Actors 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…
DetailsA warm smile is the universal language of kindness. – William Arthur Ward An entry in Reader’s Digest relates the story of an individual calling for information about one of his credit cards. He stated, “I got the following prompt: ’Please enter your account number as it appears on your statement.’ Then the system said,…
DetailsLet me start by saying that I am not an extrovert, and yet I’ve built my career on networking. It’s opened doors for me, given me critical advice, and when I became an entrepreneur, developed millions of dollars in business for my company. There’s a common assumption that to be a good networker you need…
DetailsAlways render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be.” – Og Mandino In the book, “It’s Not About the Coffee”, Howard Behar, the former president of Starbucks International, relates an observation during a store visit. A customer approached a barista and explained that he didn’t like…
DetailsIt’s been an interesting week in the world of NFL free agency. Peyton Manning was excused by his former employer prompting a recruiting frenzy for one of the industry’s top professionals. In the attempt to court this top performer to their organization the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos were forced to look at…
DetailsI have written before about the “First Five Percent.” That’s my approach to strategic change management that says the quality of the first five percent determines what happens in the rest of the process. I was in Los Angeles last week, working with a large association, on a strategic plan for their organization. It was…
DetailsA few weeks back Greg Smith published his letter of resignation from Goldman Sachs in the New York Times. There were those who applauded Mr. Smith’s call for human dignity in a professional world turned shark tank. Most of the reaction I encountered, however, spoke of sour grapes. Mr. Smith’s detractors cast him away as…
DetailsIf you haven’t noticed, I have a thing for dominos. And it makes perfect sense when you look at my passion. You see, when it comes to perfecting your connecting, it’s all about the domino effect. The domino effect refers to a small change that will cause a similar change nearby, which then will cause…
Details“Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now.” – Denis Waitley I read with interest not long ago how a person on railroad tracks hears a train approaching, looks behind him, sees the train and then freezes…
DetailsMost people go to their grave with their music still inside them – George Bernard Shaw In Bits & Pieces a story is told of Antonio; an Italian boy who loved music, but whenever he tried to sing the music that was in his heart, it came out so badly that all his friends laughed…
DetailsResearch reported by Alex Pentland in the April issue of Harvard Business Review has revealed some interesting new information on effective teams. He and his group deployed “sociometric badges” in teams in 21 organizations. These devices are able to monitor on individual team members’ tone of voice, body language, frequency of initiating and responding, plus…
DetailsSmall and mid-sized entrepreneurs, upwardly mobile business professionals and large corporations are increasingly using the services of business coaches to accelerate professional growth by helping them understand their strengths and challenges, achieve goals and objectives, a get results far beyond what an individual can accomplish by themselves. In this economy, however, spending money on a…
DetailsI am a sports fanatic so my Leadership style is rooted in metaphor to any number athletic competitions. With the NBA season on the brink of collapse let’s talk some basketball. I am a firm believer that there are two ways to motivate basketball players: 1. By the Bench 2. By the Basket There is…
DetailsSurprise is a good thing when followed by the phrase, “Happy birthday!” Otherwise, it’s a negative emotion, and when it happens in a customer-provider relationship, it’s a source of dissatisfaction. Regardless of what you sell or who you serve, your customer’s expectations need to be met for you to succeed (in their eyes). In fact,…
DetailsRemember when we would ponder our direction? Nowadays we have to do it all (and then some). There are products to learn, people to hire, alliances to form, markets to penetrate….and a whole lot of technology that is supposed to make things less complicated. Some times the path of least resistance beats the information highway. Does…
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