Blog

My blogs are designed to help individuals and organizations be successful. This is done through topics which prepare people for change, equip them with knowledge and skills, empower them with the ability to make effective change, anticipate changes in the marketplace as well as strategically plan and execute a FutureReady plan.

How a Leader’s DNA Impacts Strategic Plannin...

One of the most important things organizations do is set strategic direction. Strategy is our ‘secret sauce’ for success and should provide a business with competitive advantage. However, each person develops strategy differently. As a result, i ...

Employee Performance Problems? Maybe it’s Yo...

One of the most frequent concerns I discuss with entrepreneurs, leaders and CEO's, relates to employee performance. More specifically, they express a desire to have specific individuals on their team improve their personal performance! While many emp ...

The Founder/CEO Paradox

A recurring theme has been present in several consulting conversations lately. Be it at a networking event, over a drink, in the boardroom, or on a golf course, the discussion is similar. It focuses on working for individuals who are both founders an ...

Gen Z vs. Gen Y: What’s the Difference?

The past decade has had significant focus on the impact Gen Y is having on our workplaces. Since different generations are raised with different values, it's not surprising that we experience shifts in our workplace values as well. Simple value tensi ...

University Degrees of the Future

Futurist guru Thomas Frey recently posted a list of 52 university degrees that we will need in the future. His insights reminded us of two important leadership strategy lessons. Leaders Think Forward While this idea seems obvious, I believe we ...

Three Ways to Create More Ethical Behavior at Work

Few of us would disagree that ethical behavior is important in the workplace. Yet how we do this is a much more challenging discussion! Below are three practical ways to foster a stronger ethical work culture. Visible Moral Symbols. Recent resea ...

The Fourth Industrial Revolution & the Employ...

An axiom reminds us that the lessons of yesterday do not always prepare us for the needs of tomorrow. A recent post about developing future-ready work skills generated reader interest (Are You Second-Skilling?) and today's post borrows this same t ...

Who Owns Who?

President Trump has recently created a(nother) media stir by expressing his concern about the selling power of the on-line retail giant we call Amazon. While personal opinions about this matter will vary, it signals a quiet but important industry tre ...

Are You Second-Skilling?

During a conversation with a colleague, she noted that she believes her job will be automated in the next five years. At a glance, her job of valuating the invisible worth of companies sounds like a complex task. However, she is close enough to techn ...

10 Questions Leaders Ask in Team Meetings

A few weeks ago my post on Questions to Ask During a One-on-One garnered a lot of attention. Today's post follows a similar theme and, thanks to a tip from Shannon at Soapbox, provides 10 questions to consider asking during team meetings (with a few ...

Google’s Perfect Employee – Skills for Today...

A significant amount of my consulting work is spent improving organizational performance by developing people. Sometimes employee development is done proactively – like taking vitamins before you get sick. More frequently, employee development is a ...

Questions to ask during one-on-one’s

Clients sometimes ask for input on how to conduct great one-on-one meetings with their team members. One suggestion is to ask good questions. A recent blog post at Soapbox provided 9 helpful questions to consider. What are your biggest time was ...

Good Mistakes: All Mistakes Are Not Created Equal!

Do you (or your organization) have permission to make mistakes? Your answer to this question not only reveals your risk tolerance, but likely provides insights into your personality and innovative abilities as well. In a recent workshop with some ...

The Class of 2021 – 30 Things You Need To Kn...

Each fall, I provide Beloit College's overview about the incoming class of college freshmen. This year's list is a bit different for me as these attributes reflect the mindsets of students born in 1999. This is the birth year of our firstborn son ...

The Impact of Baby Boomers

Did you know that 1 in 5 people in the North America workforce is of retirement age? Toffler Associates remind us that 21.7% of the workforce n 2014 were between 65 and and 74 years of age. A common theme in my work is the need for organizations t ...

Trend Watch: Truthful Consumerism

The Trendwatching organization released a 4 minute video that provides helpful insights about emerging trends which are impacting our businesses. In it, they address rising societal concerns related to globalization, inequality, mass migration, ...

Five Jobs Robots Will Take Last

Last week I shared a post called "The Five Jobs Robots Will Take First". It reminded us that technology is eating into a job market that used to be done by us! In today's post, we will review the opposite - jobs that robots cannot do! See if you can ...

Five Jobs Robots Will Take First

Consider what it would have been like to have been employed as a carriage driver when the automobile was invented. Or to have worked in the paper map division of Rand McNally when smartphones began telling us where to go? These questions came to m ...

3 Things I Learned About Leadership At My Golf Les...

At a recent golf tournament, my goodie bag had a coupon for a free golf lesson. If you’ve watched me play, you would strongly recommend that I use the coupon! This week I took Mike up on his offer and spent an hour with him on the driving range. As ...

The Future of Sports – 19 Trends

Today's blog provides several fascinating insights about the future of sports developed by the Shaping Tomorrow organization. You will find that these upcoming changes are rooted in several key drivers which include shifting demographics (Gen Y), tec ...

Leadership Lessons: Emotional Intelligence 101

During a meeting with a prospective client this week I was asked how I identify leadership potential. There are many good answers to this question, but to my surprise, I quickly blurted out "self-awareness" before I had even given the question though ...

Leadership Lessons: Thinking Gray

A friend recently introduced me to the wisdom of Steven B. Sample and his book The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership. I have been pondering his lesson about how effective leaders need to train themselves to think. His model also provides some helpf ...

