Having been a few years since I handled all aspects of human resources for an organization on a daily basis, and never dealing with an ownership transition, I left that initial dinner meeting with a list of items I’d need to dig into prior to their upcoming acquisition date. As much as I never liked...
I wrapped up Leading With A Clear Purpose by sharing how having our own extremely clear purpose helped us push through the Covid mandates that prevented us from capitalizing on the momentum we had built in our business going into 2020 and doing much billable work for anyone in the second half of tha...
As I opened the second part of Leading With a Clear Purpose, I made a strong case for how much each of us are attracted to being part of something that matters. I’m convinced that this applies to everyone at any level of any organization. I realize that there are plenty of folks who do what they do,...
On October 6, 2014, I started working for a new organization for the first time since I was 19 years old. Truth be told, I thought I would spend the rest of my career there. I was doing similar work to what I had done in manufacturing but this was for a family-owned business with just under fifty em...
If we think back to how we started this look at Leadership Misunderstood, the biggest myths we’ve taken aim at here were few but extremely common:
- People automatically follow a business owner, executive, manager (or whatever other title you want to insert here) because their paycheck depends on i...
As I emphasized before, I’ve never met someone with any real level of leadership responsibility who didn’t have far more things on their to-do list than they had time for in a given day. That seems to be a given if we’re going to wear a leadership hat - or maybe it should be a cape… The secret sauce...
With a clear picture in your mind of someone you know who always says “I’ll get back to you on that” but rarely does, and a firm understanding for the importance of being responsive as a leader, let’s consider one of the biggest challenges I hear from folks with leadership responsibility when presse...
It can be frustrating enough when we hear “I’ll get back to you on that” from a friend or family member who we know likely won’t follow through, but how much more frustrating is it when it happens with someone in a leadership role?
Let’s be honest, we hold the folks in leadership positions to a hig...
Since we can’t realistically expect others to just be patient indefinitely and maintain any level of leadership with them, or any respect for that matter, let’s look at what we can each do to make sure we’re sending the message we intend to - knowing that failing to reply completely often sends a lo...
If you’ve ever been in a session where Cindy and I teach on communication and behavioral styles, you’ve likely heard me share that my dad has told me for years that I’d get more patient as I got older. So far though, only one of those two things have happened. When I tell that story in person, I ask...
We closed last time with a commitment to address scenarios where team members refuse to exceed expectations. Before I jump into that, I need to call your attention to something that will absolutely exceed YOUR expectations: the virtual LIVE2LEAD:Harrisonburg experience that Cindy and I will be hosti...
I closed the last blog post with a promise to share some practical steps each of us can build a culture that creates amazing customer experiences and directly impacts profitability. Before I go there though, I want to share what may be the last invitation I can pass along for you to join me and Cind...
