Years ago I visited the transportation museum at Fort Eustis, Virginia. There was a wall as you entered that contained campaign battle ribbons dating back to the earliest wars and military conflicts for the United [...]
The Road Runner cartoons are wrong. Wile E. Coyote is the exception rather than the rule. Coyotes are idea models for remaining nimble and flourishing in the face of change. Need proof? They continue to [...]
How much paid vacation do you receive from your company? Do you take it all, or do you find yourself giving or banking time at the end of the year? Would you take more time [...]
From Randy Pennington: It depends on your definition of “teamwork.” It is absolutely critical if you define teamwork as everyone having a shared vision; clear roles and responsibilities; delivering their best to help the entire [...]
There is no shortage of change models being pushed by authors and consultants. Each claims their supporters and detractors. I have one as well. It is the latest iteration of a model I developed and [...]
From Mark Sanborn: The worst enemy of business? Indifference. Indifference is a lack of concern, interest or sympathy and it hurts business in two areas: people & process. A lack of concern for your employees/colleagues [...]
From Scott McKain: Customer service is bad at most places, because evidently that is what CEO’s and managers want. What other reason could there be for them to accept such miserable performance? Most care more [...]
I have stayed away from any direct public comment about the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. I don’t know the facts, and any comment would be pure conjecture. But, I do know what [...]
From Larry Winget: A leaders most important job: To lead. Duh. How do you lead? Not from behind, that’s for sure. Leaders have to get out in front with their ideas, vision, energy and presence. [...]
The first two parts of this blog series dealt with what went wrong when the National Speakers Association announced a name change and re-branding effort at its annual convention on July 2. Today we look at what went right.
Napoleon said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” When it comes to change, that responsibility extends to creating the context of why and how the current reality should and could be different.
The majority of the world spent the last five days living their life. A small slice of the universe who make their living selling ideas, however, were agitating themselves into a frenzy. In case you missed it, the National Speakers Association, an association of which I am a member, decided to re-brand itself and change its name to PLATFORM. This is a first world problem. In the context of all of the turmoil in the world, the re-naming of this 41-year old association ranks right up there with … well almost nothing. And yet, people on all sides of the argument lit up the blogosphere and social media channels supporting their positions … even if it meant refusing to consider that others might be equally right in their own stance (see my blog on “Is It Always Right to be Right” for more on that phenomenon.)
The walls of The Loomis Agency are adorned with pictures of dogs. There are so many photos and references to our beloved canine companions that conspiracy theorists might wonder if the company is secretly reviving [...]
The lack of confidence in the institutions that define our collective culture is threatening the civility, economic prosperity, and standing of the United States as a world leader. Let’s start with the government. The President’s [...]
The 1971 Oscar in the Short Film, Cartoon category went to a piece titled “Is It Always Right To Be Right.” It was directed by Lee Mishkin, narrated by Orson Welles, and written by Warren Schmidt. The opening words of the film are: There once was a land where people were always right. They knew they were right and they were proud of it. It was a land where people stated with confidence, "I am right and you are wrong." These were words of conviction, courage, strength, and moral certainty. In this fictional land, any attempt at cooperation and understanding were viewed as cowardice and weakness. Everyone was so convinced of their rightness that no one dared to utter words such as, “You may be right” or “I may be wrong.”