Podcast: The Importance of Culture

Today's post is a podcast that I recently provided for the Lead This! organization. Mergers and acquisitions consistently top the headlines, yet most of them fail. In this recording I explain the pivotal role that organizational culture has in  ...

The Uberization of Leadership

Change is something we encounter every day. Sometimes it occurs quietly and we don't even notice it. At other times it is loud and disruptive. However, it seems like we are usually better at noticing change than adjusting to it. As an honest individ ...

5 Ways We Respond to Interpersonal Conflict

A benefit of my consulting work is that it requires me to learn on a regular basis. As I prepared for an upcoming workshop about organizational conflict I was revisiting some books to refresh my memory. While doing this, I re-encountered a wond ...

Foresight: The Organizational Alternative to Fight...

It has been said that those who fail to plan, plan to fail. While I believe this statement to be trite and overused, I am also annoyed by how true it is. Today's post provides two examples of companies who prove this idiom contains truth you should ...

Which Chart Should I Use?

As a consultant and professor I review or develop charts on a weekly basis. While many of them are fairly intuitive, few of us have enrolled in a Charts 101 class! So when I received a recent white paper from Tableau about different charts and when ...

Income Equality: 17 Things to Watch

A number of years ago I discovered a funny term called the GINI index. While it sounds rather technical, it is a fairly simple measurement which assesses the gap between the rich and poor. For example, if your country has a very high GINI score (like ...

The Seven Stages of Innovation

In the past I have spoken about the process of innovation (see Hot or Not and Hype Cycles). These posts utilized the Gartner model to show how a product or idea progresses through several stages before it moves from an idea into a useful product (s ...

InfoGraphic: Two Skills Which Increase Your Employ...

Advances in technology and automation are making many jobs obsolete. Driverless taxis are now operating in Singapore, algorithms determine which web ads we see and our cars are built by robots. In fact, as I watched some US Open tennis matches, I re ...

Selecting the Right Leadership Style

At some point, all of our children received tools from their grandfather. These thoughtful gifts were a great way to equip them with the tools they need to begin to learn how to build, fix and create. However, I often found myself chuckling as the ...

Infographic: The Digitization of the US Economy

The infographic below (courtesy of McKinsey) provides great insights about how technology pervades our business lives. I encourage you to specifically review the chart which reveals digitization by industry as it reveals some surprising insights. Al ...

Hot or Not? Understanding Innovation

One of the benefits of blogging is that it provides me with a steady source of new ideas. Over time, some of these ideas fade while others become even more poignant. One of my biggest 'aha' moments was the discovery of something called The Hype Cyc ...

Courage: How Do You Fill Your Tank?

This week a client emailed me something that was refreshingly honest: I am having 'one of those days'! Do you have any 'this is why we put up with this crap…the ultimate outcome will be worth it' blogs that I could read? I pondered this idea fo ...

Five Questions to Diagnose Organizational Needs

As a consultant, a lot of my time is spent diagnosing matters related to organizational success. Sometimes as I listen, I discover themes about challenges that need to be addressed. At other times, I hear people provide insightful ideas about orga ...

Assessing Organizational Opportunities: The Sigmoi...

In the past month, a surprising amount of my consulting discussions have focused on something called the sigmoid curve. This is unusual because the sigmoid is actually a mathematical principle, an area that is not my specialty! However, this math c ...

E-Residency: How Estonia is Advancing Globalizatio...

Estonia is a tiny nation in the European Baltic region. By airplane, it is about two hours north of Germany. With a population of 1.3 million people, it is the smallest member of the European Union (EU). However, despite its size, it is one of the f ...

Leading Change Infographic

When I ask people to define effective leadership I get a wide array of answers. However, they often share a common them and it is something called change. Change is a catalyst that seems to require a bevy of leadership skills; communication, courag ...

30 Things You Need to Know About the Class of 2019

Each fall, Beloit College provides an insightful overview of the incoming class of college freshmen. As the years fly by, it is easy to forget the unique worldview and history that shapes our students. A review of this list is a helpful read for all ...

17 Global Population Trends You Probably Don’...

Population. When was the last time you thoughtfully considered the powerful force of something as simple as population? History is full of examples of how quickly a population change can impact a nation or our world! For example, China's one-chil ...

The Rise of Augmented Reality: Lessons from Pokemo...

A few weeks ago our 17 year old mysteriously started taking walks in the middle of the day. He even took the dog! For some families this may be normal but for us, it is not. Our desert climate has summer temperatures hovering around 115 so an after ...

An Exposé: Grading & the God-Complex

As a part-time professor, I have the responsibility and privilege of grading dozens of student papers each year. My best estimate is that I have graded over 500 papers in the past twelve months. It is a privilege to work with so many bright minds! ...

The Two Faces of Charismatic Leadership

Charisma and I have a troubled relationship. I find myself drawn to it and have often enjoyed that special sparkle that a charismatic leader possesses. However, I have also been hurt by charisma when that sparkle takes on a dark hue. As a result, I h ...

When Scarcity is Your Friend

Today's guest post is by my friend and colleague, Dr. David Stehlik. Are you a knowledge worker? Are your primary responsibilities the creation, assessment, management, reduction, or conversion of information? If so, you need to consider how the inf ...

Mobots & More: 21 Business Terms You Need to ...

