 January 2012

In my leadership workshops and keynote speeches I sometimes ask the group/audience to think of the best boss and worse boss they’ve ever had, what each did, and what effect it had on you. People come up with all kinds of descriptors and behaviors of both bosses. But one thing emerges about the best boss [...]

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Praise their Process Over their Competence

16 January 2012

The name and work of Carol Dweck keeps coming up in discussions among experts in cognitive development. I wrote a review of her important book, MindSet. In it she talks about two fundamental mindsets in people (and, therefore, of course, in employees): Fixed and Growth. Someone with a Fixed mindset believes they can’t get any [...]

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Leadership Lessons from Tim Tebow

14 January 2012

Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. – William Shakespeare Tim Tebow earned my respect back in 2009 when he played his senior year at the University of Florida. When other college athletes with lesser talent opted to enter the NFL draft, Tebow [...]

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Every Manager a Coach

12 January 2012

A recent study reinforces the value of coaching by managers throughout the organization. Here are a few key points it makes: Business results were 21% higher in enterprises where senior leaders very frequently make an effort to coach others. This increased when organizations had a culture that supports coaching and makes managers accountable for engaging [...]

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12 Steps to Planning Your Next Presentation

11 January 2012

90% of the success of any presentation can be attributed to planning. As Mark Twain said, “It even takes three weeks to prepare a good ad lib speech.” The problem with most presenters is they don’t spend enough time researching, getting to know the audience and going over and over the presentation until it becomes [...]

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Conflict and Change Co-exist

10 January 2012

When you hear the word conflict, it has negative associations with words like argument, war, battle, and disagreement. In reality, conflict should be embraced as being essential to a healthy organization. The majority of employees (and many supervisors and managers) avoid conflict because of the assumption that conflict is destructive. Conflict is expected and desired [...]

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Employees Listen With Their Eyes

09 January 2012

Whenever a leader is within the sightline of his or her employees, communication is occuring. What message is your face and body language communicating without you even having to open your mouth? Communication continues to be a problem for virtually every organization. You would think that after recognizing the problem for this long we would [...]

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Four Steps to Becoming the Ultimate Manager

07 January 2012

Be kind to people on the way up- you’ll meet them again on your way down. – Jimmy Durante It was recently reported in USA Today that 48 percent of employees believe that being courteous leads to advancement at work. And in a recent AOL article, business writer David Schepp writes, “with five applicants for [...]

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Three Keys to Exceptional Leadership

01 January 2012

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome – Booker T. Washington In a recent Sports Illustrated story honoring Pat Summit and Mike Krzyzewski as Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year, a fascinating story of hope and encouragement [...]

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Great Interactions

28 December 2011

I think we can all agree that leadership is an art form: a dance, a painting, a well-executed pass play. The best leaders know the moments in which to interact. More to the point, an employee’s valuation of their company comes down to a few moments (and their direct report is usually part of them). [...]

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It’s Time For A Fresh Start

24 December 2011

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. – Helen Keller A story is told of a young Greek artist named Timanthes studied who under a respected tutor some 2,000 years ago. After several years the teacher’s efforts seemed to [...]

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Keep in Touch with Your Best Former Employees

20 December 2011

It’s been a smart idea for years. When good employees leave your organization for greener pastures and the departure is amicable, why not keep in contact? You never know, some may find that that grass isn’t, in fact, greener and that your firm was a pretty good place to work after all. A recent WSJ [...]

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A Way With Words

17 December 2011

Words do two major things: They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness. – Jim Rohn Listed on the Merriam-Webster website is the 2011: The Year in Words. The list reveals defining moments in politics, culture, sports and more that spiked lookups in words because of events in news. A [...]

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