Recently, on two separate occasions and for two different reasons, I was asked to thoroughly explain how the tasks different people were being asked to do were connected to a bigger picture or master plan. On many occasions this makes total sense, but I believe in these two situations the people were using this as a way to escape from… Continue reading Don’t Let the Big Picture Stop You
Category: Leadership
Developing Great Teams With Small Investments
Recently I was at a meeting where they brought in various teams from around our Company to showcase the work that they were performing. Unexpectedly, I recognized someone who I hadn’t worked with or seen in 13 years running one of the booths. We immediately hugged hello and fell back into an old level of… Continue reading Developing Great Teams With Small Investments
The Benefits of Serving Others
As I write this I’m sitting on the famous Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil about to go watch the World Cup 2014 match of Spain v. Chile at the fan fest down the street. In a few days I’ll attend the Russia v. Belgium World Cup Match in Maracana Stadium in Rio. My… Continue reading The Benefits of Serving Others
The Power of Small Comments
People often ask me how I was able to make the first switch within my Company from one group to another. I had been in the IT group for about eight years at that point and then switched over into our Consumer Products Marketing group. Up until that time, going from IT to the Marketing… Continue reading The Power of Small Comments
Are You Living What You Expect In An Interview?
What questions did you ask the last candidate you tried to hire? What expectations did you have about what they would bring to the table and the types of leadership and results you expected to see? What were the things that made you want to choose the person you actually hired? Now ask yourself, are… Continue reading Are You Living What You Expect In An Interview?
Business Boot Camps
There are plenty of programs for students to learn more about career choices and industries in their field (think internships and co-ops). Why do businesses stop doing that for experienced people? What if you could build a bootcamp / externship-type program for your business where you bring in talent from other industries to work in… Continue reading Business Boot Camps
Instant Meeting Feedback
Have you ever ran a half day, all day or multi-day meeting and wanted to get better live feedback about how it was going? Would you like to receive real time feedback about your performance, without disrupting whatever was happening? What are some ways you could receive this type of instant feedback, and make it… Continue reading Instant Meeting Feedback
Failure Awards
Very similar to Beg Forgiveness Cards— How about creating an awards program in your group specifically to highlight failure. Celebrating success is great, but celebrating failure could just lead to better success. What else do you need to celebrate in your group to help entice more of that behavior?
Beg Forgiveness Cards
Getting your team to believe that failure is an option or that taking prudent risks are OK is sometimes hard. Most people in a work environment are trained to believe that things need to work out correctly all the time. If you’re trying to get your team to live into the phrase “beg forgiveness rather… Continue reading Beg Forgiveness Cards
Accelerate Your Career Growth by Understanding How Promotions Happen
When you start to analyze how and why people get promoted in any large organization you can see that interesting patterns have developed. The important part in understanding those patterns is making sure that you are using them as you develop your career plans. I imagine every organization is different to some degree, but there… Continue reading Accelerate Your Career Growth by Understanding How Promotions Happen