It’s a question that, admittedly, may only speak to a small percentage of people. However, it is a question I get often… What advice do you have for an aspiring author? This is a fun and strange question for a guy who sells chicken for a living. I’m no expert on writing books. However, with » Read More
Isn’t it lovely when accolades come our way? It’s so rewarding when our work is publicly acknowledged and praised. But what happens when you don’t deserve all the applause? When that “I” you used is really a “we?” Five of us had worked for almost a year on a project to improve morale, increase performance, and reduce turnover in one » Read More
MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses) are a very hot topic in higher education and corporate training. Nabeel Gillani started Coursolve.org to connect organizations using MOOCs with students around the world to solve real world problems. UVa’s Darden School of Business and University of Washington are finding unexpected value and learning by using Coursolve. We are in a new age of education, and just » Read More
No matter what anybody says, CHANGE is difficult. Yes, for all of us, because we all deal with CHANGE on our own time schedules. The reality is that CHANGE is a way of life in 2013 that causes stress all around us – both good and less-than-stellar stress. So take a minute to ponder. When you » Read More
I read another article today on the difference between leadership and management. The writer, someone I appreciate, but from the industrial revolution, talked about leadership as a position. People in positions of leadership need the skills of leadership, vision setting, communication, etc. I don’t disagree. However our free-agent age or our age of the individual » Read More
My first boss was a military man. He had grown up in a proud military family, some of whom had served in the Confederacy during the Civil War. When duty called, my boss shipped off to Southeast Asia where he served two tours of duty behind enemy lines in Vietnam. Later he served as the » Read More
In the Lead Change Google+ community, we host a Question of the Week. It is a time for people to stop, think, write, and exchange ideas and insights. It is an amazing community thing! A recent question was: “In looking back, which teacher or professor made the biggest difference or impact in your life? It » Read More
Have you ever been touched deeply by someone you barely knew? On May 1, 2013 a man named Wally Collins passed away. A few short years ago I sang at his wedding as he married one of the people I hold most dear, Mary McClean. They shared a brief, but beautiful love. It was moving » Read More
While obsessive-compulsive disorder may come in handy in some business settings, the ‘OCD’ that employees want most from their leaders is something very different. It’s an obsession with career development. According to a recent study by Lee Hecht Harrison, 91% of employees polled report that career development is among their top priorities. Being able to » Read More
(This is the fifth in a 12-part series on the origins of Lean in the U.S. and my role as one of its pioneers.) It was clear that employees in Japan were engaged. Toyota was famous for andon, a manufacturing term used to describe a system whereby employees could “pull the cord” and alert management » Read More
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