How to Start 2016
From Joe Calloway: Here’s advice that I’m giving myself for 2016. You can partake of it as you see fit: Lighten up. My family is healthy and happy and we’re all together. In light of [...]
14
Dec, 2015
26
Jul, 2015
Employees: Fix Them or Fire Them
From Joe Calloway: In my 30+ years of working with leaders of organizations of every description imaginable, I’ve discovered a couple of truths about leadership and employees. One is that when a leader reaches the [...]
2
Feb, 2015
Employees Need to Remember That…
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. [...]
1
Sep, 2014
Perspectives: Why Is Customer Service So Bad At Most Places?
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 [...]
8
Jul, 2014
What’s in a Name Change? Part I
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.)
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Jun, 2014
The Fault in Our Institutions is the Fault Within Ourselves
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 [...]
12
Jun, 2014
Is It Always Right to Be Right?
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.”
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Apr, 2014
Generating Urgency: What’s Keeping You from Changing?
The willingness and urgency to change are based on emotional readiness not intellectual understanding. If intellectual understanding – knowing what we should do – was all it took to change, the gap between realizing we need to do something different and the work of implementing that change would be non-existent. But that’s not how it works.
15
Apr, 2014
Why Responsive Government is an Oxymoron … and Why Your Elected Officials are to Blame
The government we want is nimble, flexible, and responsive. The government we experience, in many cases, is slow, cumbersome, and totally unresponsive. Let’s put this another way: We want our government to operate like our favorite business. We believe, in contrast, that our government is the poster child for lumbering bureaucratic inefficiency and employees who are out of touch with the realities of the marketplace. Twenty plus years of working with private and public sector organizations has taught me that the truth is actually somewhere between the two extremes.
6
Apr, 2014
The Motivational Prescription for Failure
I saw this quote by David Frost posted on Twitter: “Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will naturally come.” It sounds great, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it is not true.
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Mar, 2014
Why You Will Lose Your Best Employees
Your best employees are contemplating quitting. Some of them already have – even though they are still on the job. Hiring is picking up – especially for the stars who more than compensate for their cost with superior performance. Your best employees will have the opportunity to leave. Are you vulnerable for an exodus? Chances are the answer is yes if you are guilty of any of the following:
4
Feb, 2014
Leaders Don’t Hide
Leaders distinguish themselves in times of great risk and great reward. Whether it is the political leader who bolsters our confidence in times of crisis or the business leader who follows her instincts to seize an opportunity, we respect and admire the leader who is out front when the stakes are high.
4
Jan, 2014
A Result to Remember Part II: How GE Proved that Sometimes it IS the Product
Three weeks back I wrote about my exceptional service experience at Sewell Lexus of Dallas. The theme of the post was that it was the Sewell people rather than their product that has kept me as a loyal customer for over 20 years. The premise behind that post is the same one I offered in my 2006 book, Results Rule!: Fundamentals are the minimum. Being distinctive is the difference if it adds value. I can purchase a Lexus from a number of different dealers. The quality and service of the Sewell staff makes them distinctive in a way that adds extreme value. The very nice folks that service GE kitchen appliances just reminded me that you can’t forget the first part of my premise: Fundamentals are the minimum. Because without the fundamentals, there is nothing you can do to stand out with your customers (at least not in a positive way).
3
Jan, 2014
Why Most of Us Won’t Achieve Our New Year’s Resolutions
Most of the talk about New Year’s Resolutions is just that – talk. Despite all of our good intentions, most of us won’t achieve our goals for the year. Research released by the University of Scranton Psychology Department reports that only 8 percent of Americans are regularly successful in achieving their resolution. 49 percent achieve occasional success, and 24 percent are never successful. So in other words, the odds are stacked against you even if you set a goal for the New Year
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Oct, 2013
Three Lessons About Leading Change from the Debt Ceiling Chaos
There has to be something we can learn from Washington’s failure to address the debt limit, right? There are three very important lessons about leading change you can take from the chaos over approving the federal budget and raising the debt ceiling.