In a prior posting my business partner, Debra Bowles, expressed the courage it took to speak her small “t” truth in front of her executive peers in response to a CEO’s inquiry. I am often struck by the use of the word courage in business today and … [Read more...]
The Power of the small “t” truth
I was raised to respect authority, almost to a fault, and my Dad spoke most of the Truth in our family. I was a senior executive in a large organization for 14 years and there was much Truth spoken with great belief and force. I am intentionally … [Read more...]
Move Your Own D@%# Needle
There’s a phrase that many in business have been using for some time now. Typically it’s a manager in a leadership role telling someone else that they need to “move the needle.” That is, they need to cause some change, they need to increase revenue … [Read more...]
Self-Awareness Drives Corporate Performance
How self-aware are you? Do you know what your blind spots are? What skills do you excel at? What traits make up your personality and drive your behavior? These are important questions for anyone wanting to practice authentic leadership. And, it’s … [Read more...]
The Problem with Performance Reviews
I’ve always been troubled by performance reviews. I didn’t like them when I was working inside an organization. I don’t like them now that I consult with organizations. There, I’ve said it. I have two problems with performance reviews. One, they … [Read more...]
6 Vital Skills for Strategic Thinking
(NOTE: This post is an excerpt from a longer White Paper on Strategic Thinking.) Lead Change Leaders change things. At least we’re supposed to. We’re supposed to drive the business from A to B, move people from groups to teams, and develop … [Read more...]
What Do Leaders Do?
What do leaders do? The list is long; but in a nutshell, leaders enable positive transformation. Success in business requires leaders to be able to impact and engage people to join in important work that produces forward movement with positive … [Read more...]
Don’t Just Do Something. Stand There!
As we rush from meeting to meeting, task to task, project to project, how and when do we take the time to ask ourselves if we are doing more at the expense of “being” less? John Kotter talks of this as “false urgency.” We’ve all gotten very good at … [Read more...]
How Healthy are You?
In their new book, Beyond Performance: How Great Organizations Build Ultimate Competitive Advantage (Wiley, 2011), Scott Keller and Colin Price make the case that organizational health is vital for sustaining high performance. They posit that … [Read more...]
When Leading Change, There is No End Zone
Doing change work there always comes a point early on, when structural changes have been announced and are almost complete, that someone will say, “Okay, the change is done. Now let’s get back to business.” This is the moment when I tell them (after … [Read more...]