Do you know what Peak Stuff, The Internet of Energy and eSports all have in common? They are all new terms which Goldman Sachs believes that business leaders need to understand. These words signal changes in our industries which will impact how w ...

20 Quotes from Alvin Toffler: Honoring a Pioneer

This week the world lost a great mind when Alvin Toffler passed away at the age of 87. Perhaps the greatest futurist of his time, Toffler is best known for his book Future Shock (1970). "His insatiable curiosity drove him to challenge common p ...

My Favorite Leadership Quality (It Begins with ...

Several months ago I blogged about how an on-line discussion thread sought to define leadership in one word (see 19,731 Definitions of Leadership). It was an interesting idea even though it is an impossible task. Leadership is far too complex and i ...

Going Tribal: When Globalization Fails

Much ado about globalization has occurred over the past two decades. Spurred by technology, the ease of travel and our never-ending appetite for cheap products, our globe has seemingly grown smaller as more and more cultures connect to do business. ...

Trend Watch: Rate the Rater

Word-of-mouth can determine whether businesses thrive and die! When people share their good (or not-so-good) stories, an organizations' reputation quickly spreads. While word-of-mouth still occurs over cups of coffee and through our friends and a ...

Five Leadership Lessons from Muhammad Ali

Last week a modern legend passed away. Cassius Clay, more commonly known as Muhammad Ali, was 74 when he died. Amidst his colorful, quotable, and controversial life, Ali’s story provides some timeless lessons for leaders. Here are five leadership ...

Leaders & Power

Power is something which gives us the ability to influence or direct other people. It is an invisible but powerful force in our lives and our organizations. I have worked for supervisors who use their power to produce fear and for others who wield it ...

27 Charts of Leadership Communication Styles Aroun...

Earlier this week I shared a great infographic about differences in global leadership (24 Charts of Leadership Styles). It used the amazing work of Richard Lewis and his work on global leadership and culture. Today's content is a follow-up infograp ...

24 Charts of Leadership Styles Around the World

Today's content was originally posted by my colleague Paul Sohn. It contains a fantastic overview about global leadership styles and he graciously allowed me to recycle it for your enjoyment.  I had only been in Lithuania for an hour when a ...

Gen Z Part II: 10 Facts and 5 Organizational Impli...

Last week's post about Gen Z generated a lot of traffic and follow up content (see Gen Z Just Graduated from College Infographic). As a result, I have developed an unplanned Part II as today's post. The following content has been gleaned from a st ...

[Infographic] Gen Z Just Graduated from College! S...

Over the past year two of my students have taught me a lot as they have undertaken thesis work related to generational differences in the workplace. A few of my blogs have addressed this theme in recent months (The Millennial Way and Defining Wor ...

[Infographic] Anticipating the Ripple Effects of C...

Last week I posted a fascinating video which illustrated the need to anticipate the ripple effects of change (see Cats in Borneo). The sidebar below provides you with a quick summary of the video. It reminds us how our decisions impact, and are im ...

The Millennial Way: Beyond Live-to-Work or Work-to...

In the classic comedy movie What About Bob, Bill Murray tells his therapist, "There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love Neil Diamond and those who don't". Many of us use this same 'either/or' principle to assess the behaviors or ...

The Ripple Effects of Change (Part 1): Cats in Bor...

Have you ever made a decision that led to an unintended consequence? America's Funniest Home Video's has built a franchise on this premise. Trampolines, piñatas and grandparents on skateboards remind us that we have all been victims of this principl ...

3 Trends in College & University Recruitment

For many years I worked in administration overseeing college and university recruitment and retention efforts. Our household currently has Junior and Freshman boys and I am enjoying watching this process from the other side of the desk! As we embark ...

The B-Word: What Busy Really Means

Today's content is a repost of one of my favorite blogs of all time. It continues to challenge me and I trust it will do the same for you! How often do you say the word ‘busy’ each day? Over the past year, I have been pondering what we reall ...

Improving Your Working Relationship With Your Robo...

Imagine that your boss has sent you to an all-day workshop at the local Hilton. His last minute invitation meant you don't even know the workshop topic. As the speaker begins, you are surprised to see the presentation is about "How to improve your r ...

Why Complicated Work is Becoming a Commodity

Last month a momentous technological feat quietly occurred. A computer beat the world's best Go player in a best-of-five match. In fact, the Google developed computer program called AlphaGo won three straight games before the human opponent achiev ...

MegaTrends: 16 Things to Watch for in the Decade A...

Whenever I receive an email from the trend-watching organization called Shaping Tomorrow I get excited! Yesterday's content was particularly insightful and I wanted to share some of the highlights with you in today's post! I trust you will enjoy th ...

Defining Workplace Generations: Infographic

A common theme in my work relates to the complexities of leading an inter-generational workforce. We use different terms to describe these collections of unique mindsets and values - the younger generation, Gen Y, Gen X and Boomers to name a few. H ...

Leading Change: Learning from the Laggards

The Kodak story reminds us that ongoing organizational success is earned and cannot be assumed. Once heralded as the global leaders in photography, their inability to foresee changes brought about by digital technology left them behind. In fact, the ...

Customer Service – The Ritz-Carlton Way

Today’s blog contains a summary of a recent presentation about customer service. These ideas were delivered by Donald Lenahan, the Director of Hotel Operations at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Rancho Mirage, California. Mr. Lenahan provided some great ...

Showing Email the Door: Why Atos Origin is Strivin...

