“Our organization isn’t working as well as it needs to be. Things aren’t bad. They used to be much better. The just aren’t that way now.” Every leader has, at some point, felt that everything [...]
You will never inspire the hearts and minds of others without a deep, genuine appreciation for the talent, commitment, and value that others can bring to your team. When you get that, your ability to [...]
Regardless of how fast your company is today, the marketplace expects and rewards being faster and more nimble. Current success proves that correct choices were made yesterday. A competitor’s game-changing innovation or their faster response [...]
The names that regularly appear at the top of every list for amazing customer experiences and service are familiar: USAA, Amazon, Chick-fil-A, Publix, and Zappos. And sadly, so are names that appear at or near [...]
From Randy Pennington: We fired the service that had done all of our lawn care, landscaping, tree trimming, and holiday lights for 17 years. There wasn’t one single incident that caused us to leave. It [...]
If you aren't satisfied with the way your career is progressing, you are not alone. Most of your friends and colleagues share your frustration and even the ones who like their jobs want to do [...]
It is time to face the truth. The riots in Baltimore and elsewhere should have been anticipated and could have been avoided. They occurred because we – the American people – abdicated our leadership responsibilities [...]
Change, disruption, and uncertainty are hot topics for today’s corporate and association meetings. This is the second time around for change as the topic de jour. Back in the 1990’s, the message was “Change is [...]
This is the first reader question we have answered in the Five Friends blog. It seems many want to know how we all got started in this business and we are happy to share that [...]
From Mark Sanborn: The biggest challenge businesses will face in the next five years is meeting increasing customer expectations. There is a current dilemma that will only get worse: the more you do for customers, [...]
Leadership is about the ability to influence others – nothing more and nothing less. It has less to do with position and is more about credibility, trust, and bringing out the best in yourself and [...]
From Scott McKain: Employees should remember EVERYONE is replaceable – those who aren’t distinctive get replaced first. Steve Jobs died in 2011. Apple just reported their most profitable quarter ever. Tim Cook is good, too. [...]
Leaders are known by their results. Your organization’s results improve when the performance of you and your people improves. It sounds obvious, and yet performance development remains, at best, an oxymoron along with jumbo shrimp, responsible [...]
The death of Michael Brown and the subsequent events are a tragedy. Everywhere you look someone is blaming an individual or group for the anger, hurt, riots, looting, building burning, and feelings of injustice that [...]
I had the good fortune to meet and work with Bill McDermott years ago when he was with Xerox. Since then he has gone on to lead SAP and now write an excellent book titled [...]