Embracing Risk: What is Your Risk Appetite?
Leading a business involves risk. For some of us, just getting out of bed each day seems like a risk. For others, they can’t get enough of it. Being a risk taker is on the high end of the scale for entrepreneurs and visionaries. Our business culture is full of stories about famous risk-takers. Yet […]
Leaders: Are You a 2023 Contender or a Pretender?
If your desire is to be a better manager at work, at home, or in the community, you may want to develop some actual leadership skills. However, if you are already following certain leadership principles, there is always room for lifting the lid to expand your reach and influence. After many years of working with […]
When You Lose, Are You Bitter or Better?
Here’s the scenario: life throws you a curve ball. Things don’t go your way. You suffer an embarrassing moment in front of colleagues, your spouse or your kids. You lose the deal, the game, the promotion, or the moment. The other guy wins. You failed. What are your responses? Yes, I believe there is more […]
Leaders: There’s a New Way to Understand Change
Author’s NOTE: I wrote the first version of this article in 2018 – a full 2 years BEFORE the whole world locked down and faced the COVID-19 pandemic. Business has not been the same since. At a recent luncheon, I was involved in a discussion that I find becoming more common. The topic was this: […]
Leadership: Finding a Good Fit
Companies spend a lot of time and money trying to identify “good fit” during their hiring process. Candidate selection is driven by the magical, mystical notion of making a good fit decision. First Steps Clearly, the first step usually involves matching job description requirements with the candidate’s stated background experience. Right away, the matching process […]
Procedures? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Procedures
Managers and leaders at all levels rely on process and procedure to execute scalable and sustainable delivery of the work they do. Yet from time to time, you will hear talk of being totally free-form in the operation of a business. Results speak for themselves. When you dive deep into the leadership success story of […]
What Are You Waiting For?
There comes a time in life when you’ve done all the thinking, study, analysis, and planning you can do. You reach a decision point. Then it happens. You freeze. You cannot go forward. You’re stuck. The question is then, what are you waiting for? What is it that holds you back, makes you balk? How […]
The Unsung Role of Leadership
It is time to dedicate some blog space to a segment of my audience that gets little direct attention. I am talking about females who serve in leadership roles. I always write with an open mind about the topics I share, and I seldom differentiate between male or female. I still believe “leadership is leadership”, […]
Defining Customer Service in 2022
larger corporate settings, your team’s customer may not be external at all. You may be serving an internal ‘customer.’
Beating Procrastination at Its Own Game – and Ways to Thrive
People often ask me about ways to beat procrastination. I usually say “I’ll get back to you.” Just kidding. Everyone procrastinates sometimes, but 20 percent of people chronically avoid difficult tasks and deliberately look for distractions—which, unfortunately, are increasingly available. Procrastination in large part reflects our perennial struggle with self-control as well as our inability […]