Today’s guest post is from David Burkus and is an excerpt from his upcoming book, Under New Management, which will be released on March 15. You can find a link to pre-order his book and learn more about him below. Could you imagine banning em ...

What Orange Trees Teach Us About Organizational Su...

Some of my most interesting insights are gleaned from real-life. Like orange trees (see The Tale of the Orange and the Lemon Tree)! This week an orange tree taught me another valuable lesson about how we can maintain ongoing organizational success. ...

A Disney Dilemma – Fingerprinting at the Hap...

My teenage son recently joined me on a business trip to Florida. Our location afforded us the opportunity to spend a day at Epcot Center, a Disney theme park in Orlando. After purchasing our tickets and self-scanning them to enter the park (read Th ...

The Future of Working: Dystopia or Utopia?

Today's guest post is from Dr. Philip Foster. You can learn more about him and his work below. _________ Recently I read an article from The Verge by Rich McCormick (2016) regarding Mark Zuckerberg’s presentation at the Mobile World Congress i ...

How Leaders, Followers & Power Work Together ...

This week's guest post is from Dustin J. Knutson. He holds a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Regent University (VA) and lives and works with his wife and two daughters as an expatriate in the Middle East. ____________ What kind of leader ...

Why Businesses Need to Keep Social Media Social

While social media began as a social phenomenon, it quickly moved into our business and corporate lives. Whether it is Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or a bevy of other options, there are some very useful ways we can use social media to help our busine ...

Half-Marathon Leadership Lessons: Perseverance �...

On Sunday, January 24 at 9:18 a.m., I was dragging myself across the race finish line. Technically, I was running. However, I believe most people could have walked faster than I was running at that point. At the end of a 13.1 mile half-marathon ...

FutureWatch: The Move to CX – Self-Service

It is not unusual to hear companies speak of their desire to provide excellence in customer service. However, the emerging trend in customer service is having you do it yourself! Self-service (also called CX) is an emerging trend in the customer ser ...

How Do Leaders Deal With Disappointment?

Prior to some business travels I arranged for three people to help me with some small projects while I was away. As my trip was an extended one, it was helpful to lighten my load by downloading a few tasks. However, upon my return I discovered that ...

Fast Forward – Six Forecasts for 2016

Now that the New Year is underway, it is time to use my futurist skills and make some forecasts about things that I think will become prominent in the years ahead. So here it is, my second annual Six Forecasts for 2016! Those who wish to critique ...

2015 – A Year in Review

As I conclude my second year of blogging I wanted to reflect on the topics that interested you, my readers. In fact, many of my musings are inspired by you - so thanks! Here are three of your favorite posts from 2015 and one of mine! The Best ...

Linking Personal Success & Organizational Cul...

If you read my blogs you know that I am a firm believer in Peter Drucker's adage that "organizational culture eats strategy for lunch". In other words, having the best people is more important than having the best strategy (a premise that Patrick ...

FutureWatch: Understanding the Implications of Big...

As a futurist, I have been watching the trend of big data for some time. In fact, it has become so commonplace that it is not technically a trend anymore. However, while the practice of big data is becoming unremarkable, a common understanding of wh ...

Is Leadership a Noun or a Verb?

We often use the words 'leaders' and 'leading' interchangeably. However, I believe there is a significant difference between these two terms. So what is this difference? At the heart of this answer lies a simple lesson in grammar. You see, one o ...

A Zuckerberg Sized Conundrum: Assessing a Leaders ...

If you pay attention to pop culture you will have noticed that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla, recently gave birth to their first child (a daughter named Max). Along with this life-changing event, Mark and Priscilla also dec ...

4 Things Star Wars Teaches Us About Cross-Cultural...

As a professor I often tell my students that we will engage in learning and teaching together.  I am consistently influenced by the work and insights of my students. Today’s guest blog is an example of some great lessons by Christina, a student ...

Why Educate?

Education is important. This societal norm is embraced by most people in North America. In fact, it is a foundational value of our social fabric. But every belief is quietly supported by a value. So why exactly is education important? Our respo ...

Is Your Future Singular or Plural?

This week I asked someone a rather simple question: "Is your future singular or plural?" At first glance, it appears to be a rather innocent sentence. However, as you peel back the onion-like layers that enshroud this question, your answer provi ...

If Information is Power, How Do You Wield it?

The adage "information is power" is so common that we often fail to reflect on what it really means. This simple concept is foundational to how most of the world works. Our view about the power of information explains why North Americans place such ...

Priorities for University Recruitment Efforts

As new college and university students from fall 2015 settle into their classes, student recruitment offices have already shifted their efforts to recruiting the fall 2016 class. To help with these recruitment efforts, I annually highlight the fanta ...

The WOW Factor: Increasing Employee Engagement

If you read my blogs you know that I have been spending too much time watching baseball lately. However, while watching the Blue Jays and Royals play yesterday I observed a leadership lesson which easily justified my sports-infused afternoon. Perhap ...

Developing Followers Who Lead Themselves

An old adage advises us not to put all our eggs in one basket. We've all applied this principle to matters such as our finances, our time or our relationships. The idiom is meant to help us ensure that we are not overly reliant on any one thing fo ...

The Salary Factor: Increasing Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a buzzword in management circles. Creating and sustaining high levels of engagement is a result of a symbiotic relationship between employers and employees. Engaged employees are more likely to act in ways that are beneficial ...

