The phrase whack-a-mole denotes a repetitious and futile task: each time a task is finished or a problem is dealt with, yet another task/problem appears elsewhere. A classic example? Keeping others accountable. Many leaders struggle with establishing accountability because they lapse into ‘managing accountability as a thing’ instead of ‘forming accountable people’ through character building […]
How to Build Character (you’re not born with it) How do you react when something not only doesn’t go your way, it makes no sense or seems unjust or unbelievable to you? Several of my kids have experienced disappointments recently – one in college and one in boy scouts. As a parent I hurt for […]
I read an article on Linked-In claiming leadership classes DON’T WORK. Here’s my take – leadership tips and tricks learned through coaching, competency training, and experience DO WORK AFTER you work on the foundation of leadership – your character. Most feel they’re a leader based on their work product and they’re wrong – that’s quadrant […]
A goal that excites my school-age children is a dream season and winning a trophy. It soon fades, and they ask, what’s next? WHAT’S A GOAL AN ORGANIZATION COMMONLY CHOOSES? Since most organizations live in quadrant 3 or the lower right of the Business Excellence 2×2, it’s SOMETHING THAT MOVES THEM FROM LEFT TO RIGHT […]
High strategy (mind), low culture (heart) is where most organizations live – quadrant 3 or the lower right in the Business Leadership Excellence 2×2. What happens when you have high strategy and low culture? You have spiritless results… You make lots of money and culture is a non-factor. It doesn’t affect your team members’ […]
I worked with a successful healthcare client recently on using culture to enhance execution of strategy to optimize results. They had disagreement on 1. direction of the organization and 2. ownership – that had slowed the organization. What most leadership teams do is focus on thorny issues like these without first laying ground work to […]
Even if you flip burgers in a restaurant, you can be a leader… Who REALLY believes that? I didn’t , but I do now. Why? LEADERSHIP IS MORE THAN THE SUBSTANCE OF YOUR WORK – flipping burgers, being a CEO or even a shift manager. Leadership is 1. connecting your work with your purpose, […]
Last week I shared the Leadership 2.0 Loop. You ‘get in the loop’ by doing 1 thing to connect your identity & performance. What’s the ‘1 thing’ to do to connect your identity and day to day performance for optimal results? This is the 1 thing you can do this week by yourself – create […]
Do all your family members have the same capacity to give or be of help? For example, my 9 year old daughter doesn’t have the same financial capacity as my father, so when she offers to pay for lunch if I take her out, it makes a bigger impression on me than if my father […]
My wife and I have successfully started a basketball team – we have 5 children. Since we are a team, we all have roles and tasks, including chores. We just took our oldest to college and everyone still at home has received a promotion, and chores have been reshuffled. What we did is what most […]
