Over the past couple of decades, I have encouraged leaders to share the stories behind their entrepreneurial journeys. Some have been reluctant, stating it made them sound self-absorbed. Others have been excited, hoping to inspire stronger engagement from their people. Those who have embraced the op...
I remember that Monday very clearly. I was sitting in a room filled with Gen Xers who had all started working for the same organization. An older gentleman, likely at the start of the Baby Boomer generation, stood in front of us and said, “You people scare me. You scare me because you are so differe...
Employee engagement refers to the extent to which employees feel invested in their work and committed to their organization. Research has shown that engaged employees are more likely to be productive, stay with the company longer, and have positive attitudes toward their work. Some factors that have...
A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company, organization, or individual. It provides a clear, concise, and inspiring direction for an entity and serves as a guide for decision-making and action. A well-crafted mission statement can be a powerful tool for aligning and inspiring pe...
We have to start with the premise that the main role of a leader is to create more leaders, not to gather followers. I have wondered what a difference this would make with organizations if they shifted their mindset away from trying to “make” people do what they are supposed to. The new mindset woul...
3 Key changes are coming in 2023 for leaders. I was working with several of my clients in this last quarter and really digging in to analyze what is and isn’t working for them. One particular client, we’ll call them Awesome Company A, or ACA for short, had tremendous success pre-Covid but has faced ...
Throughout our lives, we go through experience after experience that shapes us into the person we are. Each experience is evaluated for its meaning to us, and then our image of self is adapted to the label. As we evaluate the meaning of an experience, we choose our reactions based on the meaning giv...
One of the challenges employees faces is in understanding what their supervisors are asking of them. I have yet to meet a person that wants to fail in life. Of the thousands of people I have worked with, every single one of them wanted to succeed. It’s just that many of them weren’t sure what that m...
I have been teaching conflict resolution for right at a quarter of a century and joke that 1st Jody 1:2 reads… Where two or more are gathered together, conflict shall exist. Humans simply see the world from their own angle instead of another person's angle. I have often referred to this as the “tras...
The first job of a leader is to define reality for their team. This doesn’t mean a leader redefines actual existence, though. It means that a leader defines the parameters within which we pursue success. From the models of work, to the profitability models, to the culture itself, leaders create the ...
“Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.” Epictetus
I have a group of guys with whom I lead a retreat that are all either in upper leadership positions or own businesses. Each year, we come together to help invest in the rest of the group, bringing lessons fr...
I sometimes use an opening in my speeches where I ask someone if they have a $20 bill and if they would come to the front with the money. I then wave a $20 bill of my own. I ask the person if we could exchange the money. Then, I exchange my $20 for their $20. I thank them, and they head back to thei...