Thinking Outside the Bullpen: Strategic Innovation

This week my baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays, secured a playoff berth and home field advantage for the American league playoffs. Their meteoric rise to success in the second half of the 2015 season has been a popular subject for many baseball ...

The Problem with ‘Important’

A colleague and I have had a difficult time meeting lately. As I have reflected on why this has occurred, I have discovered that the word 'important' is used a lot. As in, "I'm sorry but I have to cancel because something important came up". This s ...

Filtering Life: Is it Need to Know or Neat to Know...

Over the past few weeks I have been repeating a phrase to several of my clients: Is this information need to know or neat to know? This simple principle was learned from a researcher I used to work with. As he assisted me with marketing research p ...

Nurturing Your Inner Leader: The Value of Your Val...

Can you remember your last high pressure sales experience? What emotions did it stir in you - excitement, fear, caution, anger? A few weeks ago I was offered a fantastic deal on something that required me to make a decision in a few minutes. At th ...

What’s Your Why? Assessing the Motives of a ...

The more I study leadership the more I find myself focusing on one word - why. Why do we lead? Why do I lead? Why do you lead? It concerns me that I don't hear this question being asked very often. Simon Sinek once provided an excellent TED tal ...

The Paradox of Feedback

This week I had the privilege of conducting leadership development training with a talented group of managers. One of the topics we discussed was feedback. It was one of our most robust discussions and I'll share some of the ideas we discussed wi ...

The Class of 2019: What You Need to Know

Each fall, Beloit College provides an insightful overview of the incoming class of college freshmen. As the years fly by, it is easy to forget the unique worldview and history that shapes our students. A review of this list is a helpful read for all ...

Global Leadership: Do You Have These 3 Cultural Ag...

I like to spend time with people who have lived in other cultures. They are interesting. They have great stories. And they usually possess an exemplary set of interpersonal skills. The ability to be successful in other cultures – personally or pro ...

20 More Quotable Quotes from the Global Leadership...

Today's post contains 20 more great quotes from speakers at the Global Leadership Summit last week. If you missed the first post you can access it here. Art isn’t about drawing; it’s about learning to see. What organization doesn’t need thi ...

20 Quotable Quotes from the Global Leadership Summ...

Last week I had the privilege of attending the annual two-day Global Leadership Summit (via video feed). I was impressed by the depth of speakers, the quality of the content and the level of personal challenge that I encountered. In order to pass al ...

How to Predict Successful Business Mergers & ...

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A's) are an important part of our business landscape. In America, about 10,000 of them occur each year. While organizations celebrate these acquisitions, their excitement may be short-lived as statistics reveal that ...

Do You Work in an Organizational Anarchy?

Understanding exactly how you come to a decision is a complex undertaking. Understanding how organizations make decisions is even more challenging! However, when you understand how organizations make decisions you can lead more effectively. Both ...

The Difference Between Complicated and Complex

I hear the word complex a lot. It helps us describe things like the paradoxical global village. It explains the rapid pace of change. It justifies lifestyles filled with too little time. However, when we use the word complex, we usually consider it a ...

Five Uplifting Things No One Tells You about Movin...

I recently shared an article titled 5 Depressing Side Effects No One Tells You About Moving Abroad. For those who have moved or lived abroad, it provides some interesting insights about this life-changing event. While this article did an effective jo ...

Organizational Culture: Making the Invisible Visib...

“Culture eats strategy for lunch”. Peter Drucker Those who rub shoulders with me regularly have likely heard me quote this more than once. It’s a cornerstone concept in my organizational development work. Patrick Lencioni reframed this same ...

Why Getting Fired is a Good Thing!

I was recently asked to provide a reference for someone. This individual is great at what they do and I provided many positive remarks. However, the person who called me was a good interviewer and he asked some probing questions about the candidate. ...

The Future of Higher Education: Three Trends

While predicting the future is desirable, it is an elusive exercise. However, careful observation of emerging trends can provide us with early indicators of future change. Doing so equips us to be future-ready. Earlier this month I was privileged to ...

Becoming a Future-Ready Organization: Moving Your ...

This week I have the privilege of conducting some workshops with higher education professionals in Florida at the NACCAP ‘15 conference. I will be speaking about developing organizations which are resilient amidst change. Today’s blog shares thre ...

19, 739 Definitions of Leadership (or Baking a Cak...

In the past 15 months, 19,739 people (and counting) have responded to a discussion forum on LinkedIn. The question posed was rather simple, "What is the single-most important quality for a leader to have?" Since that time I have discovered that ...

The Pichette Scale: Assessing Work/Life Balance

"After nearly seven years as CFO, I will be retiring from Google to spend more time with my family". This was how Patrick Pichette, one of America's highest ranking executives, publicly announced his departure from Google a few weeks ago. In his ...

When 60.2% Means Success: Coaching Excellence

Our business lives are full of rhetoric like 'give 110%', 'be the best' or 'leave it all on the table'. However, often our best falls well short of perfection. This truth struck me this week while enjoying my favorite season of the year - hockey ...

Which Energy Company is Masquerading as an Automak...

"Tesla isn't a car company; it's a battery company" (Montenegro). Last summer I blogged about Tesla's ground-breaking decision to make all their Tesla automobile patents public domain (see Open Source Life). Tesla stated that open source patents ...

When Communication Causes Conflict: Understanding ...

