A leader once said to me “Alan, I’m a leader in my company, but I don’t know what’s expected of me.” A closer look at that organization revealed a few things. It had succession gaps in key leadership positions. It had little support for new leaders and no model of leadership. It had inconsistent training » Read More
Everything you do and say communicates SOMETHING. In fact, the most effective leaders know that their team’s performance hinges on being a great communicator. “Since we communicate whether we want to or not, it’s in our best interest to get good at it” David Grossman Communication Expert. When a leader communicates effectively, everyone understands the » Read More
5 Ways to Prevent Your Employees from Turning into the Walking Dead Zombies are in vogue right now. I confess I’m a fan of TV show The Walking Dead. I turn my head away at the zombie action, but I am attracted to the human stories, the drama, and the symbolism. Do you want zombies » Read More
At a time when companies are looking for ways to reduce costs and become more productive, employee recognition can be a powerful force for engaging employees and unleashing their full potential. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for managers to underestimate the power of employee recognition. They treat it like a warm fuzzy concept instead of » Read More
For two weeks in March I had the good fortune to visit five senior secondary schools in Shanghai, China. It was wonderful to be immersed in a different culture and educational system. The expectation going into this excursion was that I would observe contrasts in our cultures and that indeed occurred. However, I was also » Read More
As many of you know I am in the midst of preparing for the adventure of a lifetime! (A move overseas to the ONLY place in the world my husband and I said we never wanted to live.) A few months have passed since we were asked to do this, and we are actually getting » Read More
In the February 19th Tuesday Science Section (one of my favorites), the New York Times ran an article titled “Picasso’s Masterpieces Made with House Paint.” Using high-tech X-rays, scientists discovered that Picasso used plain old common house paint! They analyzed the pigments on Picasso’s canvases and compared them with samples of house paint from the » Read More
The phrase “corporate culture” describes the specific and unique sense of community that is created within a company. There is a clear difference between a company that has a bad atmosphere, and one that has built a good corporate culture within its walls. When your company has a good corporate culture, employees love their work » Read More
“Let us nourish beginnings. Not all things are blest, but the seeds of all things are blest. The blessing is in the seed.” Muriel Rukeyser How you begin matters. Prepare the team. Reinforce the vision. Energize the plans. Refresh the excitement. Do you begin well? A Sweet Story of Beginning Well This Sunday, I watched » Read More
Culture is a big deal, and as my colleague Beth Doolittle puts it, “Culture is not what we say it is, it is what it is.” Culture is the great invisible hand, and that hand determines much of what is possible for our organizations to achieve. But because it is invisible, shaping it is one » Read More
