What Makes a Successful Manager

woman at table with 3 other workers viewing laptops

Lessons Learned from 28 Years WHAT makes a successful manager? For years I dodged the question. The answers, I thought, were always unique to the person. And while I believe that is true, there are some patterns I’ve noticed. I love the work I do. And since 1992, I’ve coached well over 1,000 managers, senior […]

Branding Is Not About You

canisters with vintage brand logos

To Brand Is To Serve HOW MANY TIMES have you been bored to death by a presentation that was long and way too detailed? Or read a mission statement that highlighted the company’s experience, education, and know-how with little mention of the customer? Or, felt the brand of an organization was confusing as it tried […]

Why Our Relationships Are Changing

man seated looking out window relaxing with hands behind his head

T’is The Season for Self-Reflection FOR THE FIRST TIME in years, families and friends are re-examining their relationships just as companies, organizations, and governments are re-examining why they exist. Gone are unconscious connections replaced by the choice to connect or not to connect. Before COVID many relationships were supported by routine, habit, and convenience. Like […]

Learning Needs a New Approach

New challenges don’t have to hold back new ideas. IF YOUR SPEED OF LEARNING isn’t faster than the speed of change, you will fall behind. Employees who don’t learn maintain the status quo. Helping create a workforce that is always learning is difficult. Conflicting priorities, lack of resources, antiquated training approaches and a hard-to-break command-and-control […]

How Can I Get Better at Dealing with Conflict?

Culture Change

All battles are battles with the self MANY YOUNG PEOPLE GREW UP up thinking that all conflict is injustice. That’s what you get for giving every kid a trophy for showing up for baseball and football. I see many opportunities for teamwork, leadership, innovation, collaboration, healthy cultures, quality products, and sustained value to customers get […]

It’s Not What You Say But How You Say It

improving productivity

If your style doesn’t match the needs of your audience, don’t bother. COMMUNICATION IS THE LIFEBLOOD of any business or team. But if your style rubs others the wrong way they won’t listen to the content of your message. Communication agility is key. Here are the major styles to be aware of and how have […]

How To Get A Seat At The Table

Adopt a 6-part framework AS AN HR LEADER YOU are tasked with building an innovative workforce to move the company forward, supporting employees who fear speaking up to their supervisors, developing managers hesitant to lead, and building teams that stumble without cohesion. Here are a set of principles that might help untangle this complexity and […]

How To Lead Through Fear and Isolation

improving productivity

10 steps to build connection and engagement. THE CORONAVIRUS HAS CAUSED all of us to experience our greatest fears of being excluded and losing control. On top of that, the number of employees working from has shot up from 16 to over 60%. Working virtually has major challenges: 1) not being able to have deep […]