Conflict is a natural part of life. While many of us do not enjoy it, conflict can be healthy. Innovation expert David Burkus believes that a lack of conflict signals a lack of new ideas or a willingness to improve. When properly managed conflict ca ...

Leading Globally: How Humane is Your Country?

As the world has learned about the tragic earthquake in Nepal we see a tremendous outpouring of generosity and compassion. However, not all nations respond the same to humanitarian needs. This cultural difference can be partially explained by some ...

The Digital Natives are Eating My Norms!

Eight years ago we bought our first flat-screen television. About a month after this purchase my eight year old boldly told me that we needed another one downstairs. I regressed into classic father-mode and said, "Are you kidding me! When I was yo ...

Leading Globally: The Power Distance Effect

We have all felt power at work in our professional and personal relationships. Sometimes it draws us nearer to people and at times it pushes us away. At times it operates so naturally that we feel comfortable while at other times it makes us uncomfo ...

Playoff Leadership

When sports teams make it to the playoffs they often speak of the need to play at a higher level. Players and coaches refer to it as "the next gear", " giving 110%" or "leaving it all on the table". Successful teams learn how to squeeze out that extr ...

Pobody’s Nerfect – Embracing Imperfect...

"We didn't design the new Wired [on-line magazine] to be perfect. We designed it to be perfected" (Scott Dadich). Wired magazine recently launched a new web site and this caveat was provided by their Editor in Chief as he introduced the launch. Behi ...

The Three C’s of an Effective Hire

Many years ago I solicited the insight of my boss regarding a difficult choice for a hiring decision. However, instead of giving his input, he provided me with a principle by which he expected me to make the decision (for more on principle related ...

Chess Not Checkers: Book Review

Books which help leaders elevate their game are not unusual. However, Chess Not Checkers enters this busy arena promising new insights. So does it succeed?  The publisher of this book recently sent me the book for review so let's see how it rates ...

Procrastination: The Five Reasons We Do It!

Today we are going to examine the top 5 reasons we procrastinate: Problems with... Failure to... Concerns over... Difficulty... An inability to.. I apologize - I had good intentions to complete this blog on time but I am a bit b ...

Do You Adopt or Adapt?

What About Bob? is one of our favorite family movies. A memorable scene has a mentally troubled Bill Murray (Bob) telling his psychologist, "There are two kinds of people in the world - those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't. My ex-wife ...

Avoiding Analysis Paralysis

"The best leaders know how to keep moving forward in ambiguous situations" (Johnson). If you play board games you may have heard the term 'analysis-paralysis'. It refers to people who feel compelled to consider every possible scenario. As a board ...

Psychic Salary: What Gets You Up in the Morning?

Once a year, Amazon employees get an interesting opportunity.  They are offered cash to quit working at their company. The first offer is worth $2,000. Each successive year it increases by $1,000 up to a maximum of $5,000. This creative idea be ...

The Changing Face of Higher Education – Part...

Ironically, the ivory towers of education are regarded by many to be slow learners. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they are slow at change, not learning. The Education Design Lab recently released an insightful white paper that provide ...

Do You Work or Co-Work?

"The whole idea of co-working is to bring bright, creative people together and let ideas collide". Co-Working (noun - kōˈwərkiNG) is the use of an office or other working environment by people who are self-employed or working for different emp ...

What Happens in an Internet Minute?

Most of us acknowledge that the internet has become the hub of our lives. But have you considered what actually happens in an average internet minute? TechSpartan recently answered that question and compared our activities between 2013 and 2014. ...

Leading Globally: Individualistic vs. Collective C...

Me or We? Cultural studies reveal that one of these two biases drives how you prioritize and make decisions. Those who come from a strong collective cultures practice, encourage and reward collective distribution of resources and collective act ...

Leading from Behind: Adaptive Leadership

A colleague named Shawna recently entered a group meeting late. As a result, she sat at the back of the room instead of her usual spot in the front. Later that day we debriefed about the event. She made several interesting observations about her tea ...

Why We Hate Work: Issues of Engagement

What percentage of Americans feel engaged when they are at work? 40%? 50% 65%? Recent research reveals that only 30% say that their work engages them (Gallup, 2013). The global version of this research reveals that only 13% of people around the w ...

On President’s Day: Should President’s Play?

Yesterday Air Force One arrived in our city. President Obama is spending President’s Day weekend in Palm Springs enjoying some down time. In fact, his recurring visits to Palm Springs have earned it the title of Camp David West. Shortly after ...

TrendWatch: TV Goes down the Tubes…

'Disruptive innovation' is a modern business buzzword. By definition, it refers to something new that creates a new market and displaces an earlier technology. This can occur over varying amounts of time, sometimes a few years and sometimes decade ...

Developing High Performing Employees: The 70:20:10...

How do we develop effective leaders and managers? Based upon research, the answer is simple - experience! McCall, Lombardo and Eichinger concluded that the source of leadership lessons for most managers is: 70% from tough jobs 20% f ...

The Best Jobs for All 16 Myers-Briggs Personality ...

This content was originally posted by Paul Sohn. It was a very popular blog post and I received permission to recycle it in order to share the reach of this great content! He e-blogs at an award-winning leadership blog Salt&Light. One of hi ...

Carroll vs. Belichik: Who Leads Most Effectively?

Prior to the Superbowl I watched a fascinating interview with the two head coaches, Pete Carroll and Bill Belichik. As they spoke about the upcoming game, their simple comments provided insights regarding how they each lead their teams in differen ...

