Leaders and Posers
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 [...]
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Aug, 2014
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Aug, 2014
What is a Leader’s Most Important Job?
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. [...]
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Jul, 2014
Slow Down Time to Experience Richer Results
I saw the movie Lucy this weekend. If you like a good sci-fi action movie combination put this one on your list. It isn’t amazing, but it will make you think. At one point, Lucy [...]
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Jul, 2014
What’s in a Name Change? Part III
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.
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Jul, 2014
What’s in a Name Change? Part II
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.
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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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Jul, 2014
Challenge Your Thinking. Focus Your Execution. Deliver Desired Results.
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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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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May, 2014
Jack Be Nimble: Sure, but how?
This would have been the message if the speaker at your last business meeting presented in nursery rhymes: Jack be nimble. Jack be quick. Jack jump over The candle stick. You feel better, right? You now know what is expected of you and the definition of success. And, you have no real context for why it is important or idea about how to move forward.
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May, 2014
Break the S-R Loop to Make Change Work
We taught mice and pigeons to do all sorts of interesting things during my graduate school class in behavioral psychology. The principle is simple: provide a stimulus and elicit a response. The stimulus-response cycle still plays an important role in animal training today. And, it is evident in virtually every routine action we take. You don’t think about your response; you just make it. And at some point, it becomes automatic. On most days, those automatic responses are benign routines that allow you to effectively navigate. Unfortunately, they can also become anchors that prevent you from making a change that will transform your business and your life.
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May, 2014
Focus on What Truly Matters
These days it seems that we’re all so busy, overcommitted, and information-obsessed. Our never-ending to-do lists are long and we run around trying to “keep up” or “be important,” and in the process stress ourselves out. Unfortunately, it often takes something bad to happen to slow us down, wake us up, and force us to focus on what truly matters most in life.
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May, 2014
Should You Put Lipstick on the Brussels Sprouts? How Leaders Communicate Forced Change
My presentations about leading change usually include a story about Double Stuf Oreos and Brussels Sprouts. You can view the story here, but the basic principle is simple: A child will willingly change what they are doing to reach a jar of cookies on top of your refrigerator. You seldom see them act with the same sense of urgency to acquire Brussels sprouts. With that in mind, leaders generate creative tension when the vision they create for change is compelling – like cookies – rather than boring like vegetables.
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Apr, 2014
Defining Integrity: How Leaders Earn Trust & Respect
How do you define integrity? Is there an absolute definition? Or, do you find yourself quoting the phrase made famous by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart: “I know it when I see it”? We know that it appears at or near the top of every list of desirable leadership traits. It is the essential ingredient for building and sustaining trust with others. Go ahead—take a stab at it. Integrity is . . . It is more difficult to define integrity than you thought, isn’t it?
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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.