Warning: This is a get-rich-slow plan. If you are looking to jumpstart your business in the next 30-90 days, you might not find what you are looking for here. But if you are looking to grow your business in a sustainable, fulfilling and profitable way … and you are willing to take the long-view ……
The typical teleworker in the US is a 49 years old, university educated, salaried individual in a management or professional role, says the Telework Research Network. Some of these just love the opportunity to indulge themselves through the satisfaction of doing knowledge or creative work that both engages them and challenges them. But many of…
How often have you heard that our favorite topic is ourself? This is certainly true but a few people go overboard. We call them egocentric. At a neurotic level, they become narcissistic. This comes from the Greek character Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water and remained there,…
Managers typically are more competitive than average employees. So it’s natural for managers to want to create a competitive spirit between employees, shifts, divisions and locations. And some employees respond really well to this competition. It can even get carried away to include gaming the system to improve your score over your colleagues, and other…
Any person who selects a goal in life which can be fully achieved, has already defined his own limitations. – Cavett Robert In his book, Winning Every Day, legendary football coach Lou Holtz shares a story about a man whose car tumbled into a ditch. He called a farmer for some help, but the farmer…
Ah, Mark Zuckerberg. The brainchild behind the product that everyone wishes they created. Okay, when you think of a leader, Mark Zuckerberg is probably not the first person you would automatically draw inspiration from. He’s not the best speaker, wears t-shirts no matter the occasion, and gives mediocre interviews. And as a result there are…
Some days I feel like I’m on walking upward on a down escalator — my 25 years of supervising and managing experience isn’t getting me the results I want. This past few weeks, the managers in my own department have been teaching me a few things: 1) Know the “style” of the decision-makers in…
We hear so much about collaboration these days. Our work is more complex. The best solutions require input from diverse perspectives. We at Fulcrum Associates have just started working with a fascinating simulation learning event, Friday Night at the ER. In it participants experience the challenge of working in a system where the unit managers…
Bill George, an author whom I have reviewed and whom I respect, has just come out with a new book, True North Groups. This is a more structured version of the classic “mastermind group” which many of my speaker colleagues have formed or joined. This new publication just reminds me to urge you to form…
This week, I’ve had several scary job reference requests. Three out of four had an unhappy ending. So do job references really make a difference? Listen to 4 stories and decide for yourself….. In my own experience, the two worst mistakes made during hiring are:
Many people believe that psychological type consists of four pairs of opposing preferences. Learn the pairs and the behaviors associated with each one, and that’s all there is to it. When you read Jung’s (1921/1971, paras. 570, 571, 575, 588, 608, 637, 736, 764, 956) Psychological Types, you discover there is a lot more to…
A number of years ago my wife and I attended a workshop on how to facilitate dialogue. The session was led by our colleagues Will Stockton and Marjorie Herdes of Mobius, Inc. They do tremendous work, especially facilitating large group and community dialogue sessions, using a “roadmap” they’ve evolved over the years which they call…
Isn’t it funny what we assume about leaders in senior positions. They no longer have anything to learn about interpersonal relationships or leadership. They have arrived, proof positive of their skill level! Furthermore, only a fearless few people will give them the honest, useful feedback that self-development requires. The “culture” expects them to be role…