I love my job. I love training. I love to see the look on a participant’s face when they suddenly “get it” and learn a new concept. I also love what I learn from my participants. I’m the trainer but I learn a lot from my participants as well. I’ve got to share something I [...]
You’re in the process of making a big decision. You’ve checked your emotions at the door, filtered through all of your assumptions, gathered the facts, arrived at conclusions, and now you’re ready to take action. Or are you? There is one more step before hitting the send button. Take time to consider the possible unintended [...]
In 1973 a young engineer named Steve Sasson went to work for the Eastman Kodak company, the oldest and most successful name in the photography business. According to The New York Times, Sasson was given some electronic parts to play with to occupy his time. Two years later he had invented the digital camera, and [...]
Once upon a time Blockbuster, a thriving giant video rental store, had the opportunity to purchase a fledgling Netflix for 50 million dollars. The leadership at Blockbuster was skeptical that this new streaming technology would catch on. They turned down the opportunity. Blockbuster didn’t survive. Netflix, no longer a fledgling, is now alive and well, [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw-jQ-_04DI There are three elements of good leadership that are consistent at every organizational level. From team leader to CEO, when people are following you, your job is to: Cultivate and clarify your vision. Align others with that vision. Execute the vision and get the job done. Everything a leader does falls under one [...]
The Work of Leaders consists of creating vision, aligning others, and executing that vision. Getting your team aligned requires feedback. Execution requires feedback. Each member of your team needs to know what to do more of, what to keep on doing, and what to stop doing. Leaders provide feedback to ensure work gets done on time and on [...]
The e-mail read: Can a job applicant alter their personality style profile to influence the results so that their style appears to be more like the style we’re looking for to fill this position?” The rest of the story: This small company hires customer reps who must be creative, friendly, but also detail-oriented. The company [...]
We all make bad decisions. Sometimes the consequences of those decisions are inconsequential. Other times they can be devastating. A few years ago Blockbuster Video had the opportunity to acquire a little start-up (Netflix) for a paltry 50 million dollars. They decided not to. Really Bad Decision. Netflix has recently been valued at 32.9 billion. Yes, [...]
Bored? Looking for a little excitement? Try googling, “Compliment Sandwich.’ You’ll find a few posts that define it and a bunch of articles on why you should NEVER use one. So, what is a compliment sandwich? It’s placing critical feedback between two positive statements about a person’s performance to lessen the pain or discomfort of [...]
When front line workers are promoted to leadership they must learn a new set of skills in order to be successful. There are four challenges that will derail a leader at any level if they aren’t addressed. In my consulting business I have witnessed a lot of train wrecks that could have been avoided if [...]