Saying Sorry: Responding to Our Mistakes

Mistakes are a part of life. When they are made, I am most interested in how people or organizations respond to them. Late last week, Intuit software President and CEO, Brad Smith, provided a noteworthy example of how to gracefully respond to a mist ...

Educational Sustainability: Another Housing Crash ...

Mark Cuban is never afraid to be controversial. However, his latest verbal diatribe aligns with other recent articles which are expressing concerns about the shrinking middle class and the value of higher education. In a recent article he notes, ...

Leading Globally: Understanding Cultural Assertive...

A lasting impression from my trip to Indonesia is the pleasant smiles and accommodating nature of the locals I interacted with. In contrast, within hours of my arrival in Lithuania, a store check-out clerk brashly told me "No, no, no!" as I unknowi ...

Fear This, Not That! You May be Afraid of the Wron...

Misdirected fear. When our minds focus on the wrong issues, our misdirected fear can keep us from working on the things that matter. For example, in the weekend LA Times Parade magazine, Maura Rhodes provided a short list of what we tend to focus ...

Fast Forward: Five Forecasts for ’15

Now that the New Year is well underway, I decided it was time to use my futurist skills and make some forecasts about things that I think will become prominent in the year ahead. So here it is, my inagural Five Forecasts for 2015! The 'internet ...

A Year in Review: Three of Your Favorite Blog Post...

As I conclude my first year of blogging it is a good time to reflect on the topics that interested you, my readers, the most. Here is a quick reference guide to your most read posts of 2014. 1. Our New Four-Letter Word: This post focused on how w ...

Leading Globally: Understanding Cultural Gender Eq...

One of the most fundamental ways in which societies differ is the extent to which each prescribes different roles for women and men (Hofstede). Some societies seek to minimize gender role differences while others seek to maximize these differences. T ...

The Leadership Elephant

I’ll start with a simple confession – I’ve read far too much on the subject of leadership. While I’m at it, here’s confession number two – I’m jaded by the amount of authors who claim to have figured out the leadership solution. T ...

Relevance: A Lifelong Investment

"The worlds wine cork producers want you to know that they're sorry" (Pierson). A front page article in this weekends LA Times pronounced what happens when success meets comfort. The once dominant cork industry has lost 25% of it's market share ...

Leading Globally: Understanding Future Orientation

What do the terms Just Do It, Don't Worry be Happy, Manyana and Hakuna Matata have in common? Each provides a glimpse into a person's orientation toward the future. Nike's Just Do It phrase connotes immediacy, importance and the need for self-dete ...

More Agility Please! The State of Strategy

There is a strong correlation between a companies financial returns and their planning horizon.1 Effective strategy considers the future! If you know me or read my writing you know that I resonate strongly with this concept. In recent months I ha ...

Leading Globally: Understanding Performance Orient...

"As you consult with us this month, you will find that our culture tends to work-to-live rather than live-to-work". "This statement provided me with a very helpful orientation during a recent project in eastern Europe. Culture affects how we ...

The Problem with ‘7 Steps’ and ‘...

My news feed is filled with articles that provide easy answers. Do these headlines sound familiar? Seven steps to solving workplace conflict Three things which will change your life Four ways to raise healthy children Five ingredients t ...

“Me the People”: It’s time to ch...

"The crisis of US congress is an issue of followership and not an issue of leadership". Barbara Kellerman I am not a political person but my world is filled with political stories the day after American mid-term elections. As a Canadian living in ...

The Best of: Summarizing the 2014 ILA Conference

My first participation in the International Leadership Association conference was a very enjoyable experience. Three full days of presentations (with too many options to count)  would appeal to any individual with interest in the broad field of lead ...

14 Leadership Lessons: Quotes from the final day o...

It was a great conference! Here is the final installment of quotes from our speakers. Followers are the gem cutters of leadership, coaxing out its full brilliance. Ira Challef We need to move beyond seeing people as hired hands to seeing t ...

20 Leadership Lessons: Quotes from day 2 of the In...

Here is a summary of the quotes I enjoyed from day 2 of the ILA conference (November 1, 2014). Our society must move from ego-system to eco-system economics. This requires that we shift from ego-system silos to eco-system awareness that  consi ...

13 Leadership Lessons: Quotes from day 1 of the In...

As a first-time attendee at the International Leadership Conference, I really enjoyed my first day of sessions. Here are 13 lessons I learned about leadership on spooky October 31! The crisis of US congress is an issue of followership and not a ...

What if everything rises and falls on followership...

A well-worn leadership adage states that “Everything rises and falls on leadership”. I was once an ardent supporter of this belief. As an emerging leader, it made me feel important and it validated much of my work and academic career. After all, ...

Unlearning: The new leadership skill

In order to thrive in the future we are going to need to learn how to unlearn. Amidst unparalleled change, leaders can no longer rely on 'what they know'. Instead, effective leaders will be defined by the capacity to unlearn outdated and ineffective ...

BYOD & BYOA: Welcome to the age of hypermobil...

Trend Watch A recent article from the team at Join.Me highlights a trend that has been quietly growing in our organizations - Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). This is not surprising given 90% of American adults own cell phones, 68% own smart phones a ...

Change Agents: The personal characteristics requir...

In the class I am teaching on organizational development, my students are studying how to facilitate change, both personally and organizationally. Part of this process has included discussion about the attributes of people who are good at leading c ...

