The self-driving company | Also, why employees are really quitting

Wouldn’t it be nice to have one of those self-driving cars? All that drive time now yours to do with it whatever you want. Hop in the rig, program in your final destination, sit back and relax. Before you know it, you are there. We have been doing it for years with commercial airplanes. We…

Read More

Believing is seeing | 3 easy steps to better communication

Odd reality about humans–we see what we believe. We are not the rational, objective creatures we like to think we are. According to the latest findings in neuroscience, all the information we receive is being filtered in an effort to complement our current belief system. If it doesn’t match our way of thinking, we either…

Read More

Don’t Be a But

“But,” “no,” and “it won’t work,” are too often the knee-jerk responses we give to new ideas presented by a team member. Now put yourself in their shoes. No one wants to look stupid or be demeaned. It takes a lot of courage to bring a new concept or constructively challenge the boss’s current way…

Read More

When Being Right Goes Wrong

“But—I was right!” It’s the proclamation of countless clients following an intense interaction with a coworker, friend, or family member. Many fight to be right without even realizing it. They fight because there’s value in it and a payoff, but “being right” comes at a cost. It’s simple math. If you are “right,” then typically…

Read More

What were you thinking?!

“What were you thinking?!” If you haven’t said it, chances are you’ve heard it in the workplace. In other words, “what kind of idiot would do something like that?” Unfortunately, I have uttered (or at least thought) that cringe-worthy question far too often in my management career. To the person taking the action, what they…

Read More

Are your policies coming between you and your customers?

In my line of work, I’ve experienced many white-knuckle negotiations. You can imagine, then, my frustration with a popular telephone company while trying to get one simple task accomplished. It’s a negotiation that lasted six hours. My wife and I recently welcomed my aging mother into our home. Mom’s one request is that she be…

Read More

If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail | A leader’s vision check for 2020

Imagine we’re sitting down for coffee and I ask, “…are you completely happy with the progress you made in 2019?” We hope that you are. We hope this was a banner year for your organization, but I have a follow up question, “…was it intentional or accidental?” Without intentionality, all results are accidental. A year…

Read More

Good leaders know it’s not about me, it’s about we

Are you concerned that your people are not engaged? Your people want to do more, not less. They eagerly want to take a seat at the table and make a meaningful contribution. If this is not the case, then there is an extremely high likelihood that you encouraged them to be disengaged. Humans are naturally…

Read More

Seeing is doing

If you see it; you will do it. People do not normally intend to aimlessly wander around and spin their wheels. If you see this happening in your organization, it is a clear sign that success has not been well defined. It is also a sign that there is not a simple, clear way to…

Read More

Conflict and communication rarely coexist

One of my favorite sayings is that “conflict and communication rarely coexist.” Humans generally want the same thing. Conflict arises between people because one person believes that what they want and another person wants, is somehow mutually exclusive. If you get more pie, I get less. What if, instead, you could both make the pie bigger? Then…

Read More