John Wooden was the famed coach of the UCLA men's basketball team. He built a championship program through his leadership approach. And, in honor of the American sporting tradition of March Madness, I bring forward this John Wooden quote: "Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given. Be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful." [...]
“I really like them personally…it’s just... ” Have you heard or said this? I’m guessing so, at least once or twice, right? How about this one? “Don’t take it personally.” Is there a faster way for you to absorb comments as personal? Likely not! When preparing to have a difficult conversation (perhaps termination meeting) [...]
Last month we introduced Grizzle, a relatively new employee who stirred conflict in you as a time drain in the complaint process. This month we have Fizzle, who has moved up in your organization over nearly a decade of employment. You’ve been her champion along the way, appreciating her growing skills but never directly [...]
Mr. Ross opens the book with these questions: “Why is it that we are drawn so strongly to identify with groups, how does that impact us, and what can we do about it? What is this thing we call belonging and why is it so important to us?“ He explores these questions through politics, [...]
Do you have any birds in your life? That person who has to have the last word in a discussion or argument? Maybe you fall into this sometimes? How committed to being right are you? It feels good when you are right, when your argument succeeds. And sometimes we invest a lot of energy in the [...]
Last month we introduced Grizzle, a relatively new employee who stirred conflict in you as a time drain in the complaint process. This month we have Fizzle, who has moved up in your organization over nearly a decade of employment. You’ve been her champion along the way, appreciating her growing skills but never directly [...]
Grizzle has reported to you for a few years now. They started out as a great addition with a keen eye toward broken processes in the systems of your team, which was useful because their predecessor had been with the organization for more than 2 decades. Two decades of humming along without questioning or [...]
I was drawn to the title of this book and was even more appreciative of the lessons offered. Mr. Friedman describes his book as "one giant column about the world today" and I agree. He aims to define the key forces driving change and how to cushion the impact. He covers Moore’s Law, meditation, [...]
In a Columbia University study, managers were subliminally exposed to words that were either rooted in cooperation (mutual, shared, collaborator as examples) or competition (winner, loser, opponent as examples). The managers who saw the cooperation words were much more likely to share knowledge and resources than their "competition" word colleagues. We take in so many [...]
I'm feeling it - are you? I have days where I'm angry about this virus--or angry about the limitations that have resulted from it. And, I also feel hopeful. So stumbling on this St. Augustine quote really struck me - "Hope has two beautiful daughters: Anger and Courage." My anger is about the way [...]
