I first discovered Dan Pink when I read his book, A Whole New Mind. In a time when managers were advising me to read Jack Welch; this book took a different approach. The Mac was gaining popularity, graphics were replacing spreadsheets and the right brainers now had a point of intrigue. Mr. Pink’s follow up,…
DetailsBe a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. – Steve Jobs While you may be familiar with the many inventions of Thomas Edison which include the incandescent light bulb and the microphone, but there is a back story to one invention that is of great significance. It…
DetailsI left the world of compliance consulting for a career in incentive consulting because I was tired of management by consequence. For years, I have stood fast by the premise that there are two ways to manage employees: By the bench or by the basket If you manage your players by fear, they will do…
DetailsThere’s a new habit in our info-life. A stop on our way to lala land every night. Our Inbox. Sometimes, it’s a computer on a desk. Others, it’s your iPhone by the bedpost. Any device will deliver your email, a constant string of welcome and unwelcome chatter. And your curiosity kills you, just like a…
DetailsLike as the waves make towards the pebbl’d shore, so do our minutes, hasten to the end. – William Shakespeare Architect Frank Lloyd Wright once told of an incident that may have seemed insignificant at the time, but had a profound influence on the rest of his life. The winter he was 9, he went…
DetailsThe only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision – Helen Keller Max Lucado shares a story about Bob Edens. For 51 years he was blind and could not see a thing. His world was a black hall of sounds and smells. He felt his way through five decades of darkness.…
DetailsThe business world is a different animal than it was 20 or 30 years ago, and for the most part that’s a very good thing. Corporate social responsibility has become a buzz phrase, and many large companies are rising and falling in relation to the way that they treat both their employees and their customers.…
DetailsThey say Wayne Gretzky was a step ahead of other players because he skated to where the puck was going to be. Are you developing your up-and-coming leaders for where your markets and your environment are going to be? Will your leaders be prepared for the daunting complexity that’s coming? Or are you preparing them…
DetailsIf you were anywhere near La Pera Circle in the 80’s you would have heard the echoing of a ball bouncing. I played basketball for hours in my early years. I didn’t play pick up games nor did I play organized basketball; I just shot for hours…on my own. I would play out games in…
DetailsLife is a long process of getting used to things you started out to change. – Frank A. Clark As the story goes, it was on June 4, 1783 at the market square of a French village of Annonay, not far from Paris, that a smoky bonfire on a raised platform was fed by wet…
DetailsPeople in the business community love their clichés. “There’s no ‘I’ in team,” “work smarter, not harder,” and my personal favorite, “think outside the box”. Ugh. When it comes to describing a workplace culture, clichés are abundant here as well. With our open-door policies and expectations of giving 150% (how is this even possible?). These general statements…
DetailsI would like to be remembered as a player who was there for others –Mariano Rivera In announcing his forthcoming retirement from Major League Baseball at the conclusion of the 2013 season, Mariano Rivera will certainly be bound for Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame. By the numbers Rivera has no equal. His stats…
DetailsNothing last forever – not even our troubles. – Arnold H. Glasow In Bits & Pieces, a story is shared about Somerset Maugham, the English writer who once wrote a story about a janitor at St. Peter’s Church in London. One day a young vicar discovered that the janitor was illiterate and fired him. Jobless,…
DetailsRespect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners – Laurence Sterne In surveys conducted by Weber Shandwick (http://bit.ly/ieo5oz) in 2011 it revealed what many already know or experience – incivility in the workplace is on the rise and the many place the blame at the feet of workplace leadership. The online…
DetailsBased on the book, “Get Along with Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere” by Arnold Sanow and Sandra Strauss, standing firm on the hallowed grounds of “rightness” is a dead-wrong approach for connecting with others. It smacks of arrogance and alienates. The need to “be right” gets in the way of winning the acceptance, appreciation, and respect of…
Details