The Death of Privacy: Life in a Post-Private World

Imagine if privacy was dead. You know, like absolutely nothing was private. As I see it, we don't really have to imagine it.  Here is newsworthy support of this premise from the past few weeks: Ray Rice Abuse | Facebook Messenger Tracking | The Sn ...

Live|Die|Repeat: Thinking Like Gen Y/Z

Sometimes, popular culture provides us with unexpected insights about life. This recently occurred during family movie night when we watched Edge of Tomorrow. This futuristic science fiction thriller was not only an entertaining movie, but it helpe ...

Are you Do–>Think or Think–>Do?

The ability to understand the unique ways people think, act and learn allows us to be more effective in our work and personal lives. As I consult, one of my favorite filters to help me do this is determining whether people demonstrate a preferen ...

Six Priorities for University Recruitment Efforts

The expressions of anxious mothers, too-cool freshmen and a steady train of boxes into residence halls this week heralds the arrival of thousands of new students to our universities. Having recently returned from work with a university in Europe, I ...

The Problem with the Wrong Side of The Road: Eight...

My trip to South-East Asia taught me a major life lesson - there is a significant difference between 'wrong' and 'different'. In Indonesia, vehicles drive on the left side of the road, the opposite of North America. While navigating  heavy traffic, ...

Effective Leaders Think Differently: 10 Quotes to ...

I see and I forget I hear and I remember I do and I understand Confucius This week I have been poring through textbooks as I prepare to teach some on-line Master's levels courses this fall. As I prep, I am reminded how much learning occur ...

The B-Word: What BUSY really means

I encourage you to evaluate how often you say the word 'busy' each day. Over the past year, I have been pondering the meanings of the word busy. It has crept into our vernacular and is so common that we likely do not realize how many times we say ...

Warren Bennis: Remembering a Leadership Sage

Many of you are aware that Warren Bennis, a modern leader in the field of leadership studies passed away on July 31, 2014. Earlier today, my good friend Paul Sohn posted an excellent summary of some of his contributions. Rather than reiterate this ...

Gamified Life: Gaming goes mainstream

It was a hot summer day and our teenagers and their friends were playing in our pool. As I observed them, I grasped how video games have affected how they speak and play. I heard Ben tell someone that they had ‘lost a life’. Kaden issued a chall ...

Weird Al Parodies Business Management with ‘...

Weird Al Yankovich has been providing us with musical parodies for over three decades. His most recent release, Mission Statement, pokes fun at the jargon we use in the business world. If you are like me, you will laugh-out-loud and wince as you lis ...

Whose Call is This?: Creating Decision Making Clar...

Does your team understand who has the responsibility to make a decision? A key source of office conflict is related to lack of clarity in decision making. When people have different expectations about who gets to make a decision, frustration often ...

Open Source Life

In June 2014 the CEO of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, made a surprising announcement, “…in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology…Tesla patents have been removed”.[1] Most experts consider Tesla ...

Rules for Living in the Digital Age (According to ...

In the July issue of Wired magazine, they offered up their “Guide to behavior, manners and style” for those of us who live part of our lives on-line. While it was tongue-in-cheek, it provided some great tips that are worthy of sharing in this blo ...

Social Media Genius: Walmart’s corporate respons...

[caption id="attachment_672" align="alignright" width="416"] A portion of Walmart's blog response to Timothy Egan, a NY Times writer.[/caption] A recent New York Times article harshly criticized Walmart for paying low wages to their employees. Dav ...

Do Your Organizational Values Have Legs?

I love it when organizations have clearly defined values. I love it even more when you see those values exemplified in practice. However, the opposite also occurs! A friend recently told me about a less-than-positive experience during her new empl ...

Calculating Meeting ROI

In an earlier post (Meeting Bane or Benefit?), I noted that having a clear meeting purpose helps limit attendee frustration and conflict. At times, cancelling a meeting may be the best way to do this! Sometimes meetings are unnecessary. In their ...

Hype Cycles: How Ideas Morph Into Reality

I experienced an ‘aha’ moment when I discovered the Gartner Hype Cycle (see Figure 1). It helps explain what occurs between the hype of a new technology and the time it actually goes mainstream. For me, it is a simple tool by which to assess new ...

Preparing for the Unexpected: Building Organizatio...

A notice was posted on the door as I entered Chipotle this week. It warned me that that chicken was currently available as their transportation system had been disrupted. The recent San Diego wildfires have affected many local companies. But who c ...

Making Meetings Matter

“Meetings are usually toxic because they often convey an abysmally small amount of information per minute”.[1] Have you ever felt this way? Having sat through many frustrating meetings, I resonate with this statement. Often meetings are ineffe ...

Focus: Finding Strategic Clarity

Marcus Buckingham has made a name for himself by reminding us to focus our lives and work on what we are good at. The Strengthsfinder© model has become a healthy way to help people identify and live out their God-given abilities. I have observed doz ...

The Tale of the Orange and the Lemon Tree

My jogging route seldom changes. That is, until my wife started joining me for my run. One sunny day she left the driveway in the lead and turned right instead of left. I asked her why we were going counterclockwise. She just grinned and kept jogg ...

Why I Blog

I worked in the education industry for many years before I discovered that my passion was not higher education. Don’t get me wrong, I highly value education and have spent over 21 years of my life as a full-time student. I have loved my jobs and th ...