“Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn’t be done.” –Amelia Earhart The book, The World’s Worst Predictions, records some of the worst predictions ever made in history. Among some of the more notable bad predictions include how in 1773, King George II said that the American colonies had little stomach for revolution. Another reveals…
DetailsToday we look at the one or two bottom performing employees you might have on your team or in your company. It could be job performance related or it could be negativity or behavior problems. Can they be ‘fixed’ or should you let them go and move forward with hiring a replacement? An HR Manager…
DetailsThe circumstances of life, the events of life, and the people around me in life do not make me the way I am, but revel the way I am. – Sam Peeples, Jr. In a Sports Illustrated story years back, Gary Smith relates the suffering of the late North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano…
DetailsLast week we revealed a tale of Leadership Lost: A man, who dedicated his life to a cause he believed in, employed thousands and put his grandchildren’s children through college. And yet, if you walked out of college on to his team you might be met with less vision and a whole lot of limitations.…
DetailsType in the words ‘succession planning’ into a Google news search. Most likely, you’ll find several articles discussing succession planning, or lack thereof, at Apple, Inc. Now, I don’t mean to pick on Apple here, but the issue of succession management appears to serve as a constant woe to Apple stakeholders and the company’s board.…
DetailsGetting people to like you is merely the other side of liking them. -Norman Vincent Peale A big factor in how people judge you in your interactions, meetings, transactions and presentations is based on your likeability or perceived likeability. Theodore Roosevelt stated, “The most important single ingredient in the formula for success is knowing how…
Details“Rest and motion, unrelieved and unchecked, are equally destructive.” – Benjamin Cardozo A story is told of a man who challenged another to an all day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day.…
DetailsThe CEO prowled the stage like a panther. He had total control of PowerPoint, was animated in sharing his experience and made the thousands in the conference hall feel as if he was speaking directly to them. The team left the keynote feeling inspired to produce great things, confident in their decision of joining the…
DetailsI am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened. – Mark Twain In Bits & Pieces a few years back a story is told of Somerset Maugham, the English writer, who once wrote about a janitor at St. Peter’s Church in London. One day a young…
DetailsA boss of mine early on in my career had a tough, almost bulldog, style. He was a pragmatic, no nonsense guy. He didn’t have a wide vocabulary and didn’t spend a lot of time talking about concepts. He was super loyal to the company and even more so to the branch of which he…
DetailsSo much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work. – Peter Drucker A story is told of a man flying in a hot air balloon who realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon and shouts, “Excuse me, can…
DetailsWhen I hear somebody sigh that life is hard, I am always tempted to ask, compared to what? – Sydney Harris What are the top challenges you face as a leader in your business or organization? In a list generated by Sheryl Nance-Nash at dailyfinance.com she provides the Top 10 Challenges for CEO’s in 2011.…
DetailsDo you have a marginally performing employee? Not sure exactly what to do? Should you keep supporting them? When (in what circumstances) should you terminate their employment? A friend of mine, a certified executive coach, gave a great example of how to simplify decisions when dealing with low-performing staff: Determine if your employee has the…
DetailsAt a gut level we know that leadership is important and necessary. As I think back over the many bosses I worked for, only a small fraction exhibited good leadership skills. And those good bosses… I still think back fondly on how they helped me along my career path. Even the good ones were far…
DetailsActors on stage and screen are not genuine. They are fakes. They are playing a part, not themselves. Of course, we expect them to do this and, furthermore, we expect them to do it really well, to convince us that they are the character they are playing. But what about a managers who has to…
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