I wrapped up last time by mentioning that we’d soon work through some “simple things” that we can each do to EARN engagement from the teams we’re leading, and more specifically, some actual steps we can take to put those things into practice. Here’s the thing: just identifying those “simple things” ...

Think back to the comment I referenced a few times previously about this so-called “fuzzy initiative driven by someone in human resources that never yields tangible results”... The fellow who made that comment went on to explain that this was because “most CEOs continue to sit on the sidelines and l...

If we want to have the exponential impact I referenced recently, I don’t believe there’s any other option than to buy into the idea that it all starts at the top! While there will certainly still be plenty of hard days, changing the approach we take will be one of the most critical things we do in a...

You will never hear me say that leadership, especially the kind of leadership that’s necessary to effectively run a large organization, is easy. What you will hear me say from time to time is that it’s actually damn hard! In fact, I’ve often heard John Maxwell joke about the book he has scheduled to...

Even when we begin to recognize what’s killing our profitability, start to dial in on the right prescription for addressing it, and come up with some simple solutions that can have a strong impact, we’ll miss capturing a significant amount of our best potential results if we allow our team to remain...

In March of 2000, as a 23 year old 250 ton stamping press operator (and carpenter on the side), I applied for and was somehow offered a position implementing the latest and greatest Lean manufacturing initiative the company I was working for was pushing down from the corporate office. I had been wor...

Whether Santa Claus comes to town or not, we can rest assured that from the moment we accept responsibility for leading our teams someone will ALWAYS be watching the example we set. Hopefully they won’t be watching when we actually are sleeping (because that’s creepy, even for Santa) but they'll def...

Let me emphasize it again just in case we’re not on the same page… Quiet quitting may be a relatively new term but it ain’t a new thing! And while I’ll never suggest I’m OK with someone giving less than satisfactory effort expecting a world-class reward, I’m also not OK with the folks charged with l...

Since looking at Who’s to Blame last time, my mom shared something she had just seen on Dr. Phil where he suggested that quiet quitting was a societal issue largely caused by lack of initiative on the employees’ part. I usually attempt to be fairly mild and respectful with my language when talking w...

There’s certainly a lot of hype around it currently, but I maintain that quiet quitting is no new issue - even though I’ve never seen anyone seem to care the least bit about it until just recently! With hopes that you’re tracking with me on the importance of EARNING engagement from the 50% of team m...

There’s not a day that goes by where I’m not incredibly thankful for the people who have mentored me over the last two decades. Quite a few of those have been very close, one-on-one relationships where I’ve been given direct input on areas I can grow in but even more have been with individuals I’ve ...

Last time I briefly referenced a few of the less than positive things about Jordan that were given some media attention; gambling and how he was accused of treating teammates at times… Let’s consider those, but let’s do it with a clear perspective…

It truly doesn’t matter to me whether or not you a...